Anime

One Piece Fan Brings Creator’s Rejected Release to Life

One Piece’s latest volume could have had a much cooler cover!

Besides keeping fans entertained with new, exciting chapters nearly week after week, One Piece typically releases three or four volumes a year, with these releases being something that fans look forward to with great anticipation. From revealing the official color scheme of new characters like Loki, heartfelt callbacks, and poster-worthy volume covers, to the entertaining yet informative SBS sections contained within, it’s easy to see why fans look forward to a new volume every few months. Well, it’s that time of year again, and fans could not be more excited as One Piece just announced the release of Volume 112, compiling the latest chapters of the Elbaf Arc, though fans are a bit divided on the cover.

Videos by ComicBook.com

One Piece recently unveiled its newest volume cover, together with a behind-the-scenes time-lapse of Oda’s drawing process on the series’ official X account as usual. However, this time, the time lapse especially caught fans’ attention as the video also gave fans a glimpse into the different initial concepts for the cover of Volume 112. The first of these concepts included Scopper Gaban, Luffy, Zoro, and, of course, the various Holy Knights who have made their debut on Elbaf, such as Shamrock, Gunko, Killingham, and Sommers. However, this concept was scrapped, with Oda instead settling on a cover featuring Luffy surrounded by the New Giant Pirates as well as Saul and Robin. Adorable as the final cover design of Volume 112 may be, many fans have been unable to get the initial concept out of their heads, and fortunately, a fan just brought it to life.

One Piece Fan Art Gives Fans the Volume 112 Cover That Could’ve Been

Shortly after the reveal of Volume 112 of One Piece, a fan artist on X, @XgInrw, shared a finished, full-color illustration of the alternative volume cover idea that had been scrapped by Oda. The fan rendition is complete with the One Piece logo at the top and quite accurately captures Oda’s art style, giving fans a good look at what the final volume cover might have looked like had Oda stuck with it. Besides the hilarious comparisons between Gaban and the “absolute cinema” meme, a huge reason fans really wanted the next issue to feature the Holy Knights on the cover was to get an idea of their official color scheme and designs.

After seeing the official colors for the Five Elders in the anime, many fans are equal parts concerned and curious about whether the Holy Knights and the Elbaf Arc will continue with the same bright and colorful aesthetic of the Egghead Arc. However, One Piece’s anime is still a very long way from adapting the current Elbaf arc, and it may very well be a whole year or more until fans learn what the Holy Knights really look like unless they make an unexpected appearance in one of One Piece’s next color spreads. Nonetheless, with Volume 112 of One Piece releasing on July 4th, fans still have plenty more to look forward to, including what revelations this volume’s SBS section might bring.

One Piece is available to read on Manga Plus and Viz Media.

Source: @XgInrw on X.