Eiichiro Oda explains the hiatus of ‘One Piece’ in a letter: “I’ve been excessively worried about my health”

The death of Akira Toriyama has left the manga world in shock, and there has been no author who has not spoken out about it. From “I feel neither sorrow nor pain” by Tite Kubo (“Bleach”) to “I wish Dragon Balls existed” by Masashi Kishimoto (“Naruto”). Eiichiro Oda even had to take a break in order to assimilate it and have a medical check-up, which will cause a long break in ‘One Piece’ (there will be only three chapters in two and a half months). He explained this in one of his usual nice letters:

“I’m taking a break! And it’ll be 3 weeks. Because of the news of Toriyama-Sensei, I’ve been excessively worried about my health. It’s not an illness, BTW. But I thought I want to take a break to do some self-maintenance on myself. And maybe took some time to think about what is One Piece. After all, I’m a busy person!”

(It’s worth remembering that Eiichiro Oda had to take a month off for surgery last year, one of the longest breaks in the history of manga, which has been published almost weekly for 25 years).

In the second part of his letter, Oda also reminds us of all the ways to shorten the wait without leaving ‘One Piece’:

“And maybe some of you don’t know the relationship of the characters in Egghead saga? And to those people, you can read their past on the previous volume for free for a limited time (april 1st to 21st) in Jump+ (Manga Plus) There are also other works of mine other than One Piece Live action on Netflix, which is ‘Monsters’ from my one-shot. I hope you can watch and enjoy the anime! There’s an “Anytime One Piece” that’s broadcasting the whole episode on YouTube. Well then, I’ll see you again in the next 3 weeks in Jump!

The author could not have chosen a more intense moment to leave the series, as chapter 1,110 (spoilers here) showed the true aspect of the Five Elders, the demons of the Gorosei.