Every member of the Straw Hat Pirates from One Piece has their own iconic appearance. However, some characters almost received a completely different look.
Attention, Spoiler: If you are still before the Sabaody Archipelago in One Piece, this article may contain a spoiler regarding the story for you.
How would they have looked? In One Piece there is a time span of 2 years during which the Straw Hat crew is separated and is hardly seen in the anime. During this time, not only do Ruffy’s crew members undergo some internal changes but also external ones.
In sketches by Eiichiro Oda, the mangaka of One Piece, several ideas can be seen regarding how the Straw Hats might have looked. Among them are ideas that would have given the members a somewhat different appearance:
For each member of the Straw Hat crew, there are several ideas that Oda had in mind. But ultimately, he decided to give the male members a beard in some cases and the female members hair extensions.
You can watch the trailer for One Piece Stampede here:
This is how the Straw Hats would have changed
What would the differences have been? Each member of the Straw Hat crew could have looked different. For some, the differences would be more pronounced, for others, less:
- As captain, Ruffy would have had little change. He might have gotten a different coat, but the rest would have remained the same.
- Zorro got an eye during the time skip. The eye would have almost been covered with an eyepatch, which would have made him look even more like a pirate. Alternatively, he could have had different hairstyles.
- For Nami, Oda experimented with various hairstyles and hair lengths. In one concept drawing, she would have even gotten a hair accessory or a pilot’s goggles.
- Much would have changed on Lysop’s head: Options included a crown, a wide-brimmed hat, a punk hairstyle, and an oversized cap.
- Chopper’s hat could also have changed. A knight’s helmet would also have been conceivable.
- Sanji’s suggestions all look similar. At times he would have had glasses, wavy hair, or a cap.
- Oda also experimented with hairstyles for Nico Robin. Here, there were extreme short hairstyles or long hairstyles with head coverings.
- Finally, there’s Franky, who can visually change within seconds anyway due to his robot body.
What do fans say about it? The sketches appeared in a fan forum for One Piece. Many find the sketches beautiful, especially Ruffy in the captain’s coat has charmed many. They praise Oda for putting so much thought into the appearance of the Straw Hats.
One user is also glad that some of the designs did not make it. He writes that he is happy with Sanji’s short hairstyle. He wouldn’t have liked it if the ship’s cook had long hair. Nico Robin’s short hairstyle is also controversial. Another user also states that Oda hardly put any effort into Chopper and Lysop.
Eiichiro Oda also spent a long time considering how the Straw Hat crew should look before the time skip. In the first sketches, Ruffy and Nami were still called Pao and Rezel. The crazy sketches show how different they looked: The very first sketches of One Piece show not Ruffy and Nami, but Pao and Rezel – This is how they would have looked
