Episode 2

"The Great Swordsman Appears! Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro", known as "Roronoa Zolo: The Pirate Hunter" in the United States, is the second episode of the anime adaptation of the manga One Piece, and the second episode of the Captain Morgan Arc of the series. It covers the 3rd, 4th, and 5th chapter in the manga. It originally aired in Japan on November 17, 1999.

Summary
Luffy and Koby arrive at Naval Base Island. Luffy looks for Roronoa Zoro; to make him a crewmember. Koby looks into joining the Navy. Axe-Hand Morgan rules the island with an iron fist, and he attempts to stop Luffy from freeing the captured Zoro.

Expanded overview
The episode opens with Luffy D. Monkey and Koby aboard their boat; Koby recounts again how the pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro is a veritable demon who slays men just for the bounty. Their boat eventually arrives at an island, where a large Navy base is stationed.

Luffy and Coby visit the town, and notice that at the mere mention of the names "Roronoa Zoro" or "Captain Morgan", the townspeople are thrown into a panic. Luffy and Coby then arrive at the Navy base, where Coby thinks it will be his goodbye (he plans on becoming a Marine), but Luffy impetuously climbs over the wall, and sees none other than Zoro tied to a cross. As the two look at Zolo a little girl named Rika climbs over the wall with a ladder. She offers to the starving Zoro some rice balls that she made herself, using her "whole heart".

At that moment, the foppish, snobbish Helmeppo, son of Captain Morgan, arrives accompanied by several Marines. He eats one of Rika's rice balls and says it's disgusting, because she used sugar instead of the usual salt; he stomps on them and has her thrown out, literaly. When he leaves, Luffy jumps over the change and goes up to Zoro and asks him to join Luffy's crew. Zoro refuses, and also refuses any help escaping as he plans on surviving to spite Helmeppo. He then asks Luffy to give him the flattened rice balls and eats them, and tells Luffy to tell Rika that they were good. Luffy and Coby leave, meeting with Rika in the town, who is happy to hear Luffy mention how Zoro enjoyed the rice balls. Luffy asks whether Zoro is evil, but Rika replies that at heart, he was a good guy, recounting an example of how earlier, 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 makes a deal with Zoro: if he can survive being tied to a cross with no food or water for thirty days, then Helmeppo will spare Rika. Zoro agrees, and is arrested in lieu of Rika.

Luffy, Koby, and Rika walk into a restaurant, and there is Helmeppo, talking about how he will execute Zoro the next day, breaking his deal with Zoro. 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 Navy 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 Navy base. In doing so, he knocks over the statue and causes it to break. Morgan orders that Luffy be executed, so Luffy grabs Helmeppo and runs into the base, searching for Zoro's three swords. Outside, Koby is trying to untie Zoro and explains the situation to him. All the while, Nami is sneaking around the Navy base.

Luffy drags Helmeppo into Helmeppo's room, where the swords are. Meanwhile, Captain Morgan and his Marines surround Zoro and Koby, and Morgan orders that they are both to be executed. The soldiers open fire; however, before the bullets can reach them, Luffy leaps from the Navy base and uses his rubber body to block the bullets and send them flying. When Zoro shockedly asks just who he is, Luffy responds (much as he usually does) that he is Monkey D. Luffy, the man who 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.