One Piece Chapter 973 DELAYED Due To Eichiro Oda’s Sickness

One Piece creator, Eiichiro Oda, has been dealing with health issues in the past, which have caused him to push back the release of new chapters.

Fans have always been supportive of these hiatuses as it is well-known that Oda generally works himself too hard.

An official announcement was made informing people about Oda’s current health condition, which has forced him to take a week-long break. Chapter 973 will now be released on March 9.

READ: One Piece Chapter 973 – Raw Scans, Leaks, Theory & Other Updates

One Piece’s sudden break in Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #14 is due to its author, Eiichiro Oda, suddenly falling ill. pic.twitter.com/oTPHwmBJeo
— Weekly Shonen Jump (@WSJ_manga) February 27, 2020

Seeing the uproar of concern on social media regarding Oda’s health, Greg, a columnist for One Piece, tried to calm the fans down by informing them that it was not very serious and Oda will be up and running soon.

READ: One Piece Reveals The Legendary Death of Kozuki Oden & His Final Words

Oop! Looks like the rumors have finally hit the Net. Before they get ugly, *everything is fine*. Put away your candles and prayer beads. Just relax.
— Greg (@ochimusha108) February 25, 2020

Eiichiro Oda is a workaholic who has had health troubles in the past due to overworking himself. On an average day, he only sleeps for 3 hours. In an interview a couple of years ago,

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.

Naturally, fans are concerned about this news because of Oda’s habit of overworking himself to provide the best content possible.

The series will continue in Weekly Shonen Jump’s 14th issue, releasing on March 9. The next chapter will probably continue the story in the present timeline and address the absence of Luffy and the others before the battle on Onigashima.

About One Piece:

One Piece is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since July 22, 1997, and has been collected into 95 tankōbon volumes.

The man who had acquired everything in this world, the Pirate King, is Gol D. Roger. The final words he said at the execution tower were “My treasures? If you want it, I’ll let you have it. Look for it; I left all of it at that place.” These words sent many to the seas, chasing their dreams, headed toward the Grand Line, in search of One Piece. Thus began a new age!

Seeking to be the greatest pirate in the world, young Monkey D. Luffy also heads toward the Grand Line in search of One Piece. With his diverse crew joining him along the way, consisting of a swordsman, marksman, navigator, cook, doctor, archaeologist, and cyborg-shipwright, this will be one memorable adventure.