‘One Piece’ is the quintessential pirate anime, and if it is characterized by something it is by the character designs so bizarre and characteristic of Eiichiro Oda.
With 25 years of history behind it, the series has left us with a good string of pirates of all kinds with many references to classic pirate iconography, and even some real characters… But why don’t any of them wear a good eye patch?
The patch is already reserved
‘OnePiece’ it’s riddled with pirate iconography, starting with the different Jolly Rogers for each crew. There are no missing peg legs, like that of Chef Zeff del Baratie, hooks like Crocodile’s, or even a reference to pet parrots with Hattori, Rob Lucci’s pigeon… And the very same blackbeardSure.
But in fact the fact that no pirate wears a patch is completely intentional. In 2007, Oda himself said that towards the end of ‘One Piece’ a character with an eyepatch would appear and I wanted his appearance and design to have much more impact.
Oda has said more than once that he really wants to draw this character, so with the 15 years that have passed since then, fans of ‘One Piece‘ have had plenty of time to form theories about who it could be. Blackbeard’s original character design included a patch, so he’s one of the possible candidates right now.
The creator of ‘One Piece’ has also explained on occasion that for him the manga is a story of how “a normal kid” becomes a pirateand it is that in the midst of the extravagant designs that we have seen, the Luffy at the beginning of the series is one of the simplest.
So giving him a piece of iconography as significant as a patch would be a very iconic symbol for your character arc. If this meant sacrificing his eye, it would also be a very good parallel to the injury she took when she wanted to join Shanks’ crew and become a pirate.
In any case, this mysterious character with an eyepatch will be very important in the final arc of ‘One Piece’, so many bet on Luffy himself or even on Shankswhich seems to be gaining more prominence in this new stage of the manga.