One Piece manga will take one-month break ahead of story conclusion

Eiichiro Oda, the creator behind the long-running manga One Piece, announced that he would be taking a month-long break following the conclusion of the recent arc, in order to prepare for the series’ 25th anniversary. The manga will be on hiatus in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from June 27 until July 25. After the pause, the manga will return with one “final saga,” according to a popular fan translation Twitter account.

One Piece is one of the longest-running and most beloved shonen series of all time. Shueisha published the first chapter in 1997. Since its start, the weekly serialized story has spanned over 1,000 chapters. This is the largest break from the manga since Oda took four weeks off during the time-skip in the story, after which he helmed the series in a new direction.

Fans are debating whether the announcement means the story only has one arc left, or if it simply means the story will come to a conclusion soon. Regardless, we’ve known for a while that Luffy’s story was finally coming to an end; in 2020, Oda said One Piece would end in five years.

One Piece follows the story of the rubber pirate Luffy and his quest to become the Pirate King. During his journey, he builds a formidable and lovable crew known as the Straw Hats, recruiting beloved characters like the swordsman Zoro (also called Zolo in the manga), Nami, Usopp, and Tony Tony Chopper.

One Piece has also been adapted to anime. And in 2020, Netflix announced a live-action adaptation of the series. On Tuesday, Netflix showed more details on how production is progressing, including a look at some of the extravagant boats we’ll come to see in the new series. Additionally, the manga will get a video game that tells an original story for its 25th anniversary.