Commemorating the release of the 100th compiled book volume of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga today, a newspaper advertisement appeared in the Asahi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun, and Mainichi Shimbun on Friday, and it included a photo of Oda drawing at his workspace with the words, “The story is in the final stage. (物語 は 終盤 で す)”

Oda previously said in an interview in August 2020 that he plans to end the story in four or five years.

The editor for the series at Weekly Shonen Jump, Yuuji Iwasaki, spoke with Sankei News recently about how popular the series is, as well as the current state of the manga, including how far off the Wanokuni arc is from coming to a close.

Iwasaki revealed that the Wanokuni arc is reaching its climax, explaining that “when I talk with Oda-san, we always discuss the end of the story. The climax of Wanokuni is just around the corner. With the end in sight, all that remains is to keep moving forward.”

Additionally, the franchise’s official YouTube channel will stream the live Kono Hoshi de, Kibо̄ o Miyо̄ –We Are One.- (Let’s See Hope on This Star) special program on Friday featuring JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide — live from the International Space Station, One Piece fan and entertainer Miki, Kumi Sasaki of Hinatazaka46, and announcer Misato Ugaki.

The manga is commemorating its 100th volume with several projects like these. Other commemorative projects include a Where’s Waldo crossover, a voiced comic of Oda’s one-shot manga “Monsters,” an interview between the cast members of Luffy and two more ship captains, a reader mail-away offer for figures, the third Shokugeki no Sanji spinoff chapter, a new streaming program on the franchise’s YouTube channel, the free (for a limited time) release of the first 90 volumes, and the third One Piece Knowledge King test.

Oda began serializing the One Piece manga in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump manga on July 19, 1997. He published the 1,000th chapter in this year’s combined 5th/6th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on January 4.

Source: ANN, Crunchyroll