Warning: Contains spoilers of Road to Laugh Tale vol. 2
Fans of One Piece who are familiar with the fearsome hybrid form of Kaido of the Beasts would not recognize his original design, recently shared in the Road to Laugh Tale vol. 2 special. Thanks to Eiichiro Oda's sketches and concept art for many characters, fans can now see that Kaido originally looked even scarier than what he appeared like in the manga. This form could even be the much-rumored awakening of his Devil Fruit, which never appeared in the manga.
Kaido was one of the Yonko, the four most powerful pirates in the world. He reached that status thanks to his own impressive strength, augmented by the power of his Devil Fruit, the Mythical Zoan Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu, which allows him to transform into a colossal dragon. Every Zoan Devil Fruit gives its owner two different transformations: a Beast Form and a Human-Beast Form. In Beast Form, Kaido takes the appearance of a giant Azure Dragon (inspired by Chinese mythology), while in Human-Beast Form (or hybrid form) he retains his usual size and human shape, with the addition of scales on his arms, outer torso, back, and legs as well as six horns on his head, claws on the hands and feet, and a long tail. Both forms greatly increase his physical abilities, with the Human-Beast Form being more agile and better suited for close combat.
The Road to Laugh Tale special is taking One Piece's place in Weekly Shonen Jump while the manga is on a one-month hiatus. Road to Laugh Tale is diving deep into the series, providing new details on some long-standing mysteries and teasing future developments. It also includes a lot of concept art and preparatory sketches from Eiichiro Oda, and vol. 2 has two entire pages dedicated to Kaido. Originally, his hybrid form was very different from what appeared in the manga. It had a much more feral look, with prominent draconic features from the neck up. Rather than a human with dragon characteristics, this form looks like a dragon that took a humanoid shape, resulting in a fearsome appearance.
In the manga, Kaido fought in his hybrid form against Luffy for a long time, taking full advantage of the brutal power and speed granted by his transformation. However, he still fought like a human, using his club Hassaikai as his primary weapon. If Oda decided to stick with Kaido's original Human-Beast Form, the fight could have looked very different, as the notes to the drawing specify that "this" Kaido prefers using his dragon talons in combat. This could have been interesting to see because one of the few weaknesses of Luffy's awakened form, Gear Fifth, which he used to beat Kaido, is actually slashing attacks, so the battle could have gone very differently. There is also a chance that the form shown in the sketch is actually Kaido's awakening, something that all fans expected to see but never appeared in the manga.
Overall, Kaido is one of the most memorable characters to ever appear in One Piece, thanks in no small part to his incredible design. These sketches show how much work and attention Eiichiro Oda put into making Kaido look as fearsome and demonic as possible. Even if his original hybrid form was discarded, perhaps to make the Yonko feel more "human", Kaido will remain One Piece's most impressive villain for a very long time.