“My characters don’t know they need to hype up”: One Piece creator Oda under pressure for Chapter 1000

One Piece is the best-selling and one of the most beloved mangas of all time, and Eiichiro Oda is often credited as one of the greatest mangakas of his time. But even he is not exempt from the stress and the burden of expectations that all popular mangakas go through, especially during the release of the 1000th chapter of the One Piece manga.

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Mangaka Eiichiro Oda had difficulties coming up with the celebratory drawings of One Piece Chapter 1000

One Piece is one of 13 mangas to have reached the 100th volume mark, along with having 1000 chapters, in the history of the media. One Piece has been Shueisha Publication’s best-selling title for more than a decade, and one of the cornerstones of their Weekly Shonen Jump. So, it is understandable that they would want to celebrate the release of its 1000th chapter in a grand way.

However, as an artist, Oda was less concerned with the number of chapters and more with the content. Indeed, his character design, attention to detail, plot continuity, and most specifically, his world building in One Piece, have always been praised by fans and critics alike. And Chapter 1000 does not compromise on that, as Luffy, along with Zoro, Kid, Trafalgar Law, Eustass Kid, and Killer arrive on the dome roof to confront Kaido and Big Mom.

However, as Oda reveals in One Piece Magazine Volume 13, he did not realize that he had to draw or make something special for One Piece Chapter 1000, and only came to this realization after he had finished drawing Chapter 980. As his editors at Shueisha started to plan for the big celebrations, Oda gradually felt the pressure of having to create something different that would be worth the hype, and with One Piece being as popular as it is, the hype was impossibly high. But Oda’s difficulty lied in the fact that, as he himself said:

“(I)n reality, Luffy and my characters don’t know they need to hype up their audience for Chapter 1000. They are just acting for their own purposes.”

One Piece characters in high school (image via Viz)

However, despite the pressure, Oda masterfully lived up to the hype by drawing three incredible cover arts for three consecutive volumes, as well as one for the Shounen jump cover, and the chapter itself. One includes the characters in modern-day high school uniforms, while the Shonen Jump cover integrates the cast of One Piece with characters from other titles currently being issued in Weekly Shonen Jump, including Ishigami Senku from Dr Stone, Midoriya Izuku from My Hero Academia, Asta from Black Clover, and Itadori Yuuji from Jujutsu Kaisen.

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Cover of One Piece chapter 1000 (image via Viz)

While the 1000th chapter is something unprecedented and joyous to the readers and publishers, it is unrelated to the One Piece story itself, and as the mangaka, Oda is acutely aware of that. But it is also true that these celebratory art designs allowed him to draw his characters in settings that are not usually feasible for him within the premise of the story.

However, fans might argue that the most prominent celebration of the 1000th chapter of One Piece was the title, which captured the heart and soul of the series in three words, Straw Hat Luffy (Mugiwara no Rufi).