New art has been released to promote One Piece's upcoming 1000th episode.
The new art was revealed on the official One Piece website, which also teased further announcements and celebrations as the show nears its big 1000th episode milestone. The new illustration expands on the previously released teaser image -- Luffy and the the governor-general Kaidou are still doing battle in the center of the image, but the new art now features the rest of the Straw Hat Pirate crew and their opponents, the Beast Pirates. The two competing bands of pirates will clash in the epic battle of Onigashima, which will be depicted in the currently airing season of the One Piece anime. The landmark 1000th episode of the series is currently scheduled to air in Japan on Nov. 21, barring any unforeseen delays.
2021 has been an eventful year for Eiichiro Oda's One Piece franchise: in addition to the upcoming 1000th episode, the manga published its 1000th chapter earlier this year and also released its 100th collected volume this summer, which immediately managed to sell over 1 million copies in Japan within its first week of release. The new volume cemented One Piece's place as the best-selling manga series of all time: the manga has almost half-a-billion copies in circulation worldwide, and it was recently revealed that each of its 100 volumes have sold at least one-million copies individually. Weekly Shonen Jump published Shuiesha has celebrated the series recent milestones a number of ways: over the course of the year, the company released special "cover chapters" of Oda's manga that were redrawn by other popular manga creators, and also produced the "We Are One" videos, a series of live-action shorts that explored the cultural impact of One Piece on multiple generations of fans. The "We Are One" shorts also featured newly reanimated scenes of the series' most iconic moments.
One Piece was created by Eiichiro Oda in 1997 and despite now being over 24 years old, it still continues to dominate the best-selling manga charts and the anime, which debuted in 1999, still continues to top Japanese TV ratings. Despite the franchise's continued growth in popularity and acclaim, Oda has hinted that Luffy's long journey may finally be nearing its conclusion. An advertisement for the 100th volume recently stated that the series has begun its "final stage." While the beloved anime and manga may soon reach their climax, One Piece may catch a second wind with its upcoming live-action TV series, which is being produced by Netflix and Tomorrow Pictures, the studio that is also behind the upcoming live-action Cowboy Bebop remake. The new series will be executive produced by Oda.
Source: One Piece Official Website