Summary;
Luffy and Zoro fight and defeat Morgan, Helmepp and the marines. Koby breaks up with Luffy to join the Marines and Zoro joins Luffy’s crew as a permanent crew member.
Luffy returns the katana to Zoro, who uses them to free himself and fend off the marines’ attacks. He agrees to join Luffy’s crew if he survives. Despite being clearly overpowered by Luffy’s Devil Fruit power and Zoro’s Tri-Sword Style, Morgan orders his men to attack them.
Morgan himself joins the battle, his right hand replaced by an ax blade. Despite Luffy overpowering Morgan, Helmeppo holds Koby hostage and threatens to shoot him. Meanwhile, while Luffy is distracted, Morgan tries to attack him from behind. Luffy punches Helmepp in the face and Zoro cuts Morgan, preventing him from harming Luffy. Aware of Morgan’s numerous abuses of power, the Marines decided not to continue the battle and instead dishonorably discharged and arrested their own captain.
Luffy, Zoro and Koby go to a restaurant to celebrate their victory. Koby explains how the world is divided. The world is divided into west and east by a continent called the Red Line, and the Great Line is a linear sea perpendicular to the red line. The legendary pirate Gold Roger claimed to have hidden his treasure at the very end of the Great Line.
Ripper, the marine who replaced Morgan as the base’s new commander, confronts Luffy. She agrees to accept Koby into the Marines at his request. Since Luffy and Zoro are pirates, he orders them both to leave the city, only promising not to inform headquarters as a gesture of gratitude. Luffy and Zoro agree and both continue their journey.
Meanwhile, the girl searches the naval base for a map of the Great Line. He discovers that the map has been stolen by another pirate, Buggy. She sets sail to confront Buggy and retrieve his map.
In the manga, Ririka treats Luffy and his friends to food at her house. She is a bartender in the episode.
In the manga, when Morgan orders several of his men to kill themselves when they protest against fighting Luffy and Zoro, they were about to comply out of fear. This is left out in the anime, and several of them glare at Morgan instead.
In the manga, more people from the town are seen as Luffy and Zoro leave. Only Koby, Rika, Ririka, Ripper, and the other established marines were present in the episode.
The first banner is Luffy’s, but Nami’s theme is playing. The second banner is Zoro, but Luffy’s theme is playing.
The first part of “To the Grand Line” is played as Koby explains the Grand Line.
This episode features the first instance of the classic “To Be Continued” screen before the end.
In the special edition print, it uses the widescreen version of the “To Be Continued” screen, which has been used mainly since episode 207 of the original TV series.
This is the final episode of the Romance Dawn Arc.