Storyline
Ten years ago in East Blue: Sabo, Ace and Luffy are playing pirates in their hideout while a wild storm sweeps across the land outside. The following day, the storm has almost completely destroyed their hideout.
Gray Terminal: To find new building material for their hideout, the three boys go to Gray Terminal. The boys split up while searching for materials. Just as Sabo has found a telescope for Luffy, he is surrounded by the Bluejam pirates. Bluejam himself places himself in front of Sabo in the process. Luffy and Ace come to their brother’s aid and the three of them are able to take on Bluejam’s men. But when Bluejam starts shooting with his gun and the boys take cover, some pirates manage to catch them. At that moment, Sabo’s father appears. The latter has ordered the pirates to bring Sabo back to him. Sabo’s father accuses Luffy and Ace of enticing Sabo to run away from home and therefore wants to punish them severely so that they will never be able to do so again; however, he wants to leave the method of punishment up to Bluejam. Sabo asks his father and Bluejam to stop. He agrees to live the way his father wants in exchange for sparing Luffy and Ace. Sabo’s father agrees and sends Sabo home, who leaves in tears. After Sabo leaves, Bluejam takes Luffy and Ace to his ship.
Bluejam Pirates Ship: Ace and Luffy are tied together and sitting on the floor. Bluejam asks the two if they don’t think it’s nice to be a noble. To despise others below them, to act like the leader of everything without anyone saying anything against you; this life Bluejam thinks is glorious. Luffy and Ace, however, think they know after Sabo’s experience that the free life of a pirate is much better. Bluejam has them remove their shackles and says that Sabo certainly wasn’t one bit better and would have just looked down on them, too. Ace and Luffy deny this, however, because they know Sabo better. Bluejam still thinks they should forget about Sabo. If they plan to bring him back, he would have to execute them here and now. If they really care about him, they need to leave him where he is. This they would understand when they grow up. Bluejam changes the subject, reminding them that they actually have an axe to grind because of the Porchemy incident. But Bluejam wants to forget about that, as the strength of the boys has impressed him. Because of this, and because they’re a little short on manpower right now, Bluejam wants to offer the two of them to work for him. All they would have to do is bring boxes to locations of the Gray Terminal, which are marked on a map. Luffy doesn’t seem too thrilled with this proposal and Ace takes the deal, provided the pay is good.
Gray Terminal: The next day, Ace and Luffy are hauling some crates around with the Bluejam pirates. Luffy would rather save Sabo, with Ace telling him that he would. Still, he wouldn’t know what was best for Sabo at the moment. If Sabo wants to come back, he can certainly manage it, since he already ran away once. For now, though, they should focus on saving money for their pirate lives as they always have.
Goa, police station: Sabo is supposed to testify that he was forced to commit his crimes by Luffy and Ace, otherwise he will get a record in his file, his family’s reputation will drop considerably and he will not be allowed to return to the upper class. Sabo’s father therefore pushes Sabo more and more to blame Luffy and Ace for everything. When Sabo still refuses, his father reminds him that his friends’ lives are still in the hands of the pirates who work for him, so he should think carefully about what he says now. Sabo still wants to refuse, whereupon his father throws him to the ground and bribes the police officer.
Goa, Sabo’s house: After Sabo had to wash himself in the front garden before entering the house, his mother welcomes him. She also introduces Sabo to his new brother, eight-year-old Sterry. Sabo’s father later explains to him that they adopted Sterry from another noble family after they lost their privileges. Sterry seemed full of potential to raise the prestige of Sabo’s family. Sabo quickly realizes that nothing has changed here. A little later, Sabo gets a visit in his room from his adopted brother. He wants to see if his brother is really as stupid as his parents claim. It quickly becomes clear that Sterry has no love for Sabo, and he even wonders why his parents even saved someone like that before tomorrow’s event at Gray Terminal, where he surely would have died. Sabo grabs Sterry by the collar and wants to know what he means by that. Sterry tells him that it was decided months ago in the upper echelon to set the Gray Terminal on fire the next day, as they would be receiving a visit from a group of World Nobles in three days. To prevent them from seeing “the eyesore of the country”, it was decided to remove it a few days before. Sabo knows that the Gray Terminal is home to so many people and asks what should happen to them. After its explanation, Sabo realizes the cruelty of burning the Gray Terminal along with its inhabitants. Sabo then runs into the city.
Guard Station: Sabo is able to overhear some guards going over the plan again. As it turns out, Bluejam is also involved. So he and his men place crates of oil and other highly flammable material all over Gray Terminal. Sabo now knows that Sterry was telling the truth.
Goa, Upper Shift: Sabo is walking around town the next day and wonders why everyone is acting all normal. He wonders if maybe they don’t know about everything or maybe this isn’t happening after all. However, when he asks some people, Sabo is horrified because everyone knows about the fire, but acts like it’s nothing special and doesn’t care one bit about the people there. When Sabo meets an older man and asks him about it, he says that they all decided not to talk about it so no one else would find out and warn the people at Gray Terminal. Sabo is horrified and no longer wants to stay in this “crazy town” and decides to flee to warn Ace and Luffy. However, at that moment, Sabo is spotted by some policemen who are sent to bring him back home on behalf of his father.
| TV Episode Guide | Post-War Arc (Anime) |
