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One Piece Creator: The End is Near, But Series Will Be Just Over 100 Volumes

One Piece manga creator Eiichiro Oda revealed during his appearance in Fuji TV's Honma dekka!? program on Wednesday that the ending of the manga is "near" and that the manga will have "just over 100 volumes." Oda noted that he had thought about the manga's ending since he was still in college. In addition, the show's host Sanma Akashiya also asked Oda what would happen if a fan managed to guess the same ending that Oda is writing. Oda replied that he would change the ending.

Akashiya also asked Oda about the goal of the main characters in the story, the titular "One Piece" treasure. Akashiya asked if the treasure was "family bonds," and Oda replied, "No, I hate that kind of thing." Oda elaborated, saying, "That's like the ending of The Wizard of Oz, which I watched when I was a kid. Adventuring that long, and having the adventure itself be the treasure, is really dissatisfying. Those kinds of stories are impossible. It feels like, 'I've gone on this long adventure, so give me the treasure!'"

Oda said in an interview in July 2016 that he had finished around 65% of the manga. Oda began serializing the manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997, and the manga has been published in more than 30 countries. Shueisha released the manga's 91st compiled book volume on December 4, and Viz Media released the 88th volume on November 6.

OnePiece.com and V Jump columnist Greg Werner weighed in on Oda's recent announcement. He reminded fans to put less stake in the manga creator's claims remarking that series will "continue for some time" and that Oda himself will tell stories "tongue-in-cheek and for the shock value."

Source: Sponichi Annex via Otakomu