Eiichiro Oda comes up with new ideas for One Piece, pushing himself to the point of exhaustion

Eiichiro Oda said Viz Media what it takes to come up with any “One Piece” storyline. This may come as a surprise to longtime readers, but the creator has spoken of bouts of boredom while developing the manga. “If my manga was only about action, comedy, or tear-jerker moments more than anyone else, I would get bored,” said Oda.

Boredom, as pointed out by Oda, prompts him to change the style of the series; however, there is another secret that keeps Oda motivated, and it has physical consequences. Coming up with all these characters, emotional rhythms and storylines is a lot, and new ideas often come to mind when Oda is exhausted. “I think about plots and scenes when I get tired. The only way I can come up with a new idea is to think about it a lot without sleep and food,” Oda said. “That’s the only way I know, because people can only come up with really new ideas when they hit their limit.”

Not surprisingly, working beyond a few hours of sleep can take a toll on the body. In fact, Oda told the official One Piece newspaper that it causes him physical problems such as swollen tonsils. It became such a problem that the creator of “One Piece” even needed surgery to remove them (via One Piece Podcast). Oda has worked diligently on this manga for decades, and while it has physically affected him several times, there’s no denying that One Piece will go down in history as one of the most loved manga.