The official One Piece newspaper, released to celebrate this weekend’s release of the movie One Piece: Film Gold, includes an interview with Eiichiro Oda and a look at his current work space. It also reveals the current status of the One Piece manga, which has already stirred much debate in the One Piece community.

In the interview, Oda was asked about his current health:

“Interviewer: Four years ago, you told us, ‘I’ll be fine with just coffee and coke,’ but we’ve heard that you’ve become more health conscious and began drinking lots of water. Oda: I try to drink two liters of water a day. Just drink some water and you’ll be fine…flush everything away. Interviewer: We’ve also heard that you’ve begun using fitness equipment. Oda: I intentionally placed it to block the way between the staff’s room and my room. This way, I’ll have to use it. But I keep stubbing my pinky toe, it hurts (laughs).”

The interview goes on to address his notoriously strenuous sleeping schedule:

“Interviewer: Four years ago, you told us, ‘I go to bed at 2:00 a.m. and wake up at 5:00 a.m. to work on the manuscript. I’ve been doing this for 15 years, so it really affects my body.’ Have you increased your hours of sleep? Oda: Basically…it hasn’t changed. I work towards my deadlines, so I’m just as busy as when I was younger, and I’ve managed to pull it off each time with three hours of sleep. And if I do sleep more hours, I’ll have to take those hours away from something else I have to do. I don’t like that, so my hours haven’t changed. If I decide that I’m going to sleep for four hours, it makes me dread that I’ll have to sleep an extra hour. But after turning in the manuscript, I give myself one day to get plenty of sleep. I used to catch up on sleep like this since I was younger, so that’s where I adjust everything and leave everything else a mess.”

Eiichiro Oda was hospitalized back in 2014. Prior to his hospitalization that year he said:

“Ever since last year, when I’d get tired, the body part in my throat called ‘tonsils’ would start to swell up. It really interfered with my work so this operation’s in order to remove those tonsils. But since I’m going to go under the knife, I think I might as well ask them to add bazookas to my shoulders. I’ll be back with a stronger body that’ll be able to take on all the different jobs I’ll be doing in the second part of this year. I’ll soon come back so please do come hang around again!”

Since that time, Oda has been taking more frequent breaks to recuperate, and according to his comments in Weekly Shonen Jump and this interview, he began exercising more frequently.

A huge thanks to Alison for translating this interview, and to William for translating the interview from 2014.

SOURCE: The One Piece Newspaper