That is not how one should deduce whether OP lost fans or not.. you aren't taking pirated chapters into consideration since the world had digitally grown so much..even after that, OP sales had still been fairly consistent with these manga sales and will surely loose those sales as chapters shift from hard copies to digital platforms which are an alternative being used by the vast numbers out there... this switch from hard copies to digital doesn't provide any logical rationale statistically that OP had lost followers on not.
In addition to that, OP was at its climax during 2009-2010 with Marine Ford War in play back in the days so that certainly would attract hype for a title this infamous...
The story was at its apex for 3 consecutive arcs and the progression was insane.. this same pace was impeccably transitioned to the timeskip which slowed in increments for half a decade. Then there is external competition with other mangas and again digital chapters being dominant that would ought decrease volume sales with the platform the likes of VIZ.
Other statistical and arbitrary reasons why you see decline are sensibly as follows:
[automerge]1620761250[/automerge]
you see even with such low volumes the sales have been consistent throughout when you compare and contrast between the Old volumes and new volumes as a whole..
the new volumes have performed exceptionally consistently.. and have seen growth.
