The Town of the Beginning and the End! Landfall at Loguetown

Reaching Loguetown, the pirates scatter to browse the shops and take in the famous port. Word of Luffy's exploits in the East Blue reaches the local Marine commander, Smoker, who abandons his desk to comb the streets. He tangles with and beats a different pirate named Gally, then, by chance, points the very fugitive he is hunting toward the old execution scaffold without recognizing him.

Luffy stops at the Gold Roger bar, whose proprietor once greeted the legendary captain himself. The boy soon wanders off, and Smoker arrives moments later, recalling that he watched Gol D. Roger's death as a child. Just before the blade fell, Roger told the crowd he had hidden a fortune, the One Piece, somewhere for a bold pirate to claim.

Across town, Zoro encounters Smoker's aide, Tashigi, after she handles two thugs pestering her. When he realizes how closely she mirrors his late childhood rival Kuina, he is so startled that he breaks her glasses by accident.

Smoker, his subordinate Tashigi, and the Devil Fruit known as the Moku Moku no Mi all make their first appearance. The episode establishes Loguetown as both Roger's birthplace and the site of his public death. Smoker unknowingly assists Luffy in finding the execution platform, then discovers the boy's true identity and races to seize him. Zoro's meeting with Tashigi plants the seed of his ongoing discomfort over her resemblance to Kuina.

This installment debuts Believe as the series' opening theme. A wanted poster for Shupeal can be glimpsed during the episode. While trying on clothes, Nami models two outfits that quietly nod to future characters: the first hints at the look Robin wears in Arabasta, and the second echoes an early, unfinished design for Boa Hancock, complete with an animal scarf reminiscent of items later tied to Hody Jones and Salome.