Arlong Park Arc

The Arlong arc is the fifth story arc of the East Blue Saga. After Nami steals their ship, the Going Merry, Roronoa Zoro, Usopp, and later Monkey D. Luffy and Sanji (along with Johnny and Yosaku) set after her and wind up in Cocoyashi Village, Nami's hometown ruled by the tyrannical Fishman, Arlong. It is here that Nami's past and true motives come to light.

In Pursuit of Nami
The Arlong arc begins with the end of the Baratie arc, starting off with Luffy, Sanji, and Yosaku heading for Arlong Park in a small boat. To pass the time Yosaku tells them about the Shichibukai and how this relates to their current destination Arlong Park. When Sanji doubts that Nami is heading there, Yosaku explains that they were able to estimate her course after he and Johnny had suspected the connection between the two before they were thrown off the Going Merry, where the two noticed that Nami had been interested in their copy of Arlong's wanted poster and her behavior quickly became suspicious when they told her that Arlong recently became more active. Meanwhile, Nami arrives at Arlong Park in the Merry. Once she arrives at the park's gate. A boy confronts her, trying to fight Arlong for the death of his father. Nami slaps him however and gives some Beli to make him go away. After which were introduced to Arlong and his crew and discover that Nami is part of Arlong's pirates.

Usopp, Zoro, and Johnny arrive at the island, but Usopp and Johnny freak out once they discover the island and, seeing that two Fishmen have spotted them, abandon ship leaving Zoro (who was tied up by the two to, ironically, prevent him from fighting the Fishmen) to be captured by the Fishmen. Both boys then find themselves in the remains of Gosa Village with all the houses upturned. One of the Fishmen from earlier spot the two and gives chase. Johnny manages to escape and hide while Usopp ends up getting attacked by the same boy from earlier believing Usopp to be a Fishmen; however, a woman manages to stop him. Seeing the real Fishman getting closer, Usopp readies to fight him but gets knocked out by the woman who claims it not a good idea to fight the Fishmen.

Meanwhile, Luffy, Sanji and Yosaku continue sailing, and just as they take a break to eat, they encounter a giant sea cow monster that’s attracted by their food. Luffy punches it at first prompting Sanji to reprimand him for it. But when he realizes the sea cow sees them as food, he quickly subdues it with his kicks. The three then strap the boat to the sea cow and use it to tow them to the island.

Meanwhile, Usopp awakens in the woman's household whom introduces herself as Nojiko. After convincing the boy to give up on his quest for vengeance. Nojiko reveals to Usopp that she Nami's sister and the island is her hometown as well as Nami being a part of Arlong's crew. Usopp then panics after he realizes what he gotten Zoro into. Speaking of whom, Zoro is brought to Arlong Park where he finds out Nami's allegiance to Arlong. After some banter, in which Arlong proudly states that Nami is the type of person who would betray even her own family for the sake of riches, which visibly disturbs Nami; trying to test her allegiance, Zoro throws himself into the water to test Nami. To which she does saves Zoro but beats him to reassure that she still part of Arlong's crew.

The Navigator's Tragedy


Arlong then heads to Cocoyashi Village, where he confronts Genzo, the village sheriff, for simply collecting a new weapon. It's here Nojiko reveals to Usopp, both of whom are watching, about the monthly fee the villagers have to pay Arlong in order to survive. Just as Arlong is about to kill Genzo, Usopp saves him, and runs as some of the Fishmen come after him while the others drag Arlong off before he goes berserk. Nami arrives sometime later, but the villagers treat her coldly and leave save for Nojiko and Genzo. The three later visit the grave site of Nami's adoptive mother, Bellemere, where Nami reveals she's almost finished paying Arlong's fee to buy back Cocoyashi.

At Arlong Park, Zoro has busted free from the dungeon (with some help from Nami, who cut his bonds) and defeated all the Fishmen. He meets the octopus Fishman, Hatchan, who is oblivious of what happened at the park, thinking Zoro a corrupt Marine, tows him to Cocoyashi. However, after landing, he overhears some villagers talk about Usopp's attacking the Fishmen and quickly tries to rush back to the park to save. But its already too late, the Fishmen have captured Usopp and threaten to kill him. Nami happens upon the scene and threaten to kill Usopp herself. Usopp makes to get away with a smoke bomb. But Nami intercepts him and stabs him with a knife before kicking him into the ocean to drown, convincing Arlong and the Fishmen that she is indeed one of them while from afar Johnny looks on in horror.

