Eiichiro Oda is the author of One Piece and is responsible for all the fantastic pirate adventures. However, the manga almost didn’t happen because he had a problem with his first work.
What was the problem? Oda compiled his early mangas in the short story collection WANTED!. The collection includes stories like Monsters, which has become an anime on Netflix.
However, the author had only 3 days left before the submission deadline, during which he had to fill 7 blank pages. This is how Oda tells it himself in the short story collection (via onepiece.ria10.com).
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t have been a problem for the manga artist. However, at that time, he suffered a car accident while sitting in the passenger seat on his way to school. Oda was only 17 years old at the time.
According to the manga artist, the other car was 100% at fault. He himself was hit by a mirror, which left his face and shirt covered in blood. Afterwards, the author even had to go to the hospital, but he still managed to submit the script on time.
Oda ignores pain to finish the precursor to One Piece
How did he manage that? Oda begged the doctor in the hospital to let him out earlier. However, the doctor remained stubborn, and the One Piece author had to stay there for another day. In the end, he had only one day left to finish the 7 pages.
As the manga artist reveals, he managed to do it despite the pain. The manuscript was stamped with the valid postal stamp and submitted on time. However, due to his nasal pain, Oda went back to the hospital later. There, the doctors discovered that his nasal bone was fractured.
What impact did that have? For his work, Oda was awarded the Tezuka Award. The award is given by Shueisha, the publisher where One Piece and other mangas like Chainsaw Man are currently published, for young talents.
Without the short story collection, Oda would never have received this award and might not have become a manga artist for Shueisha at all. In the worst case, One Piece might never have existed.
At this point, One Piece is hardly imaginable without. The story has been running much longer than Oda initially planned. This is due to two pirate groups. The author has already postponed the end of the pirate story multiple times.
It is still not clear when exactly One Piece will come to an end. The story is indeed in its final stages, but there are still many secrets that need to be uncovered. What those are, you can find out here: When does the story of One Piece end?
