Storyline
Marine Ford: Luffy, thanks to the Whitebeard gang and Ivankov and Inazuma, finally has a clear path to Ace and rushes to him. But at the moment when only a few meters separate him from his brother, his grandfather confronts him. First he must defeat him, a Navy Vice Admiral, if he wants to get to Ace, because this is the path Luffy has chosen as a pirate. Luffy asks his grandfather to just let him through, but he stops.
Oris Square: Helmeppo tends to the unconscious Koby and curses Luffy for attacking him without mercy. Koby slowly regains consciousness and says he needs to get much stronger. When Koby asks where Luffy is, Helmeppo tells him that he’s about to have a fight with Garp. Meanwhile, some other marines are just aiming their bazookas at Luffy, but are stopped by Hancock. When asked what that was about, the Pirate Empress explains that the soldiers could have hit Garp as well. She cannot allow this to happen, as he is, after all, her future grandfather once she is married to Luffy. On the bridge, Garp repeats that Luffy will have to kill him if he wants to continue. He keeps running, however, memories of their past together now come to him.
Review: Luffy fights a bunch of monkeys in the forest while Garp watches. When Luffy asks why he has to fight the monkeys, Garp replies that this is training so that Luffy can become the strongest marine soldier. However, Luffy doesn’t want to become a marine soldier, but rather a pirate, whereupon he takes a blow to the head. Some time later, Luffy wears Shanks’ straw hat and has his gum-gum powers. Garp has him fight a larger monkey and Luffy tries to use his devil powers, but gets stuck on a tree. When his grandfather brings him down, Luffy declares that he doesn’t want to be a pirate anymore. Garp is delighted at this and believes that his grandson has finally come to his senses, but shortly after, Luffy says that his current goal is to become King of the Pirates. Garp believes that Shanks put this flea in his ear and dismisses the big ape so that he can now beat some “sense” into his grandson himself. Garp won’t let Luffy become a pirate. That evening, Garp carries Luffy home on his back. Garp thinks that Luffy must really hate a strict grandfather like him. The reason for his strictness is that he just doesn’t want his grandson to lose the right way.
Present: Luffy calls out to Garp that he can’t do that, so he should get out of the way. Garp reminds him that Ace will die if he doesn’t, and things don’t always go the way you want them to. Garp takes a swing and Luffy goes into Gear 2. However, memories of Luffy and Ace’s childhood come to Garp as well and he just can’t bring himself to do it. He lets Luffy knock him off the bridge. Sengoku seems to be the only one who realized that Garp let his emotions get the best of him at the last moment. Meanwhile, Luffy finally makes it to the scaffold just before the bridge collapses. In Oris Square, Kizaru is impressed that Luffy made it this far, but still thinks he’s too reckless and wonders how he’s going to free Ace now. Whitebeard goes to attack the admiral, but the admiral is able to dodge and pierces Whitebeard with a laser beam in return.
Scaffold: Luffy is glad to have finally made it this far. He pulls out the key to Ace’s handcuffs that he got from Hancock. But Sengoku, who is standing right next to the two of them, can’t watch any longer. In front of everyone, he uses his devil powers and transforms into a massive, golden Buddha. Just before Luffy manages to cuff the key, it is shot from a distance by Kizaru. Sengoku, meanwhile, prepares to punish the two brothers for their crimes with his own hands here and now. However, at that moment, one of the executioners regains consciousness. It turns out to be Mr. 3 in disguise. The latter is shocked when he sees the fist of the angry fleet admiral. Luffy activates Gear 3 and instructs Mr. 3 to give Ace extra protection with a Candle Wall. Luffy himself uses his gum-gum-giant balloon, but Sengoku is stronger and the scaffold shatters. As they fall to the ground, Mr. 3 tries to make a key for Ace’s handcuffs. Meanwhile, Buggy & Co. have also discovered their “Brother 3” and wonder how he got there.
Flashback: Just as Mr. 3 has snuck into the naval base and is hiding, he discovers the replacement executioners on their way to the scaffold. When Mr. 3 hears that Kizaru has defeated Luffy, he remembers Mr. 2, who did everything he could to help Luffy and even ended up sacrificing his life for them all because they were friends. His comrade’s bravery inspires Mr. 3’s plan. In the locker room, he overpowers one of the executioners to take his place.
Present: Mr. 3 has completed a new key and tosses it to Luffy just as they are being fired upon by dozens of cannonballs. A large explosion occurs and everyone thinks they have now gotten both Ace and Luffy, but then a couple of handcuffs fall. Out of the smoke from the explosion comes a tunnel of fire, from which Ace emerges, with Luffy and Mr. 3 in tow. Ace says that this is like his brother all over again, never listening to him and always making such a commotion. Luffy is just happy that Ace is finally free.
| TV Episode Guide | Marineford Arc (Anime) |
