Short Summary
I'm proud of my old man, who leapt onto these possibly endless seas to live with his life on the line. I'm planning on setting out to sea like him someday!
—Usopp
With Nami now acting as their navigator, the trio of Luffy, Zoro and Nami first stop off at an island where a mysterious voice tries to drive them out. Then on to Syrup Village where they meet Usopp, a man who has a penchant for lying and playing pirate. Things become all too real however when a real former pirate captain threatens both his friends and his village.
Main Summary
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The arc begins with Luffy, Zoro, and Nami on the seas, once again out of food. They spot an island and make landfall in hopes of finding something to eat, but when they make their way in further, they find that the island has some odd animal inhabitants. A mysterious voice tries to drive them out, calling himself "the trial of the island". He shoots at the group from the bushes until Luffy eventually catches him, revealing a man stuck in a treasure chest. He introduces himself as Gaimon, and reveals that he was trying to scare the trio off, as there are treasure chests on a hill that he's protecting. He explains that, many years ago, he was with a pirate crew that came to the island. He found the chests on a hill and tried to report back to his crew; however, he tripped and fell, landing in an open treasure chest, getting himself stuck. Furthermore, his crew sailed off without him, marooning him on the island. He's been protecting the chests ever since.
Luffy agrees to help him by sling-shooting himself to the chest, but he refuses to throw it down once he's at the top. Gaimon realizes why: the chests were empty, meaning the years he has been protecting them were for nothing. Luffy, however, offers to take him off the island so he can join his crew. While flattered by the offer, Gaimon respectfully declines, as he's made friends with the animals of the island and doesn't wish to leave them. However, he gives the group some food for their help. The crew sails off, wishing Gaimon well.
Over on the next island, a boy about Luffy's age runs through town, claiming pirates are attacking. The villagers don't believe him, and attack him when he runs through. The boy then meets up with three younger boys, who call him Usopp; they inform Usopp that they've spotted some boats with pirate sails headed toward the island. These boats, of course, turn out to be Luffy, Zoro, and Nami sailing in. As they try to find a place to land, Usopp confronts them, claiming he's the captain of a whole armada of pirates, with the three boys assisting by waving pirate flags from the background. However, Luffy easily sees through his lie and challenges him. Usopp gets scared on the first sign of conflict, but Luffy likes his determination.
The crew makes land on the island, where they become friends with Usopp and his "crew", "The Usopp Pirates" (Pepper, Carrot and Onion). During a talk in a bar, Luffy realizes that Usopp is the son of Yasopp, one of the crew members of the Red-Hair Pirates, and Luffy knows a little about Usopp from what Yasopp's mentioned of him. Before the conversation can go on any further, Usopp suddenly runs off, but doesn't reveal why. His friends, however, lead the crew to a lovely mansion, where Usopp is talking to a sickly girl through a window. They explain that she is Kaya, another good friend of Usopp's, and he comes to her house every day and tells her stories and tall tales to both cheer her up and keep her strength up. Soon, though, the mood is soured when one of Kaya's butlers, Klahadore, discovers them and badmouths both Usopp and his father, much to Usopp's anger. After Usopp comes to blows with him, Klahadore throws everyone off the property.
Usopp heads off to a nearby cliff for some time alone, and Luffy joins him. They talk some more about Yasopp and Usopp's dreams of becoming a strong warrior. However, they soon notice that, on the beach below, Klahadore is speaking with a shady-looking man. They talk about their plans for a pirate crew to invade the village and kill Kaya so that Klahadore will inherit her fortune, and the shady man also reveals Klahadore's true name, Kuro. Naturally, Usopp is shocked to hear this, and Luffy makes their presence known. However, Kuro's partner, Jango, hypnotizes Luffy into falling asleep, and Kuro smugly points out that, with Usopp's reputation as a liar, no one in the village will believe him if he tries to tell them about Kuro's attack. Sure enough, Usopp's attempts to warn the villagers and Kaya are to no avail. Though the situation looks bleak, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami agree to help him out.
