One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda joked that fans may need to “clean the bathtub” to earn extra money in order to afford the latest manga volume.
One Piece volume 115, which will hit the stands in Japan on July 3, will cost an extra 20 yen compared to the previous tankobon releases of the manga.
In light of this change, Oda wrote a message explaining the reason for the hike, while also apologizing to fans.
“I’m very sorry. Volume 115 costs 20 yen more! (Just this once.)”
He explained that the volume contains 13 chapters, the most ever collected in a single One Piece volume. According to Oda, a standard collected volume is typically made up of 10 chapters, and while he had previously managed to persuade the publisher not to raise the price for a 12-chapter volume, fitting in a 13th chapter made that impossible.
He added that the extra chapter was something he “absolutely had to include,” noting that the thicker book changes production and distribution costs.
“With 13 chapters, the thickness is completely different! It changes the number of trucks needed to transport the books and even the amount of ink the printers use!” Oda wrote.
He then playfully told readers that if they needed to make up the extra 20 yen, they might have to “clean the bathtub or something,” before adding, “I’m sorry—please do it. That extra chapter absolutely makes the volume more interesting!“
Oda concluded the message by teasing that volume 115 includes the story “up to that person’s appearance” before asking fans to look forward to its July 3 release.
One Piece began serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in July 1997. The manga has surpassed 600 million copies in circulation worldwide, while its television anime has aired continuously since 1999. The series is currently adapting the Elbaf arc.
A remake of the anime adaptation by WIT Studio is set to stream on Netflix starting February 2027.
