Although Manga artist Eiichiro Oda had revealed his intention to release One Piece episode 1000 before the end of 2020, something very sad has since altered his plans.
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One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda is gravely ill
The Manga Plus platform (Weekly Shonen Jump) which publishes the One Piece manga series recently revealed some very sad news. On the evening of 30th September 2020, a few hours before episode 992 was set to be released, we were told that we would have to wait more than two additional weeks before finally being able to read the latest adventure. Although, culturally speaking, the Japanese are very discreet, some possible reasons for the delay have been circulating the internet.
It seems that the manga creator is sick again. The two-week break that is planned is, according to rumours, ‘a very optimistic estimate’ as the artist is quite seriously ill. Nevertheless, the artist, who is only 45 years old, had already slowed the production pace, taking one week off for every two weeks of work he did.
Support from fans, several hashtags on Twitter
One Piece is not the most popular manga series in the world for no reason. Whether it is the story or the characters that fans love so much, they were quick to show their support. Many messages of support were recently posted to Twitter, all wishing the creator a speedy recovery, even if it means not getting to continue the manga adventure for a while. According to Eiichiro Oda, the real end of the manga is scheduled for about ‘4 or 5 years’ time, so it seems that he is not in any rush to complete the adventure.
In the meantime however, it’s worth knowing that Netflix is also currently preparing a One Piece series…