Based on what they've overheard of Kuro's plan, they attempt to intercept Kuro's crew, the Black Cat Pirates, at a hillside pathway by slicking the path with oil. Unfortunately, they soon realize they're on the wrong end of the island. Everyone tries to rush to the correct hillside entrance, but Luffy ends up getting lost and Zoro gets stuck on the oil slick when Nami uses him to get over it. As a result, only Usopp and Nami make it to correct location as the pirates are about to head up the path. The two manage to keep them at bay for awhile, but are eventually subdued. Luckily, Luffy and Zoro find them in time. A fight ensues, in which Luffy is temporarily put to sleep once again and Zoro faces off against the Black Cat Pirates elite, the Meowban brothers. Kuro eventually arrives when he notices that the pirates' attack on the town is late, threatening his crew to hurry up or he'll kill them himself. During this time, Kaya also reaches the area, having learned of Kuro's true nature from Merry, her second and more faithful butler, whom Kuro attacked.
She tries to convince Kuro to stop, but he demoralizes her by rubbing in the fact that his kindly butler persona was nothing but a sham he endured for the sake of his plan. Before he can attack her, the Usopp Pirates, having also learned what was going on by following Kaya, try to attack him. Usopp keeps Kuro from killing them while ordering his crew to take Kaya and run, and Jango chases after them. Meanwhile, Nami awakens Luffy to finally re-join the fight. He keeps Kuro at bay while Zoro carries Usopp to help Kaya and his crew. Luffy and Kuro trade blows and insights on what it means to be a true pirate. It's here we learn Kuro's backstory: he was a fearsome pirate captain, but grew tired of the constant attacks by Marines. He decided to retire by getting a similar-looking crew member captured in his place and killed, having Jango hypnotize both the crew member and the Marine who captured him (revealed to be Captain Morgan from the Romance Dawn arc) to believe the impostor to be the real Kuro. Thus, the world has since believed that Kuro is dead, allowing him to set his current plan into motion so he can retire wealthy.
Kuro decides to get serious by unleashing an attack that causes him to move so fast that he can't be seen. However, he also attacks his crew in the process, since he's moving so fast that he can't tell whom he's hitting, but doesn't particularly care and claims that they're expendable, which upsets Luffy. Meanwhile, in the forest, Jango manages to catch up to Kaya and the Usopp Pirates. Despite valiant efforts from the latter, Jango defeats them, and Kaya agrees to write the will Kuro wants in exchange for sparing the Usopp Pirates, who beg her not to do it since Jango will kill her once she's written it. Luckily, Zoro and Usopp manage to find them in time, with Usopp delivering the final blow that stops Jango. Luffy likewise overcomes Kuro's attacks and beats him with a headbutt. He then throws Kuro to his crew and demands they leave. The crew complies and the attack on Syrup Village is averted.
In the aftermath, Usopp decides that the whole incident should be kept a secret, as it's better if the villagers didn't know what happened. Kaya and Merry give Luffy, Zoro, and Nami a ship, the Going Merry, as a reward for their heroics, and Usopp decides it's time for him to head out to sea himself. He "disbands" the Usopp Pirates in a tearful goodbye and packs his belongings before meeting everyone on shore. He bids farewell to his new friends and expresses a desire to meet them again on the seas someday, but Luffy invites him to come along on his journey as part of his crew. Usopp accepts, and the group sails off, with Kaya and Merry seeing them off.
As they leave, Merry discusses Usopp's backstory: when his mother fell ill, Usopp started lying that his father had come back in the hopes of keeping her strength up. Even after she passed away, he continued to claim that pirates were coming, at first out of grief and later out of habit. In honor of his bravery, Kaya decides to get better and become a doctor. Meanwhile, the former Usopp Pirates have taken up the mantle of running through town and yelling of pirate attacks to keep Usopp's legacy alive.
Luffy agrees to help him by sling-shooting himself to the chest, but he refuses to throw it down once he's at the top. Gaimon realizes why: the chests were empty, meaning the years he has been protecting them were for nothing. Luffy, however, offers to take him off the island so he can join his crew. While flattered by the offer, Gaimon respectfully declines, as he's made friends with the animals of the island and doesn't wish to leave them. However, he gives the group some food for their help. The crew sails off, wishing Gaimon well.
Over on the next island, a boy about Luffy's age runs through town, claiming pirates are attacking. The villagers don't believe him, and attack him when he runs through. The boy then meets up with three younger boys, who call him Usopp; they inform Usopp that they've spotted some boats with pirate sails headed toward the island. These boats, of course, turn out to be Luffy, Zoro, and Nami sailing in. As they try to find a place to land, Usopp confronts them, claiming he's the captain of a whole armada of pirates, with the three boys assisting by waving pirate flags from the background. However, Luffy easily sees through his lie and challenges him. Usopp gets scared on the first sign of conflict, but Luffy likes his determination.
