One Piece

Release boundary: Season 1

The age of piracy begins with the execution of Gol D. Roger, whose final words inspire adventurers to search for the legendary One Piece. Years later, Monkey D. Luffy drifts at sea inside a barrel and is hauled aboard a passenger ship just as Alvida's pirates attack. In the ship's pantry, Luffy meets Koby, a timid cabin boy who has spent two years serving Alvida against his will. Luffy casually announces that he intends to become King of the Pirates, and his certainty pushes Koby to admit his own dream of joining the Marines. When Alvida confronts them, Luffy reveals that eating a Devil Fruit made his body rubber-like. He defeats her crew and launches Alvida away with a stretching punch. Luffy and Koby escape in a small boat, briefly crossing paths with a red-haired thief who has robbed the pirates. As they head toward a Marine base, Luffy decides that the feared pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro would make an excellent first crewmate.

Luffy and Koby arrive at Shells Town, where the Marine base is controlled by the brutal Captain Morgan and his spoiled son Helmeppo. The townspeople fear even mentioning Roronoa Zoro, a famous bounty hunter who has been tied to a post in the base courtyard. Luffy sneaks inside and meets Rika, a young girl bringing Zoro rice balls as thanks for protecting her from Helmeppo's violent pet wolf. Helmeppo humiliates her by crushing the food, but Zoro asks Luffy to feed it to him anyway. Zoro explains that he agreed to endure one month without food in exchange for his freedom, believing Helmeppo's promise. Luffy soon overhears Helmeppo boasting that he plans to execute Zoro regardless. Meanwhile, Koby challenges Helmeppo's cruelty and is threatened for it. Convinced that Zoro is honorable despite his reputation, Luffy decides to recruit him and searches for his confiscated swords. A mysterious orange-haired thief also infiltrates the Marine compound, pursuing a chart connected to the Grand Line.

Luffy storms the Marine base to recover Zoro's swords while Koby tries to free the imprisoned bounty hunter. Inside Morgan's headquarters, Luffy encounters Nami, a skilled thief who specializes in robbing pirates and is searching for a Grand Line map. Their escape draws Captain Morgan and his troops into the courtyard, where Helmeppo prepares to execute both Zoro and Koby. Luffy blocks the Marines' bullets with his rubber body and returns Zoro's weapons, allowing the swordsman to fight at full strength. Zoro accepts Luffy as his captain on the condition that his own ambition—to become the world's greatest swordsman—will not be sacrificed. Together they overwhelm Morgan's forces, and Zoro stops the captain before he can strike Luffy from behind. Helmeppo takes Koby hostage, but Luffy quickly defeats him. With Morgan's tyranny ended, the Marines thank the pirates while ordering them to leave town. Koby remains behind to enlist, and Luffy deliberately provokes him into throwing a punch so the Marines will not suspect their friendship.

While sailing away from Shells Town, Luffy explains why his straw hat and dream of piracy matter so deeply. As a child in Foosha Village, he idolized the visiting Red-Haired Pirates and repeatedly begged their captain, Shanks, to take him to sea. Luffy mistook restraint for cowardice after mountain bandit Higuma insulted Shanks and poured drinks over him without provoking a fight. During another visit to the tavern, Luffy unknowingly ate the Gum-Gum Fruit from the pirates' treasure and permanently lost the ability to swim. Higuma later returned, threatened the village, and kidnapped Luffy after the boy defended Shanks. Shanks' crew easily defeated the bandits, but Higuma escaped to sea and threw Luffy into the water, where a Sea King attacked. Shanks rescued him at the cost of his left arm, teaching Luffy that protecting a friend matters more than pride. Before departing, Shanks entrusted Luffy with his straw hat and asked him to return it after becoming a great pirate. In the present, Luffy and Zoro continue toward their next adventure.

Separated from Zoro when a bird carries him away, Luffy lands in Orange Town, a settlement occupied by the Buggy Pirates. Nami tricks three of Buggy's men and steals their small boat, but she later hands Luffy over to Captain Buggy while pretending that she wants to join his crew. Buggy imprisons Luffy in a cage and orders Nami to prove herself by firing a cannon at him. She hesitates, revealing that although she despises pirates, she cannot casually kill someone. Zoro arrives and wounds Buggy, only to discover that the clown captain can detach and control his body parts because of the Chop-Chop Fruit. Buggy stabs Zoro from behind and turns his cannon on the escaping group. Despite his injury, Zoro carries Luffy's cage away while Nami lights the cannon fuse to delay their pursuers. They reach the ruined part of town and meet Mayor Boodle and Chouchou, a small dog guarding its absent owner's pet-food shop. Buggy's officers follow, setting the stage for another confrontation.

Luffy remains trapped in Buggy's cage while Chouchou stubbornly guards the pet-food store that belonged to his late owner. Mohji, Buggy's beast tamer, arrives riding the enormous lion Richie and demands information about Zoro and Nami. Richie accidentally smashes Luffy's cage open, but Mohji turns his attention to the store and orders the lion to destroy it. Chouchou fights far beyond his size yet cannot stop Richie from burning the building and eating its contents. Seeing the dog's grief, Luffy becomes furious and defeats both Mohji and Richie, then returns the only box of food he managed to save. Nami is surprised by Luffy's compassion and begins to reconsider her belief that all pirates are heartless. Mayor Boodle learns that Buggy is preparing to destroy the town and decides to confront him alone rather than abandon the home his people built. Luffy recognizes the same determination he saw in Chouchou and refuses to let Boodle throw his life away, even as Buggy loads a powerful Buggy Ball into his cannon.

