One Piece fans received a bit of a scare this month when it was revealed that series creator Eiichiro Oda was suffering from a "poor physical health condition." Specific details were not provided, but his conditions were bad enough to cause the manga to be delayed.
Taking to the official One Piece social media channels, the series staff has now provided a promising update on Oda's health. Although we still don't know his ailment, the staff confirmed that Oda's health "is now improving."
The post also confirmed that One Piece will be on hiatus in Weekly Shonen Jump issues 51 (on sale November 18th) and 52 (on sale November 25th). The series will resume with chapter #1132 in the New Yar's Issue #1 on sale December 2nd.
The hard-working Oda has previously shared with fans that his blood is something he needs to keep an eye on, confirming that his doctor would send him blood pressure numbers "every day" to make sure that he was knowledgeable about his health status. We're not sure if his health scare was related to this, but thankfully it sounds like he's on the mend.
Unfortunately, health complications are often associated with manga and anime artists. Back in 2015, Oda detailed his grueling work schedule, revealing he would start work at 5:00 a.m. and continue working throughout the day, only taking breaks for eating until he went to bed at 2:00 a.m. And while he's a legend in the industry, he's hardly the only one putting in those kinds of hours.
Oda was only 22 years old when One Piece debuted. He's now 49 years old, so a schedule like that has certainly taken its toll on his body. Again, hopefully, this was nothing major regarding his health and he continues to recover quickly.
Prior to this break, the One Piece manga had just returned from another hiatus in late October when Oda went to work on the second season of Netflix's live-action One Piece series. Filming is currently underway on the second season of the hit live-action series and while Oda is not necessarily the one in charge, he does appear to be serving as a supervisor. He previously revealed a verbal pledge between himself and the show's creators that they would not release new episodes until he was "satisfied." Perhaps with all the travel and such, his body just needed a break — but that's purely my own speculation.
In any case, we can look forward to the One Piece manga returning in December.