The staff account for One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda on X (formerly Twitter) has revealed some of the oldest One Piece art in existence, featuring Luffy, Nami, and Zoro before the manga was first serialized. Luffy is pictured with a long weapon which may be a spear, or staff in line with his Sun Wukong/Monkey King inspiration. The sketches were released for the upcoming DVD and guidebook edition of the Monsters anime, adapting another of Oda’s early works.
In addition to the art, the Blu-ray features a conversation between Oda and his first editor, a book of unpublished stories, and an interview with Monsters anime director Sunghoo Park. Check out the original post below:
The image reveals come as One Piece fans are currently waiting for more art from Oda, who went on a three-week hiatus. He urged fans that this wasn’t due to being unwell, adding, “And while it does have to do with my body, consider this a type of scheduled maintenance rather than anything else.” In the manga’s absence, the One Piece anime has been attracting rave reviews, with the recent Episode 1100 among the highest-rated episodes in its history on IMDb. The episode enjoys a 9.8/10 rating, with Anime Corner’s review praising the Luffy vs. Lucci fight for its animation and soundtrack.
Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation was adapted into a one-episode anime by E&H Production, with Park responsible for the direction and screenplay. The episode was released in January 2024 on Netflix, which describes it:
A samurai’s path leads him to a young waitress whose hometown was destroyed by a dragon. He doesn’t want any trouble — but it finds them anyway.
Source: @Eiichiro_Staff via X (formerly Twitter)
Featured image: © Eiichiro Oda / Shueisha / Toei Animation