Luffy's Past! The Red-Haired Shanks Appears

A burglar girl tricks three Buggy Pirates at sea, slipping aboard their vessel and sailing off just as a windstorm capsizes them. Out on the water, Luffy loses his hat to a sudden jolt, and Zoro's recovery of it opens the door to its history. A flashback recounts how a young Luffy idolized the pirate Shanks, ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi by accident, and was ultimately handed the hat as a parting promise. Back in the present, a giant bird snatches Luffy and carries him toward Buggy's domain.

In Foosha Village, Luffy befriends Shanks and unknowingly swallows a Devil Fruit, gaining rubber properties at the cost of ever swimming again. Higuma's mountain bandits torment the boy and drag him out to sea, where a Sea King devours the bandit leader and menaces Luffy. Shanks saves him but loses his left arm doing so. Before leaving for the Grand Line, Shanks entrusts the straw hat to Luffy. In the present, the bird is shot down and drops Luffy into Orange Town, where he meets the female thief who stole Buggy's map. Zoro, meanwhile, easily routs the stranded Buggy Pirates who try to seize his boat.

This episode adapts the manga's first chapter, though the bit of Luffy departing Foosha is held back until Episode 504. It marks the first appearance of Haki, used by Shanks against the Lord of the Coast, and opens the Orange Town Arc. The Odex dub notoriously replaced all alcohol with milk, even painting the word onto a keg. Several manga details differ, including how Luffy ate the fruit and how Shanks lost his arm.