When Will One Piece End?

In 1992, a 17-year-old boy by the name Eiichiro Oda submitted the manga one-shot Wanted! into the 44th Annual Tezuka Awards, a contest created by Tezuka Osamu (known as the godfather of manga, also the creator of Astro Boy) to find up-and-coming talent for the manga industry. Although it only took the honorable mention spot, Wanted! would serve as a trial run for one of the most popular and best-selling manga of all time: One Piece.

Officially starting on July 22, 1997 in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump, One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and the rest of the Strawhat Pirates as they sail across the Grand Line (a giant, hard to navigate, ocean current that circles around the planet) to find the One Piece, some legendary treasure owned by former pirate king Gol D. Roger, and make Luffy the new pirate king. With over 940 anime episodes and almost 1000 manga chapters to its name, One Piece has been going strong for the past 23 years with no end in sight --- or is there?

During One Piece’s infancy, Oda would say in a couple of interviews that he originally saw One Piece as a 5 year task, therefore ending in 2002. As you can see, this is not the case. When One Piece was 5 years into its manga, Luffy and the rest of the Strawhat Pirates had just reached Skypiea (Chapter 239) and the anime was nearing the end of the Alabasta story arc (Episode 119). With 943 episodes and 991 chapters out at the time of writing, 119 episodes into the series is only about 12.6% of the anime’s entirety and 239 chapters equates to 24% of the manga. To date, this is Oda’s most exaggerated estimate in terms of One Piece’s ending.

After this statement, Oda wouldn’t say much about the ending of One Piece until around 2012, 15 years after the manga started publication and 13 years after the anime began airing. It wasn’t much of a surprise when people started questioning when the story would end. To clarify, back in the 2000s, One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach all made up Weekly Shōnen Jump’s “Big Three”. Each one of these series were not only the most popular out of the magazine’s lineup, but were also the longest, starting around the same time. However, Bleach saw not only a decline in sales but also an ending for its anime, which aired for around seven and a half years. Bleach’s creator, Tite Kubo, also confirmed the series was in its final arc during early 2012. Many saw the end of one of the Big Three as a big deal, and many wondered where this left Naruto and One Piece.

About 4 months after Kubo’s announcement, Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, would come out and say his own series was reaching its climax and was nearing its conclusion. With two out of the Big Three slotted to end soon, what about One Piece?

Released a few months after both Kubo and Kishimoto’s announcements, an interview with Oda revealed that he was only 60% done with One Piece. At the time of its release, both the anime and manga were in the Punk Hazard arc (chapter 689 and episode 574). So, if 689 chapters and 574 episodes are only 60% of your entire story… Then when is it ending?

Since his 2012 estimate, Oda has come out with about 4 more estimates of when One Piece will wrap up; one in 2016, 2018, 2019, and finally 2020. In 2016, a One Piece related newspaper under the name Dai One Piece Shimbun published an interview with Oda in which fans found out Oda’s new estimate for how much of the swashbuckling journey had been covered was… 65%?! Yes, the story had only covered 5% more over the course of 4 years. Looking more closely, this estimate makes sense since the longest One Piece arc to date, the Dressrosa arc, had taken 2.5 years to publish and this interview took place a little after its ending. Because of this interview, many people believed every 4 years meant another 5%, with many claiming One Piece would be ongoing for another 28 years.

Many fans would find themselves rendered speechless when, in 2018, an interview between the newspaper publication Yomiuri and Eiichiro Oda would reveal that Oda believed One Piece was 80% finished. Going from 65% to 80% in 2 years is a huge jump, and for once, many fans of the series realized this story can’t possibly go on forever.

With Oda mentioning back in 2019 that he wanted to finish the story in about 5 years, this leads us to today. In the volume 97’s SBS segment, a short section where people can ask Oda questions, one fan asks Oda if the serialization of One Piece will end in 5 years’ time. His response differs depending on which translation one saw. According to Twitter user @SoulstormOP, Oda claimed, “... The most exciting part of Luffy’s adventure is over. The Wano arc is reaching its climax. After Wano-kuni, I will draw the ‘biggest war’ in manga history. It will be very exciting…” Before anyone gets excited, many translators have agreed that both the first sentence and the “biggest war in manga history” statements are wrong.

A more accurate translation of Oda’s response has been uploaded to popular discussion website, Reddit which reads, “By ‘ending’ I mean the juiciest of Luffy’s adventure. Since that’s when the mystery of “what is the One Piece” is to be revealed. Right now Wano is heating up, if Luffy is able to leave here in one piece, we’ll get to a development that will engulf the entire world, the likes of which no one has read before—the greatest war in One Piece history.” This translation clears up a lot of misconceptions about what exactly Oda said. Skipping past the first line for a minute since it’s the more disputable, we now know Oda plans on writing the largest war fans have seen so far in the story and NOT all of manga. Whether this war refers to the largest war in the story’s serialization or the narrative history is unknown.

As far as the first line goes, it has caused controversy among fans on the internet. The Reddit translation implies that the story will continue past the discovery of the One Piece. For example, Luffy and the rest of the Strawhat Gang will discover the One Piece, with one final arc wrapping everything up in a neat little bow.

Another translation of the volume 97 SBS comes from TheLibraryofOhara.com, otherwise known as Artur. Artur translates Oda’s message as, “...Rather than wanting to stop, it’s that the series will end, because the most exciting part of Luffy’s adventure, being the story of ‘what is the One Piece?’, will come to its conclusion… I’ll draw the greatest battle ever in [One Piece] history.” Luckily, Artur agrees that Oda is referring to the final war of One Piece to be the largest in the story so far, but no one knows if Oda means the story will end when the One Piece is discovered, or if there is more to the story after that.

Youtuber Ohara joins in and comments on Artur’s interpretation, explaining that he disagrees and believes that the first sentence heavily implies that more is to come after the discovery of the One Piece. The two talk it out and conclude that the statement is purposely ambiguous. In short, whether Oda will end the story after the core mystery is solved or if he’ll continue on a little longer is still unknown.

Despite all the news surrounding the ending of One Piece in the next few years, a good chunk of fans have a hard time believing an end for the series in 5 years is possible. With a story that’s been ongoing for over 20 years, there’s going to be plenty of mysteries to answer, and One Piece is no exception. What’s the ‘Will of D’? What happened during the Void Century? How powerful is Shanks? It’s these exact mysteries that make people question the legitimacy of a One Piece ending where there’s not only a war larger than that of the Battle of Marineford but also where every question about the narrative’s history gets answered in a fulfilling and conclusive manner.

Take One Piece superfan Greg Warner, for example. As a columnist for the official One Piece website and as a relatively trustworthy source, many twitter users got his opinion on the 5 year timestamp Oda has placed on his story. Greg explained via Twitter he believes the story will take 7 years to complete due to Oda most likely giving into temptation and allowing the story to reach its 30-year anniversary. Greg stated, “I’ve heard what the series wrap-up is supposed to (or was supposed to) include, and it’s all quite ambitious. I can’t see everything coming together in such a time-frame…”

7 years makes sense. It takes into account how many times Oda has back-tracked the “5 years” statement, plus ending the series after 30 years seems like a proper fit. Nonetheless, Oda wrote the entire Summit War saga in only 100 chapters; if Oda was genuinely serious about his 5 year estimate this time around, it’s possible he could fit the ending into a 5 year time frame.

Setting aside when the story could reach its conclusion, One Piece is a story that isn’t going anywhere soon. With its intriguing narrative, loveable characters, and life-changing lessons, One Piece has made a massive impact on the pop culture world. Its entire story, no matter its ending, will for sure live on with the fans for a lifetime.