Why the manga will end sooner than you expect

One Piece definitely gets better and better as Oda sets the stage for the final war. With the Elbaph Arc bringing massive revelations and ending now, fans are excited for the next developments of One Piece. There has been much debate not only about how the Final Saga is likely to unfold, but also when the manga will finally reach its conclusion.

As Oda has made several “incorrect” predictions over the past few years, fans have become increasingly skeptical that the manga would actually end before 2030. But now there are some reasons to believe that One Piece may indeed reach its climax sooner than most fans imagine.

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One Piece: Eiichiro Oda reveals his original plans for One Piece's ending

Oda has some exciting plans for One Piece's ending. He reveals his original plans for the series.

Oda wants to finish One Piece “Soon”

Eiichiro Oda has said for years that he wants to finish the story “soon”, and has also given multiple “deadlines” in many interviews. For example, in 2018 he said that he intended to finish the story within five years, but as we can see, it went in a different direction. He also stated that around 80% of the story would be complete by the end of the Wano Arc. Of course, even if the writer has a good idea of ​​what's going to happen in the final arc (and it's clear that Oda has already defined how many things will take place), when they sit down to actually write it chapter by chapter, it's common to realize that the scope of events is greater than previously thought.

Anyway, One Piece is already in Final Saga. The remaining question is how long it will be before the manga actually reaches the end. Oda has already released some “spoilers” of his plans, as he has stated several times that it will be a massive war that will make the Summit Wars, the “pinnacle” of the manga for many, look like child's play. Therefore, while it may take a while, manga is really over.

Imu Descending Upon Elbaph is a big twist

The Elbaph Arc started out as something big, as it immediately followed Egghead, which was clearly a transition. Therefore, fans had no doubts that this arc would deliver massive revelations. Furthermore, this phase was expected to set the stage for the war, but not necessarily to be immediately followed by the Great War itself. While this may still be true, a few things changed in the last few chapters, as an unexpected event occurred: Imu decided to leave Mary Geoise for a short time, to descend on Elbaph.

While Elbaph has been high stakes since the beginning, fans have wondered why it seemed like this arc didn't have a clear antagonist. Usually, each arc has a “main villain”, and since Imu is seen as the big villain of the story, fans expected him to confront the main characters later. Now that Imu has officially stepped into the role of the arc's primary villain, a massive fight against him is inevitable. However, the outcome could go one of these ways: Imu will either have to retreat, given that he seems weakened on Elbaph, or he will still be so strong that he will force the Straw Hats to retreat. Either way, the stakes will climb even higher, as Luffy will likely find a strong reason to actively want to overthrow the world government.

Will One Piece end before 2030?

Given the pace of the Final Saga, many fans now expect the story to end in 2030 or even later. Oda has seemingly avoided giving new forecasts, likely because his previous ones failed. In addition, One Piece has grown even larger in recent years. While this could be a sign that major players expect the story to continue for a few years, it also raises the hype for the end of the current anime, the new anime adaptation (which will likely cut back on fillers), and the live-action series. These are three projects that depend on Oda finishing the story. Keeping the series going for another ten years would likely especially complicate the production of both the remake and the live-action.

On top of that, Imu's arrival in Elbaph seems to change things considerably, as it gives a sense that the final war will be imminent. If some fans initially thought that a transition arc would follow this arc, it now appears that the war will begin right after Elbaph ends. Oda has stated that this arc would end in 2026, and perhaps sooner than many initially thought. While there's no official word yet, it certainly feels like Oda is aiming to wrap it all up within the next four years; there's even a chance we'll see the finale well before 2030.

The anime has started covering the Elbaph Arc

As Elbaph winds down in the manga, the anime is just starting to adapt this arc. The first batch of episodes will air in the spring 2026 season, with the first episode premiering on April 5. Once this course is complete, the next batch is expected to start around September. So far, episodes are only released with subs, but an English dub will probably be released in a few months.

One Piece

Release date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

Author

Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda

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  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

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  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)