Romance Dawn was written by the creator of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda, prior to One Piece. Much of the story that features in Romance Dawn is identical to One Piece in some ways. In fact, both One Piece and Romance Dawn stories are set in essentially the same world, however, there are some differences that make Romance Dawn its own story.
On the course of creating the legendary manga that is One Piece, Oda made several changes to the story of Romance Dawn, but despite that, there are quite a lot of things we love about the former story. Here are 10 things that you didn't know about Romance Dawn.
10 Romance Dawn Creation
Eiichiro Oda began drawing Romance Dawn a long time ago. With a Pirate-themed manga already in his mind, Oda drew Romance Dawn back in 1996, when he was serving as an assistant to the mangaka Nobuhiro Watsuki (famous for Rurouni Kenshin).
A year later, Oda had already made several changes to the story of Romance Dawn and created the final version of the story which came to be known as One Piece, which told the tale of Monkey D. Luffy on his way to becoming the King of the Pirates.
9 Romance Dawn Versions
Although Eiichiro Oda had a decent idea of what his story was going to comprise of, he actually drafted two versions of Romance Dawn, and then jumped to One Piece. Both the versions of Romance Dawn were drawn a year before One Piece was eventually serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shounen Jump magazine.
During this time, Oda was a first-year junior high school student. While working as an assistant to Watsuki, Oda drew the second version of Romance Dawn, which saw lots of changes being made to the initial story.
8 Romance Dawn: Version 1
Released back in August 1996, Romance Dawn's first version follows the story of Monkey D. Luffy who wants to become a pirate, just like in the original manga. Instead of having Devil Fruit powers, Luffy has magical abilities to stretch like rubber, making it quite clear that Oda had ideas of making him a rubber-man right from the very beginning.
The story also featured Shanks, a pirate who saved Luffy's life and went on to become his role-model in the process. Although not specified to be a Yonko, Shanks is said to be one of the most powerful pirates on the seas.
7 Romance Dawn: Version 2
Romance Dawn Version 2 was published back in September 1996, and its story was slightly different from what was included in the first version. In this version of the story, Luffy has eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi and wants to be a great pirate.
Instead of Shanks, Luffy's grandfather, Monkey D. Garp, is the infamous pirate who leads his own crew and gives him his straw hat. Oda later went on include Garp in One Piece as well, although instead of being an infamous pirate, Garp is a legendary Marine Vice-Admiral who is feared by every pirate who ever sails the seas.
6 Nami & Ann
In Romance Dawn Version 2, Eiichiro Oda drew a blue-haired girl named Ann. Being the only survivor from her village that was slaughtered by a pirate named Spiel, Ann seeks the help of Monkey D. Luffy in exacting her revenge. A part of Ann's character went into making Nami for the original One Piece manga.
Aside from the obvious physical resemblance that she bears to Nami, Ann's personality is also very similar to her. Just like Nami, Ann is a victim of a pirate's cruelty, although a major difference is that Ann is the sole survivor of her village, while Nami isn't.
5 Garp & Shanks
Although both Garp and Shanks are different characters in the original One Piece manga, their roles are very similar in Romance Dawn Version 2. Garp serves the same role as Shanks in the one-shot and is said to be a great pirate who sails the seas with immense pride.
Akin to Shanks in One Piece, Garp is the person who ends up inspiring Luffy to become a pirate one day and see him on the seas when he's earned enough fame. Evidently, Oda replaced Garp's character with Shanks in the final version of the story, and although Garp was still in the story, his character served quite a different purpose.
4 The Peace Main
The Straw Hat Pirates is a crew with infamous pirates who are all rather peaceful. Although Luffy doesn't like the idea of being a 'hero,' more often than not, he ends up playing the role of one.
Similarly, in Romance Dawn, Oda created the idea of 'Peace Main,' who are pirates, minus all the killing and looting stuff. They sail the seas looking for an adventure, which is exactly what Luffy and his crew can be seen doing in the future version of Oda's story.
3 The Devil Fruit Tree
One Piece has had the concept of Devil Fruits right from the very beginning. These fruits are said to have strange powers that gift abilities to whoever eats them. Interestingly, Devil Fruits also exist in Romance Dawn, and what's more, their source is said to be a mystical tree.
This tree is likely what bears all the Devil Fruits in the Romance Dawn world. Whether the Devil Fruit tree will make its appearance in One Piece or not remains to be seen, but it's undoubtedly something that Oda has had in his mind. More likely than not, fans might see it in the later parts of the story.
2 Luffy's Treasure
One of Monkey D. Luffy's biggest treasures is his straw hat and that's something he's emphasized time and again. In One Piece, Luffy receives the straw hat from the Red-Haired Shanks, one of the people who he adores. He's asked to keep it safe and return it to him someday when he becomes a great pirate.
In Romance Dawn, Luffy's hat is a treasure that he's received from his grandfather. With Garp and Shanks' roles being interchanged to a certain extent, it makes sense for Garp to be the one who gives the Straw Hat to Luffy and inspires him to set sail.
1 Luffy & his Nakama
While One Piece sees Luffy recruit Nami a decent time after he first meets her, the same can't be said for Ann from Romance Dawn. Surprisingly, after helping her in the clash against Spiel the Hexagon, Ann and Luffy both walk different paths. Ann wishes Luffy the best on his path to becoming a Peace Main and sets off with Balloon.
The story ends with Luffy being hyped up to become a formidable pirate going by the name of 'Straw Hat' in the future, with Ann's whereabouts remaining a mystery. As such, Luffy's journey to find more pirates to join him on the adventure continues right to the end of the one-shot.