Eiichiro Oda On Reaching 1,000 Chapters In One Piece

Image: © Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha Kotaku EastEast is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.

Back in July 1997, Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece began serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump. Now, twenty years later, it has become the biggest-selling manga series ever.

Last summer, it was announced that One Piece was entering its final arc, which should take four or five years to wrap up, and this month the manga reached its 1,000 chapter. That’s incredible.

Below is Oda’s latest letter to readers, marking the milestone.

Image: © Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha

The manga’s publisher Shueisha is also planning to release One Piece volume one to 71 free of charge through Shonen Jump + and the Zebrack app. It’s also asking readers to vote for their favorite One Piece character.