Summary:
Luffy along with Zoro and Sanji head to Grove #42. When the three reach the Thousand Sunny and are reunited with the rest of the crew, the marines appear, but are shortly after held off by the Kuja Pirates, who help the Straw Hat Pirates sail to Fish-Man Island.
This episode opens with the Kuja Pirates from Amazon Lily coming to see what Luffy is like. Zoro, Sanji and Luffy thank Rayleigh. Rayleigh remembers her training with Luffy and cries. The marines go after Zoro, Luffy, and Sanji, but Rayleigh slashes the ground and creates a line telling the marines not to cross it. Sanji stops and takes the bags of food with him, Zoro sees that the marines have gone by to grab them. Perona appears two years later with her Negative Hollow ability and used it against the marines. Sanji asks if she is a real woman, her negative spirits defeated Sanji and at the same time Chopper arrives on a large bird to take them to Grove 42.
Rosy Life Riders fly by and Brook lands on the ship. Brook asks Nami if he can see her panties and Nami kicks him in the face for never letting him see it even 2 years ago. Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Chopper arrive at the ship. Straw Hat Pirates are back together. When Sanji looks at Nami and Robin, blood starts gushing from his nose and he falls into the sea. Usopp rescues Sanji and Luffy admires Franky’s new body. The marines came and shot at the straw hat pirates and then the Kuja pirates came and detained the marines. The crew is stunned to see Bo Hancock. Sanji turns to stone and then gets mad at Luffy for going to Amazon Lily and befriending Hancock. Sweet Pea and Marguerite look at them.
Usopp wonders why the marines don’t come from the island anymore. Friends of the Straw Hats come to save them. Franky dives under the Thousand Sunny to remove the air bag and release the air by inflating the coating. All their friends wish them a great adventure in the New World. Luffy greets his crew, thanks them for tending to his selfish needs, and gives the order to set sail. The ship begins to sink, ending the episode.
After two years apart, this is the first episode where the straw pirates are seen together since episode 404.
The anime adds the following:
More scenes of Luffy training with Rayleigh.
Sanji, in addition to sniffing Perona, tries to pounce on her and force Perona to retaliate by stomping on his head and using her Negative Spirits.
Franky shows off two more hairstyles.
The giant bird that helped Chopper is shown attacking a naval ship.
Sanji tries to impress Nami by kicking away the cannonball before looking at Nami again and his nose bleeding again.
In the manga, Rayleigh was shown with tears in his eyes when Luffy declared that he would be the Pirate King. In the anime, it’s after Luffy starts running again.
Opening 15 now spells Usopp’s romanized name correctly during his scene on the bulletin board.
This is the final episode of the Return to Sabaody Arc.
The end of the episode takes place in We Go once more, this time with a smaller piece of music.