One Piece Chapter 003

Cover

Luffy rides a shark, through whose mouth he has pulled a rope.

Storyline

Luffy and Koby sail in a dinghy to the naval base where the notorious pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro is being held prisoner. Koby tries to convince Luffy that Zoro is a monster in human form. Luffy still wants Zoro to join his gang if he’s good.

Luffy makes a victory gesture when Koby brought him to the naval base. The first thing the two do is go out to eat. When the name Zoro comes up in their conversation, the other patrons panic, and again at the mention of Captain Morgan. The two leave the restaurant, Luffy with anticipation, Koby with dark foreboding, especially because of the reaction to Morgan.

The two head to the naval base, a complex surrounded by a wall about 10 feet high with normal buildings and round, freestanding defense towers. Luffy climbs the wall to get a look inside the base, then runs along the wall. At the execution field, Luffy and Koby peek over the wall again. On the field is a prisoner, tied to a post. It is Zoro, who has been standing there tied up for nine days. When he notices the two, he asks them to untie him. While Luffy and Koby are still discussing it, a little girl named Rika appears next to them on a ladder. She has homemade rice balls for Zoro, but Zoro gruffly refuses them so as not to put her in danger.

While Zoro is still trying to scare Rika away, Helmeppo, the commander’s son, appears, escorted by two marines. He tastes the rice balls without being asked, complains about the sugar in them, and stomps them on the ground. Finally, he orders his escort to throw Rika out of the base, which they obey only after threatening to report their refusal to the commander.

Luffy catches Rika, while Helmeppo, as he leaves, repeats his promise once again to release Zoro if he can last a month without food on the pole.

Luffy approaches Zoro and tries to recruit him into his pirate gang, which Zoro dismisses with disparaging remarks about the pirate life. Luffy defends his dream, but Zoro counters by saying that he has a dream of his own that would prevent him from joining up with Luffy. Even Luffy doesn’t believe Zoro will last a month without food. Finally, Zoro asks Luffy to give him the trampled rice balls. Even Luffy finds them unappetizing now, but Zoro greedily devours them and then asks Luffy to tell the little girl they tasted good.

Change of scene: in the city. Rika is delighted to hear this. She reports that Zoro was arrested for killing Helmeppo’s tame wolf, Solo. She explains that in this town, the Morgans are the bad guys, as Helmeppo comes strolling down the street, bragging to Luffy that he lied to Zoro. Luffy then gives him a juicy punch in the jaw and tells Koby that he wants Zoro in his gang now. Koby fears trouble with the Navy.

Oda’s comment

Thank you to Asami-sensei and her staff for the flowers to celebrate my series launch. Wild Half is drawn by such a kind person.
This is Yūko Asami, the mangaka of Wild Half.