One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda will be taking a three-week break to give himself time to grieve the loss of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, handle some "scheduled maintenance" regarding his own health, and figure out what his long-running series MacGuffin, the One Piece, actually is.
"Okay, so I'm taking three weeks for myself. Yes, this is coming on the heels of the news about Toriyama-sensei. Yes, this could cause some unnecessarily excessive panic," Oda wrote in an official X/Twitter post.
#OP_globalinfo
— ONE PIECE スタッフ【公式】/ Official (@Eiichiro_Staff) March 21, 2024
Here is the official translation. "#ONEPIECE" will be suspended for 3 weeks after being published in "Weekly Shonen Jump" issue 17 (Mar. 25th JST)
Apologizing for keeping readers waiting and it will restart with issue 21 released on April 22nd. pic.twitter.com/xjuhir4Oq6
The One Piece creator's move to go on a break for the betterment of his health echoes fan-wide concerns regarding the inverse effect that a mangaka's grueling publication schedule has on their health. Oda went on to reassure fans by saying his three-week break wasn't due to him being in poor health but to give himself a much-needed breather, saying "While it does have to do with my body, consider this a type of scheduled maintenance rather than anything else."
Oda went on to say he'll be utilizing this time off to figure out "what the One Piece actually is."
"That's going to keep me quite busy, I'll have you know," Oda wrote, adding that while this might sound severe, in actuality, it's not a big deal.
This isn't the first time the renowned mangaka has taken a much-needed break. In 2022, the One Piece staff announced the manga would be on a month-long hiatus following the conclusion of the series' latest and longest arc, Wano Country.
According to Anime News Network, Oda's staff strongly encouraged he take a hiatus in 2022 because of how busy he'd be with the theatrical release of One Piece: Film Red, overseeing the production of Netflix's live-action One Piece series, and plotting out the final saga of One Piece's manga. One Piece is currently 1,110 chapters and 1,322 episodes deep into its latest arc, Egghead Island.
In place of the One Piece manga going on break, Oda encouraged fans to check out Netflix's live-action One Piece series as well as Netflix's anime adaptation of his one-shot series, Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation.
Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.
