25 Years Later, One Piece Creator Addresses One of the Manga’s Biggest Plot Holes

Image: Eiichiro Oda/Viz Media

Rewind to the dawn of the millennium. It was January 2001: Michael Jordan had just secured his spot as the fourth NBA player to hit 30,000 career points, Donnie Darko was making waves at Sundance, and English Wikipedia was in its infancy. Meanwhile, Eiichiro Oda, the visionary behind One Piece, penned a line of dialogue that would haunt his continuity for the next quarter-century.

In chapter 169—the climax of the Alabasta arc, which is slated for adaptation in season 3 of the live-action series—the Straw Hat crew finds themselves locked in a desperate struggle against the nefarious Baroque Works. During this skirmish, Princess Vivi’s bodyguard, Pell, intervenes to save his charge. Unleashing his Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Falcon abilities, he drops a piece of lore that would become a legendary point of contention: he claims there are only five Devil Fruits in the entire world capable of granting the gift of flight.

Over the years, this assertion has been thoroughly debunked, evolving into an inside joke among the fanbase. From Logia-type elemental masters to an array of mythical zoan transformations, aerial combat has become commonplace in the One Piece world. Fans generally chalked this up to the natural scaling and power creep inherent in a long-running shonen epic. However, in the SBS column for volume 115, released in Japan on July 3, Oda finally pulled back the curtain, revealing that this “mistake” wasn’t just an oversight.

As noted in the translation shared by @pewpiece on X, Oda admits the line reflected Pell’s limited geographical perspective. More importantly, however, it served a thematic purpose for the author. Because One Piece is fundamentally a saga about sailing the high seas, Oda was keen to keep the narrative tethered to the ocean. By explicitly limiting the prevalence of flight, he was creating a self-imposed constraint to ensure his pirates stayed on their ships and in the water, preventing the power system from spiraling into a generic aerial combat game.

Oda concludes his reflection with a self-deprecating acknowledgment: while he intended to keep flight a rare, exceptional trait, the narrative weight of his own creation forced his hand. Modern chapters now feature characters soaring with ease—whether through Luffy’s reality-bending Gear 5 antics, Loki’s transformation, or Sanji’s distinct Sky Walk.

It is genuinely amusing to see a creator address a minor continuity bump from 25 years ago, proving just how closely Oda monitors his own work—and how keenly he appreciates his audience’s dedication. It serves as a fascinating look into his worldbuilding philosophy; even when the sheer scale of his story forced him to abandon his original constraints, he never lost sight of what makes the world of One Piece feel so distinct.

Source: Polygon