One Piece Creator Sets Up Series’ Final Saga in Special Letter: Read

The series creator behind One Piece has officially announced that the manga series will be taking a long break as he gets ready for the Final Act of the long running epic, and has detailed what to expect with a special new letter to fans! The latest chapters of the manga have seen the Wano Country arc come to its end, and although there are still more moments to explore in the immediate fallout of the massive battle at Onigashima, it’s clear that the series is getting ready for what’s next. It turns out that what’s next is actually going to be the end.

One Piece series creator Eiichiro Oda confirmed that he will begin work on the Final Act of the manga series overall, but due to how much is actually going on for the series this Summer, the editors at Shueisha had urged him to take a break. So in order to ready himself for what is next to come, Oda detailed his thoughts behind the break in a special letter that outlined everything happening (as translated by @WSJ_manga on Twitter) and noted that it won’t be too long before the series is up and running again. 

“I’m taking a break! A few months ago, my talented editors told me, ‘Oda-sensei, this Summer will be tough. The 25 Anniversary of the series will take place, and there will also be a commemoration for the release of the [One Piece: Red] film,” Oda began. “The story of Wano is also now over…You also want to travel to Africa to supervise the filming of Netflix’s live-action. During Summer, we will also have collaborations, commercials, and events. Would you like to take a whole month off in order to prepare for this excitement?’”

Oda continued further with, “I said, ‘What? Taking a break!? How much do you think readers enjoy Jump…But resting!! And I want to go to Africa tooooo!!’ I also want to reorganize the final arc of the series, so I can finish it as soon as possible. So…I’m sorry, but I’m going to take a breather and some time to prepare.” Then the creator opened up about the series’ immediate future plans, “After my vacation, a raging One Piece festival will start! This break will not be immediate.”

“Starting today, two more chapters will be published, and the break will take four weeks from Jump Issue #30 to Issue #33! Give me some time to breathe! (The previous trip to Africa was ruined by Coronavirus, sadly),” Oda continued. “Series will be resuming in Jump’s Issue #34 on July 25th! And please look forward to One Piece Film: Red, which will be screening on August 6th! [in Japan] There’s something interesting happening with this one. All the production staff of the movie loves Uta-chan. It’s not like the movie is completed yet though. Anyway, I’m sure you will all feel the same way sooner or later! Please look forward to it!” 

What do you think? How do you feel about One Piece getting ready for the final act of the series? What would you want to see go down? Are you ready to wait for a month without new chapters this Summer? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!