Loguetown Arc

The Loguetown Arc is the sixth and final story arc in the East Blue Saga of the manga and anime One Piece. The Straw Hat Pirates stop at the island that the city of Loguetown is on, the birth and death place of Gol D. Roger to get supplies before heading to the Grand Line. In the Viz manga and 4Kids dub, the town's name is spelled "Roguetown".

Luffy's First Bounty


The arc starts off with the Straw Hats lounging around on the Going Merry's deck when a flyer slips out of the newspaper Nami is reading, showing the 30,000,000 bounty on Monkey D. Luffy's head. Luffy is more than overjoyed with it, though Nami tells him it will be more stress for the crew now that people will be after him. Zoro then spots an island, and Nami points it out to be Loguetown, the last stop in East Blue before the Grand Line, as well as the birth and death place of the famous pirate, Gold Roger. The crew decide to stop off there to grab supplies.

Meanwhile, the bounty poster reaches Luffy's hometown and the villagers are more than happy that Luffy's fulfilling his dream though the Mayor, Woop Slap, whose always been against Luffy becoming a pirate, thinks it is more destiny then a dream. Meanwhile, Dracule Mihawk also delivers the poster to Shanks, who celebrates Luffy's coming with a party.

New and Old Faces: White Hunter Smoker and Buggy the Clown
Back in Loguetown, while shopping for new swords to replace the ones Mihawk destroyed, Zoro has his first meeting with Tashigi, shaken that she looks like his childhood friend Kuina, who helps him pick out two new swords. Sanji buys a gigantic fish for the crew, Usopp, some more supplies, ammo, and new goggles, and Nami, a bundle of clothes. Luffy, meanwhile, goes to check the execution stand where Gold Roger was executed. While he climbs and admires the view from the stand, a woman calls out to him, seemingly recognizing Luffy though he has no idea who she is. When part of the fountain in the town square breaks off and hits her, the debris just slides right off her. She then reveals herself to be Alvida, the first pirate Luffy came across on his trip. Only now, she as eaten the Sube Sube no Mi causing her figure to change, dramatically. She is not alone either, as another familiar pirate makes himself known, Buggy. Cabaji ambushes Luffy on the platform, and puts him in shackles, while Buggy's pirates holds the town square hostage. Buggy then explains that this is Luffy's execution.

At the Marine Base in town, one of the men reports to his captain about the pirate ongoings in town. It is here where we meet Captain Smoker who never lets a pirate leave his town uncaptured. He decides to wait for Luffy to be executed before moving in. The rest of the Straw Hats also get wind of whats going on and split off, Zoro and Sanji to go rescue Luffy, while Nami and Usopp ready the ship to leave as Nami detects a storm approaching the island.

The Unexpected Rescue: Enter Monkey D. Dragon
Zoro and Sanji reach the execution area and try to plow through Buggy's pirates. But it does not look like they will make it as Buggy begins to bring his sword down on Luffy's head. With all seeming lost, Luffy smiles and tells his two friends that it looks like the end. However, a bolt of lightning hits Buggy's sword at the last second, and destroys the platform, freeing Luffy as with not a scratch on him. He, Zoro and Sanji then make for the Going Merry while Smoker, who was looking on, seems disturbed that Luffy laughed in the face of death. He realizes that it was very similar to Gold Roger before he was beheaded.

Buggy, after recovering from the shock, Alvida and Buggy's crew try to make their escape but are quickly captured by the Marines. Nami and Usopp reach the ship and quickly take down Mohji and his lion Richie who were trying to burn down the Going Merry.



The other Straw Hats also run into opposition in the form of Tashigi, angry at that Zoro "tricked" her, causing him to stay behind and duel her. As well as Smoker, who Luffy and Sanji cannot even strike him due to his Devil Fruit abilities.

However, the two are saved by a mysterious figure, allowing Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji to reach the ship unhindered. However, Smoker and Tashigi decide to abandon their posts to chase after them. Buggy and his crew, also freed, decide to head for the Grand Line to chase Luffy.

The Journey Continues: To the Grand Line!


With the storm guiding them and the lighthouse in sight, the Going Merry is soon nearing its long awaited destination. Each of the Straw Hats perform a "ceremony" of sorts by placing their foot on the barrel and revowing their dreams as the ship nears the entrance to the Grand Line.

