[One Piece] The Real Reason It Never Ends After 20 Years — Readers Blame “These Guys”

Shichibukai System — 2018/06/17 — Did One Piece Get Bloated the Moment This Started?

If One Piece feels like it never ends, is that really just because it’s popular?
Japanese readers in 2018 kept pointing to the same structural culprit.
This thread isn’t about hating arcs — it’s about why the story started stretching.

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■ “Whole arcs that didn’t need to exist”

1: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
These guys are the reason it never ends.

Eiichiro Oda (Author)

“Why hasn’t ONE PIECE ended even after 20 years?”
These guys are the reason.

Originally, ONE PIECE was supposed to wrap up in five years.
The story was about fighting pirates called the ‘Four Emperors.’
…And then I went and thought of it.

The Seven Warlords.

I was like, “Wouldn’t it be cool if guys like this existed?”
Just a light, careless thought.

And well—look where that got us…
A ridiculously long-running series!!

Why didn’t I keep it to something like Five Warlords?
Or even Two Warlords!?

Because seven sounded cool, that’s why!!

Well, I drew what I wanted to draw, so I don’t regret it…

…Okay, I regret it a little!!!

— Eiichiro Oda

3: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
Honestly, it would’ve been fine if Fishman Island to Dressrosa just didn’t exist.

4: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
Stuff like Foxy, or those pointless Oars Jr flashbacks during Marineford — totally unnecessary.

5: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
But the Shichibukai showed up pretty early though.

10: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
>>5

9: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
Was Mihawk at the sea restaurant the first one?

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■ “Power systems that lost their weight”

13: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
If that’s the case, then stuff like Whitebeard’s “son” was unnecessary too.

16: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
Compared to Espada or the Shichibukai, Akatsuki actually kept their status pretty well.

22: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
The moment you replace members after they’re defeated, it just becomes pointless.

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■ “Cool introductions that went nowhere”

27: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
Other than Mihawk being the first, none of them really left an impression.
They just don’t feel cool enough.

28: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
The only one who actually tied into the story properly was Crocodile.
Mihawk was just a sudden appearance.
The rest don’t even need explaining.

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■ “At this point, why stop?”

26: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
He doesn’t even need to draw anymore.
He could quit manga and live comfortably for life.

30: Anonymous Pirate. 2018/06/17
>>26
It’s probably fun daydreaming before bed, and he’s making money doing it.
Why would he ever stop? It’s fun.

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👉 Why Japanese Readers Frame This as “The Shichibukai Problem”

What stands out isn’t simple arc fatigue.
Japanese readers often treat the Shichibukai system as the moment One Piece shifted from tight escalation to perpetual expansion.

The complaint isn’t “too many characters.”
It’s that introducing a replaceable elite group breaks finality.
Defeat stops meaning closure.

That’s why Crocodile keeps getting singled out — he’s the only one whose defeat changed the world.

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👉 This Isn’t About Length — It’s About Tension Decay

Almost no one here says Oda is lazy.
They say the structure rewards continuation over resolution.

The frustration comes from seeing ideas that could end decisively —
but are kept alive because the system allows endless substitution.

To these readers, One Piece doesn’t feel long.
It feels unable to finish by design.