Summary:
Luffy and Koby find Zoro captured at the Shells Town naval base, with the marines intending to execute him. Luffy and Koby work together to retrieve Zoro’s katanas as well as confront the tyrannical sea captain Morgan and his son Helmepp.
Luffy and Koby arrive at Shells Town, the town where the naval base is located. They find their target, Roronoa Zoro, crucified at the base. A little girl, Rika, sneaks into the base to offer Zoro an onigiri, but is stopped by Helmeppo, a snob, who destroys the onigiri. However, Zoro later eats rice contaminated with dirt.
Outside the naval base, Rika reveals that the city was run by a tyrannical Captain Morgan, who allowed his son Helmepp to regularly abuse its citizens. One day, Helmeppo brought an enemy wolf into the bar, which attacked the customers and ate their food. When Zoro attacked Helmeppo for his cruelty, Helmeppo threatened to execute all the patrons in the bar unless Zoro turned into a marine where he would be crucified for one month.
Later, Helmeppo reveals that he intended to execute Zoro, breaking the deal he made with him. Luffy attacks him for his dishonesty, then heads to the naval base to find Zoro’s confiscated katanas. When Morgan orders his men to build a large statue of himself on the roof of the base, Luffy rushes onto the roof, accidentally destroying the statue in the process. Luffy grabs Helmepp and flees, searching the building and finding the katanas. Meanwhile, the girl who robbed the Alvida pirate ship also infiltrates the naval base to steal its goods.
Meanwhile, Koby attempts to free Zoro from the cross, but is spotted by Morgan, who orders his men to open fire on them both. They are stopped by Luffy, who deflects the bullets with his rubber body.
In the manga, Luffy and Koby eat at Food Foo, where they cause a panic when they talk about Zoro. In the episode, Luffy buys a pear-shaped fruit on the street and asks the seller if he knows anything about Zoro.
In the manga, Zoro asks Luffy and Koby to untie him the first time he sees them, and even offers to share his next bounty with them (although it’s unclear how serious he means). In the anime, he immediately tells the two to leave.
In the manga, Zoro killed Helmepp’s wolf with his sword, but in the anime, he knocked it over with a chair.
Nami reappears in the anime, at a table drinking a cocktail.
In the manga, the fight between Luffy and Helmepp took place outside, but in the anime, it took place in a restaurant.
Ririka is not a bartender in the anime. After Luffy hits Helmeppo, Ririka takes her daughter Rika back to their home.
In the manga, Koby is shot while trying to untie Zoro. It won’t happen in the anime.
Despite being later known for his poor directional deduction skills, Zoro shows Luffy the correct path to the base in this episode when Luffy was heading in the opposite direction.