Back with Luffy's group, who finally arrive on the island and run into Zoro in the process. Johnny finds them as well and tells the group what happened to Usopp. Nami soon meets them and reminds Luffy that she just partnered up with him for the treasure. She then tells the group to take their ship back and get off the island but Luffy refuses causing Nami to angrily walk away. Johnny and Yosaku also split off, not wanting to be killed by the Fishmen. It’s at that moment we find Usopp alive and well as Nami had stabbed her arm instead of him and he merely fainted. He comes across Luffy and the others and tells of what really happened. Nojiko finds the four and agrees to tell them the reason behind Nami's motives. Though Luffy and Zoro don't hear it, Sanji and Usopp (as well as an eavesdropping Johnny and Yosaku) listen to the story of Nami's past...

When Nami was younger, she and her sister Nojiko lived with their foster mother, Bellemere. Although they were poor, they were happy. Then Arlong came. Upon his arrival, he demanded that the citizens of the island pay him for their lives - 100,000 per adult, and 50,000 per child. Needless to say, Bellemere could not pay this fee. She could only come up with 100,000. And, although the two children are in hiding, she decided to sacrifice her own life so that they could live freely. Arlong agreed to Bellemere's terms, and killed her in front of the two children. Not only that, but Arlong decided to take Nami with him, deciding her cartography skills would be useful. Later, Nojiko finds Nami at Bellemere's grave. Nami reveals to Nojiko that she has made a deal with Arlong to buy back Cocoyashi village for 100,000,000.

Later, some Marines, led by a captain named Nezumi, land on the island. Nezumi has Genzo take him to Nami and Nojiko's household, where he accuses Nami of harboring illegal money. Nami tries to stop them, but the Marines find the money. Genzo reveals to the Marines that the money is for the repurchase of the town, and admits to a startled Nami that he and the town always knew what she was doing after she "joined" Arlong. Nami tries to prevent the Marines from taking the money. However, she fails, and Nojiko is shot in the arm when she tries to protect Nami. Nami runs back to Arlong and accuses him of sending the Marines to look for her money. But Arlong denies it, claiming he never broke their deal and tells her that if she want her village back, she'll just need to start again from scratch.



Nami runs off as he laughs. Back in the village, Genzo rallies the villagers. He wants to attack Arlong for going back on the deal he and Nami brokered. Nami tries to halt them but their minds are set and they head for Arlong Park. A furious and upset Nami stabs herself in the arm where Arlong's tattoo is, only to be stopped by Luffy. After his interruption, Nami finally asks for Luffy's help. He places his straw hat on her and agrees. With that, Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji head for Arlong Park.

Straw Hats vs. Fishmen
Johnny and Yosaku, who tried to take on Arlong and failed, stop the villagers at the gate and tell them to wait for "those guys" to show up (meaning the Straw Hat crew). When the crew arrives, Luffy breaks down the door and slugs Arlong for making Nami cry. The rest of the Fishmen attack, along with Mohmoo, the sea cow from earlier. However, Luffy takes care of them by grabbing Mohmoo and spinning around like a pinwheel using his rubber powers. This leaves Arlong and his three subordinates, Hatchan, Chew, and Kuroobi the only ones lef standing. The last attack, however, left Luffy's feet stuck in the ground. Which Arlong notice and takes advantage of by uprooting the gravel around Luffy's legs and throwing him into the ocean, proclaiming that it is a "game" and the other Straw Hats must beat the fish men to save Luffy. Zoro takes on Hatchan despite his wound and fever but manages to win against Hatchan's six-sword style (with some help from Johnny and Yosaku.)



Sanji fights Kuroobi, almost being defeated when he goes into the water to rescue Luffy. But, seeing that Nojiko and Genzo are helping Luffy, Sanji forces Kuroobi up to dry land and defeats him. Finally, Usopp fights Chew outside of Arlong Park. At first he fakes his defeat so Chew will leave him alone. But, remembering the others are fighting for Nami's sake, Usopp gains the courage to take on and eventually beats Chew by drenching him with alcohol and lighting him on fire, then repeatedly bashing his head with his hammer until he is knocked out.



Nami arrives in the midst of the battle and sides with the villagers to fight Arlong. Luckily Nojiko and Genzo revive Luffy and Sanji frees him of the rock on his feet to finally fight Arlong one on one. A rough battle ensures as Luffy and Arlong trade blows around the park until Arlong forces Luffy to escape into a room at the top of the tower where Arlong reveals is where Nami slaved on making maps for him. When Arlong pronounced Luffy can't use Nami the way he can, that proves to be the turning point as Luffy begins to destroy the room that has brought Nami grief through the years (with Nami thanking him as she watches furniture she worked on fall from the tower.) Arlong tries to stop him with a final attack but Luffy is quicker on the draw with his Gomu Gomu no Ono move and smashes Arlong through the tower, finally beating him. The impact also destroys the park in the process.

The Navigator's Last Laugh
At first everyone believes Luffy dead, but he reemerges from the wreckage yelling "NAMI, YOU'RE MY NAKAMA!" to which she wholeheartedly agrees. The village then celebrates their freedom, though it is almost spoiled by Nezumi who tries to claim Arlong's money for himself. Some swift beatings from Nami and the rest of the Straw Hats convince him otherwise. Nezumi retreats, telling Luffy he will make him pay. He reports Luffy's victory at his Marines base. As a result, the Marines place a 30,000,000 bounty on Luffy's head.

