One Piece Has a Romance Problem — & It’s All Eiichiro Oda’s Fault
For a long time, *One Piece* didn’t focus on romantic relationships, and now the series is feeling the consequences in its final arc. While the creator, Eiichiro Oda, intentionally avoided romance for the Straw Hat Pirates, other characters are now being developed through love stories, leaving the Straw Hats behind. This makes an existing problem even worse: many Straw Hat crew members besides Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji haven’t been given enough attention or development since the time skip.