Anime and Manga Differences
This arc received a lot of major changes from what was displayed in the manga. Other than changing around the timeline of events from the manga, it was also the first arc in the anime series to feature full fledged filler episodes.
 * Mihawk's encounter with the Red Hair Pirates took place before the Straw Hats' arrival in Loguetown instead of after their arrival.
 * The Straw Hats encounter Fullbody on their way to Loguetown, which contradicts a few canon elements from the manga, such as Zoro being able to slice their cannonball (due to his inability to cut steel at the time), and Fullbody having been demoted with the reasons presented that contradict the events of the manga mini-arc Jango's Dance Paradise.
 * Luffy encounters a bartender who tells him about Gol D. Roger's exploits.
 * Instead of learning about Luffy when he was about to be executed by Buggy and Alvida, Smoker learns about him earlier and also fought Luffy earlier at the execution stand, where Luffy managed to accidentally send himself flying into another part of town and Smoker did not use his Devil Fruit powers during this encounter.
 * Buggy, Alvida, and his crew spend more time searching for Luffy during these events.
 * In the manga, Luffy managed to find his way to the execution platform in one go. In the anime, he got lost several times.
 * Unlike the manga, when Zoro meets Tashigi he accidentally breaks her glasses and has to work at the Marine base for awhile to repay her before he goes sword shopping. However, Tashigi ended up having to pay for them herself due to Zoro having to leave the base after knocking out two Marine officers who recognized him and knew he is a member of Luffy's crew.
 * In Episode 50, Usopp and Nami encounter Daddy Masterson, a former high-level Marine turned bounty hunter, who now only hunts low bounty heads. He forces Usopp to duel him when he gets his daughter, Carol Masterson, angry. Although Eiichiro Oda had planned for this story to be part of the manga (to explain how Usopp received his new goggles), it had to be cut so that Chapter 100 began the Grand Line adventure. This episode was cut from the 4Kids English dub, probably because it had a heavy emphasis on gun play.
 * In the manga, Sanji merely buys the tuna at a regular stand; in the anime, he finds a large group of people exclaiming over the fish on a beach. The man who caught it (he manned the stand in the manga) gives all of the explanations present in the manga. When Sanji offers to buy the fish, the man refuses, saying that it will be the prize for a cooking contest. Sanji then joins the contest, competing against his newly-met rival Carmen.
 * During the race back to the Going Merry, Luffy fought Smoker alone and the Marines attack the ship forcing Nami to pull the Going Merry away from the docks.
 * In the manga, during the fight against Smoker, Sanji also fought before Dragon interfered. In the anime, Sanji ran on ahead from the beginning.
 * And finally, rather than simply make it to the ship in the manga, the Going Merry gets washed out to sea with Nami onboard. Luffy then uses his Gomu Gomu no Rocket to throw himself and the rest to the crew to reach it.

4Kids Edits

 * The filler episode of Yasopp's duel against Daddy Masterson was skipped.
 * Smoker's name was changed to Chaser, and his power changed from smoke to steam. Any reference to his smoking was removed as well. His two cigars in his mouth were removed, giving him the appearance of breathing steam. The cigars on his coat were also removed.
 * Mihawk visiting Shanks was shortened due to the excessive drinking.

Story Impact

 * After Luffy had defeated Buggy several arcs ago and separated him from his crew, Buggy has reformed with his crew and had also recruited Alvida who was defeated by Luffy at the start of his journey, though it is not realized that she is the same person due to the Sube Sube no Mi she had eaten. After the scuffle in Loguetown, the Buggy Pirates set off for the Grand Line, and Buggy's past with Roger is foreshadowed and become recurring enemies for the Straw Hat Pirates on the Grand Line.
 * Smoker is also introduced as the first Logia-type Devil Fruit user in the series.
 * Just as Buggy is about to execute Luffy in the same spot as Roger, Luffy has the same reaction as the Pirate King 22 years ago when he was executed, smiling.
 * Kairoseki (Seastone) is also introduced in this arc, though only as a minor reference, which was used to capture the Devil Fruit users, Buggy and Alvida. It was not until the Alabasta arc that more details on it would be revealed.
 * Just as Smoker is about to capture Luffy, he is stopped by a mysterious man named Dragon and allowed to escape to the Grand Line. Although, Dragon's true intentions are not fully understood at this point, it foreshadows Dragon's revolution against the World Government which is slightly elaborated in the Drum Island flashback, and in the Post-Enies Lobby Arc. Luffy's grandfather, Vice Admiral Garp reveals that Dragon is Luffy's father.
 * This is the first time a giant is seen in the series, although it is not shown to be a giant. The race is not revealed until the Little Garden arc.
 * During the Dressrosa Arc, it is revealed that Bartolomeo was present in Loguetown to witness Luffy's rescue by a lightning bolt. After this event, Bartolomeo became an admirer of Luffy and followed every report on the Straw Hats, eventually inspired to set sail and become a Super Rookie.

Trivia

 * This is the first arc to have more anime episodes than manga chapters.
 * This, the Reverse Mountain Arc and the Return to Sabaody Arc with five chapters each, are the shortest arcs in the manga.