Alright, I was really confused when I started reading One Piece because there were multiple versions of the first chapter, Romance Dawn, and also a collection of one-shots called Wanted, which contains a lot of One Piece characters, and today, I want to talk about those. Because Romance Dawn feels like weird alternate timelines for One Piece. The context around every character and event is so different. In Romance Dawn version 1, we see Luffy entering a town on what looks like Shanks' ship, but instead, it is the ship of Crescent Moon Geari. Every iteration of Romance Dawn has a bootleg buggy, and this one mentions that he heard a rumor about someone taking over pirate ships. That person being not Zorro, but Luffy. And that is when Geari mentions that Luffy should not have messed with him, because he is eventually going to become one of the most feared people in the world, one of the best three. I feel like I should point out that the best three here is mentioned really early on in this version, compared to the four emperors who we don't even know about until post-Dennis Lovie. So clearly, there are a bunch of concepts here, but they're all moved around a lot. For example, Shanks is here, and he more or less does the same thing as he did in the first chapter, but then we have other characters like Nami. In version 1, we get introduced to Shiruku, and in version 2, we get introduced to Anne, both of which look like Nami. So I'm assuming that from a writing perspective, we really wanted to get a navigator, or at least a character for Luffy to talk about, right off the bat. Version 1 essentially cramps the story of Orange Town. It has Luffy talking to Shiruku and the concept of treasure. It even mentions Luffy wanting to build a crew. It even reproduces a lot of the similar character beats, like having a GRE step on an insult Luffy's draw hat, which then causes Luffy to enter a fight. But to me, the most jarring version of 1 and 2 is the concept of peace mains. In versions 1 and 2, there are bad pirates, which pillage villages, called Morganias, and also good pirates, which fight bad ones, called peace mains. One piece conceptually has had this idea, with Luffy never going out of his way to raid or pillage any village. But it's something that, when stated outright, feels like something out of four kids. Pirates in the world of 1 piece are all labeled as such, and while there's a huge variety as to why someone would become a pirate, and what that title means, it is way more fascinating to explore that concept in the grey area that it's presented in, rather than making distinctions between just good guys and bad guys. Alright, let's move on to Romance Dawn Version 2. It gives me major whiplash after reading Marine Ford. Version 2 of Romance Dawn focuses around Luffy, who in this version God is draw hat from a famous pirate, his grandfather Garp. I find this really weird. While Version 1 had Luffy into a town to find Cheroku, in Version 2, Luffy catches a Camerapet called Balloon, who is shot by Spiel the Hacks of God, who is the bootleg buggy for Romance Dawn Version 2. And in this version, this bootleg buggy doesn't even have beef with Luffy. If anything, Luffy is the one who starts the beef with Spiel by insulting him after Spiel thanked him and was willing to give Luffy a reward. After Luffy insults Spiel, Luffy and Ann just get thrown into a cell. And here is probably where the least Luffy-like characteristic appears, because while Luffy again reiterates the concept of peace mains in this version, a pirate who doesn't go round, looting and pillaging, Luffy also just doesn't care about Ann. When Luffy escapes the cell and begs him to rescue Balloon, and Luffy is just like, nah, I don't care, I'm outta here. In fact, even after Spiel has locked Luffy up, shot Ann, shot Balloon, captured Balloon, shot Luffy multiple times, and even hit him with a hammer, Luffy is somehow okay with this? At most saying something like, hey, you're really starting to make me mad. And it's weird, I think this aspect of his character is weird. The only thing that changes this is when Ann finally confronts Luffy after saving him from drowning and tells him that Balloon is her closest friend, that Balloon is her treasure, and that is when Luffy finally confronts Spiel and takes him down. Here in Romance Dawn version 2, Spiel can use witchcraft, we see him flying around on a broomstick, not because it's part of his double fruit ability, it's just magic. And I'm pretty sure it's unrelated to double fruits, even if double fruits also exist in this version. I had read these before reading the actual first chapter of One Piece, and honestly, the first chapter is the best version. What fascinates me about these early versions is that they kind of still exist in the official version. It has buggy who wants to be something greater than he is. It has shanks almost frame for frame, passing down the torch to Luffy, and even the concept of magic is still kind of around in One Piece. Alright, since I have a little bit of more time here, I also want to talk about the other one shots in the collection. One shots are essentially an entire story told in One Chapter. The first one shot in the collection is appropriately called WANTED, which focuses on bounties, specifically focuses around Gil, who used to be innocent until his bounty got so high up because he kept killing everyone who was supposed to claim his bounty, thereby making it even higher. It is a dumb lighthearted story where Gil is constantly trying to avoid trouble, but ends up finding it anyways. What I noticed immediately from One Piece is that it has a very stylized cartoony atmosphere that's only really found in the first saga of One Piece. And honestly, I don't think there ever this stylized again in later arcs. A bigger aspect of One Piece is the ideas of bounties, and the many different forms that bounties are given. Not just from a violence perspective, but from a justice perspective. I think it's something that One Piece takes and expands infinitely further. The next one is called God's Gift to the Future, and I'm gonna be honest, I think the story here is pretty mixed. God's Gift to the Future focuses on a god who essentially uses a death note on a protagonist because the protagonist has a pickpocketing addiction and God decides to kill him for that. Instead, he accidentally writes on his death note that everyone in a mall should die, so it is up to the protagonist to save everyone from a mall collapsing. I think a lot of these one shots are very much a don't think about it, it's not that deep kind of thing. And for this one shot, a large reason for its creation was simply that it would be cool if a building collapsed. Alright, so the next one shot is Ikiyako, a story about a scared monk in a world full of demons seemingly on a quest to help others. Except for the fact that Ikiyako doesn't like to help others. He is scared of demons, but eventually finds the one who killed his teacher and steps up to take the demon out. It has some lighthearted moments, but this one feels like it's actually trying to be something. For example, Ikiyako could essentially be a character from Demon Slayer. A lot of these characters from these one shots are very similar to One Piece characters in both their visual appearance and from a character motivation standpoint. Monsters, the next one shot, has the same style for its character, Ryuma, which kind of looks like Zoro. Monsters probably has one of the best stories in these one shots. It focuses on Ryuma, who is a proud swordsman who upsets an entire town because he never pays for his food and causes even more commotion when he decides to fight a famous swordsman who everyone does like. In a comment at the end of God's gift for the future, Oda mentions attempting to write stronger, more meaningful themes into the stories, and Monster definitely accomplishes that. It has some themes that we see one piece heavily carry out, which are the themes of chivalry and honor with swordsmen. Ryuma has a grudge when anyone disrespects his swords or swordsmen who just seemingly lack a warrior soul. So Monsters is the story of Ryuma who is seemingly hated by the entire town and then has to make a comeback and save the town from a dragon. And can I say that Monsters has a beautiful dragon which I really like. It is super detailed but also really clashes with the much more simplistic style of everything else. I think that's partially intentional though because the main theme of Monsters is that dragons are what brings the end times and have destroyed countless villages. So when one of them does appear after so long, it feels out of place, it feels unnatural and horrifying. And the detail on that dragon helps to simulate that. I really like Monsters. Good job. Special thanks to these sword wielding patrons who are out there slaying dragons. Seriously, they've been practicing for years, absolutely talented all of them are. Each of them I heard can use three sword style. It is very impressive. Seemingly because the concept of holding a sword on your mouth just sounds painful.