Roger's Wish List: To Eiichiro Oda

Welcome everyone to Roger's List. Today, I have chosen to forgo my conventional format to address something far more important. As most of you have probably already noticed, we have been short of any new chapters of One Piece these last few weeks. This is in fact due to One Piece author Eiichiro Oda falling unfortunately ill.

"WHAT! Mr. Oda is sick?! CALL A DOCTOR!"

Word is that the condition he is suffering from is known as Peritonsillar Abscess, a painful throat condition that occurs when one's tonsils go too long without being checked. Any One Piece regular should be familiar with Oda's reputation as a workaholic. It is not too much of a stretch to believe that if he were to catch a strep throat (or any other kind of throat problem for that matter), that he would think himself able to work through it until it went away (No easy task. As someone who has had strep throat several times in the past, I can vouch it is not fun.) Unfortunately this time, Oda was not so fortunate, as it appeared to evolve into something bad enough to put him in the hospital these past several weeks.

In response, Oda had this to say to his readers:

Now, on behalf of myself and all of us here at One Piece At A Time, I wish only to give Mr. Oda our prayers, and reassure him that he need not give any apologies. While it is certainly respectful of you to take responsibility of your current circumstances, there are some things none of us can avoid, and being sick is just one of them. You have worked very hard to provide us the fans with new chapters and content each week for years with very little break time. You deserve some rest. Rest that you have sacrificed far too long for the sake of our entertainment.

I would also like to take a minute to address any of the One Piece fans out there who may have been just a smudge too impatient during the series hiatus (and I know you're out there. I have friends who live in Japan that tell me so.) Try to understand that no matter how much you think you love One Piece and no matter how much you believe you can't wait to find out what happens next, there is one man out there that loves it more than you can possibly imagine. That man is in the hospital right now. He is so anxious to see the end of this story through, that he gladly put his own health on the line to do so. The least you can do is learn some empathy.

Eiichiro Oda is a workaholic for a reason. He is a man who truly loves what he does. There are very few people in this world that can say that their pride and joy in life is going to work every day. He can. If he was no longer invested in this story, he would have found a way to wrap it up five years ago. As it stands, One Piece has celebrated a sweet sixteen year run and still shows no signs of wearing out or loosing steam. This may simply be a Weekly Shonen Jump manga series about pirates geared generally toward the audience of young Japanese boys right now, but someday, this will be an epic that scholars and historians will be looking back at decades/ maybe even centuries from now as one of the landmark myths of the 21st Century. The last thing this piece-of-history-in-the-making needs is for its creator to burn himself out working too hard and be put out of commission, because what if next time it's something permanent? Then no one gets to see a proper end to this series.

Why am I suddenly reminded of Bakuman when Mashiro got hospitalized but couldn't stop drawing?

So Mr. Oda, by some miracle you or anyone related is out there reading this, here are my wishes to you:

• As foreign a concept as this my seem to someone who already enjoys themselves at their own job, take it easy for a while.
• Get plenty of rest.
• Eat healthy.
• Spend some quality time with your beautiful wife, who I'm sure is more concerned about you than anyone in the world.
• [If you can.] Try to stop smoking. It's just a guess, but maybe it would help your lungs and prevent other throat problems in the future. I know, crazy huh?
• And most importantly of all, we wish you a full recovery. I'm not even going to say a "speedy" recovery. In fact, you tell your doctors to take as long as they need to get you back to peak condition.

In the meantime, us fans must exercise our patience and wait for Oda to return on his own terms. No matter how long it may seem like we have to wait, someday it will be all worth it. Sooner or later it will be back, and I have faith that Eiichiro Oda can and will finish his adventure one day.

I believe in Oda. I believe in One Piece.

-Roger Townson