The crew makes land on the island, where they become friends with Usopp and his "crew", "The Usopp Pirates" (Pepper, Carrot and Onion). During a talk in a bar, Luffy realizes that Usopp is the son of Yasopp, one of the crew members of the Red-Hair Pirates, and Luffy knows a little about Usopp from what Yasopp's mentioned of him. Before the conversation can go on any further, Usopp suddenly runs off, but doesn't reveal why. His friends, however, lead the crew to a lovely mansion, where Usopp is talking to a sickly girl through a window. They explain that she is Kaya, another good friend of Usopp's, and he comes to her house every day and tells her stories and tall tales to both cheer her up and keep her strength up. Soon, though, the mood is soured when one of Kaya's butlers, Klahadore, discovers them and badmouths both Usopp and his father, much to Usopp's anger. After Usopp comes to blows with him, Klahadore throws everyone off the property.
Usopp heads off to a nearby cliff for some time alone, and Luffy joins him. They talk some more about Yasopp and Usopp's dreams of becoming a strong warrior. However, they soon notice that, on the beach below, Klahadore is speaking with a shady-looking man. They talk about their plans for a pirate crew to invade the village and kill Kaya so that Klahadore will inherit her fortune, and the shady man also reveals Klahadore's true name, Kuro. Naturally, Usopp is shocked to hear this, and Luffy makes their presence known. However, Kuro's partner, Jango, hypnotizes Luffy into falling asleep, and Kuro smugly points out that, with Usopp's reputation as a liar, no one in the village will believe him if he tries to tell them about Kuro's attack. Sure enough, Usopp's attempts to warn the villagers and Kaya are to no avail. Though the situation looks bleak, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami agree to help him out.
Based on what they've overheard of Kuro's plan, they attempt to intercept Kuro's crew, the Black Cat Pirates, at a hillside pathway by slicking the path with oil. Unfortunately, they soon realize they're on the wrong end of the island. Everyone tries to rush to the correct hillside entrance, but Luffy ends up getting lost and Zoro gets stuck on the oil slick when Nami uses him to get over it. As a result, only Usopp and Nami make it to correct location as the pirates are about to head up the path. The two manage to keep them at bay for awhile, but are eventually subdued. Luckily, Luffy and Zoro find them in time. A fight ensues, in which Luffy is temporarily put to sleep once again and Zoro faces off against the Black Cat Pirates elite, the Meowban brothers. Kuro eventually arrives when he notices that the pirates' attack on the town is late, threatening his crew to hurry up or he'll kill them himself. During this time, Kaya also reaches the area, having learned of Kuro's true nature from Merry, her second and more faithful butler, whom Kuro attacked.
She tries to convince Kuro to stop, but he demoralizes her by rubbing in the fact that his kindly butler persona was nothing but a sham he endured for the sake of his plan. Before he can attack her, the Usopp Pirates, having also learned what was going on by following Kaya, try to attack him. Usopp keeps Kuro from killing them while ordering his crew to take Kaya and run, and Jango chases after them. Meanwhile, Nami awakens Luffy to finally re-join the fight. He keeps Kuro at bay while Zoro carries Usopp to help Kaya and his crew. Luffy and Kuro trade blows and insights on what it means to be a true pirate. It's here we learn Kuro's backstory: he was a fearsome pirate captain, but grew tired of the constant attacks by Marines. He decided to retire by getting a similar-looking crew member captured in his place and killed, having Jango hypnotize both the crew member and the Marine who captured him (revealed to be Captain Morgan from the Romance Dawn arc) to believe the impostor to be the real Kuro. Thus, the world has since believed that Kuro is dead, allowing him to set his current plan into motion so he can retire wealthy.
