Romance Dawn, Version 2

Drifting at sea, Luffy is jolted awake when a large wounded bird crashes into his little boat, punching a hole he plugs with the creature itself. A towering ship pulls alongside, its crew calling for the bird, named Balloon, to flee. Hauled aboard, Luffy meets Ann, a girl bound to the mast who scolds him for delivering Balloon into captivity. She explains the vessel belongs to Shupeal the Hexagon, an obscure but feared captain whose witchcraft let him sack her village unopposed.

While locked up, Luffy shares his goal of recruiting "Peace Main" adventurers rather than the plundering "Morgania." A flashback shows his loud grandfather, a Peace Main pirate, urging the boy toward the sea. Luffy ate the grandfather's prized Gomu Gomu no Mi, gaining a rubber body at the cost of ever swimming again, and the two brawled after the old man tried to lecture him on the ocean's dangers. Luffy reveals his straw hat once belonged to that grandfather and is his treasure, while Ann names Balloon as hers.

Luffy squeezes through the bars to look for a boat, leaving Ann to free Balloon alone. Shupeal corners her, shoots her, and is interrupted by Luffy, who deflects the sorcerer's bullets with his rubber skin and shrugs off a giant hammer. Shupeal seizes Balloon and his desired treasure, then shatters the ship and departs on a broomstick. Ann saves the drowning Luffy and confesses that Balloon, the last of a magical species, was the true prize. Luffy slings himself after Shupeal, rides Balloon, and lands a finishing blow. As Balloon carries him back, he recalls his grandfather's words about what real treasure truly is, and the narrator promises Straw Hat Luffy's fame will spread.

Luffy's rubber powers and his inability to swim are established through his grandfather rather than Shanks. The boy frees Ann's beloved companion Balloon and defeats the witchcraft-wielding Shupeal the Hexagon. Ann's village backstory, involving a pirate attack, parallels Nami's later arc. The grandfather's musing on the nature of true treasure foreshadows a theme Luffy himself carries in the main series.

This draft ran in Weekly Shonen Jump 1996 issue 41 on September 23, the regular issue the first version had missed, and was later reprinted with author commentary in Oda's early-works collection Wanted! in 1998. The grandfather's design and his expectations for Luffy evolved into Monkey D. Garp, and his treasure philosophy became Luffy's own. Although the term "Peace Main" never entered the main storyline, Luffy still embodies its spirit of innocent adventure. The one-shot was adapted into anime Episode 907.