"Emergency Planning, A Perfect Strategy for the One Piece" is the 1st episode recap of the One Piece anime.
Short Summary[]
This is the first recapitulation episode, covering the first five episodes. It is told as Luffy and Zoro recapping their time as pirates to Nami during the Orange Town Arc, and mostly follows the manga storyline. Due to it taking place as a conversation between characters, there is a lot of jumping between different periods in time.
It was later released on DVD alongside the first TV special.
Long Summary[]
The Red Hair Pirates party in a bar. Luffy asks Shanks if he can join them the next time they set out to sea, but he refuses. Yassop points out that Luffy cannot even swim, and even if he could, he is still too young. Luffy argues that he is an adult, and Shanks hands him a glass of juice; upon accepting, the pirates laugh at Luffy, stating that adults do not drink juice.
As they laugh, a mountain bandit, Higuma, enters the bar, demanding a drink. Makino, the bar's owner, informs him that they are out of alcohol, prompting Higuma to ask what the pirates are drinking; she apologizes again, saying that they drank the last of her stock. Shanks apologizes as well, offering his bottle to Higuma, but he simply punches it, spraying the contents over Shanks. He threatens Shanks with his 
8,000,000 bounty, but Shanks ignores him and begins cleaning the alcohol from the floor while apologizing to Makima. Annoyed by Shanks ignoring him, Higuma slashes his sword across the bar top, shattering more bottles and telling Shanks to clean it up, before leaving the bar.
Once they have left, the pirates begin laughing historically about how Shanks was included. This enrages Luffy, who demands to know how, as pirates, they can accept being treated that way. Shanks says there is nothing to worry about since it was just alcohol. Luffy from the future then informs the viewer that at the time, he simply could not understand how it did not bother Shanks.
Some time later, Luffy is being beaten down by Higuma. The mayor begs Higuma to leave him alone, but he refuses, when Shanks suddenly appears behind them. He points out that nobody welcomed at the harbor and he was curious, arriving to see the bandits again. He teases Luffy for being weaker than he claimed. As Shanks walks forward, he is threatened at gunpoint by one of the bandits, but calls the bandit's bluff as Lucky Roux shoots him instead. Shanks then explains that he does not mind being teased or having alcohol spilled on him, but he will not stand for his friends being hurt. The bandits angrily attack the pirates, but are swiftly defeated.
Later, Higuma and Luffy are in a raft in the ocean. Higuma throws Luffy into the water, and he begins to drown. As Higuma laughs, a Sea King appears behind him, swallowing him whole. The Sea King lunges towards Luffy, but he is suddenly saved by Shanks, who loses his arm in the process. Shanks stares down the Sea King, who flees, and Shanks reassures Luffy that losing his arm is worth it since Luffy survived. Later, when Shanks finally leaves the island, he gives his hat to Luffy, who promises to return it when he becomes a pirate of his own renown.
Ten years later, Luffy sets out on his own journey, breaking out of a barrel on a ship. A pirate crew are in the process of attacking the ship, but Luffy defeats the captain. Before that, he talks to a boy named Koby, who rescued him from the barrel. In the future, Luffy and another person discuss Koby, stating that he is either timid or thick-skulled. Back in the past, Koby explains that he is being held prisoner by the pirates.
Much later, Koby joins the Marines, and he says his goodbye to Luffy and another new crewmate, Roronoa Zoro. In the future, they finish reminiscing about Koby, and Nami asks them to explain how Zoro came to join.
Luffy explains that he sought out Zoro, finding him tied to a cross at a Marine base. He asked Zoro to join his crew, who refused, though Luffy refused his refusal, causing the two to begin arguing both in the past and the future. Some time later, the Marines began threatening Zoro, and nearly shot him before he was protected by Luffy. Having retrieved Zoro's swords, he repels the Marines' bullets, and the Marine captain realizes that he has eaten a Devil Fruit. Luffy thinks back to having eaten it when he knew Shanks, while Zoro blocks the Marines' swords. He agrees to join Luffy's crew, though promising to prioritize his own dream, becoming the world's greatest swordsman, over Luffy's. Luffy agrees, and the two take down the Marines together.
In the future, Nami remarks that they are both monsters, with Zoro countering that she also managed to infiltrate a Marine base. She states there is no spot she cannot infiltrate, and Luffy remarks that he also saw her on Alvida's ship, which Nami confirms.
Back in the past, they reminisce about Nami and Luffy's meeting. He asked her to join his crew, but she adamantly refused, stating that she hates pirates. Later, Luffy was stuck in a cage with a cannon pointing at him, and Nami fighting off pirates to save him. As she struggles to fight off the attacking pirates, she grabs the lit fuse on the cannon, putting it out and burning her hands in the process. She is nearly attacked from behind, but is saved by Zoro, who asks if she is joining.
In the future, Nami thanks Zoro for the rescue. Luffy states they will make a great pirate crew, but Nami again refuses to join, stating she will only help them if they stop being pirates. Luffy ignores her, complaining that he is hungry, then asks her again. Nami berates him for ignoring her, and Zoro just laughs. The two men then restate their dreams, as the past is shown of them turning the cannon on the pirate they fought in the past. Confident in their goals, the crew sails out to sea.
As the ending song plays, the three crewmembers continue talking. Luffy and Zoro discuss combat, causing Nami to complain about men always wanting to fight; they talk about future crewmembers, with Luffy mentioning a cook and a sniper and Nami mentioning a musician; and finally, Luffy welcomes the viewer to return to see his journey into becoming the Pirate King.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
Anime Notes[]
The end card used
- Unlike the main anime series, this special roughly follows the same order of events as the manga.
- Nami's early appearances were moved to flashbacks when she met Luffy in Orange Town.
- Despite Luffy originally wanting a musician in the original manga, Nami actually suggests finding one in this recap; Luffy reacts with shock, counter to his manga depiction.
- The end screen from episodes 1 and 2 is used.
[]
| Special Episodes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP1 | SP2 | SP3 | SP4 | SP5 | SP6 | SP7 | SP8 | SP9 | SP10 | |
| SP11 | SP12 | SP13 | SP14 | |||||||
| Boss Luffy Historical Special | ||||||||||
| SP4 | 291 | 292 | 303 | 406 | 407 | |||||
| Chopper Man Special | ||||||||||
| 279 | 336 | |||||||||
| Featurette | ||||||||||
| F01 | F02 | F03 | F04 | F05 | F06 | |||||
| Crossovers | ||||||||||
| 492 | 542 | 590 | ||||||||
| Smartphone | ||||||||||
| SMP1 | SMP2 | |||||||||
| ONA | ||||||||||
| ONA1 | ||||||||||
| Romance Dawn | ||||||||||
| RDS | 907 | |||||||||
| Recaps | ||||||||||
| RC1 | RC2 | RC3 | RC4 | RC5 | RC6 | RC7 | RC8 | RC9 | RC10 | |
| RC11 | RC12 | RC13 | RC14 | RC15 | RC16 | RC17 | RC18 | RC19 | RC20 | |