One Piece has come a long, long way since Luffy ate the Gum-Gum Fruit in the Romance Dawn Arc. An introduction to the zany series about a rubber boy and his dream of becoming Pirate King, nobody could have expected the success it became. So, with a long history in mind, here’s a One Piece Retro Review on the East Blue Saga and all it contains.
Keep in mind One Piece goes by a standard of stories, with each individual plot playing out as an “arc” over time, usually when the Straw Hats land somewhere new. These arcs are then sorted more broadly by their “saga”, which contains multiple arcs in service of the overarching story. This can be seen here in the East Blue Saga, which covers Romance Dawn through Logue Town. So, ready to set sail?
Romance Dawn
- New Characters: Luffy, Shanks, Zolo, Koby.
- Overall Importance: Crucial.
- Standout Moment: Shanks using Conqueror’s Haki for the first time.
- Thoughts: Helmeppo is as punchable as ever, but Zolo’s line about “The Navy thanking a pirate” was prophetic.
The chapter that started Monkey D Luffy’s story. When the Pirate King Gol D Roger was executed, he said his treasure was left at the end of the Grand Line, in One Piece. That’s the Romance Dawn when the Golden Age of Pirates began. Now, twenty years later a young Monkey D Luffy has become friends with a pirate crew docked in his port town. The Red Hair Pirates, led by Shanks.
This arc gave fans a setup for both Koby and Shanks as future players, and Zolo became the Straw Hat’s First Mate. The real cool part here though is Shanks saving Luffy from the Lord of the Coast. Even though the power isn’t officially named or mentioned until nearly five hundred chapters later, Shanks no doubt uses Conqueror Haki to scare off the beast. Luffy is following in his footsteps, which means Luffy may lose an arm eventually.
The interactions between Zolo and Luffy were great, with the massive development apparent from the start. Seeing Koby’s development and Garp’s semi-intro was hilarious too.
Orange Town
- New Characters: Nami and Buggy
- Overall Importance: Wildly Important
- Standout Moment: Buggy’s death fake out.
- Thoughts: Buggy hasn’t used a Buggy Ball since.
Orange Town introduces everyone’s favorite cat burglar, Nami and her thievery starts strong. Nami initially is caught stealing a treasure from Buggy as Luffy and Zolo finally make it into Orange Town’s port. Of course, Orange Town has been cleaned out and ravaged by the Buggy pirates and their explosives, so Luffy comes to the rescue.
The fight between Zolo and Buggy was mind-blowing at first watch. Buggy was only the second Devil Fruit user in the series, his fakeout against Zolo took everyone by surprise, defeating the already-proven swordsman. While it was the first time Nami would join them, she still wouldn’t be a Straw Hat just yet.
How crazy is it to see Buggy as an emperor now?
Syrup Village
- New Characters: Usopp and The Merry Go!
- Overall Importance: Can’t skip.
- Standout Moment: Luffy vs. Kuro
- Thoughts: Nobody noticed Kuro poisoning Kaya for a year after killing her parents. The whole village are idiots.
Usopp was the Straw Hat that took a little time to grow on the crew. A habitual liar, Usopp made his little village chaotic with his lies about approaching pirates, so they didn’t believe him until too late. Usopp proves resourceful and his lies are useless here, but he learns to utilize them later in the story. The Merry Go enters the picture as well, designed by a grateful butler who the Straw Hats save.
The showdown with Kuro of the Cat Pirates was a wild fight for its time. Luffy matching blows with the long-clawed captain would have been hopeless if Usopp’s lies didn’t save them at the last second. Thankfully, the future God Emperor Usopp got the Straw Hats out of a tough situation for only the first of many times.
Baratie
- New Characters: Sanji, Zeff, Mihawk.
- Overall Importance: Essential for Sanji’s backstory.
- Standout Moment: Mihawk slicing the boat in two.
- Thoughts: Did Gin ever make it back to the Grand Line? Is he even alive?
Baratie was truly where One Piece picked up, thanks to the introduction of Sanji and Luffy vs. Don Krieg. Sanji’s tragic backstory turned out to be just the beginning, revealed to be even more bleak later on Whole Cake Island. This was the first hint in One Piece of the arcs to come and introduced the Seven Warlords concept. Zolo has his ass handed to him on a platter with one slice.
The power scaling up to now was relatively realistic, given the abilities involved. Sure walls have been broken and physics are a little weird, but then Mihawk slices a ship in half? That was the first taste of how dangerous the Grand Line would be. Zolo being so set up as a badass only to have his swords destroyed and only allowed to escape by Mihawk’s mercy? Masterful writing. The animation was peak for the time as well.
Arlong Park
- New Characters: Fishman Race, Hachi, Arlong.
- Overall Importance: Peak Early One Piece
- Standout Moment: Luffy gives Nami the hat.
- Thoughts: This arc has the first mention of Jimbei.
The crew manages to sail after Nami to Arlong Park, Zolo recovering in the process. Nami has been robbing people blind everywhere they go, and now the Straw Hats find out why. The story of Nami’s village held hostage, as well as her mother Belle-Mere’s death, hit the emotional highs of One Piece’s top arc of the East Blue. Nami’s tearful plea to Luffy for help was the first time audiences truly saw him truly angry, and the fights to follow proved it.
Zolo fighting Hachi was great, pulling out more ridiculous fighting styles. Usopp’s fight and knockout by exaggeration were a hilarious way to win, and Sanji’s underwater fight while rescuing Luffy. This fight was a great representation of why Luffy won’t get anywhere without a crew and proved his devotion to them in turn. The Gum-Gum Ax that smashes down Arlong Park and all it represents was the flash of everything yet to come.
Loguetown
- New Characters: Smoker, Tashigi, Dragon (seen, not named)
- Overall Importance: The finale to East Blue
- Standout Moment: Zolo lets his sword decide.
- Thoughts:1000 Chapters and nobody knows anything about Dragon.
Loguetown was both a shorter arc in One Piece, while also cramming a whole lot of events in. The brief visit to Loguetown, the execution site of Gold Roger, was defining for both Luffy and Zolo. Luffy was almost executed by Buggy on the same scaffold as Gold Roger. Not mentioned yet is that Buggy sailed with Shanks on Roger’s ship, and watched him executed all those years ago.
When Zolo finds the cursed sword in the shop, he tests it by throwing the exposed blade in the air. It was a testament to One Piece’s strange future and Zolo’s badassery when the sword curved around his arm, unscathed. The storm and chase to Reverse Mountain, everyone declaring their dreams, is the epitome of One Piece and everything that follows.
Final Thoughts
- The animation, being the early 2000s, is surprisingly fluid. The cartoon art of One Piece uses limited animation tech to great advantage.
- There’s so much more set up here than let on at first viewing. The subtle look in Shanks’ eye as he faces the Lord of the Coast hinting at Haki is huge.
- Nobody ever thought Buggy would make it as far as he has. He’s failed upward ever since.
- Mihawk’s introduction was just a small taste of everything the Grand Line would bring and is still more powerful than Zolo today.
The first few One Piece arcs of the East Blue saga are a perfect introduction to the Straw Hat crew. Characters have fantastic chemistry right from the start, with character evolution from here very apparent. It doesn’t seem obvious during the story, but the growth in everyone from Zolo to Nami, is so subtly and gradually done it sets up the Straw Hats as real, legitimate people with real bonds.
One Piece is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix, but Crunchyroll has all seasons in Sub and Dub with new episodes weekly. Netflix, however, will be dropping the new live-action One Piece series on August 31st. Hopefully, everything goes well while it adapts the East Blue Saga, and One Piece can get more seasons to explore the Grand Line.
