Remember When 'One Piece's Creator Drew Goku For Dragon Ball?

There are anime heroes and then there are legends. Over the decades, the medium has produced [...]

There are anime heroes and then there are legends. Over the decades, the medium has produced thousands of leads who end up saving their world, but few of these guys can live up to the greats. Heroes like Goku and Luffy are untouchable to most, but they don't get lonely at the top.

No, they just do crossovers with one another. Just look at what Eiichiro Oda did for Goku and his Dragon Ball gang.

In the past, the creator of One Piece has shouted out Dragon Ball a number of times. Oda is good friends with Akira Toriyama, the artist behind Dragon Ball. With both of their series being published by Shueisha, Oda and Toriyama have been able to collaborate over the years. So, it should come as no surprise that Oda has given Dragon Ball a spin.

dragon ball goku
(Photo: Eiichiro Oda)

As you can see above, the man behind One Piece has shared his take on Goku in the past. The sketch was done to promote Dragon Ball, and fans cannot help but notice how much Goku looks like Luffy here. The drawing sees Goku riding his Flying Nimbus, but the cloud is way understated here. The relic traded in his golden sheen for blue, but that is not the only big change here.

Fans of One Piece can tell who drew this picture from just a glance. Oda's artwork is very distinct, and Goku looks very similar to Luffy here. In fact, it looks like the pirate was simply aged up and given an orange Gi to wear. Armed with a staff, Oda's Goku is much leaner than his actual counterpart, and his hair is given a total makeover.

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has been collected into 87 volumes, with a few chapters yet to be included. It has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best selling manga series worldwide with 430 million copies sold worldwide.

Would you want to see Oda do a full Dragon Ball one-shot? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!

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