Original author Eiichiro Oda said he will temporarily suspend operations for “maintenance”.
The official Twitter account for the One Piece series announced on Thursday that Eiichiro Oda will be taking a break from his One Piece manga for three weeks, starting with the 18th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump which will release on April 1. The manga will return in the magazine's 21st issue on April 22. The manga will still appear in issue 17 of the magazine, which will launch next Monday.
[読者の皆様へ] 「週刊少年ジャンプ」18号~20号までの『ONE PIECE』休載のお知らせと尾田栄一郎先生の直筆メッセージ#ONEPIECE
▼メッセージはこちらhttps://t.co/2QwY71tC3B pic.twitter.com/DM6twNVeaK
— ONE PIECE.com(ワンピース) (@OPcom_info) March 21, 2024
Oda himself wrote a handwritten statement (pictured above) about the hiatus. In it, he said that after the death of Dragon Ball manga creator Akira Toriyama, he began to feel “extremely” anxious and worried. He clarified that he wasn't sick or anything like that, and added that he wanted people to see it as Oda himself being “under maintenance”. Oda added that he will take time to think about “what One Piece really is”.
Toriyama died on March 1 from an acute subdural hematoma. He was 68 years old.
Oda wrote a condolence after announcing Toriyama's death, saying “the hole [Toriyama] left too big” and expressed his admiration for Toriyama as well as the sadness he felt he had never had. see him again.