Kuro decides to get serious by unleashing an attack that causes him to move so fast that he can't be seen. However, he also attacks his crew in the process, since he's moving so fast that he can't tell whom he's hitting, but doesn't particularly care and claims that they're expendable, which upsets Luffy. Meanwhile, in the forest, Jango manages to catch up to Kaya and the Usopp Pirates. Despite valiant efforts from the latter, Jango defeats them, and Kaya agrees to write the will Kuro wants in exchange for sparing the Usopp Pirates, who beg her not to do it since Jango will kill her once she's written it. Luckily, Zoro and Usopp manage to find them in time, with Usopp delivering the final blow that stops Jango. Luffy likewise overcomes Kuro's attacks and beats him with a headbutt. He then throws Kuro to his crew and demands they leave. The crew complies and the attack on Syrup Village is averted.
In the aftermath, Usopp decides that the whole incident should be kept a secret, as it's better if the villagers didn't know what happened. Kaya and Merry give Luffy, Zoro, and Nami a ship, the Going Merry, as a reward for their heroics, and Usopp decides it's time for him to head out to sea himself. He "disbands" the Usopp Pirates in a tearful goodbye and packs his belongings before meeting everyone on shore. He bids farewell to his new friends and expresses a desire to meet them again on the seas someday, but Luffy invites him to come along on his journey as part of his crew. Usopp accepts, and the group sails off, with Kaya and Merry seeing them off.
As they leave, Merry discusses Usopp's backstory: when his mother fell ill, Usopp started lying that his father had come back in the hopes of keeping her strength up. Even after she passed away, he continued to claim that pirates were coming, at first out of grief and later out of habit. In honor of his bravery, Kaya decides to get better and become a doctor. Meanwhile, the former Usopp Pirates have taken up the mantle of running through town and yelling of pirate attacks to keep Usopp's legacy alive.
Kuro Arc has the following tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion: The Gaimon arc gets more depth, along with adding Usopp and Zoro to the mix.
- Agony of the Feet: The Usopp pirates briefly deter Jango by dropping a heavy log on his foot.
- Animal Motifs: The cat. In particular the black cat, which brings bad luck wherever it goes.
- Arc Villain: Captain Kuro.
- Artistic License – Law: When Jango coerces Kaya into writing her will in exchange for sparing the Usopp Pirates, his plan is to kill her on the spot after the will is written without getting notorized by a lawyer.
- Ascended Extra: Zoro in the anime version of the Gaimon story. In the manga, he spends the entire story asleep on the boat due to recovering from his wounds during the Buggy arc; in the anime he travels onto the island with Luffy, Nami, and Usopp (the latter of whom isn't even in the arc at all in the manga, since it takes place before the crew reaches Syrup Village instead of after).
- Badass Bookworm: Kuro is stated to be the second smartest man in the East Blue Saga, and it shows.
- Bad Boss: Kuro doesn't give a damn about his old crew, or pirates in general, and threatens to kill them if they fail him. Of course, it turns out he was going to kill them all even if they didn't fail him, because he wants no one to know that he's still alive. He starts killing them as they're caught in his Cat Out of the Bag technique as he attacks Luffy.
- Berserk Button:
- Usopp punches Kuro when he insults his father.
- Viewing your crew as expendable really pisses Luffy off.
- Big Brother Instinct: The Usopp Pirates invert this for Kaya, their "captain" Usopp's best friend, by doing their absolute damndest to protect her from Jango despite being badly outmatched and outsized. And once Jango does soon get the better of the boys and have them at his mercy, Kaya plays it straight by pulling a Stop, or I Shoot Myself! to keep him from killing them, and agrees to sign the will in exchange for him sparing them.
- Bowdlerise:
- In the manga, Jango's chakram nails Luffy in the back of the head, and Luffy only saves himself by stomping down before it can split his skull all the way open; in the anime, Luffy catches it in his mouth, getting only minor cuts for his trouble.
- Notably inverted with the brief "fight" between Usopp and Kuro (right after the latter's Breaking Speech to Kaya). In the manga, Usopp just runs in for a punch; in the anime, he picks up Kaya's fallen pistol and tries to shoot Kuro.
- Break the Cutie: Kaya gets this when Kuro is ruthlessly telling her about how he hated playing the role of her "kindly butler" and couldn't wait to kill her eventually, but endured it for the sake of his plan.
- The Butler Did It: Well, the evil one did, anyway.
- Cerebus Retcon: Inverted. Usopp started lying about his father coming back because he wanted to keep his ill mother's strength up. But even after he had eventually gotten over his mother's death, he lied out of habit.
