Return to Sabaody Arc

The Straw Hats Return arc is the twenty-fourth story arc in the series, and the first in the New World Saga of the One Piece series, continuing on from the Post-War arc and the Whitebeard War Saga. It presents the world of One Piece after two years have passed, especially the Straw Hat Pirates. The arc also marks the beginning of the second half of the series.

Two Years Later
Two years have passed and Luffy retrieves his hat just as Hancock and the Kuja Pirates arrive to take him back to Sabaody Archipelago. Luffy displayed some of his strengths when he shows that he made friends with the wildlife and warn the animals not to hurt his friends. Hancock is even more infatuated with Luffy though he tells her that he is not marrying her. With that, he places the hat on his head and prepares to leave Rusukaina.

We then go to Sabaody Archipelago, which has become much more lawless due to Marineford having switched locations to a new area in the New World and their old base is now a common marine base called G-1 that used to be on the other side of the Red Line. Rumors of the Straw Hats suddenly reappearing and recruiting new members have circulated. It is then we go to Brook, now a superstar touring the Grand Line as "Soul King". The Longarm Tribe that captured him are now his managers. Sabaody is the final stop in Brook's tour, as well as his Farewell concert to his fans.

Next, we see Sanji, having arrived with some of the okama. Right after he sets foot on the island, he is overjoyed to see real women again, even crying. He gives the okama a quick goodbye (while also flipping them off) thanking them for bringing him to Sabaody and telling them to give Iva his best before he runs off to try to find Nami and Robin. Meanwhile in a bar, a woman is talking with the bartender about whats happened with Marineford. The talk is interrupted when a shot rings out, coming from a bunch of pirates who claim to the be the "Straw Hat Pirates". The people are anything but however and don't even resemble the Straw Hats at all. The commotion from before was "Luffy" along with "Nami", "Franky" and "Sogeking" having shot a captain who was trying to join then when they found out he was only worth 55 Million Berri, commenting that they wanted pirates with at least 70 million. We also find out that they manage to recruit three pirate groups with 10 men that have bounties. Among such being "Wet Hair" Caribou and "Blood Splatterer" Coribou who have 210,000,000 and 190,000,000 Berri on their heads.

As "Luffy" call for more drinks, he notices the woman from before and invites her over. She politely refuses which quickly gains the ire of the of the "Straw Hats". We find out that said woman is actually the real Nami, who is then reprimanded by the bartender to chose her words carefully, pointing out that it was a very bad idea to provoke the "Straw Hats". But of course, Nami knows better and only proceeded to enjoy her drink. The Fake Nami tries to threaten her but a carnivorous plant suddenly appears from out of nowhere and chomps on her as well as the Fake Luffy and the other fake Straw Hats. Nami soon find that the culprit for this action is none other than Usopp, whom she instantly hugs upon seeing him. Nami and Usopp leave the bar as the Fake Straw Hats try to go after them, but are stop when black bubbles suddenly appear, form into a cloud, and shock them. The Fake Luffy recovers and orders his group to search for and kill the two.

Meanwhile over in Grove 13 and Shakky's Bar. Sanji has arrived and found out that Zoro arrived on the island first. Franky came next 10 days later and made his way to the Thousand Sunny, which has been protected by Duval and his men which Sanji thanks. Sanji also learns that Nami, Ussop, Chopper, and Brook have arrived as well. Meaning only Luffy and Robin are the only two unaccounted for. Rayleigh, whose also in the bar, mentions he trained Luffy for only one and a half years before leaving him and hasn't seen him since then. In another part of the island, Robin, who has recently arrived, finds that she's being tracked by some unknown men, as well as confused at Brook having a concert and the Straw Hats recruiting. In Grove 47, we find Tony Tony Chopper who following after who he thinks is Sanji and Zoro but in reality is more of the Fake Straw Hats, this bunch comprised of the former two as well as a Robin and Chopper who are a short woman and fox respectively. Fake Sanji and Fake Zoro recognizes Chopper as a real Straw Hat, thinking he was abandoned by his crew and believing Chopper is their "pet", and plan to lure him over to their side to make the Fake Straw Hats look more credible. The Fake Robin tries to lure Chopper over with a cucumber, but the men that were tracking Robin suddenly rush in and grab the fake one in a sack then run off, much to everyone's confusion. In Grove 12, a figure has arrived on the island.