Mayor Boodle charges Buggy in a desperate attempt to defend Orange Town, but Luffy knocks him unconscious so he will not be killed pointlessly. Buggy fires a Buggy Ball at the heroes, and Luffy uses his rubber body to send the projectile back, devastating much of the pirate camp. Cabaji, Buggy's acrobatic chief of staff, challenges the wounded Zoro and tries to exploit the sword cut in his side. Riding a unicycle, Cabaji attacks with spinning blades, smoke screens, and hidden weapons while boasting that victory matters more than honor. Zoro deliberately slashes his own wound to show that he will not use it as an excuse, then defeats Cabaji with a decisive three-sword technique. Meanwhile, Buggy reveals that he recognizes Luffy's straw hat as belonging to Shanks, an old acquaintance he despises. He damages the hat to provoke Luffy and begins fighting with detached fists, blades, and other flying body parts. Nami uses the confusion to search Buggy's treasure for the Grand Line map, but the personal connection between Buggy and Shanks makes the battle increasingly intense.

Luffy and Buggy continue their duel across the ruins of Orange Town, each relying on a different Devil Fruit ability. Buggy explains that he and Shanks once served as apprentices on the same pirate ship. Years earlier, Buggy found a treasure map and planned to sell a stolen Devil Fruit, but Shanks startled him into swallowing the fruit and losing the map at sea. Buggy has blamed Shanks ever since for ruining his plan and taking away his ability to swim. In the present, Buggy separates his body to overwhelm Luffy, but Nami ties up the scattered pieces before they can reassemble. Reduced to only a few parts, Buggy is launched far away by Luffy's Gum-Gum Bazooka. Nami secures the Grand Line chart and divides Buggy's treasure with Luffy, although the townspeople misunderstand the situation and chase the pirates away after finding their mayor unconscious. Boodle awakens and realizes that Luffy saved him. Chouchou barks a farewell as Luffy, Zoro, and Nami escape together, beginning an uneasy partnership while Orange Town starts rebuilding.

Luffy, Zoro, and Nami reach Syrup Village while searching for a larger ship. Their arrival coincides with Usopp's daily routine of racing through town and falsely warning that pirates are attacking. The villagers chase him, but his lies are partly meant to entertain himself and cheer Kaya, a wealthy young woman confined to her mansion by poor health. Usopp leads a tiny group of children who call themselves the Usopp Pirates and boasts about commanding thousands of followers. When he learns that Luffy knows his father Yasopp, a sniper in Shanks' crew, Usopp becomes genuinely interested in the visitors. The group approaches Kaya's mansion to ask for a ship, but her strict butler Klahadore drives them away and insults Usopp as the son of a pirate. Usopp strikes him and leaves in anger. Later, Zoro notices a strange man carrying heart-shaped glasses—Jango—walking toward the coast. Luffy and Usopp independently witness Klahadore meeting Jango at a secluded cliff, where their conversation reveals that the butler is hiding a dangerous identity.

At the coastal cliff, Usopp and Luffy secretly listen as Klahadore reveals himself to be Captain Kuro, the supposedly dead leader of the Black Cat Pirates. Kuro has spent three years earning Kaya's trust and plans to have his former crew raid the village. During the attack, Jango will hypnotize Kaya into writing a will that leaves her fortune to Kuro, after which she and the villagers will be killed. Usopp is horrified, but Luffy accidentally exposes their hiding place and is hypnotized into falling from the cliff. Believing Luffy dead, Kuro gives Jango final instructions for the planned dawn assault. Usopp rushes into the village shouting that real pirates are coming, only to be dismissed because of his years of false alarms. Kaya also refuses to believe him when he accuses her trusted butler. Desperate, Usopp pretends that he invented the story to steal her fortune, ensuring she will hate him but remain alert. Nami and Zoro later find Luffy alive and learn the truth. Although the villagers will not help, the Straw Hat group agrees to fight beside Usopp.

Usopp decides that if nobody believes his warning, he will make sure the pirate attack appears to have been another harmless lie. He, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami prepare an ambush on the village's northern slope, coating the path with oil so the Black Cat Pirates cannot climb it. At dawn, however, they realize the enemy ship has anchored on the opposite side of the island. Luffy races toward the correct coast but becomes lost, while Zoro slides down the oily slope and struggles to climb back up. Nami reaches the southern slope first and tries to block the invading pirates alone. Meanwhile, Kaya confronts Klahadore after Merry confirms Usopp's accusation. Kuro attacks Merry and abandons his polite disguise, then calmly leaves for the coast to ensure his plan proceeds on schedule. Jango orders the Black Cat crew forward, but Nami's resistance delays them until Zoro arrives. Usopp fires at the pirates from a distance, determined to protect the village despite being badly outnumbered. The battle begins without Luffy, and Kuro grows impatient when his crew fails to arrive at the mansion.

The Black Cat Pirates swarm the southern slope, forcing Usopp, Nami, and Zoro into a chaotic defense. Zoro cuts through the attackers but loses two of his swords when Nami steals them to retrieve the treasure she left near the oily northern path. Usopp tries to stop Jango with explosives and slingshot attacks, yet the hypnotist keeps pushing his crew forward. Luffy finally reaches the battlefield after following the sound of cannon fire and immediately knocks out many pirates. Jango responds by hypnotizing his own men into becoming unnaturally strong, causing them to smash cliffs and overwhelm Luffy and Zoro. The crew's elite fighters, the Meowban Brothers Sham and Buchi, appear and pretend to be cowardly before stealing Zoro's remaining sword. Forced to fight barehanded against their claw weapons, Zoro is placed at a severe disadvantage. Nami attempts to return his swords, but Jango injures her with a thrown chakram. As Kuro approaches the coast, he gives his crew only minutes to complete the operation, threatening to kill them himself if they fail.