Ron Does Stuff

I know I’m a year late compared to everybody else so maybe none of this is a surprise to anybody else, but I’ve enjoyed the first two episodes so far! Let’s see if that trend continues!

It looks we’re going to get a new addition to the crew in this episode because I’ve seen the character in the trailer and in this episode he’s not yet part of the crew. And this character looks like he’s a liar!

Now that we’ve got that introduction done, we go back to Luffy’s ship, where Nami — just revealed to be a traitor in the previous episode — is studying the map to the Grand Line. But her study is cut short by Zoro saying the toilet is busted and for a moment there I thought he clogged it with his shit? But turns out they don’t have a toilet and I half-expected Zoro to say then what have I been shitting in but it’s just that the boat has sprung a leak. Which has also damaged the communication device Nami is using to contact whoever it was she was contacting.

Over at the Marine ship Garp is on, Koby is making a name for himself. He already looks like he’s Garp’s favorite while Butt Boy — Axe Hand Morgan’s son — is still with the raw recruits. And I’m calling him Butt Boy because I don’t know his name and the show hasn’t mentioned it yet! Although the manga readers and anime viewers probably already know who he is.

Over at Syrup Village, the crew are searching for a boat to replace their sinking one, while back where they left Buggy, a new pirate is entering the scene. Arlong, who I think is the real season one villain, since it turns out it isn’t Buggy? But that’s going to be a problem for another time because the crew are looking for a ship and ever the optimist, Luffy thinks he can convince a salesman to just give him one while Zoro and Nami are thinking of a plan to steal one.

The ship that Luffy’s heart finally chooses has a sheep’s head for the…uh…masthead and Usopp — the serial liar — tells Luffy that he knows the owner and they could try and buy it from her. If that’s even true. And…he sorta kinda does? So not so much a lie but an exaggeration. They get invited to dinner by the owner of the house, Kaya.

Kaya’s a sickly girl who likes Usopp’s stories, but I feel like she wants to get dicked down by Usopp because girl. That’s not a pearl. You’re rich. You know that’s not a pearl. Or maybe the sickness has gone to her head.

Over in Kaya’s closet, Nami the Communist is readying the guillotine for Kaya while Luffy is being unhelpful with picking her clothes for the dinner. I distinctly remember talk about asexual Luffy when this was airing and I can kinda see why they’re getting that! Either way, Luffy bets that he can get Kaya to give them that ship and Nami agrees to that bet. However, that all depends on whether they survive the dinner because it looks like Klahadore, Kaya’s butler, and the rest of the staff are going to be poisoning them.

Over at Garp’s boat, Koby is getting his The Queen’s Gambit fantasy on as Garp teaches him how to act decisively. So that the next time he and Luffy meet he can decisively kiss him. That’s my French vanilla fantasy and I’m sticking to it.

Back at Kaya’s dinner party, Nami’s loyalty to the Revolution and the Communist Party is tested as Kaya doesn’t seem like a horrible person. Zoro, on the other hand, is sniffing around Klahadore, who he swears he’s already seen before. However, that’s going to be something that they’ll have to resolve later and we find out that it isn’t Luffy and his crew that Klahadore is trying to poison, it’s just Kaya. For her money, of course.

And Klahadore isnt’ the only problem that Luffy and his gang have to contend with, because Garp’s ship has found their original boat and now Garp is sending Koby to Gecko Island to catch them. This is the start of their friends to enemies to lovers arc I can feel it.

And it’s not just Garp Luffy has to worry about now because Buggy has totally sold them off to Arlong, who isn’t so much interested in the One Piece but just wants humans to stop spreading their filth across the seas. Which I can totally understand!

But while all of that is gathering around different parts of the world, the more pressing concern is Klahadore, who just killed Kaya’s financial manager, Merry. It doesn’t seem to trouble Luffy though, who’s down in the kitchen with Zoro and Usopp shooting the shit. Meanwhile, Nami is in Kaya’s room realizing rich people are humans too and I kinda get why Emily Rudd wanted this role. Aside from Emily Rudd being a fan of anime, Nami just seems like the character with the meatiest arc among the characters.

Back in the kitchen, Usopp finds out that Yasopp — his dad — has spent more time with Luffy than he has with them. Fuck. Usopp’s cool with it, though, and when Zoro tells him he needs a drink he takes him to the basement where the wine is and also where Merry’s body is. And while that’s happening Luffy just drank all the poisoned soup Klahadore’s crew made. Fuck.

Down in the cellar, Zoro and Usopp find Merry’s body and Zoro finally remembers who Klahadore is: the pirate Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates. And for the first time in the show, Zoro is beaten! Kuro got a little help from his crew but Zoro still got beaten. And then he gets thrown down a well!

Meanwhile, both Nami and Usopp both have their teachable moments in the next scenes. Nami learns that not all rich people deserve to have their heads cut off, while Usopp finally reckons with the constant lying he made when he was a kid since no one believes him now that the pirates actually are in their town.

BUT. There is one person who believes him! It’s Koby!