One Piece started serializing in 1997, and it is still going strong. The manga has been created by Eiichiro Oda, who is nothing short of a genius. Oda's ingenuity has enabled the series to flourish for more than two decades and every year, the fanbase keeps on increasing. There is no doubt that One Piece wouldn't have survived for such a long time if Oda wasn't so skilled. He has created a very vast world filled with fascinating characters, who have managed to keep fans intrigued.
One Piece recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, which is yet another milestone for Eiichiro Oda's manga. The official Twitter account for the series also revealed the cover for volume 103, and a new trailer for One Piece Film: Red has also been released. In another announcement, it was confirmed that the manga would be entering the final saga, which means that it won't be long til the fans get the answers to their questions. Suffice to say, this is arguably the best time to be a One Piece fan.
Coming To A Close
While there are perks of One Piece entering the final saga, it does have its cons as well. In a recent interview, Eiichiro Oda confirmed that he wants to end One Piece within the next three years. With the conclusion of the Wano Country arc, the series would have reached around 80% completion. On many occasions, Oda has pointed out that he never envisioned that his manga would be over a thousand chapters long. Time and time again, he had to add new characters, which ended up prolonging the story, but no one can complain about it since it led to the creation of some of the most fabulous characters in the series.
There is no need to start panicking as Oda does not have the best of records when it comes to giving the time frame of a specific arc. However, his estimates aren't highly inaccurate either, as many fans tend to think. It seems unlikely that Oda will wrap up the story within the next three years instead, a target of five to six years seems more realistic. Even though it will be saddening to see One Piece ending, the readers should be happy that Oda will finally be able to pay more attention to his health and do whatever he wants to do. He has been carrying the Shonen Jump on his back for a long time, and it is about time that he gets the rest that he deserves.
Another thing that Oda confirmed is how the series will end. Contrary to popular belief, the series will not end after a huge war instead, it will end once Luffy finds the One Piece, which means the huge war will take place before the treasure is discovered. This makes it clear that all the secrets will be revealed before the series reaches its culmination, and there won't be any loose ends that the readers would have to worry about.
The Final Saga
The final saga of One Piece is going to bring an end to the epic journey of Monkey D. Luffy and the rest of his crew. With two of the old Yonko being replaced, the world is already spiraling towards chaos. Before Kaido was defeated by Luffy, the latter managed to awaken his devil fruit due to a failed assassination attempt by one of the members of CP0. The awakening of Luffy's devil fruit led to several revelations, including that of his devil fruit.
Since the beginning of the series, the readers were under the impression that Luffy's devil fruit was nothing special, however, it was made known that it is in fact a mythical zoan type devil fruit. The actual name of the devil fruit is Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika. When Luffy awakened the devil fruit, Zunesha told Momonosuke that Joy Boy had returned. This falls in line with what Oda said in his notes about zoan type devil fruits.
Oda disclosed that if the user of a zoan type devil fruit uses the awakening for far too long, they will be consumed by the devil fruit. He gave the example of the jailers from Impel Down, who awakened their devil fruits, and eventually, lost the ability to turn back into their human forms. With this confirmation, it is clear that Luffy cannot overuse the awakening of his devil fruit, even though it is extremely overpowered as he will lose his identity.
So, Luffy cannot rely on the awakening all the time, so he needs to improve his Haki further. In addition to seeing Luffy accomplish his goal, the other main characters will play out their parts. Popular characters such as Shanks, Mihawk, Boa Hancock, etcetera., will finally get an opportunity to show off their strength, and the mysteries surrounding them will also be cleared. Furthermore, the battle between the World Government and Revolutionary Army will definitely add to the quality of the final saga. Things are moving at a rapid pace now, and it won't be long before the biggest secrets will be disclosed to the fans. One thing is for certain: One Piece will go down as one of the greatest pieces of fiction of all time.