One Piece has been a staple of the anime and manga landscape ever since its debut in 1997, but the series will soon reach its conclusion, creator Eiichiro Oda revealed.
According to Comic Natalie, the announcement was revealed in a newspaper advertisement for One Piece's upcoming 100th collected volume. The advertisement contains a photo of Oda drawing the manga, along with a statement from the creator that says "The story is in its final stage." This is not the first time Oda has teased the conclusion to his long-running opus; in a 2020 interview with the Japanese boy band Arashi, Oda stated that he planned to end the series within the next four or five years.
One Piece continues to celebrate its 24th year in publication with several big milestones: earlier this year, the manga published its 1000th chapter, and as stated previously, the 100th collected volume of that manga is scheduled to be released in Japan soon. Several days ago, Oda released a video that showed his process for designing and drawing the covers for volumes 99, 100, and 101, which are meant to be displayed side-by-side in order to create one large illustration that celebrates the history of the series. The One Piece anime, meanwhile, will air it's 1000th episode soon, with Oda teasing that he will make further announcements about the future of the series when that episode debuts.
Weekly Shonen Jump has been celebrating One Piece's history by releasing iconic chapters of the manga which have been redrawn by fellow Shonen Jump creators who were inspired by Oda's work. The first of these chapters was made by Dr. Stone creator Boichi, and the recently released second chapter was a redraw of "Vivi's Adventure" from Nisekoi creator Naoshi Komi. A special collaboration with the popular children's book Where's Waldo was also released through the magazine earlier this year.
Oda's One Piece was considered one of Shonen Jump's "Big Three" series following the turn of the millenium, alongside the equally popular Naruto from Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo's Bleach. Unlike those other series', however, One Piece has maintained continuous publication since 1997, telling one serialized story that has spanned decades. One Piece currently holds the title of being the best-selling manga series of all time, with almost half a billion copies in circulation worldwide.
Source: Comic Natalie, via Anime News Network
