Jump Festa 2023, which was held on Dec 17-18, 2022, had a special stage panel for Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga among others. And in this panel, a special message from the author was relayed to the fans who were in attendance.

He started off his message by joking that he was Eiichiro Uta, the world famous diva, before shifting his attention to how the series had fared in 2022. Highlighting the success of One Piece Film: Red and the end of Wano arc in the manga, Oda concluded that it was a very productive year for the franchise.

It wasn’t until the end of his message that Oda mentioned about the future of One Piece manga, and how it will shape up in the upcoming year, i.e. 2023. And according to the author himself, it will be nothing less than a surprise.

He continued his message saying that a battle between two certain characters will take place in One Piece manga next year, and that’s where the story is headed currently. He also hoped that no one would die in the manga.

Oda added that if it were up to him, he would call it A Great Chaotic War (some versions of the translation also called it a battle royale).

“Next year’s edition of the original One Piece manga will be in no way less than a surprise,” a translation of Oda’s message at Jump Festa 2023 read. “That guy is going to fight with that guy! It will be a story like that! If I had to give it a title, it would be The Great Chaotic War!”.

The author also allayed the fans’ fear about the manga’s impending end, saying that it will not end anytime soon.

“Although I was the one who hyped up the final arc, the story will not be over as quickly as I say, so I hope you will relax and read it with an easy mind,” Oda said in his message.

Oda had stated earlier this year One Piece manga had entered its final arc, and that he is all set to draw the mysteries in the world of One Piece that have been hidden till now.

One Piece is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha’s shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since July 1997, with its individual chapters compiled into 104 tankōbon volumes as of November 2022.

One Piece was the best-selling manga for eleven consecutive years from 2008 to 2018 and is the only manga that had an initial print of volumes of above 3 million continuously for more than 10 years, as well as the only one that had achieved more than 1 million copies sold in all of its 100 published tankōbon volumes.

Source: Twitter