One Piece 598: Start of the Final Phase!

If you are an avid One Piece manga reader, you might have already known that the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates will soon come to an end.

Eiichiro Oda, author and mangaka of One Piece states on one of his magazine interviews that One Piece Chapter 598: 3D2y is the start of the final One Piece story arc: The New World.

"Thanks to all, I was able to rest very well. Thank you for the great time I enjoyed. My fuel tank is full now!! The New World Arc will be heading towards the end of the story of One Piece. As I ponder about the new adventures, it’s so exciting I feel like I’m starting a new serial! Please look forward to the adventures in the last sea, the New World!"

The New World (Shin Sekai) refers to the second half of the Grand Line and the only people to have fully explored it are The Pirate King: Gol D. Roger and his crew.

And similar to what happened to Naruto: Shippuden and Bleach, there will be a timeskip between Chapter 597: Spectrum and 598: 3D2y, which will now feature the grown-up Straw Hat Pirates:

Luffy got new scar on his chest and Zoro has one too on his right eye. Sanji looks more manly, although now his right eye is hidden. Robin now looks similar to Hancock. Franky looks weird with that head, and Usopp looks cooler. Nami got bigger boobs. Chopper and Brook looks almost the same.

Even though it is stated that this is the last arc of the story. Rest assured that fans will still be served with its good storyline and epic moments, we can still hope for another 200+ chapters.

One Piece Manga Chapter 598: 3D2y will be released later this week. We will post a link once scanlations are up.

Source: JEFusion

EDIT: One Piece will not be ending very soon. Eiichiro Oda have said in his latest interview that One Piece will only be entering its final "phase" and is only halfway on its run. Maybe think of this as when Dragonball entered the Z stage. XD