WARNING: The following contains spoilers for One Piece Episode 907, "Romance Dawn."
While One Piece has been around for 20 years, the wildly popular anime didn't emerge fully formed. The series underwent several pilot stories and early pitches that, in many respects, didn't pan out quite as intended. Those pilot chapters have been collected and published before, but rarely are they ever animated.
However, the newest episode of One Piece, "Romance Dawn," provides a glimpse at how the story could have begun, with a "slightly different" story for Luffy.
The Start of an Adventure
"Romance Dawn" begins with Luffy floating in a literal pile of trash. A gunshot wakes him up, although he doesn't seem to recognize its origin: A panda-gull thing was shot, and plummets into Luffy's raft, and he plugs the hole with the bird's butt. It's alive, but frantic.
Soon, however, the people responsible steer their ship into view. A blue-haired girl shouts at the bird creature, calling it "Balloon." A stranger atop the ship arrives, requesting Luffy bring the bird here. The blue-haired girl, Anne, is visibly furious with Luffy for returning what the pirates call a Ruku.
The captain of the ship, Six Hones Spiel, is a cruel sorcerer-pirate. Anne's village tried to resist, but couldn't oppose him. Luffy seems intrigued, despite Spiel's ridiculous appearance: He sports a rainbow suit, multiple ponytails, and ... no pants. Spiel offers Luffy a reward for his efforts, but Luffy can only laugh that his head looks weird. This leads Spiel to lock them up in his brig. While Anne is enraged, Luffy is merely excited by the view he can see from the window.
Different Types of Pirates
Anne talks about her relationship with Balloon, revealing they have a deep bond of friendship. Luffy asks why she was kidnapped, to which Anne can only theorize it was because of her cuteness.
Meanwhile, Luffy reveals that he aspires to be a Peace-main, or a pirate who plunders other pirates who go out to loot. He wanted to become a pirate after seeing his grandfather set off on adventure. His grandfather once found a Gum-Gum Fruit on a raid, which Luffy ate. When Luffy learns he will never be able to swim again, he says that it's OK, but only to help his grandfather feel better. He wants to become a pirate, just like his grandfather, and they spur on each other.
Luffy's hat came from his grandfather. He and Anne realize that his hat, much like Balloon, is a form of treasure. But after that talk, Luffy resolves to break out of jail. While Anne is certain they will never escape, Luffy "somehow" reaches the key across the room, and frees himself. He resolves to find a boat to replace the one Balloon wrecked, and then leave, while Anne runs off to save Balloon.
The Escape
Anne attempts to free Balloon while everyone is asleep, but Spiel catches her. But he offers her a chance of freedom: Beat the guard in a one-on-one duel, and he'll let them both go. Anne overcomes the guard fairly easily, and Spiel tosses tosses him overboard with psychic abilities, which prompts the magician to toss Anne the key.
But as she goes to open the cage, Spiel pulls a gun and shoots her in the back. He had no intention of letting them go free. As Anne lays bleeding out on the floor, Luffy, carrying loot and a raft, emerges topside. He remains unimpressed by Spiel, and instead checks on Anne; the bullet missed any vital organs.
Enraged by Luffy's apathy, Spiel fires two bullets into Luffy -- which, as any fans would know, doesn't affect him because the Gum-Gum Fruit granted him rubber powers (as is the case in main continuity). Spiel tries smashing him with a hammer, but that barely affects Luffy either. Luffy just inflates under the hammer, which sends it spiraling into the sea. The whole ship comes at him, but Luffy repels it with a few rubbery swings of his arms.
Spiel, however, snatches Balloon, soaring off on his broom. He sends a blast of force straight into his own ship, having gotten what he wanted: the Ruku. The ship breaks in two, dumping Luffy into the sea, where he'll drown. But before he can, Anne swims down and pulls Luffy to safety onto the sinking ship. Luffy is grateful, but Anne cries over Balloon.
Luffy, seeing Anne in distress, launches himself after Spiel, landing right on Balloon before he steps onto the broom stick. Luffy frees Balloon, while drawing back his fist an impossible distance, swinging it into one punch that sends Spiel flying off his broom. Balloon saves Luffy before he can fall by catching his head between his beak.
The episode ends with Luffy recalling his grandfather telling him the secrets of how treasure is far more than just gold and silver, but also emotional, important memories, tying even this very different origin point for Luffy to the main series with that common through-line.
How Different is This Origin?
This very simple pilot lacks several key elements of One Piece lore. There is no Shanks, no One Piece treasure, nor any reference to the greater pirate lore beyond what is mentioned. Luffy's grandfather in the original series is Monkey D. Garp, who, rather than being a pirate, is actually the Vice-Admiral of the Marines, although he later retires. This places him as far from "Romance Dawn's" iteration of Luffy's grandfather as possible.
However, the core elements of the series, from its idea of good and bad pirates, the nature of treasure, and Luffy's ambition to be a great pirate, are all here in full force. Luffy's personality remains, even if the other elements of this story were altered. This offers such an interesting view on both how things could have been so different, as well as how things remained so very much the same.
Next episode? We return to Wano.