One Piece author Eiichiro Oda is responsible for the happiest moment of his previous editing career.
A popular One Piece news translator, who goes by the name sandman (or @SandmanAP) on Twitter, recounted the story to their followers. When the daughters of Habuta, Oda’s former editor, were born, the artist gave them a personalized illustration. The drawing shows Luffy grinning while holding an excited little girl while the other Straw Hat pirates cheer in the background. Habuta is said to have appreciated the gesture so much that he considers it the happiest moment of his editorial career.
One Piece creator’s dedication to his work
Oda’s dedication to his manga is demonstrated not only by his kindness to his staff, but also by the artist’s strict work schedule. Oda has previously talked about occasionally skipping meals for days while working on One Piece. He even continued to draw the series when he was hospitalized in 2013. @SandmanAP previously shared a colorful illustration that Oda is said to have drawn during his hospital stay, in including Luffy, Zoro, and several other main characters from the Dressarosa story portion of the series.
One Piece launched in Weekly Shonen Jump in July 1997, and the series is currently the #1 bestselling manga title of all time. As of June 2023, One Piece has sold over 516.6 million copies worldwide, bringing the manga series 200 million more than the second best seller, Golgo 13. The franchise has also achieved great success with some of its cinematic parts. One Piece Film: Red, which hits theaters in August 2022, is Japan’s highest-grossing film of the year, grossing over 19.70 billion yen (about $150.2 million at the time of release). The highest-grossing film, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, earned about 13.8 billion yen (about 105.25 million USD).
As for the franchise’s future projects, One Piece currently has a live-action adaptation in the works. Produced by Netflix and Tomorrow Studios, the series stars Inaki Godoy (The Imperfects) as Luffy, Mackenyu (live-action Rurouni Kenshin) as Roronoa Zoro, and Emily Rudd (Hunters) as Nami. Last month, Netflix released a new promotional image showcasing the live-action version of Luffy’s ship, the Going Merry, the ship’s flag, and Luffy’s iconic Straw Hat. After a reported difficult period of production, Eiichiro Oda clarified that the “entities” of all the chapters are now working in sync. The artist also stated that Netflix will not release the series until he is satisfied with the final product.
The One Piece manga is available in English from VIZ. The popular anime adaptation is available on Hulu, Netflix, and Crunchyroll.
Source: Twitter
