One Piece Episode 002

Storyline

Luffy and Koby are still on their way to Shells Town, where Luffy wants to take the notorious pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro into his gang. Even Koby’s stories about this man being a beast in human form can’t stop him.

Once in Shells Town, they run straight to the naval base that looms over everything in town. On their way there, they are able to strike terror into the hearts of the townspeople when they casually mention Zoro and Captain Morgan, the head of the naval base. Luffy and Koby look over the wall at the base and can spot the bound Zoro in the courtyard. The latter tells them to leave again. Shortly after, a ladder appears next to Koby and a little girl climbs over the wall. She runs straight to Zoro and offers him rice balls, which he refuses.

The barred gate opens and Helmeppo, the son of Morgan, appears. When he sees the girl with the rice balls, he immediately grabs them. Seconds later, however, he spits them out again because they were made with sugar instead of salt. Enraged, he throws the other rice ball to the ground and stomps on it. Since Rika wanted to help the prisoner, Helmeppo ordered one of his soldiers to throw her over the wall. She has a soft landing, however, as Luffy has the presence of mind to catch her.

In the courtyard, Zoro reminds Morgan’s son of his promise to release him if he endures a month without food. But Zoro still has to endure ten days. Helmeppo and his soldiers leave. Luffy runs to Zoro and asks him how he could have been captured by someone like Helmeppo. Zoro ignores the question and asks Luffy to give him the trampled rice balls from the ground. Shortly after, they are hungrily devoured by Zoro.

Luffy, Koby and Rika are back in the city. There, Rika tells what had happened back then.

Shells Town, three weeks ago: Helmeppo roams the streets with his wolf Solo and enters Rika’s mother’s bar. Rika reacts frightened to the big wolf and hits him with a broom. Solo becomes enraged and is about to attack Rika when Zoro throws a barstool in his face, killing the animal. Helmeppo draws his sword, but Zoro is faster and Helmeppo is on the ground, now threatened by Zoro’s sword. If his dad found out about this, he would have Rika and Ririka executed. So Helmeppo makes Zoro an offer. If he could manage to survive without food for a month, the mother and her daughter would not be harmed.

Present, Ririka’s bar: Helmeppo has made himself comfortable there and demands food for free. Luffy enters and can just hear that Helmeppo plans to execute Zoro tomorrow. Enraged, Luffy gives him a slap. His mind made up, he would take Zoro into his gang.

Shells Town Naval Base, Morgan’s office: A marine tells Morgan that his statue will soon be ready. The door opens and Helmeppo rushes in. He tells his father that he was beaten by a guy and that’s why he should punish him.

In the courtyard, Luffy stands before Zoro once again. He gets straight to the point and asks the swordsman if he would join his gang if he took off his shackles. Zoro refuses; pirates would all be criminals. Luffy proposes a deal to Zoro: If he would return his swords to him, Zoro would have to join his gang in return. Since the base is well guarded, Zoro doesn’t think he could do it and agrees.

Meanwhile, Morgan’s statue is being erected under his personal supervision. He tells his men to pause for a moment. The reason is the appearance of his son. The latter complains that he still hasn’t dealt with the culprit who hit him. Morgan then hits Helmeppo for the first time, saying he never hit him because he was too stupid to hit an idiot. But that was about to change so he could become a real man. Since Morgan had heard that a little girl had snuck up on Zoro, he wants Hexagon to go into town and finish her off, since she’s a criminal. The lieutenant disobeys the order and is badly injured by Morgan. The captain then says to take care of it later and orders the statue to be moved on.

Luffy suddenly jumps up and takes Helmeppo with him to find out the location of the swords. He finally has them, and arrives just in time to intercept the barrage of bullets being fired at Koby and Zoro. Koby had been caught red-handed trying to untie Zoro. Everyone present is surprised that the bullets do not harm Luffy.