Storyline
Ten years ago in East Blue, Gray Terminal: Porchemy wants to kill Luffy for not betraying Ace and Sabo and lashes out with a sword. At that moment, Sabo and Ace storm the shack to free their friend. Armed with iron pipes, they overpower some pirates. While Ace keeps Porchemy busy, Sabo is able to free Luffy. Sabo takes Luffy and then tries to escape with Ace, but he refuses to turn his back on an enemy. Sabo can’t leave Ace behind so easily, puts Luffy down and fights Porchemy at Ace’s side.
Night at the cabin: Bluejam has come after hearing the whole story. Porchemy is lying on the floor and Bluejam calls him pathetic. Porchemy wants to apologize, but his captain shoots him.
Forest: Luffy cries out loud, which he held in during the torture. Sabo thinks they made a big mistake because Bluejam will surely hunt them down now. Ace yells at Luffy to stop crying already, because he can’t stand guys like that who can only blubber all the time. From one second to the next, he stops. Luffy then thanks him again for saving him. Ace in turn asks why Luffy endured the torture. He then explains that he believed that if he talked, Ace would never want to be his friend. Ace doesn’t understand why this is so important to him. Luffy then loudly exclaims that he has no one to go to or trust but Ace. He can’t go back to the Foosha Village, and he can’t stand the bandits. If Luffy hadn’t followed Ace all this time, he would have felt completely alone. Luffy explains that loneliness would have hurt him more than anything. Ace inquires about Luffy’s parents, but the straw-hatted boy only has his grandfather. For Luffy, being with Ace is easier than being alone. This was the first time Ace has heard someone say such a thing about him. To Ace’s last question, if Luffy wants Ace to live on, Luffy replies with an “of course”. Ace then says that it’s fine if Luffy follows him, however he hates whiners. A small argument then breaks out between the two. Sabo interrupts this argument and asks the two what he should do now that he lives in this forest and the Bluejam pirate gang is anchored not that far away, so Sabo is an easy target for them. The three then confer.
Dadan’s house: The next morning, the gang of robbers is amazed when instead of two children, there are really three children sleeping in the house. When Sabo wakes up, he briefly introduces himself, whereby Dadan has already heard about Sabo’s deeds. Sabo also immediately thanks Dadan for looking out for him now too, which she hasn’t even agreed to yet. But Sabo says he heard she can’t turn down a request, smiling brightly at her. Dadan tries her best, but gets carried away in the end. Later in the day, the three boys are back on the road, with Sabo warning Dadan that Bluejam and his gang might come by, so they should be careful.
Forest: The boys have caught a big fish and are eating together. While eating, Sabo asks Luffy what devil powers he actually has. After Luffy explains them, Ace says that it’s pretty stupid not to be able to swim, but to be made of rubber. However, Luffy is convinced he can perform many attacks with these powers. Sabo is interested in this. Luffy then demonstrates his “new” invention, the gum-gum balloon, to him. Ace, however, abuses the inflated boy as a ball. It ends up with Luffy landing in the mouth of a crocodile, which swallows him. Ace and Sabo are fortunately able to free him. At the end of the day, the three boys carry the crocodile home as booty. While doing so, Ace remembers something and wants to investigate some more.
Some people have already found the old hiding place in Sabo and Ace’s forest, but they are disappointed when they see that the treasure is no longer there. Sabo, Ace and Luffy then want to investigate the Gray Terminal as well. There, some pirates are walking around asking people about the children. When they are discovered and betrayed by a man, the three take flight. Sabo thinks it would probably be best to avoid the terminal for a while until things calm down. Ace doesn’t care, in his opinion they just need to fight back. Sabo and Luffy disagree, though, and simply overrule him.
Dadan’s house: The band of robbers discuss what they should do if Bluejam really shows up. Dadan then suggests that they just leave Ace and the other two to him in that case, so they won’t have any more trouble. When she asks her gang what they should do, however, if Garp shows up or if the gang still won’t leave her alone, Dadan suggests they just pretend they don’t know anything about the three boys and try to practice the whole thing right away. However, the gang is just as bad at lying as Luffy is. Shortly after, the kids return. Since that day, the three have always been together, trying to survive in the jungle or fighting animals or bullies from the terminal.
| TV Episode Guide | Post-War Arc (Anime) |
