Even with the coming and going of several new hit series over the years, One Piece has remained one of the most popular manga and anime properties in both Japan and the West. Unfortunately for the franchise's most avid fans, however, they won't be able to get their fix of the series for a little bit.
For varying reasons, both the One Piece manga and anime are going on a temporary sabbatical. Both formats have delays like this fairly regularly, but the newest pushbacks are not for the viral reasons that many might suspect.
The Manga's Delay
Fans might jump to the conclusion that the delays for the manga and anime might be due to the continually heightened threat of the coronavirus, which has been causing disruptions throughout that part of the world. Weekly Shonen Jump has confirmed, however, that while the manga is going on a break because creator Eiichiro Oda has become sick, it doesn't appear to be anything related to the fast-spreading virus.
Jump made this announcement in the manga's latest chapter for Weekly Shonen Jump #14, so this means that Oda should be able to make a full recovery and be able to produce the next chapter for Issue #15. Other recent breaks for the manga have been because of holidays, like New Years Day, which also caused breaks for Black Clover and Dragon Ball Super. Sadly, many incidents in the past similar to this one concerning Oda's health have been caused inarguably by the creator overworking himself. Hopefully he uses this time as an opportunity to rest and take it easy for once.
The Anime's Delay
Concerns over coronavirus halting production haven't affected the One Piece anime, either, but the show is still getting delayed for a bit. The latest episode aired on February 23rd, but the next episode won't air a week later. Instead, March 1st will begin a series of marathon races, which will be very popular in Japan. To make way for what is sure to dominate ratings on Japanese television, One Piece is moving out of the way for two entire weeks.
The news does reveal that the show will thankfully return to the air on March 15th. On that date, the show will be at its 924th episode, making it one of the longest-running anime series' of the modern era. Again, breaks like this are common for the show, in spite of its popularity. In fact, its most recent break before this was between December 22nd and January 5th.