One Piece was originally supposed to have a completely different name. The earliest known sketches by Eiichiro Oda, the mangaka of the pirate adventure, have now surfaced. They reveal many details about the Straw Hats and what the anime was originally supposed to be called.
What kind of sketches are these? The drawings that have surfaced date back to 1994, 30 years ago. At that time, Eiichiro Oda was still 19 years old. The manga for One Piece was not published until three years later.
The pictures show the first prototypes of Luffy, Nami and Nika. Sanji and Zorro are also shown in other sketches:
Luffy in particular has changed a lot in the pictures. His previous name was Monkey D. Pao and he was supposed to wear a bandana. The pattern on his bandana might look familiar to you, because it later became the pattern of the Gum-Gum fruit that gave Luffy his devil powers.
The bandana also suggests that Luffy was actually supposed to be the thief. In today’s One Piece, Nami has this role, as she chases after every treasure.
The fact that Oda developed his first ideas for One Piece early on shows how far ahead he plans. For example, 25 years ago he hinted at an arc that would soon become important. The other sketches for other characters also reveal how far ahead he thought.
In One Piece there are not only cool characters, but also cool ships. You can see the five best in the MeinMMO video:
One Piece: These are the 5 coolest ships sailing the oceans
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Oda had already created Nika 30 years ago
Who is the old man at the bottom left? The older man in the bottom left corner of the picture is Nika’s original idea. The laugh reveals that he is the sun god from One Piece.
At that time, he was supposed to be a 5008-year-old tree spirit that lived in the rubber tree. He probably gave Monkey D. Pao his rubber powers. He was supposed to be called Merry, but he had to give the name to the Straw Hat Pirates’ first ship.
Another note reveals why Merry should become Nika: Oda wrote a side note that those who can laugh at their weakness are the strongest. This is reminiscent of the sun god Nika, who is constantly laughing and thus gains crazy abilities like changing his body size.
What about the other characters? The sketches reveal further exciting details:
The original notes also allow for a few possible theories. It is possible that the “rubber tree” could still play an important role today and be the source of all the devil fruits. So far, Oda has not revealed where exactly the fruits come from. There is a theory by Dr. Vegapunk, but it has not yet been proven.
In the current manga chapters, the special powers of the devil fruits become clear. Because there is a character whose devil fruit has also evolved. This means that not only Luffy has received special devil powers: One Piece: In the upcoming manga chapter, there is a person who becomes like Luffy