Questions & Mysteries Unused Villain Designs from 2001

[TheAncientCenturion]

This is from 2001 and when the Straw Hats first entered the Grandline, Oda listed these characters in an art book as "future antagonists in the Grandline." Who do you guys think these characters all are?

The snake lady is confirmed to be Boa Hancock's prototype design.
The Top Middle reminds me of Law a little.
Bottom Middle looks like a giant character (viking horns, wool clothing, giant battle axe) tho not to scale.
Top Left looks like some western samurai (top knot, katana like blade, very western gloves/gauntlets, western armor)

Do you guys think these characters were retconned into other, existing characters? Did they get phased out entirely?

 

[Jailer]

They probably didn't make it, except Boa Hancock. Maybe they were supposed to be Warlords considering Hancock prototype is there.

Or maybe even Emperors, when OP was supposed to be originally just the battle vs 4 Emperor's, but less likely since warlords were established by that point very early.

 

[Warchief Sanji D Goat]

We might see the one with axe in Elbaf.

 

[Sir Yasheen]

I think:
Kaido was going to be the top Right - Shogun of Wano and Emperor of the Sea
Big Mom was going to be bottom Right - Viking Queen and Emperor of the Sea

Still not sure about the middle tho

 

[zzShinichi]

Top right is Snack

 

[Jew D. Boy]

Top knot might have been an early version of Orochi or some other character intended to be an antagonist in Wano, and I get the slightest vibe that the giant with the axe could be a Weevil prototype

 

[CensoredbyWG]

Top knot might have been an early version of Orochi or some other character intended to be an antagonist in Wano, and I get the slightest vibe that the giant with the axe could be a Weevil prototype

I refuse to believe oda created Orochi 21 years ago

 

[Jew D. Boy]

I refuse to believe oda created Orochi 21 years ago

Sure, but I’m saying it’s possible that guy morphed into Orochi; I would think Oda knew he eventually wanted to do an arc in a traditional Japanese setting, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he planned to include an evil shogun that far back. Why we ended up with the actual Orochi instead of someone who looks like a much more formidable usurper is beyond me

Also, since this is the first time that we’ve interacted or that I’ve seen your username…GREAT username :cheers:

 

[CensoredbyWG]

Sure, but I’m saying it’s possible that guy morphed into Orochi; I would think Oda knew he eventually wanted to do an arc in a traditional Japanese setting, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he planned to include an evil shogun that far back. Why we ended up with the actual Orochi instead of someone who looks like a much more formidable usurper is beyond me

Also, since this is the first time that we’ve interacted or that I’ve seen your username…GREAT username :cheers:

 

[Celestial D. Dragon]

Top right is probably what Katakuri's original design was based off of. Same body proportions, and massive sword.

 

[the_dagdomovic]

The Viking Must be loki

 

[Date]

Hancock, Croco, Proto-Dorry/Broggy, Proto-Samurai

Probably Oda did this guys thinking on the warlords

 

[Sir Yasheen]

This is from 2001 and when the Straw Hats first entered the Grandline, Oda listed these characters in an art book as "future antagonists in the Grandline." Who do you guys think these characters all are?

The snake lady is confirmed to be Boa Hancock's prototype design.
The Top Middle reminds me of Law a little.
Bottom Middle looks like a giant character (viking horns, wool clothing, giant battle axe) tho not to scale.
Top Left looks like some western samurai (top knot, katana like blade, very western gloves/gauntlets, western armor)

Do you guys think these characters were retconned into other, existing characters? Did they get phased out entirely?

Yeah looking at this now they are probably boa, Crocodile, Kaido/Orochi, Big Mom.

I feel like Kaido and Big Mom weren’t originally emperors of the seas and Croc and Boa were supposed to have that title before Oda created the warlords and Kaido and Big Mom were originally going to be Enel type villains where they’re just god like figures on islands connected to the Ancient Kingdom (Shogun of Wano for Kaido and Viking Queen of Elbaf for Big Mom)

 

[BoaHancocksHusband]

This is from 2001 and when the Straw Hats first entered the Grandline, Oda listed these characters in an art book as "future antagonists in the Grandline." Who do you guys think these characters all are?

The snake lady is confirmed to be Boa Hancock's prototype design.
The Top Middle reminds me of Law a little.
Bottom Middle looks like a giant character (viking horns, wool clothing, giant battle axe) tho not to scale.
Top Left looks like some western samurai (top knot, katana like blade, very western gloves/gauntlets, western armor)

Do you guys think these characters were retconned into other, existing characters? Did they get phased out entirely?

The Boa Hancock one is just mmmm

 

[Alter]

Oda could use some part of these design for one character and another part of the same design for another character.
Middle left give some Judge vibes (black coat with orange accent, posture, more modern weapon). It has a little Croc vibes too (i. e. One of the hand function weapon).

The bottom right is looks like Goldberg, but again, it could just be a generic design for more than one characters.

The top right guy is like an strong invader who colonize Wano (or Wano citizen who is more amazed by outside culture and betray his people).
The general theme for this character is the invasion/colonization of Wano.

Basically a lot of possibilities regarding those 4 initial design above.
One thing for sure: The design above (per design) might inspire the creation of more than one characters that we know now.

 

[Kung-Fu Dugong]

Since the manga was in the middle of Alabasta back in 2001, here are my bets:

The top left woman is obviously a proto design of Hancock.

Spoiler

The middle guy is the hardest one to guess. The SBS-introduced Shichibukai (Hanafuda) seems to be the closest.

Spoiler

The bottom guy looks like a proto giant, maybe it was a sketch for a future Elbaf villain (not Dorry/Brogy, because they were introduced before 2001).

Spoiler

The top right guy reminds me a bit of Mr. 3's Candle Champion, although he's clearly a samurai (Mr. 3 was revealed already, so it's unlikely to be him). Possibly a future Wano villain, but his design was apparently dropped, I think.

Spoiler

 

[NikaInParis]

The guy with the gun and shield give off Mr 5 vibes. The gun was reimagined as his DF power, the shield was omitted, and the rest of the design is the same basically - curly hair with a duster (not a coat, since it's way cooler)