One Piece is coming to an end. Or, at least, it will be sometime in the future – the last estimate we got was five years, which may or may not happen given the current trajectory of the story. In any case, an advertisement for the latest issue of One Piece magazine, volume 10, shows that it is themed around the idea of “rereading” the series in preparation for “the final chapter” – something which may or may not be a good idea depending on how long you have been following Eiichiro Oda’s series for.
Set to release September 4, volume 10 of the One Piece Magazine contains “advice” on how to reread the series in preparation for the climax, as well as “checklist” of around 190 “key points” and “unresolved” mysteries that will encourage readers to engage with the series “on a deeper level.” It also contains the first chapter of Dr. STONE and Sun Ken Rock artist Boichi’s novel A adaptation, which was announced in the last issue.
The One Piece Magazine releases irregularly and contains various articles, interviews, and light novel and manga spin offs in a magazine-book or “mook” format. Despite launching in 2017, however, this is the most exciting issue so far and has caused quite a splash on social media. Nevertheless, we should keep a cool head.
In the first place, the phrase “final chapter” sounds a lot more imminent in English than it does in Japanese. The kanji used in the advertisement is 章 (shou, chapter) as opposed to 編 (hen, arc), which roughly corresponds to the idea of “sagas” in the English fandom. Essentially, what One Piece Magazine volume 10 is suggesting is that readers simply start the process of rereading now, especially given how much there is to cover.
This might not be such a bad idea. One of the unique things about shonen manga and serialized stories in general is that readers can grow up besides them, meaning that you may or may not have been following One Piece for several decades at this point. Memories also do fade over time, and Oda always crams so much detail into every panel – getting into the rereading process now will give you plenty of time to prepare well for the climax, whenever it does come.