Things rarely change within a cartoon. Plastered as mere drawings and pixels on a screen, there's very little reason for these caricatures to age at all, leaving this innate impression of agelessness within their presentation. However, things are just different in anime. Not only are designs more dynamic episode to episode, but they've embraced this neat little narrative invention called the "time skip," in which characters jump in time for their most significant character change.
And there's not many series who have done this transition quite as well as One Piece. Puberty really hit these characters like a bus, as the side-by-side comparison with their old selves is like night and day. This list will be running down some of the biggest extremes within that exchange, as it observes the 10 most drastic character redesigns after the time skip.
10 Brook
Brook started out the series as the gentleman skeleton and quiet violinist, playing only melancholic tones to haunt the empty seas. However, all that loneliness shed away once the Straw Hats decided to give him a new home and that shift in lifestyle is certainly reflected after the time skip.
While he hasn't totally abandoned his classic black suit, the undead rockstar now sports several other garish items on his person, such as colorful pants, a fuzzy scarf, and those shades that they give away at Chuck E. Cheese. His main choice of instrument has also transitioned from the docile violin to the much more disruptive electric guitar, and it has been a delight seeing him play it and embrace his wide popularity through and through.
9 Usopp
Pre-time skip, Usopp was just an annoying kid twiddling his thumbs on Syrup Village. He was essentially that one sniveling child in grade school that would make up tall tales about his dad working at Nintendo, as he tried to get out of gym class. However, two years being stuck on an inescapable, jungle island sure did give him a turnaround.
Not only is he significantly more competent and well-equipped as a sniper, the world has also been introduced to Buff Usopp. Forget Sniper King or God Usopp. Buff Usopp is the real deal showing anyone out there that hard work and not skipping leg day can really change a person's life.
8 Tony Tony Chopper
Chopper's change after the time skip wasn't exactly drastic, but it is certainly very different than when he first appeared. As the series moved forward and Eiichiro Oda needed to start streamlining his character designs, Chopper himself started getting much rounded, cuter features.
This would eventually translate to his overly-kawaii form that fans see today (as opposed to his more angular features back on Drum Island). He also now actively sports a round little hat protector that he adorns over his classic red, top hat.
7 Roronoa Zoro
Apparently, when Oda thought about what could make Zoro look older and more powerful after the time skip, all he could think of was just "more green." Gone are the days of his classic white t-shirt.
He came back to the series buffer than ever and adorned in an all green outfit. Even his mysterious new scar is for some reason green which, while cool, is probably worrying from a medical standpoint.
6 Buggy the Clown
Taking a small break from the Straw Hat section of character redesigns, Buggy the Clown has also changed in more ways than one. In addition to now being in charge of a fleet of pirate warriors ready to do his (and, more specifically, the Marine's) bidding, Buggy has also taken upon this grander appearance. It's not that he was actually become larger and grander.
He literally just wears a giant drape over his shoulders and uses his powers to disperse his body to appear bigger in front of his cohorts. Playing within the same fake angle, his new, large mane is also fake. It's just a large wig that seems to be attached to his new hat.
5 Ex-Fleet Admiral Sengoku
As much as the time skip has made characters look cooler if not just different, there are very few character who actually just look older. However, not only is the old fleet admiral of the Marines subject to the physics of time, it hit him worse than puberty did everyone else.
Sengoku just looks old, certainly prepped for retirement. He carries a few more wrinkles and his goatee and hair have become snow white, signaling that an old era is beginning to shift away.
4 Ex-Admiral Aokiji
Out of anyone on this list, Aokiji is probably the only person who actually looks like he was hit by a bus. During the time skip, as Sengoku left his seat as fleet admiral, there was disagreement between who should take his place, the Marine respected Aokiji or the World Noble respected Akainu.
In classic anime fashion, the two decided this via battle. Akainu got a few scars on his face. Aokiji got several more...and the loss of a few limbs. Having had to abandon his Navy uniform, Nico Robin's old nemesis now adorns a dark trench coat and some cool, mysterious shades.
3 Nami
Eiichiro Oda has infamously done no favors (or, perhaps, too many) for his female characters. Case in point: the cute girl next door from the beginning of the series has turned into a near one-to-one remake of Joy from Shenmue 2.
That is to say that she's become a heavily sexualized character, sporting longer hair, jeans, a bikini top, and a few maturities to fill out that bikini top.
2 Nico Robin
This one really took people by surprise. While Nico Robin has been adjusted to the same female standard as every other female character (long hair, a large bust), she has also drastically shifted skin tones. She is no longer the deeply tanned woman the Straw Hats met on their adventures in Alabasta. She now wears snow white skin, which is apparently more in line with Oda's original vision of her.
While it has yet to be revealed why illustrators and animators translated her as having dark skin earlier, this change in complexion really gave fans quite a swerve.
1 Franky
As surprising as Nico Robin's change in skin color or Zoro's missing eye was, no other time skip redesign was quite as drastic as the man who literally built a new body for himself. Pre-time skip, Franky appeared as this funky fusion of Ace Ventura and Popeye the Sailor, carrying massive arms and a cool pompadour. Now, he's only overly buff, living toy box.
He's more than twice his original eyes, wears more obvious, giant robot arms, and now has the added function of randomly changing his hair style at will. Fans everywhere were instantly forgiven if they didn't initially understand whoever this guy was.