Oda Reveals How He Came Up With The Biggest Plot Twist In The Story

One Piece’s author, Eiichiro Oda, is known to be a meticulous planner, paying attention to every small detail in the story and planning years ahead. In fact, for certain things, Oda has planned decades in advance and that’s what makes him a very special author. Oda is also known to be absolutely incredible at foreshadowing. Using a bit of the story to hint at a much larger future event is where Oda truly shines.

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That said, despite all that, not every single decision that Oda has taken is a result of years of planning or deep foreshadowing. Sometimes, Oda just decides things on the go and this results in some of the biggest and most exciting plot twists in the whole story. In fact, the biggest plot twist in the series is a result of Oda planning things on the go. Previously, Oda revealed to the fans how he came up with a masterful shock in the series and it is safe to say that this reveal surprised the fans, especially since it was pertaining to one of the most beloved characters in the story, the pirate, Portgas D. Ace.

Oda’s Planning And The Art Of Foreshadowing

• Oda Loves To Plan In Advance
• Oda is the King of Foreshadowing

It is quite clear for the fans to see that if there’s one thing Oda loves, it is planning his story way in advance. Some plot advancements that happen in the final saga have already been set up long ago in the story, and this just goes to show that Oda loves to plan in advance. In fact, some of the biggest arcs in One Piece were set up by Oda years in advance. For instance, the Elbaf arc, which is currently going on, was actually set up by Oda about 2 decades ago, and this is just a small sign of how far ahead Oda truly looks.

The Wano Country Arc, which wrapped up just a few years ago, was set up by Oda around the Thriller Bark arc, and many interesting characters attached to the land, such as Ryuma, were also revealed to the fans. This might seem shocking, but it isn’t, when considering the fact that this is the bare minimum one expects from Oda. What’s shocking is the fact that Oda already has the final panel of One Piece planned, and has had it planned for about 3 decades now, which is absolutely staggering.

I’ve already decided on the last panel and how the last chapter will be. In the final saga, I’ll focus on not only Straw Hats but also on *events happening in the whole world*. The problem is how many years it will take to start the final saga. — Eiichiro Oda, 1999

Clearly, Oda is a master in this regard, but that’s not all. Oda is also a genius when it comes to foreshadowing. While setting up things in advance is one thing, Oda loves to drop small bits in the story that lead to massive events in the future. For instance, Sabo’s death being foreshadowed by Ace’s tattoo, or, most famously, Oda foreshadowing that Sanji was actually a Prince long before the timeskip even happened. One of One Piece’s biggest foreshadowings came through Ace’s Vivre card, which was said to burn if the owner would be in danger and lead one to the owner, and that’s how the Paramount War, the biggest war so far in the Great Pirate Era, happened. Even Smile Devil Fruits were foreshadowed by Oda long before the timeskip, during the Sabaody Archipelago arc through Doflamingo. More recently, Oda clearly foreshadowed Momonosuke having time traveled during the Zou arc, and the biggest of all, Skypiea foreshadowing Luffy being the Sun God quite clearly when he saved the country and defeated Enel.

Why Writing Doesn’t Have To Be All Planned Out

Writing As The Story Goes Is Perfectly Fine

There is absolutely no denying the fact that an author planning things years in advance and then delivering exactly that is impressive. However, it would be disingenuous to say that it is absolutely necessary for a story to be handled in that way. There are multiple ways of writing and no way of writing is superior to the other. Primarily, writers choose one of the two styles.

There are some who often resemble architects. They plan everything in advance, just like how architects work on a house.

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In many ways, Oda can fit in this department. Then, there are the gardeners who plant a seed and observe it, not knowing how many branches the plant will have and how big it’ll grow. They just water it and go with the flow. One style isn’t superior to the other, and in many ways, Oda often fits in this category as well. This is clearly evident from the fact that Oda made many big decisions at the last moment, such as introducing the 11 Supernova in Sabaody Archipelago, making Vivi a Princess in Arabasta, or even making Rob Lucci the main villain of the Water 7 Saga. But, the biggest of all was, quite clearly, Oda deciding that Roger was going to be Ace’s very own father.

How Oda Decided Ace Was Roger’s Son

Oda Simply Came Up With It At The Last Moment

Fans might be surprised to know that Ace was never planned to be Roger’s son, even though it might’ve felt like he was. The decision to make Ace Roger’s son actually came about around the Paramount War Saga. Oda simply asked his editor what he would think if it was revealed that Ace was Roger’s son, and he liked his reaction enough to actually incorporate it into the story. This was revealed directly from Oda’s Editor during an Editor’s Talk Show in 2017.

Then, Oda hinted at Ace being Roger’s son around the Impel Down arc, and eventually, Marineford was when Oda made it known to all the fans that Ace was actually Roger’s very own blood and not Luffy’s blood brother. This plot twist is, by far, one of One Piece’s biggest, if not the biggest of all time.

Clearly, not everything needs to be planned in advance and no one writing style is better than the other. It all depends on how the author writes a certain decision that they take into the story and how convincing it is.

One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus apps. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1143, is set to be March 23, 2025.

One Piece

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

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  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

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  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)