ONE PIECE it started more than twenty years ago as a publication in Weekly Shonen Jump, but its universe was in gestation from before in the mind of Eiichiro Oda. The future mangaka obviously traced the design of its crew, its history and its settings before defining everything.
In particular, before the serialization of ONE PIECE we can observe what the original plans were for the Straw Hat crew, with individuals quite different from those we know today. While we are discussing the possible eleventh member of the Mugiwara, an image appears on the net showing us the prototype crew.
Below you can see this illustration of ONE PIECE where in the center Luffy remains practically unmodified, The protagonist. At his side are Nami, always identical, and Zoro, with two swords instead of three. Then there is Sanji more to the right, with the only change that can be given by what looks like a sketchy beard.
The other characters are radically different if not actually canceled and replaced by others. Starting from those in the front row, on the far right we see a humanoid reindeer which is definitely the Chopper prototype. Unlike the little cotton candy fan, this one is quite tall and retains the characteristic features of the reindeer and also appears to be a swordsman.
The two characters on the left are instead Franky, always a cyborg but much more disturbing and cyberpunk looking, and a flying creature half recalling an infant and a kappa, with a hammer in his right hand and which may have been discarded in favor of Usopp. But the big nose also ties the character in the second row to the center which seems to be a mixture between the sniper and Blackbeard. Very pirate-looking, this Marshall D. Usopp he seems much more bold and confident than the Usopp we know today.
Finally, always in the second row, there is Brook which however does not look like a musician. The hat and some more disturbing details give him a cowboy look, greatly changing his inspiration. Maybe, instead of a swordsman, he could have been a gunslinger.
Are you convinced of today's crew or would you have preferred one of the characters in this draft of Eiichiro Oda? Maybe the long awaited new member will arrive in chapter 1000 of ONE PIECE.
Oda's original design for the crew from r / OnePiece
