Criminals Already!? Skypiea's Upholders of the Law

The White Berets press the crew for the immigration toll, only to be refused, since the pirates find the figure outrageous and well past anything they can pay. With Nami still missing, most of them brush the squad aside to argue over how to get her back. Usopp works to defuse things, telling the others to wait quietly and promising the captain, McKinley, that the fee will be handled the moment she returns. McKinley, for his part, bends almost every gesture the crew makes into a violation, pointing to their ownership of a Waver, their striking of a rare fish that had been on the verge of eating Conis, and Zoro's offhand joke about wanting to cut him down.

Chopper grows angry, certain the captain is bent on framing them no matter what, and when Usopp proposes they simply nap to pass the time, McKinley brands even that environmental pollution. Tempers nearly boil over before Nami rushes back, yelling at Luffy not to set anyone off after she catches sight of the local authorities. Enraged by the toll figure Usopp reports, she slams McKinley with her Waver and tells the crew to run; McKinley rules the act an offense of the fifth class, with cloud drifting as its penalty. Luffy flatly refuses to flee no matter how Nami begs. The White Berets then strike at him, and he scatters them without effort, prompting a delighted McKinley to declare the crew second-class criminals now beyond escape, with the Upper Yard's priests set to pass sentence on them.

The episode draws on part of chapter 242 and marks the debut of Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Hanabi. It is the last entry to close on the ending theme Free Will. An animation slip after the brawl shows one soldier's foot overlapping Luffy's ankle.