One Piece's creator Eiichiro Oda teases that an important character of his beloved series could die in 2023. As every year, the successful mangaka has shared a message for his fans during the One Piece panel at Jump Festa, which hinted at what's coming in the series over the next year. Oda's ominous words suggest that one or more characters could actually die in 2023.
Jump Festa is the annual convention held in Japan by Shueisha, the publisher of the Jump magazines where the most popular manga such as One Piece are serialized. Every year, one of the highlights of the event is the One Piece panel and the message that Eiichiro Oda shares with his fans all over the world. Each time, Oda's words hinted at a future development that actually happened in the manga the following year. With One Piece having already started the push toward its (still far away) conclusion, fans were even more eager than usual to have a clue about what is coming in the future.
Oda's message at Jump Festa 2023 began with a recap of all the great highlights that the year 2022 had for One Piece. The ending of the long and momentous Wano Arc and the release of One Piece Film: RED were of course the two major points. Oda then briefly addressed the other news shared during the panel, before reassuring his fans that, despite all his recent talk about the story currently being in the "final saga", they should not worry about it ending soon, and just enjoy the journey. Finally, regarding what's coming in the One Piece manga, Oda's message, translated by Artur - The Library Of Ohara, reads: "No way! That person and that person are going to fight? That's the type of story you can expect! If I were to give it a title, I'd call it a 'free for all battle royale'! I hope no one dies!"
Oda's Message Could Be Foreshadowing A Major Character's Death
The mention of an upcoming huge battle between several groups or individuals is exciting already, but what really stands out from the message is the final sentence: "I hope no one dies!". Surely it could just be a way to further hype up the big battle royale, but Oda's words almost always have a deeper meaning. In his message from last year, he asked fans to keep an eye on Luffy, and sure enough, the Straw Hat captain then awakened his Devil Fruit and debuted his Gear Fifth transformation. One Piece is infamous for the fact that its important characters never die, and when they appear to do, they come back later safe and sound. Perhaps Oda has decided to finally break this tradition, and shock his fans with the death of a major character in 2023.
Thinking about who is the most likely One Piece character that could die soon, Zoro's recent encounter with the apparition of Death comes to mind as a possible foreshadowing. It would be an absolutely incredible twist to see Zoro or another member of the Straw Hat Pirates actually die, but most fans are actually leaning towards Shanks, the powerful pirate who inspired Luffy to sail the seas and gave him his iconic straw hat, kicking off the incredible story of One Piece.
The translation of Eiichiro Oda's message used in this article was provided by Artur - The Library of Ohara.