“I had to uphold this series’ integrity”: Eiichiro Oda Gave One Piece Characters a Two-Year Long Break Because He “Didn’t want Luffy to become too much of an adult”.

Eiichiro Oda did not wanted Luffy to grow too much during the time skip.

SUMMARY

Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist of One Piece, experienced the greatest increase in strength during the time skip.
While time skips are mostly used to advance a story, they also cause the characters’ ages to increase.
However, in one of his interviews, Oda disclosed how he dealt with this issue.

Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist of One Piece, experienced the most significant growth in his strength during the time skip. After losing his brother Ace and almost losing his crew during the Sabaody Archipelago arc, Luffy decided that he and his crewmates needed to grow their strength to face the upcoming opponents.
Strawhat Pirates in One Piece
Time Skip is one of the greatest narrative aspects used by manga creators like Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Although the major role of a time skip is to fast-forward a narrative, they also tend to improve the strength and abilities of the main characters. The only problem with them is that they also increase the age of the characters.

However, Oda, in one of his interviews, revealed how he tackled this problem. He intentionally introduced the two-year time skip so that Luffy and his crew wouldn’t grow too much in age and still preserve that importance as Shonen manga characters.

Eiichiro Oda’s Reason Behind The Two Year Time Skip

In an interview in 2018, which was translated and shared by Edomonogatari, Oda was asked about the significance of the 3D2Y message (beginning of the time skip) on Luffy’s arm during the Marineford arc. Oda explained that although Luffy was strong, he was not ready to face the upcoming challenges in the Grand Line.

Oda stated:

“17-year-old Luffy didn’t stand a chance of beating powerful threats like the Four Emperors. So I gave him and his crew two much-needed years to grow physically and mentally. Their reunion took place after only two years because I didn’t want Luffy to become too much of an adult. I had to uphold this series’ integrity as a shonen manga, after all.”

Luffy’s 3D2Y Tattoo
Eiichiro Oda wanted the crew to grow stronger, which is why he introduced the time skip, but he only made it for two years because he didn’t want Luffy to become too much of an adult, as he would have lost his innocence as the protagonist of a Shonen manga. When the time skip was introduced, Luffy was 17 years old, and the two-year time skip was perfect for him.

The Time Skip Helped Luffy and his Crew in a Major Way

While the events of the time skip in One Piece have not been fully revealed to the fans, the result of the training that the Straw Hats went through was quite visible. Luffy trained with Rayleigh and improved his attacks while also learning about the Haki abilities and techniques that, in the current story, are considered to be the strongest powers.
Rayleigh training Monkey D. Luffy
Zoro and Sanji both worked on their skills as the wings of the future Pirate King. Zoro trained with Mihawk, and Sanji trained with Ivankov and unlocked a lot of new attacks. Usopp and Nami primarily worked on the roles that they were assigned within the crew. Usopp improved his sniping skills on the Boin Archipelago, and Nami learned more about the weather on Weatheria.

Robin joined the Revolutionary Army, where she refined her Devil Fruit powers, just like Brook did while concerting as a musician. Franky upgraded his cyborg body with the help of Dr. Vegapunk’s old records and tools, while Chopper learned to control his powers and also enhance his medical abilities as a doctor in the Torino Kingdom.