@andre:
I remember people mentioning some blank space for someone tall in that concept sketch. Also, considering the Rose of Versailles comment Oda made, the sketches on Yamato's vivre card could pretty easily be those made after he had an epiphany to make his "son of Kaido" character female assuming that character's conception is as old as the other's.
Possibly, though one of the Samurai imprisoned with Yamato in 1024 recycles one of the proto-Yamato designs.
There were two concept sketches. The earlier sketch (2 years before publication) was updated in Magazine 10.
The later concept (closer to publication) wasn't ever updated.
There is clearly a blank space next to 'shipwright' in the later concept, which presumably is where Jimbei would be standing.
But there's nothing right now to evidence more characters. I believe there could be, but it's also important to note there are traces of Jimbei and Brook's stories in the earliest volumes. The Rumba Pirates are first seen in Volume 12 and Jimbei's name first comes up in volume 8.
More than the sketches, the seeds for most crew members are planted very early on.
Now, one thing I made note of in an analysis video I made last year - the 'Shipwright' in the later concept looks more like Franky than the sprite / klabautermann from the early concept, but the name 'Franky' doesn't actually appear.
Jimbei was called the helmsman in the early concept sketch. We don't see an updated version of the later concept. But what if it wasn't updated because Jimbei isn't the erased character? The 'shipwright' character in the later sketch looks a lot like proto-Jimbei from the early concept sketch. But even more interesting, Fishmen in One Piece seem to have a close association with shipbuilding. Franky's mentor just so happens to be a Fishman. We know Oda dropped the botanist role (probably… I still wonder if Vegapunk could fill that position, but that's a separate topic; and Usopp appears to absorbed other parts of the botanist role, so probably not. Just something I think about). Makes me wonder if he considered merging the helmsman and shipwright positions for a time, and then reversed that decision after publication.
This is really baseless speculation. Jimbei was the helmsman in the earliest concept sketch. It's a huge leap to say he was considered for the shipwright position instead at a later point in time based on very thin evidence (Franky's name doesn't appear in the later concept; only the title 'shipwright' over a character who kinda looks like Franky, but also looks like proto-Jimbei, Franky's mentor ending up being a Fishman, Tom, perhaps as a remnant of a briefly considered, but abandoned plan to merge the shipwright and helmsman positions with Jimbei filling both roles, and the fact that the later concept sketch wasn't updated).
But if that were true, in theory, a tall character could be next to 'Shipwright / Jimbei-Franky hybrid' in the later concept.
In truth, I think Oda didn't update the later concept because it was a much rougher sketch than the first and was only included as a small insert / footnote in Data Book Green. They updated the more detailed early concept sketch from two years prior to the start of publication to show just how long Oda was sitting on Jimbei as a Straw Hat.
So as of right now, my theory aside, there isn't any clear indication any other character was erased in the later concept sketch. In the data book green versions, there was clear evidence one character was erased from both. Unsurprisingly, that character turned out to be Jimbei in the early sketch. Considering there is no 'helmsman' in the later sketch, it's almost certainly Jimbei was erased from that one as well. There's no more room in the early concept, so the very first version of the crew contained ten pirates including Luffy. There is only evidence for 10 including Luffy in the later sketch as well.
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@Robby:
It's been established already that "the crew as Oda saw it at the start" was the assembled cast shot a the start of Oni island.
Whoever the remaining members are he came up with in the years since. If that means in year 2 or year 22, we won't know unless we're told, but we know Jinbro was the last of the originally planned crew.
Right - I was saying that Oda could expand on that original plan by adding new members that weren't planned from before publication. I was saying that before most people in this thread agreed it was a possibility. Prior to Yamato, most people thought the only way a character could join was if they fit that original vision. Which is why the most popular alternative to Carrot was 'no one' for a long time.
Greg even said he thought Jimbei was the last right after the Arashi color spread came out with Jimbei.