- Character Tics: Kuro keeps pushing up his glasses with the heel of his palm like he did in his pirate days, which was a habit he picked up so he wouldn't impale himself with his Cat Claws. Him still doing this in the present shows that he is still prepared to go into battle after all this time.
- The Chessmaster: Kuro " Of A Hundred/Thousand Plans".
- Chekhov's Gunman: A tiny example, but Usopp. As Luffy notes, he's the son that Yasopp from the Red-Hair Pirates would talk about; in fact, in the first chapter of the series, we even saw him tell Luffy that he has a son around his age.
- Continuity Nod: In this arc, we find out exactly why Morgan was given the epithet "Axe-Hand" and the reason for his metal jaw. It isn't pretty.
- Cool Ship: This is the arc in which the Straw Hats receive the Going Merry from its namesake, Kaya's nicer butler Merry (i.e. the one who isn't trying to kill her for money).
- Crying Wolf: Usopp tries to warn the villagers of a real pirate attack, but due to his lying nature (and the fact he's lied about pirate attacks countless times before), no one believes him. Which is pretty much what Kuro is counting on when his plans are discovered.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: When Luffy and Zoro are late to the confrontation with the Black Cat Pirates, Luffy is the one who's late due to getting lost; Zoro's excuse is just that he got stuck in an oil patch, so he presumably found his way there fine after getting un-stuck. The series later establishes that Zoro has the absolute worst sense of direction in the entire crew, even worse than Luffy's (which is also pretty bad), making it unlikely in hindsight that he would have gotten to the correct beach without also getting lost.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Debatable. When promising to spare the Usopp Pirates if Kaya signs the will, Jango states that while he may be a ruthless murderer, he's a man of his word. There's no indication given of whether or not he's lying about this.
- Kuro, oddly enough, takes offense to Jango suggesting he murdered Kaya's parents to speed up the inheritance plan. Again, there's no indication whether he actually did it or not.
- Evil Plan: Kuro sure has one hell of a retirement plan!
- Exact Eavesdropping: The spot where Usopp goes to cool off after his father was insulted just so happens to overhang the beach where Kuro and Jango loudly discuss their plan and the formers true identity, so that Usopp and Luffy know when the invasion is about to begin.
- Faking the Dead: Kuro did this in the past to "retire" as a pirate by getting an unimportant Marine, who turns out to be Morgan, to capture an impostor, and having Jango hypnotize Morgan and the impostor to believe that the latter is the real Kuro so he'll be executed in Kuro's place.
- The Family for the Whole Family: Jango teeters on this, but subverts it; while goofy and laid-back enough to get caught off-guard by the preteen Usopp Pirates a few times, he's ultimately too dangerous for them to fight head-on, and all they can do is stall long enough for grown-up help.
- Flash Step: "Cat Out of the Bag" (or "Shakushi" in Japanese), Kuro's Signature Move. Its weakness is that Kuro cannot see whom he's attacking when he uses it. Not that he cares.
- Foreshadowing: Gaimon mentions that pirates who return from the Grand Line look utterly broken by their experiences. The next arc will show us another crew who just returned from the Grand Line in a similar state.
- Fragile Speedster: Kuro can Flash Step faster than even he himself can see, but he can't stand up to a stretched headbutt from Luffy.
- Generation Xerox: Usopp, like his father before him, becomes a pirate (for real this time).
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: When Kuro uses his "Cat Out of the Bag" attack, slicing his crew members in the process, Luffy is shocked and asks how could Kuro treat his own "friends" this way, not quite getting that a ruthless pirate like Kuro sees his crew as disposable pawns and not as friends like Luffy does.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: By Usopp's decision, as he feels it would be best for Syrup Village.
- Groin Attack: The Usopp Pirates to Jango. With a SHOVEL (or a skillet in the anime) no less... OUCH.
- Hypno Fool:
- Jango hypnotizes his crew to become incredibly strong...unfortunately for them, Luffy gets hypnotized too. He then goes on a rampage and effortlessly defeats Jango's superpowered crew.
- Jango also regularly hypnotizes himself when trying to put others to sleep. According to Kuro, this is an old habit of his, and he still hasn't gotten any better in three years.
- Hypnotize the Captive: Kuro's plan hinges on Jango hypnotizing Kaya and forcing her to sign the will that gives all her wealth to "Klahadore" in the event of her death, then killing her soon after. Kaya takes advantage of this by threatening to kill herself before she's forced to sign the will.
