Episode 501

"The Fire Has Been Set - The Gray Terminal in Crisis" is the 501st episode of the One Piece anime.

Short Summary
Sabo failed to warn his brothers. A huge fire engulfs Gray Terminal. Ace and Luffy try to escape but they found themselves struggling against the Bluejam Pirates.

Long Summary
The episode starts where the previous episode ended, where Sabo is being chased by his father's men. Sabo keeps falling over which allowed his father's men catch him. Sabo fails to warn his brothers about the fire.

Bluejam reveals to Ace and Luffy that there will be a fire at the Gray Terminal, also saying that he is not the mastermind of this operation. Now that Ace and Luffy know about the plan, Bluejam ask if they have any hidden treasure.

Sabo's father throws Sabo into the wine cellar stating that Sabo has caused nothing but trouble and it was the right decision to adopt Stelly, locking Sabo inside. Sabo demands his father to open the door to let him go, but Sabo knows that his father would not listen to him so he escapes through a metal grate in the cellar and tries to help his 'Brothers' and Grey Terminal.

As Sabo lays on the ground beaten by the guards after trying to save the people of the Gray Terminal, a hooded man appears and asks what's wrong. Sabo confines the truth of the fire to him and that the nobles and king are behind it. He goes on saying the kingdom smells worse than the Gray Terminal and so do the people and as long as he stays in the kingdom, he'll never be free and crying, admits his shame of ever being born a noble. The hooded figure is revealed to be Dragon who shows great shock on his face because of what Sabo said and that the Goa Kingdom has now forced their own children say such things. He comforts the boy saying he understands and he too was born in the Goa Kingdom and listens to what he has to say.

The night was very windy and Bluejam's men get out their guns to shoot the barrels to start the fire. The Dadan Family could see the fire which shocked Curly Dadan. Some of the citizens of Goa seem shocked to see that there was a fire at the Gray Terminal. Some men are seen coming into the city of Goa, but are attacked by the men blocking the gate, to wipe away the shame of the Goa Kingdom. They close the gate to the city so that Gray Terminal is cut off from it. The poor people that lived in the Gray Terminal were trapped and could not even escape to the water since it was blocked by the fire and the forest entrance was also blocked. Bluejam and his crew were proud of what they did. Bluejam gets a flashback showing the Goa King said that he will become a Nobles if they burn down the Gray Terminal. Bluejam heads to the gate, but the gate will not open after telling them what he did. Bluejam realizes he has been cheated by the nobles. He was furious and went to look for an escape route when he found Luffy and Ace. He demanded the whereabouts of their treasure. After being quite persistent they told him the whereabouts and still he tried taking them as prisoners. That is when Ace unleashed his haki and all of them were knocked out except Bluejam. He is in awe and wants to know what Luffy and Ace did to his crew. He grabs Ace and says he is going to kill him and points a gun to his head, ending the episode.

Anime and Manga Differences

 * In the anime, Sabo was recaptured once before the fire at the Gray Terminal and a scene was added in which Sabo's father locked him in a wine cellar. After Sabo escapes, he tries to open the gate to save Luffy and Ace, and gets beaten by the guards.
 * In the scene where Dragon is talking to Sabo, Ivankov does not appear at the end of their conversation.