In the aftermath, the village has a party celebrating their heroes. Luffy finds Genzo at Bellemere's grave site, where the sheriff makes him promise he won't make Nami cry or else. Also, Nami gets a new tattoo of a tangerine and a pinwheel merged together to replace her Arlong one. The next day, Johnny and Yosaku leave the Straw Hats with the reasoning since they're bounty hunters and it wouldn't look good to be traveling with pirates, thus bidding them farewell. As the crew gets ready to leave, they realize Nami hasn't arrived yet. That is until Nami yells for them to cast off as she runs for the docks. The confused villagers try to stop her so they can say goodbye but she runs past them and jumps onto the ship. She pulls up her shirt to reveal that she stole all the villager's wallets as she ran past causing all of them to yell "YOU LITTLE BRAT". Despite their disbelief and anger, they wave goodbye to her and the Straw Hats as they leave the island. As she watches them go, Nojiko realizes Genzo does not have on the pinwheel. Genzo wore the pinwheel on his hat to make Nami laugh when she was a baby, and to make her feel better as she grew up. When asked, Genzo tells Nojiko that he does not need it anymore. It then goes to reveal the pinwheel on Bellemere's grave as the Going Merry sails off for the Grand Line.

Anime and manga differences

 * In the anime, 2 flashback scenes were added that showed some of the good times Nami had with the Straw Hats, one where Luffy, Nami and Usopp were playing cards, and another when the Going Merry sprung a leak.
 * In the manga, Nojiko was shot by three marines ordered by Nezumi. However, in the anime, Nezumi himself shot Nojiko; he intended to hit Nami, but Nojiko got in the way.
 * In the manga, Bellemere is shot in the head, however, this is edited in the anime, and she was shot in the chest.

4Kids English Dub edits

 * Arlong's racism against humans is kept, but in the dub, he claims humans stink.

Most of the arc was cut for either length of time or violence (such as Nami stabbing her arm). Near the final battle with Arlong, many major cuts took place, quickly jumping to the Loguetown arc without much reason. Here are the major cuts from the U.S. dub.


 * Half of Nami's past. Most disturbing however, was that instead of killing Bellemere in front of Nami, Arlong is said to have taken Bellemere as a slave and kept her in a dungeon (Which ironically is much more cruel). She however is never mentioned again, implying either that she died in the time past, or that she is simply forgotten by Nami.
 * The fight at the top of Arlong Park tower where Luffy destroys most of the room in a fit of rage.
 * Redoing the footage for many of the battles which includes merging Zoro and Sanji's fights against Hachi and Kuroobi into a single episode
 * Most of the fight between Usopp and Chew was removed to avoid referencing Usopp's bluff of using ketchup to pretend he's bleeding to death. The alcohol Usopp threw at Chuu was changed to oil, but strangely, Usopp setting Chuu on fire was not changed.
 * An entire episode showing the aftermath of the battle and the villagers celebrating their freedom from the Fishmen was cut. Plus Nami "talking" with Bellemere about becoming a pirate and leaving her hometown.
 * And lastly, episodes showing how Buggy reclaimed his body parts and his crew.

Story Impact

 * Nami permanently joins as the Straw Hat navigator, making them ready to reach the Grand Line. It also explains her unusual behavior in the previous arcs (her hatred of pirates in Buggy, and one of her warnings to Zoro at the Baratie when she manipulates Sanji).


 * The first non-human race of the manga is presented with the Fishmen. The Fishmen's racism against humans seems to stem from their own discrimination from past treatment as it is revealed in the Sabaody Archipelago arc. Jinbe's name is also revealed, he will not appear until the Impel Down arc (i.e. 460 Chapters after).


 * Some time after this story arc, prior to the Whitebeard War saga, Hatchan would star in the manga mini-arc Hatchan's Sea-Floor Stroll, which would reveal how he escaped from the Marines and how he opened his takoyaki stand which the Straw Hats visit in the Sabaody Archipelago arc. This manga mini-arc also introduced a couple of characters that are included in the Sabaody Archipelago arc as well, including the Macro Pirates, and their grudge against Hatchan.


 * With Jinbe, Yosaku also reveals the existence of a 7 pirate group hired by the government: the Shichibukai.


 * During his fight against Arlong, Luffy also manifests how important his crew is to him.


 * Nezumi's report, as well as Luffy's defeat of Buggy and Don Krieg would later give Luffy his first bounty.

Trivia

 * When Yosaku speaks of the shichibukai, seven silhouettes are shown of seven skinny/fit figures with swords. Though it is arguable that Mihawk fits his, the others are drastically different in shape and height.