Episode 2

"The Great Swordsman Appears! Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro" is the 2nd episode of the One Piece anime.

Short Summary
Luffy and Coby find Zoro tied and starving. A little girl trespasses the field to offer him a rice ball when Helmeppo, the son of the Marine's base Captain Morgan, shows the fear and power that his father’s name give him. Rika tells Luffy that the reason why Zoro is tied is because he stood up for her and her mother and the three would be spared if he could resist a month, a promise that Helmeppo had no intent of keeping. Luffy infiltrates the base looking for Zoro’s sword but finds 3 and returns outside in time to save Coby and Zoro from being shot by Morgan’s men.

Long Summary
The episode opens with Luffy and Coby aboard their boat, and Coby once again explains how Roronoa Zoro is a demon who takes down men just for the bounty. The boat then arrives at an island, where a large Marine base is stationed. Luffy and Coby walk through the town, and at the mentions of the names of Roronoa Zoro and Captain Morgan, the townspeople are thrown into a panic. Luffy and Coby then arrive at the Marine base, where Coby thinks it will be his goodbye, as he plans on enrolling in the Marines, but Luffy climbs over the wall and spots Zoro tied to a cross. Coby loses it, and as the two look at Zoro a little girl named Rika climbs over the wall with a ladder. She offers some rice balls to Zoro that she made herself, using her whole heart.

At that moment, the snobbish Helmeppo, son of Captain Morgan, arrives with several Marine soldiers. He eats one of Rika's rice balls and says it's disgusting, since she used sugar instead of salt, and he stomps on them and has her thrown out. When he leaves, Luffy goes up to Zoro and asks him to join the crew. Zoro refuses, and refuses to be freed from his bindings since he plans on surviving just to spite Helmeppo. He then eats the flattened rice balls. Luffy and Coby then meet with Rika in the town and Luffy mentions how Zoro loved the rice balls. Luffy asks if Zoro actually is evil, but Rika replies that he is really a good guy. One day, 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 had Zoro arrested in an exchange that the people in the bar not be executed.

Luffy, Coby, and Rika walk into a restaurant, and find Helmeppo, talking about how he's going to execute Zoro the next day. 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 Marine 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 Marine base. In doing so, he knocks over the statue and causes it to break. Morgan orders that Luffy is executed, so Luffy grabs Helmeppo and runs into the base, searching for Zoro's swords. Outside, Coby is trying to untie Zoro and explains the situation to him. All the while, Nami is sneaking around the Marine base.

Luffy drags Helmeppo into Helmeppo's room, where the swords are. Meanwhile, Captain Morgan and his soldiers surround Zoro and Coby, and Morgan orders that they are both executed. The soldiers hold up their rifles and open fire, and Zoro thinks how he can't die, and remembers Kuina. However, before the bullets can reach them, Luffy leaps from the Marine base and uses his rubber body to block the bullets and send them flying. When Zoro is shocked and asks who he is, Luffy responds that he is Monkey D. Luffy, and that he will become the Pirate King.

Anime Notes

 * In the manga Zoro killed Helmeppo's wolf with his sword, but in the manga he knocked it out with a chair.
 * In the manga the fight with Luffy and Helmepoo took place outside, but in the anime it took place in the restaurant.
 * In the manga Coby gets shot while in the anime he does not.