Episode 38

"Luffy in Trouble! Fish-Men vs. Luffy Pirates!" is the 38th episode of the One Piece anime.

Short Summary
The Straw Hat Pirates face the Fish-Men themselves as the villagers watch from the sidelines. Arlong gets the chance to grab Luffy whose legs were stuck in the ground and throws him in the sea with the rock attached on him.

Long Summary
Luffy bursts his way into Arlong Park demanding to see Arlong. Arlong speaks up identifying himself and Luffy does the same as he walks toward the leader of the Arlong Pirates. Luffy is stopped in his tracks by some Fish-Men but Luffy casually knocks them away. Arlong wants to know what Luffy wants with him and Luffy answers with a very powerful punch sending Arlong crashing through a stone wall. This shocks both the Fish-Men and the villagers and Luffy angrily tells Arlong the punch was for making Nami cry. The other Fish-Men quickly rush toward Luffy but Sanji suddenly appears and kicks them all away. Sanji is upset at Luffy for trying to hog all of the fighting to himself. Usopp also appears saying he doesn't mind if they hog all of the work. Zoro isn't too impressed by Usopp's cowardliness and Hatchan recognizes Zoro from before. The Fish-Men are more surprised to see that Usopp is alive thinking Nami killed him earlier. Chew and Kuroobi conclude that Nami was a traitor to them from that moment. The villagers are shocked to see people actually have the power to stand up to Arlong and the Fish-Men with Yosaku and Johnny preventing the villagers from going any further saying the Straw Hat Pirates have things under control. Genzo still wants to know why the Straw Hats are fighting for them and Yosaku and Johnny simply say that the Fish-Men made Nami cry.

Arlong concludes that with the Straw Hats being pirates as well, they must be after Nami as a navigator as well. Arlong laughs saying she belongs to him and Hatchan, believing they aren't worthy to face Arlong, suddenly sounds a horn using his mouth. Hatchan then summons a beast by the name of Momoo who soon emerges from the water. It turns out to be the same giant sea cow that Luffy and Sanji beat up earlier. Momoo recognizes Luffy and Sanji and quickly tries to get away. Momoo has second thoughts once Arlong speaks up and tries to attack the Straw Hats. Luffy suddenly stomps his feet into the ground and starts to spin his body around. Luffy then grabs Momoo by the tusks with his stretching surprising the Fish-Men and Arlong concludes that Luffy has Devil Fruit powers. Luffy continues to pull back on Momoo and Zoro and Sanji decide to get out of the way thinking Luffy is about to do something reckless. Luffy then declares that he is going to use a new move which is known as Gomu Gomu no Kazaguruma which the move was inspired by seeing Genzo's pinwheel. Luffy spins Momoo around sending the sea cow flying into the sky and into the water and also knocks some Fish-Men out of the way. Luffy then decides to set his sights on Arlong himself not wanting to fight the lesser Fish-Men. Sanji and Usopp yell at Luffy for his recklessness but Luffy suddenly says "Uh oh." indicating something is wrong.

The villagers are even more surprised by Luffy's strength and are very hopeful that the Arlong Pirates will be defeated. Meanwhile, Luffy seems to be moving in place but Arlong's top men (Hatchan, Kuroobi, and Chew) step up wanting to fight them in Arlong's place. Arlong permits them to fight the Straw Hats and Hatchan starts to hold his breath as Luffy is trying to tell his friends something. Hatchan then sprays out a lot of ink and while it misses Zoro and Sanji since they dodged, Luffy gets hit full force by it. Zoro wonders why Luffy didn't dodge and Luffy screams out that he can't see. Hatchan then grabs a large piece of stone and walks toward it. Luffy then reveals that his feet are stuck from jamming them into the ground earlier. Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp are not pleased by this and Hatchan crushes Luffy with the large piece of stone. However, Sanji kicks the stone in half preventing it from crushing Luffy. Sanji remarks that even though he may have picked an idiot for a captain, Luffy is way better than the group that mistreated Nami.

Kuroobi scoffs at Sanji saying they would risk their lives over one girl even stating that is the most ridiculous thing he has ever heard. Sanji threatens Kuroobi for speaking ill of Nami and Kuroobi remarks though Sanji is strong, a chivalrous pirate sounds "fake" to him. Sanji assures Kuroobi it isn't fake and Kuroobi says he will show Sanji why Fish-Men are superior to humans. Usopp is seen trying to free Luffy and when Hatchan is trying to crush them with another large piece of stone, Zoro holds up his sword to Hatchan challenging the octopus Fish-Man. Hatchan tries to crush Zoro who quickly dodges out of the way. Hatchan is very upset at Zoro for tricking him and killing many of his fellow Fish-Men. Zoro doesn't care for this and tells Hatchan that he is now the hunted. Usopp is impressed by Zoro's words but accidentally lets go of Luffy who then goes flying into Chew knocking him down. Chew angrily gets up and soon starts to chase after Usopp. Usopp runs past the villagers of Cocoyashi and Chew stops in between them noticing they have weapons. Before Chew could say anything more, Usopp fires a Kayaku Boshi at Chew getting back the Fish-Man's attention, and the two run away from Arlong Park.

Arlong soon gets up wanting to take matters into his own hands but Kuroobi pleads with him not to do anything as he doesn't want Arlong to accidentally destroy Arlong Park in a rampage. Arlong assures him that he won't but has thought up something. Luffy tries to attack Arlong but Arlong catches his arm. Arlong, showing off his impressive strength, digs up the ground around Luffy's feet, lifts him into the air, and throws him into the water knowing of a Devil Fruit User's weakness. Sanji tries to go after Luffy but Zoro stops him saying that's what the Fish-Men want them to do as they have an advantage fighting in the water. Zoro then says they only way for them to save Luffy is to take out Arlong's crew at the same time, and then go after Luffy. Zoro decides to go after Hatchan while Sanji takes on Kuroobi. Luffy is seen underwater trying to hold his breath. Arlong remarks more how humans are inferior to Fish-Men as they cannot breathe underwater. Not wanting to waste any more time, Zoro and Sanji rush toward their opponents while Luffy desperately tries to hold his breath. Meanwhile, Usopp is still running for his life from Chew.

Anime Notes

 * The Straw Hats' battle against the Arlong Pirates begins.

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