^Actually, he
did. He clearly mentioned last year that the wheel in Shiki's head was originally meant for Kuma. I believe he mentions it in either vol. 0 or the movie 10 artbook.....
Oh, and about that early CP9 sketch, it turns out that Jyabura and Kumadori's early names are listed there, as well (Shakim and Apollo, respectively). As far as the early Blackbeard sketches are concerned, I'm actually hoping that the old dude in the golf cap appears in the series at some point, even if he doesn't end up joining Teach's crew. A pirate golfer would actually be pretty awesome, IMO.
Teach himself has a slight resemblence to Brownbeard from those early sketches (in fact, that's probably what inspired Brownbeard's design in the first place). And.... is anyone else considering the possibility that the parrot may end up being Lafitte?
