One Piece fans have offered their support and encouragement to series creator Eiichiro Oda after the mangaka apologized for a recent delay in the manga’s publishing schedule.
As the manga continued to march towards its historic 1000th chapter, the Weekly Shonen Jump editorial team announced earlier this month that One Piece would be taking an abrupt two-week break due to “Oda suddenly falling ill.”
Following this break, One Piece triumphantly returned to publication in the latest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, dropping readers right back into the fight between the Nine Red Scabbards and Kaido for the soul of Wano.
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In the author’s comments section of the latest WSJ, Oda apologized to his fans for the delay, stating “No excuses allowed! I’m so, so sorry to everyone. Thank you for all your positive thoughts. I’ll do better!”
Despite the abrupt delay and the potential issues this scheduling disruption may cause to Oda’s plan to release “chapter 1,000 by the end of the year,” fans responded positively to Oda’s apology and encouraged him to keep working towards the series’ milestone chapter.
“No apology needed,” said user @D_Kumii.
@Akagami_waled noted that Oda “has been dropping 10/10 chapters for a year, and he still apologizing because he was sick” and declared the mangaka to be “my GOAT”.
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User @piratequeen_ya found themselves “shocked” that Oda would “say sorry and “I’ll do better”.
“Come on man,” they wrote. “We want you happy and healthy, stop this mindset!”
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“You apologize to no one Oda,” said @NervrSprout, a reference to Aragorn’s command to the hobbits at the end of the Lord of the Rings.
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@FatBaxxter voiced an opinion held by many One Piece fans, saying that “if this man dies on us I swear to god I’ll become an evil villain and destroy every inconsiderate weeb that it’s [sic] pushing Goda”.
Chapter 992 of One Piece is currently available to read on Viz Media’s official website.