Orange Town Arc

The Buggy the Clown arc is the second story arc in the East Blue Saga of the manga and anime One Piece. The arc finds Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro unwittingly crossing paths and butting heads with the pirate clown, Buggy, and his crew as well as meeting their future navigator, Nami. It is followed by the Captain Kuro arc.

The Thief and the Red-Nosed Pirate
The arc begins with Luffy and Zoro out at sea, lost and starving, due to the fact that neither of them have any sense of direction. Luffy spots a bird in the air and uses his rubber power to try and catch it so they can eat it. However, the bird turns out to be much larger than they thought, and flies off with Luffy in its mouth. Zoro rows after them, but comes across three pirates struggling in the ocean. They jump into Zoro's boat as he passes them (since he can't stop) and then try to steal the boat from Zoro, only to get beaten up for it. The pirates then apologize for their actions, recognizing Zoro as the famous pirate hunter, and explain to him how their situation came about. They were returning from successfully plundering a ship when they the came across a small boat drifting the ocean with a female passenger on board. She asked for some food and water and offered a treasure chest as payment. The greedy pirates decide to check the chest first, only to find it empty and that the girl had stolen their boat. A sudden maelstrom appeared and sunk the small boat along with the pirates while the girl waved goodbye as she rode off with their boat.

Back in the present, the pirates growl about getting revenge and worry about what their captain Buggy will do to them if they come back empty handed, while Zoro wonders who Buggy is. Meanwhile, in a small village named Orange Town, a pirate ship designed like a carousel is docked near the town. One of the pirates on the ship spot Luffy and the bird, alerting the captain, to which their captain orders him to shoot it down. In town, the same girl who had robbed the pirates is running away from three more angry pirates who are yelling at her to return a map of the Grand Line she stole. An explosion halts the chase for a moment and something crashes in the middle of the four. Luffy emerges from the smoke unharmed, wondering what shot at him. The girl suddenly gets an idea and calls Luffy "boss", asking him to take care of the pirates. The pirates crowd around Luffy, one them striking him on the head and knocking off his straw hat. This angers Luffy and he easily defeats all three. The girl, who was watching, is impressed by his abilities and introduces herself as Nami, a thief who specializes in robbing pirates.

Nami at first tries to form a partnership with Luffy but when she finds out he is a pirate, she switches to the idea to pretend to turn Luffy in to Buggy as her former boss and join Buggy so she can steal his gold. This works well until Buggy orders her to kill Luffy to prove her loyalty. Nami's conscience gets the best of her and she is compelled to save Luffy. Fortunately, Zoro shows up in time to save them both and fights Buggy. He cuts Buggy into pieces, marveling at how easily he was defeated. But when he turns around, he finds that Buggy's hand has managed to detach itself, stabbing Zoro in his midsection. Buggy then reveals he has eaten a Devil's Fruit giving him the power to detach his body parts, separating into sections. However, our heroes manages to escape by firing Buggy's cannon at Buggy and his crew.

The Town's Last Citizen
Escaping into the empty town, the three happen upon a dog, Chou-Chou, and the Mayor of Orange Town, Boodle, who explains the dog's situation of guarding his master's pet shop, despite knowing his master is dead. But the talk is interrupted by the arrival of Buggy's first mate, Mohji, and his pet lion, Richie. Nami and Boodle escape (Zoro is recovering from his wound in the Mayor's house) but Luffy is still stuck in the cage Buggy imprisoned him in when Nami turned him in. Richie attacks Luffy, breaking the cage and sending Luffy flying through a house. Noticing the pet store, he then turns his attention toward it. Chou-Chou defends it to the best of his ability, but is no match for the lion. When Luffy comes back into the area, he see the pet shop burned to the ground and the dog heartbroken over it. Luffy then confronts Moji and Richie and defeats both easily, then takes the last box of dog food left from the store and gives it to Chou-Chou.

Buggy's Flashy Finale
Boodle, inspired by Luffy's courage, goes to confront Buggy, but is almost choked to death. Luckily, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami arrive and save him, then knock him out to make sure he doesn't get in the way. Zoro fights with Cabaji, Buggy's second mate and swordsman, and despite his wounds, defeats him. Luffy finally takes on Buggy while Nami sneaks off to steal Buggy's treasure. During the fight, Buggy reveals his acquaintance with Shanks and how he gained his powers. He then sets after Nami when he spots her taking his loot, but Luffy saves her. As Buggy separates his body parts again, preparing for another attack on Luffy, Nami steals some of them, tying the stolen body parts together. Buggy is left with just his hands, feet and head, vulnerable for Luffy to send him flying.

Nami gives Luffy the map of the Grand Line as she thanks him and agrees to partner up with him for the time being. As the trio starts to relax however, the townspeople come back into the town, and seeing their mayor knocked out, demand answers. Luffy replies that the three are pirates, and the townspeople chase them out of town, though the three managing to lose them thanks to Chou-Chou's intervention. Boodle wakes up and set after them himself just as Luffy, Zoro, and Nami leave the island on two small boats, thanking the three from the dock as they sail off. To Nami's surprise however, Luffy had deliberately left one of her treasure bags behind that was worth 500,000 Beli to help the people of Orange Town rebuild their homes and she threatened Luffy never to do that again.

So with that, the three pirate sail off to continue their journey to the Grand Line.

Story Impact
This Arc introduces two major characters, Nami who will become the Straw Hat Navigator and Buggy a former crewmate of Shanks. Buggy's Flashback is of particular importance, as it is later revealed that they belong to Gol D. Roger crew, and the guy who punches them during their argument, the crew First Mate Silvers Rayleigh. Buggy being part of the Pirate King crew will help him become a leader of Impel Down escapees before Marineford Arc.