Written by: Steven Maeda and Diego Gutierrez
Directed by: Tim Southam
While Zoro recuperates from his battle with Mihawk, Sanji shares his history with the Straw Hats. Soon after, the deadly Arlong comes calling for Luffy and the map and a crew member’s secret comes to light.
- Arcs incorporated into the episode: Baratie Arc, Arlong Park Arc, Jaya Arc and Skypiea Arc
Tropes:
- Adaptational Badass: At the end of the day, Anime/Manga Arlong was a Dirty Coward who didn't bother to put in the effort to grow strong enough to challenge the Grand Line and willfully stood behind in the East Blue to terrorize the helpless civilians there. This Arlong's specific goal is to take over the Grand Line and the seas beyond it, and he and his crew holds influence over the entirety of the East Blue to begin with. He also single-handedly hands Luffy his ass in a one-on-one fight with him.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Arlong and his crew appear while Luffy and his crew are still at Baratie rather after they leave.
- Accidental Misnaming:
- Luffy calls Zoro's Wado Ichimonji sword the "Whadda Itchy Monkey"note .
- Luffy once again forgets Buggy's name and calls him "Burpy".
- Allegiance Affirmation: Up until now, Zoro technically hadn't joined Luffy's crew; at most, he unofficially joined by no longer denying that their Ragtag Bunch of Misfits was a crew. Now, though, once Zoro wakes up, he makes it official, declaring Luffy his captain and himself his first mate.
- An Arm and a Leg: Netflix went with the manga version of Sanji's origin story: Zeff ate one of his legs to survive. In the anime, his leg gets torn off by an anchor while he is rescuing Sanji from drowning.
- Berserk Button: Played for laughs when a young Sanji sees Zeff adding oregano to the dish Sanji was making at the time of Zeff's attack on his ship. Seeing this leads to Sanji trying to gut Zeff while screaming "Oregano is for savages!" By the time he's an adult, Sanji loses this button, though he maintains his opinion on Oregano.
- Big Damn Heroes: Like in the manga, when Arlong tosses Luffy into the water, Sanji saves him, though this happens at Arlong Park, not Baratie. However, it's also akin to the original Baratie arc, where Luffy landed in the water after defeating Don Krieg and Sanji likewise rescued him.
- Big "YES!": Luffy's reaction when Sanji shows up near the end to join the crew.Sanji: Heard you guys need a cook.
Luffy: YEAH! Yes, we do! - The Chains of Commanding: Luffy gets called out multiple times for allowing Zoro to essentially sacrifice himself to Mihawk. However, as conflicted as Luffy gets while Zoro remains unresponsive, he maintains his position that the dreams of his crew take priority over everything else, and when Zoro comes to, it's Luffy's adherence to this and not standing in the way of Zoro's dream that fully cements the swordsman's loyalty to him.
- Closest Thing We Got: When a doctor is needed to save Zoro from his battle with Mihawk, the nearest one is two day away. Zeff and Sanji come instead, with Zeff sewing up the wound and then apply fish skin grafts over the wound to help keep it clean and encourage healing.
- Commonality Connection:
- The reason that Zeff saves Sanji's life is because they both have the same dream to find the All Blue. After Zeff chops off his leg he tells Sanji that he should find the All Blue for the both of them.
- Luffy ends up bonding with Sanji even more since they both have backstories of a mentor sacrificing a limb for them.
- Couch Gag: The jolly roger is Sanji's. In it, a knife replaces in "i" in "One Piece", and there is a heart in the "P" as well.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Downplayed, as Luffy is able to hold his own pretty well against Arlong, but once he douses Luffy with seawater, Arlong beats him with ease and dumps him in the ocean before leaving.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: The Straw Hats' best swordsman is conveniently out of commission when Arlong comes to claim the map and Luffy.
- Exact Words:
- As it turns out when Buggy told Luffy that he had "eyes and ears everywhere" he wasn't being metaphorical; at some point he stuffed one of his ears in the band around Luffy's hat so he could hear everything the Straw Hats have been doing.
- In the flashback, when they are stranded on the rocks, Zeff tosses one of two bags at Sanji telling him "This is all the food we've got." Sanji assumes both bags are full of food, and is notably upset when he gets the smaller of the two. It's only until later that Sanji learns Zeff's bag was full of plundered loot- meaning Zeff was only referring to the first bag.
- Expecting Someone Taller: Arlong says he expected Luffy to be bigger for a man of his reputation. Luffy tells him the same.
- Honor Before Reason: Carried over from the previous episode. While deliberately allowing Mihawk to slash him across the chest instead of the back might have been noble, it also puts Zoro on the brink of death, freaks out his friends who now suddenly have to treat his near-fatal wounds, and jeopardizes their continued safety since he's out of commission when Arlong and his fishmen come for Luffy.
- Immune to Bullets: Arlong shrugs off a gunshot from Zeff with no visible harm.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Zeff asks for a bottle of their best whiskey before he goes to treat Zoro. When Usopp asks if it's for disinfectant, Zeff scoffs at him, stating it would be a waste of good whiskey to use it for a disinfectant before taking a large hit from the bottle.
- Internal Reveal: While eavesdropping on Garp and Mihawk's conversation, Koby learns that Luffy is Garp's grandson.
- A Lesson Learned Too Well: Zeff's sacrifice for Sanji in their backstory instilled in the young man the necessary values of compassion and integrity that shapes his character. Unfortunately, it also gave Sanji an Undying Loyalty to Zeff and a refusal to move on, despite the latter not wanting that for him. Zeff has to practically spell it out for Sanji to take the hint.
- Literalist Snarking: Luffy tells Arlong that he bows to no men. Arlong states that he's no man, and Luffy adds, "Or fish."
- Manly Tears:
- In the flashback, Zeff cries as he recounts his dream to find the All Blue to Sanji and how he will have to search for it for the both of them, now that he's lost the ability to do so.
- Sanji cries as he thanks Zeff for everything he's done for him over the years. Zeff himself likewise cries as he watches Sanji sail off.
- Mythology Gag: Nami reads an unconscious Zoro a fable about a man named Mont Blanc Noland. Veteran One Piece fans will recognize the name and the wider implications of the story, as well as the true context of it.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Koby's argument that Luffy is never going to be a Marine like Garp wanted, and trying to encourage him to accept that, instead gets Garp to decide to tell his crew that gloves are off, to Koby's visible horror.
- Not Worth Killing: Downplayed when Arlong is about to kill Luffy. Nami convinces Arlong it would be beneath him to kill Luffy directly and instead he should let the Devil Fruit user drown. Arlong likes this idea and tosses Luffy into the water.
- Number Two: Zoro names himself first mate of the Straw Hats at the end of the episode. While he has served in that role unofficially in the manga since early on, this is the first instance of him formally holding the position. The source material shows that even as far as the Dressrosa arc, Zoro doesn't consider himself the first mate.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: You know it's serious when Big Eater Luffy refuses a meal so he can properly clean Zoro's sword.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Nami has betrayed the crew and reveals herself to be a member of Arlong's crew, but Zoro wakes from his coma, Sanji joins Luffy's crew and the latter is confident that they can save Nami.
- Truth in Television: Fish skin grafts are actually used to encourage healing wounds in real life.
- Wham Shot:
- Nami's shoulder tattoo showing she's a member of Arlong's crew.
- In-universe, the younger Sanji angrily confronts Zeff and demands to know how he's still alive after 70 days of no food, only to stop in shock when he sees that the lower half of Zeff's right leg is gone. The sight of the dried blood and gore around the rocks/on Zeff's beard only adds to it, making him realize what truly happened.
