Emergency Official Announcement! Notorious Pirate Ship Infiltration!

Marines patrol a bridge singing a marching tune, trading rumors that their base has grown soft for want of action. At a nearby dock, workers squabble over how long a damaged warship will take to repair while the old shipwright Mekao drinks and grumbles about lost respect for vessels, until he spots the Going Merry plummeting from above and shouts the alarm. The garrison scrambles, ties the ship to the Straw Hat Pirates, and a junior Marine reports the invasion to Lt. Commander Drake, who cannot say where Commodore Jonathan has gone.

Jonathan, it turns out, is fishing Usopp's goggles from the water as he eyes the Merry. Back in his office he hears that every witness swears they saw a ghost and the vessel must be a phantom. Examining the ship, Jonathan notes details no ghost ship should have, neatly set tea, well-kept books, and a cache of treasure aboard, while a south bird's eerie cry sets the men on edge.

Jonathan links the coffee's flavor to Jaya, the gold to that island's legendary city of gold, and the south bird's presence into a single conclusion that this is no ghost ship at all. Judging his greener men unready, he deliberately lets the ghost rumor stand, waving off Drake's idea of an immediate search party in favor of waiting for first light. He warns that the intruders could be disguised as Marines and orders everyone checked. Across the base the crew go to ground: Chopper hides behind a tree, Zoro surfaces from the water, Nami stows her waver in tall grass, Sanji is shot at while sneaking a smoke, Luffy hunts for meat, and Robin uses her Devil Fruit to eavesdrop on the rattled soldiers.

This is the first episode of the filler G-8 Arc and the first to use Dreamship as its ending. Robin's Oreja Fleur technique debuts, and several non-canon characters appear for the first time, among them Jonathan, Mekao, Drake, Shinpachi, Billy, Jessica, and Tom. The installment closes on Jonathan musing that he will simply wait to learn why the Straw Hats came to his base.