Eiichiro Oda’s Biggest Failure Was the Secret Ingredient Behind One Piece

One Piece feels like this massive, carefully planned odyssey now. It did not start that way. Eiichiro Oda stumbled into it through scrapped ideas, rough drafts, and a couple of one-shots that barely made a ripple. Those misfires? They became the DNA for what turned into Shonen Jump's crown jewel.

The messy origin: two 'Romance Dawn' one-shots

Before Luffy set sail for real, Oda tested the waters with two different 'Romance Dawn' one-shots, both in Weekly Shonen Jump. Each starred Monkey D. Luffy, but with prototype versions of characters and story beats. Oda later tore into those early efforts himself, but they ended up being the stepping stones he needed.

For context, the actual 'Romance Dawn' arc we know is a clean, efficient launch: Luffy's bond with Shanks and the Red Hair Pirates, who Luffy models himself after; a quick read on who this kid is; and even that early Shanks Haki moment. The one-shots twist a lot of that.

• Version 1 is the closest to canon, but still different. One example: Luffy keeps a collection of flags.
• Version 2 veers hard. Luffy's grandfather shows up, but he is not Monkey D. Garp. He is a pirate, and he is the one who hands over the straw hat. That concept later morphed into the grandpa we all know.
• In both versions, Luffy looks up to the Peace-Main Pirates, not the Red Hair Pirates.
• A Nami prototype named Ann appears and literally saves Luffy's life.
• Even the villains are different from what we eventually got.
• The anime circled back to these prototype ideas in Episode 907, so you can actually see this early take play out on screen.

Oda on that chaotic stretch

In the October 3, 2025 issue of One Piece Magazine, Oda looked back at how those one-shots happened and what they led to. He does not sugarcoat it.

"It was total chaos, so I don't remember the results at all. What mattered more was the relief that somehow we avoided leaving a hole in Jump. That said, I realized that opportunities really can come out of nowhere, and you must have a firm conviction to absolutely seize that moment.

From there, I began coming up with the serialization name 'One Piece.' Even though it was rejected a few times during the serialization meetings, finally, one year later, the serialization of One Piece began."

A two-week scramble that changed everything

Here is the part that makes creatives everywhere wince: Oda had about two weeks to produce 'Romance Dawn.' At the time, he was a manga assistant whose own pitches kept getting bounced. He did have 'Monsters' printed in the Shonen Jump Autumn Special 1994, but it did not move the needle. So he swung again with a one-shot under a brutal deadline. Predictably, it was rough. But it clarified the kind of story he wanted to tell. And that clarity became One Piece.

From rough drafts to juggernaut

Those two scrappy one-shots were not hits, and Oda was the first to say they missed the mark. But they gave him the map. One year after the rejections, One Piece went to series. The rest is, well, a lot of volumes, a lot of episodes, and the biggest thing in Shonen Jump.

If you want to revisit how it all kicked off, One Piece is available to read on VIZ Media. And if you have thoughts on Oda's trial-and-error path to Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates, drop them in the comments.