Episode 2

Episode 2: The Great Swordsman Appears! Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro
Air Date: 1999-11-17

Opening: We Are! (1st Opening)

Ending: Memories (1st Ending)

Manga Chapters: 3 (1-21/21), 4  (1-19/19), 5  (1-8, 16-19/19)

Short Summary
Luffy and Coby arrive on an island with a Marine base stationed on it, led by Captain Morgan. There they meet the legendary pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro, who is set for execution by the Marines. Luffy, however, remains determined that Zoro will become the first crewmate of his pirate crew.

In-Depth Summary
The episode opens with Luffy and Coby aboard their boat, and Coby once again explains how Roronoa Zoro is a demon who takes down men just for the bounty. The boat then arrives at an island, where a large Marine base is stationed. Luffy and Coby walk through the town, and at the mentions of the names of "Roronoa Zoro" and "Captain Morgan," the townspeople are thrown into a panic. Luffy and Coby then arrive at the Marine base, where Coby thinks it will be his goodbye, as he plans on enrolling in the Marines, but Luffy climbs over the wall and spots Zoro tied to a cross. Coby loses it, and as the two look at Zoro a little girl named Rika climbs over the wall with a ladder. She offers some rice balls to Zoro that she made herself, using her whole heart.

At that moment, the snobbish Helmeppo, son of Captain Morgan, arrives with several Marine soldiers. He eats one of Rika's riceballs and says it's disgusting, since she used sugar instead of salt, and he stomps on them and has her thrown out. When he leaves, Luffy goes up to Zoro and asks him to join the crew. Zoro refuses, and refuses to be freed from his bindings since he plans on surviving just to spite Helmeppo. He then eats the flattened riceballs. Luffy and Coby then meet with Rika in the town and Luffy mentions how Zoro loved the riceballs. Luffy asks if Zoro actually is evil, but Rika replies that he is really a good guy. One day, Helmeppo brought a vicious wolf into the town bar, but Zoro knocked it out to protect everyone inside. He then knocked down Helmeppo, but Helmeppo had Zoro arrested in an exchange that the people in the bar not be executed.

Luffy, Coby, and Rika walk into a restaurant, and there is Helmeppo, talking about how he's going to execute Zoro the next day. Luffy punches him, and Helmeppo runs off to tell his father. Captain Morgan, at that time, is having a statue of himself erected on top of the Marine base, and he punches his son and calls him worthless after Helmeppo tells him what happened. Luffy, meanwhile, goes to untie Zoro, but Zoro mentions how his swords were taken away. Luffy says he'll go get them, so he uses Gomu Gomu no Rocket to launch himself up to the roof of the Marine base. In doing so, he knocks over the statue and causes it to break. Morgan orders that Luffy is executed, so Luffy grabs Helmeppo and runs into the base, searching for Zoro's swords. Outside, Coby is trying to untie Zoro and explains the situation to him. All the while, Nami is sneaking around the Marine base.

Luffy drags Helmeppo into Helmeppo's room, where the swords are. Meanwhile, Captain Morgan and his soldiers surround Zoro and Coby, and Morgan orders that they are both executed. The soldiers hold up their rifles and open fire, and Zoro thinks how he can't die, and remembers Kuina. However, before the bullets can reach them, Luffy leaps from the Marine base and uses his rubber body to block the bullets and send them flying. When Zoro is shocked and asks who he is, Luffy responds that he is Monkey D. Luffy, and that he will become the Pirate King.

Clip Edits

 * The man who falls before Zoro while Koby describes him is cut out.
 * The conversation between Koby and Luffy while they're walking in town is cut short.
 * The shot of Luffy getting down and shots of Zoro are switched.
 * The front of the paper in Helmeppo's hand isn't shown because it featured kanji.
 * Zoro punching Helmeppo in Rika's story is cut out.
 * A close up of Zoro in Rika's story is cut out.
 * Zoro dropping his sword after agreeing to Helmeppo's terms is cut out.
 * Clips of Luffy and Nami eavesdropping are cut out.
 * The scene where Zoro says, "I can't die in a place like this!" is cut out.
 * A 1-2 second clip of Zoro looking up to see Luffy after his flashback is cut out.
 * Clip of Captain Morgan explaining why he's the best is cut out.
 * A small clip of the soldiers pulling up Morgan's statue, and a 1 second clip of a Marine's hesitation are taken out.
 * The clips of Luffy noticing noise from up above and Morgan about to use his axe on a soldier are switched.
 * A zoomed-out shot of Morgan and the Marines looking down below is cut out.
 * A small clip of Luffy dragging Helmeppo across the floor is cut out.

Digital Edits

 * Marine is changed to Navy, and all kanji are erased.
 * The top part of the cross Zoro is tied to is erased as to avoid references to crucifixation.
 * Part of Luffy's hat is accidentally erased due to the cross being edited.
 * Rika's onigiri are digitally changed into cookies.
 * Zoro's sword in Rika's story is edited so that it looks like it's further away from Helmeppo's face.
 * Captain Morgan's cigar is erased.
 * The Marines' guns are changed to look like Super Soakers.

Dialogue Edits

 * In the dub, Rika says she baked cookies for Zolo rather than rice balls.
 * In the dub, Helmeppo says that cookies were disgusting. In the original, Helmeppo said that the rice balls were too sweet and needed more salt.
 * Helmeppo's pet wolf originally had a name: Inugata.
 * Helmeppo originally ordered alcohol, rather than juice like in the dub.
 * Kuina's voice wasn't originally heard until the very end of the memory.

Color Edits

 * The contents in Helmeppo's glass are a different color.