Conflicting reports leave ‘One Piece’ fans scrambling for answers amid fears for Eiichiro Oda’s health

These past few days have been a rollercoaster of emotions for One Piece fans. On one hand, the anime is on a six-month break — right in the middle of the Egghead arc. New episodes won’t arrive until April 2025, making this one of the longest — if not the longest — breaks in the history of the anime.

If that wasn’t enough to break our hearts into tiny pieces, the One Piece manga also just had a two-week-long break. And as it appears, it’s about to enter another dry spell. But before you jump to conclusions, we’re fully supportive of Eiichiro Oda taking as many breaks as he needs — however, conflicting reports have added even more fuel to the fire, leaving fans concerned regarding this sudden pause, and whether it is real or not.

The first of notice came on November 11, when fans noticed that Shueisha had issued a delay in the One Piece schedule. It indicated that instead of a November 17 release, chapter 1132 would drop on December 1. Shortly afterward, however, Shueisha updated the release date again, reverting to the original schedule. This led fans to assume it was simply a database error, and that the chapter would still be released on the originally-scheduled date.

In this already confusing situation, fans started speculating on social media — after all, Oda rarely takes unplanned breaks, and retracting such an announcement as an apparent mistake was even weirder. But it didn’t end there. Just a few hours ago, Shueisha officially confirmed that the manga would not only be on break this week but also next week, returning on December 1.

The notice also confirmed everyone’s fears and suspicions: Oda’s health isn’t at its best. One Piece fans are all too familiar with the author’s tireless attempts to delivering chapters week after week. It’s no coincidence that for 26 years, One Piece has held the title of the best-selling manga in history — thanks entirely to Oda’s relentless work and talent. However, this dedication comes at a cost. On more than one occasion, the One Piece creator has been forced to take breaks following emergency hospital visits.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time a manga author’s health is at risk. Akira Toriyama, the author of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, passed away earlier this year from an acute subdural hematoma, inspiring other authors like Eiichiro Oda to be more mindful of their own health. Yoshihiro Togashi, author of Hunter x Hunter, is also chronically ill, and he often takes long breaks due to severe back pain, which affects his ability to draw on a daily basis.

Health issues seem to impact manga creators more than your average creator, but given Japan’s intense work culture, it’s not entirely surprising. This grind isn’t confined to office workers — even the biggest manga authors are affected by the relentless drive to meet deadlines. Creators like Oda are in a constant state of stress, working tirelessly to produce quality chapters on time.

With stories like One Piece, which have an intricate and expansive lore, this task becomes even more challenging. In fact, a quick look at the latest chapter, chapter 1131, reveals the level of detail Oda maintains. In this recent chapter, Luffy finally reaches Elbaph — first mentioned in chapter 116 — and there, he meets Loki, the Prince known as “the shame of Elbaph.”

Meanwhile, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Zoro, and Chopper are also in Elbaph, running on a bridge away from something that we still have no idea what it is. Amidst all this chaos, Jinbe, Brook, Robin, and Franky are on the Giants’ ship, with Brook giving Robin a haircut. The chapter ended on a cliffhanger, after Sault fell — and we won’t know the answers until December 1. Get well soon, Oda!