- Insane Troll Logic: Captain Kuro wants to retire from piracy and live a quiet, peaceful life... and he plans to do this by having his crew raze an entire village. Even Luffy points out how little sense this makes.
- Katanas Are Just Better: So much so that Kuro wields ten of them - one on each finger!
- Lunacy: In its literal application — Kuro mentions that there's something about a crescent moon that makes him go berserk and ready to kill.
- Meaningful Name: Usopp is a Consummate Liar who has to learn a lesson the hard way about Crying Wolf. His name is a Portmanteau of "uso" (the Japanese word for "lie") and "Aesop".
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The animals on Gaimon's island.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The villagers have gotten so use to Usopp lying and running through town screaming about pirates, that some of them have started using him as an alarm clock and reminder to get ready for their days. When he doesn't run through town screaming one day, due to helping the Straw Hats fight off Kuro and his crew, all of them find it strange, with at least one of them worried that they were too hard on him the previous day and chased him off for good.
- Pain to the Ass: The Usopp pirates stop Jango from killing Kaya by stabbing him in the ass with a shovel.
- Red Baron: Kuro "Of A Hundred/Thousand Plans".
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Kuro starts demonstrating these even before he's outed as a villain. Especially noticeable in the anime adaptation.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Gaimon protects four treasure chests for many years, only for Luffy to discover that they're empty. He manages to bounce back from the disappointment, however.
- Stealth Pun: Usopp tries to tell Kaya that Klahadore is actually the evil pirate Captain Kuro. Kaya and Merry (a man with sheep-like features) don't believe him, and the latter even jokes with Klahadore about it. After telling him his true intentions, Kuro attacks Merry with his Wolverine Claws and he looks pretty much dead. Merry was "a lamb to the slaughter".
- Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: After seeing Jango attack Usopp's "pirate crew", Kaya threatens to slash her neck with a chakram if Jango doesn't stop. While her death is part of Kuro's plan, it'll have been all for nothing if she dies before she signs the will that gives her wealth over to him. Jango immediately relents.
- Villainous Breakdown: Once Luffy prevents Kuro from using his technique, Kuro yells hysterically about how his plans can't fail before Luffy drops him with a headbutt.
- Wolverine Claws: Captain Kuro and the Meowban Brothers.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- In the climax of his battle with Luffy, Kuro finally decides he doesn't need his old pirate crew anymore, and tries to kill all of them to get to Luffy with his Cat Out of the Bag technique. Though it's then revealed that he intended to kill the crew even if his plan had succeeded so he can be the only survivor.
- Kuro, and later Jango, plan to kill Kaya once they've forced her to write the will that names "Klahadore" as her beneficiary, since at that point she's more useful to them dead so they can claim her inheritance.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: When Luffy eventually starts turning the tide and winning his battle with Kuro, the Black Cat pirates start cheering Luffy's name, fed up with Kuro's Bad Boss behavior. Luffy however snaps at them and yells that he doesn't want their praise.
Story Impact
- During their meeting with Gaimon, the Straw Hat Pirates fully understand the Grand Line's geography and location, as well as the "myth" of One Piece. Ever since Gold Roger started the Golden Age of Pirates twenty-two years ago, no one has found Roger's treasure, and many believe it does not exist. This is later referred to again in the Jaya Arc, and the question of the existence of One Piece becomes a major question in the story. Much later on in the Marineford Arc, in his dying breath, Whitebeard confirms the existence of One Piece, which starts the New Age of Piracy.
- This arc introduces a new crew member with Usopp, and the Straw Hats also gain a ship, the Going Merry, which will follow the Straw Hats' adventures until the end of the Enies Lobby Arc.
- In the manga mini-arc "Jango's Dance Paradise," it is revealed that because he was knocked out in the woods, Jango is the only Black Cat pirate accidentally left behind. Through a number of adventures, he ends up on an island full of Marines. Jango becomes best friends with Fullbody, a Marine that encounters the Straw Hats in the Baratie Arc. After Jango's identity is revealed, Fullbody helps Jango get acquitted for his past crimes and enables him to join the Marines, at the price of being demoted. The Straw Hats would not encounter Jango again until the Alabasta Arc, where Luffy is surprised he is now a Marine.
