Oda’s Health Worsens As One Piece Goes On A Hiatus

This article contains spoilers from One Piece’s Elbaf Arc.

Key Takeaways

• Oda’s Health Worsens
• One Piece is Returning in December

One Piece has enjoyed quite a lot of complications in 2024, and this year was not the best for Oda himself. Although the content that Oda delivered was absolutely top-notch and undeniably, some of the most incredible things in the entire story were illustrated by him this year, in terms of driving the story forward with as many chapters as possible, this was not Oda at his best.

At the same time, fans also know that Oda suffered from several health-related issues during this year, which meant that breaks were more frequent than ever before. More recently, Oda took a 2-week long break, and this followed his trip to South Africa. Now, it appears that Oda has suffered from a health-related complication that has forced him to go on yet another break, leaving the fans incredibly worried about his health.

One Piece Confirmed To Take A Sudden Break

• Oda’s Health Worsens
• One Piece Will Return In December

Oda recently took a 2-week long break, and it is believed that this break was simply due to him having a busy schedule. As fans know, Oda is working on multiple projects, even though the manga is his priority. He recently headed to South Africa, where he gave his input on the live-action season 2. This trip was largely fun for Oda, but immediately after, he was back to work. After a 2-week break from Jump, Oda returned with chapter 1131, and shocked the fans. Naturally, fans were incredibly hyped by the chapter that Oda dropped and were already looking forward to a run, hoping that Oda would at least drop three before taking another break. That is the schedule that Oda usually follows, and that is what fans expected from him. However, earlier this week, fans were utterly confused by there being a lack of leaks from various sources. It was then revealed that One Piece would not get a chapter this week, leaving the fans perplexed, given that there was no announcement about any break whatsoever in the previous Jump issue.

Furthermore, the official publisher of One Piece, Shueisha, originally changed the date of One Piece’s return to December 1, 2024, but, a day later, they switched it back to November 17, 2024, leaving fans more confused than ever before.

At this point, there were multiple ideas floating around the internet, with some stating that One Piece would only return in December, while others taking Manga Plus and Shueisha in general to be the most accurate source and hoping that a chapter would drop later this week. With more information about this week’s Jump magazine now being published, fans are well aware of the fact that there will be no One Piece manga this week.

It was announced earlier today that One Piece chapter 1132 will be released officially on December 1, 2024. This means that One Piece has already dropped its last chapter for the month of November, and fans have another 2-week wait ahead of themselves.

I have no fear of running out of manga ideas. I am confident that if I think hard, I can come up with good ideas. There is only the battle to keep my lifespan from running out before One Piece reaches the final chapter. – Oda

Naturally, the thing that fans are most concerned with is the reason for the break, and, it is just as readers had feared. The reason why Oda is taking a break this time around is because of his health condition. It is believed that Oda’s health suddenly deteriorated, which led to him taking a break from Jump for an extended period of time. Given that this was a 2-week break instead of one, the general consensus is that this issue isn’t all that small. Oda has been suffering from many health-related complications over the years, and, naturally, as he ages more, these health-related complications grow significantly. Still, Oda takes good care of his body and does what he can, but, working in Jump, especially for as long as he has, will inevitably wear him down, as it has, clearly.

Oda’s Health Problems Over The Years

Oda’s Health-Related Issues Are Getting Worse With Time

Just like any other person, Oda has his fair share of problems to deal with. But, all his problems are compounded by working in a magazine that disregards the health of all its authors. Japan’s manga industry is known to be relentless, as authors are forced to churn out chapter after chapter every week, provided they work in a weekly run magazine. Oda has been working there since 1997, and given that he has been there for 30 years now, one can understand the toll that One Piece’s serialization has taken on his body.

It has already been confirmed that often, Oda only sleeps for 3 hours a day and spends a significant portion of his time focused on his manga in one way or another. Oda doesn’t even spend all of his time with his family and lives in his own studio, where he Is keenly focused on producing quality One Piece chapters for readers all over the world. Of course, fans get the quality that they want every week, but this comes at a huge price of Oda isolating himself, and, on top of that, his body deteriorating as well.

Over the years, Oda has had many health-related complications. It has already been revealed that Oda suffers from diabetes and, at the same time, high blood pressure as well. His doctor has even recommended a special regimen to him in order to ensure that he’s able to improve his health as much as possible. On top of all these troubles, Oda also suffers from gout, which is yet another complication to add to the list. Above all, Oda’s blood pressure, which is constantly high, is a cause of concern even among his doctors, despite Oda trying his best to downplay the reality of the situation.

Clearly, Oda is focused on doing his best for all the fans, and to do justice to the story that he loves so much. However, all this is coming at the expense of his own health, and now, Oda has suffered once again. It might be hard for the fans to come to terms with, but Oda’s weekly serialization of One Piece isn’t sustainable anymore. His health has deteriorated tremendously over the years, and where he used to drop six chapters in a row, now, he struggles with dropping half that number.

Fans can only hope that Oda recovers quickly and starts taking care of his health for the better. In the long run, Oda needs to stop dropping weekly chapters and switch to simply dropping two chapters in a month or month or, a monthly schedule with much longer chapters. Of course, all these things are not easy to pull off, due to the intricacies of the Jump magazine and all the stakeholders, but, for an author of Oda’s special status, this can certainly be made possible.

When Will One Piece Return?

For now, One Piece is set for a return on December 1, 2020. This means that fans will have to endure a slight wait before the manga returns, and then heads on break again during the holidays.