Bad news Strawhats — the One Piece manga is going on break for a few weeks.
One Piece author Eiichiro Oda said in a statement that the manga will be taking a month’s break from June 26th to July 25th.
Oda last had a month-long break back in 2010 before kicking off the time-skip. So a few fans are wondering whether this break could signal another major moment in the series. Other fans, who have only lived through the one-week-long breaks, are in mourning over the news.
Oda clarified he’s going on break so he can prepare for the next arc post-Wano, and the upcoming One Piece: Film Red.
Oda was also meant to visit the US during his break to present Netflix’s One Piece live action project on the platform’s Geeked Week livestream, until a bout of COVID-19 forced him to abandon the trip.
It’s not surprising given Oda appears to be wrapping up the longest arc in the show’s history in the most recent chapters. Luffy defeated Kaido and a grown-up Momonosuke became Shogun. So we can expect Oda will show us how the world’s reacted to the Strawhats’ victory in the next few chapters before the series goes on break. Yamato stans were also keen to see Kaido’s daughter share her desire to join Luffy and the crew.
In related news, Netflix gave us our first look at the set for its live action series including a fully built Merry Go ship.