Meanwhile in G-1, the rumors of the Straw Hats reach the Marine's ears. The vice admiral there quickly deploys his troops to the island. Back on Sabody, the Fake Luffy has shot an innocent bystander thinking it was Nami and Usopp. When her friend protest why "Luffy" would do that, he is shot as well. The fake Luffy order his crew to find the real Nami and Usopp but is suddenly knocked down by the figure from before. Said figure apologizes to him and starts to head off, but Fake Luffy calls out to him, the figure turns around to answer him and we find out its actually the real Luffy in disguise.

We then flashback to when Luffy was saying his goodbyes to the Kuja Pirates. Hancock makes the suggestion of Luffy wearing a hood to conceal his identity as she knows the Marines are still looking for him even after 2 years. She also gives him a over-packed sack of clothes and goodies much to Nyon's annoyance. Luffy then bids farewell to Hancock and the Kujas promising they'll meet again (though Hancock takes it as another proposal). Back in the present day, the Fake Luffy is threatening Luffy with his pistol and trying to get Luffy to fear him. The rest of Fake Luffy's crew join in on trying to intimate Luffy with the crowd hoping he'll go along with their wishes. But Luffy simply brushes them off and turns to leave. Fake Luffy goes to shoot him but Luffy manages to dodge the bullet at point blank range then use Haki on the Fake Straw Hats causing them to faint much to the crowd's astonishment. Meanwhile, Robin has reached the Sunny Go, finding Franky, now with much more cybernetics on him, onboard. She comes aboard and finds that the ship has been coated and ready for underwater travel. She also finds out that the rest of the Straw Hats has arrived on the island, except for Luffy. When Robin asks about Brook's concert, Franky answers that he been touring, rising to become a superstar since they first found him in the Florian Triangle and even doubts Brook will rejoin the crew. In Grove 47, Fake Zoro and Fake Sanji along with the real Chopper have regrouped with the Fake Straw Hats who are recovering. They report Fake Robin's (whose real name is Cocoa) kidnapping to the Fake Luffy, with Chopper frantically trying to get the bunch to go after them. Fake Luffy however dismisses his kidnapped crewmate and orders the bunch to gather up their recruited pirates and track down Luffy, Nami and Ussop starting from Grove #46. Chopper runs off, unable to believe they would just abandon "Robin" and goes off to try to rescue her himself. Unknown to him and the Fake Straw Hats, some Marines have been monitoring them.

They report back to Grove 66, another Marine base, about this to which the Marines begin to mobilize, ordering to usher the civilians away from the Grove that would soon become a battlefield, and mentioning that reinforcements from G1 would also arrive later on. Among them is Sentoumaru, who decides to bring along two Pacifistas and warns his troop not to underestimate the crew as they may have gotten stronger in the last two years; specially their captain, Luffy, whom he declares to be an entirely diffrent caliber than the usual over 100 million bounty rookies that gather at the Archipelago. Meanwhile in Grove 42, Sanji has come across a fisherman and tries to buy some fish. But the man is panicking as he had a client that wanted to go fishing. The fisherman told him to get on the boat, but instead the man got on a pirate ship by mistake which took off underwater. When Sanji hears the description of the man, he realizes who it is and tells the fisherman not to panic as the man can take care of himself. However, as he says that, a pirate ship suddenly floats back up from underwater, now cut in half. The captain of the ship scolds an individual on the mast, complaining how he ruined their dream to get to the New World. Said figure isn't phased and just tells him it was their bad luck to meet him. It is then revealed that the person on the mast is none other then Zoro, who grumbles about getting on the wrong ship.

Trivia

 * Sanji's left eye and left eyebrow are shown (purposely, not an artist error) for the first time