If you are a fan of One Piece, then you know what it is like to follow a franchise. The story first debuted back in July 1997 when Eiichiro Oda published it with Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump. Today, the iconic manga is still on-going as it’s accumulated more than 851 chapters. Paired with its acclaimed anime, One Piece shows no signs of slowing down in the near future, but the series will eventually come to an end. Earlier this year, Oda gave fans an update on the status of One Piece, and manga readers are now doing their best to anticipate when the end will come.

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This month, Oda wrote about the status of One Piece in the promotional newspaper Dai One Piece Shinbun. Right now, the mangaka says that his beloved series is about 65% done and that the Dressrosa Arc has all but come to an end after nearly three years. Now, the manga is finishing up its Whole Cake Island arc before moving into a new storyline featuring Wano Country and the Reverie Council. The newspaper further hinted that 2017 will be an important year for the One Piece manga and that fans should anticipate some big surprises.

Fans are excited to hear that there’s more One Piece to come, but they are already trying to anticipate when the manga will end. As such, fans have started doing the math, and the numbers will surely relieve some and strike fear into others.

Currently, there are 851 chapters of One Piece published. The latest volume to be published was number 83 which contains chapters 828-832. If Oda says the story is about 65% complete, then there is another 35% left to go. Doing the math, that gives fan another 300 or so chapters to go which means that One Piece could wrap up with a total of 135 volumes.

Depending on how quickly Oda and his fleet of artists work, One Piece could wrap up sooner than expected or stick to their previous pace. If the latter is true, One Piece might not end for a few more years. In the past, it has taken up to ten years to roll out more than 50 manga volumes, but routine is on Oda’s side these days. His team is used to pressing deadlines, so there is some level of automation there to help their goal along.

Looking at the numbers, one thing is at least clear: There is plenty of One Piece left to come. With only 65% of the manga complete, Oda has more stories to explore as Monkey D. Luffy continues his quest to become the Pirate King alongside his crew of Straw-Hat Pirates.

(Photo: Toei Animation )

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For many fans, this news is reassuring. One Piece will likely be around for another decade or more unless Oda really starts to pick up the pace. Right now, fans can only keep up with the long-running manga as its published and see where the visionary takes them as the years pass. After all, it’s not like Luffy would ever purposely lead you astray - well, usually.

[H/T] Crunchyroll