One Piece's Creator Confirms the Series' Past 25 Years Don't Matter

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Manga author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda took to social media to provide an update on his plans for One Piece once it comes back from hiatus later this month. Interestingly, the update contains more than a few surprises, including the idea that a new reader can jump in without having read the last 25 years' worth of stories.

First published in July 1997, the story of Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates' quest for the legendary Pirate King Gol D. Roger's One Piece treasure, is one of the longest-running manga in the history of the medium. In addition, with nearly half a billion copies in circulation, it is the best-selling manga of all time. Needless to say, over the 25 years of its existence, it has grown to become one of the most beloved comics in the world. Earlier this summer, however, One Piece publisher Shueisha announced plans to wind down and conclude the series after the next story arc.

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The biggest surprise of Eiichiro Oda's message on One Piece's final arc is his comment that, despite having written and illustrated more than 1,000 chapters of an intricately complex story with hundreds of characters, Oda doesn't believe fans will have missed anything if they start reading the manga with the next chapter. On the one hand, this news will surely be encouraging to anyone who is interested in followingOne Piece but is scared off by the thought of having to read through the manga's 25 years of content to «catch up.» On the other hand, the comment can't help from being a little disconcerting for die-hard fans who have conscientiously followed it from the start. What are they to think of the time and effort they put into reading,