'One Piece' creator Eiichiro Oda says the series is 65% finished, final panel planned out

The "One Piece" manga has been ongoing for the past 19 years, and it looks like creator Eiichiro Oda has no plans of ending it anytime soon.

Fuji TV announcer Daijiro Enami appeared at the premiere of the "One Piece Film Gold" movie last weekend, and he shared an interesting tidbit from his recent interview with the famed manga creator.

When Enami asked Oda if the latter already had planned out the final panel of the "One Piece" manga, the author replied, "Yes." And while Oda did not give further details, he assured that the manga's last panel will be "very cool."

Oda is not very keen on making appearances on television, with his very first ever appearance happening earlier this month, on July 10. He made sure though to keep his face hidden during the show. He met with Enami again last weekend for a supposedly longer interview — all for the promotion of the new "One Piece" film.

In a print interview from earlier this month, Oda also stated that the manga is currently 65 percent completed. That could mean a long story ahead for fans, seeing that 65 percent progress took 19 years and 834 chapters to attain. With that rate, avid followers can expect the series to end by the time it reaches 1,280 chapters; that's 450 weeks away — about 9.33 years more of "One Piece" pirate mayhem.

Fans though believe that Oda may have been exaggerating when he said that the series was only 65 percent done. "Naruto" went on for 700 chapters, and some fans already considered that to be quite long. Nevertheless, Oda's manga series about a group of wacky pirates is one of the most popular series in Japan, and many fans may not be so eager to see its end yet.

The 834th chapter for "One Piece" will be released sometime next week.