The Shocking Truth - The Man Who Protected the Sunny

Caribou disciplines the fakes who lured him into their ranks rather than the genuine crew. Rayleigh drifts back to his first meeting with Gol D. Roger. Aboard the Thousand Sunny, Franky discloses that Bartholomew Kuma had been shielding the vessel throughout the two-year absence. The chapter ends as the Caribou Pirates launch their assault on the ship.

The Caribou Pirates locate the impostors, and Caribou attacks the fake Sanji; the fake Sogeking tries to intervene but cannot touch a Logia user. Caribou's brother Coribou digs graves alongside the rest of the gang. Rayleigh, recalling Roger, weeps and remarks that the straw hat suits Luffy even better. Sentomaru reports by Den Den Mushi that Rayleigh's interference let several pirates slip away, and that two Pacifistas suffered heavy damage from the real Straw Hats, one of whom had faced the crew two years prior, leading him to conclude they have returned far stronger. Submerged beneath the sea, Luffy and Zoro gawk at passing fish and try to grab them, only for Chopper and Usopp to beat them down for risking the coating bubble. Nami explains the coating using Rayleigh's notes, then flashes Sanji into a nosebleed that launches him out of the bubble; Luffy stretches an arm to retrieve him. Franky recounts finding Kuma protecting the Sunny and explains Hatchan's absence as the result of wounds taken defending it. Usopp then spots the approaching Caribou Pirates as their attack begins.

This is the opening episode of the Fish-Man Island Arc. It introduces the recurring post-timeskip opening narration describing the menace of the New World and the crew's challenge to it, a framing that continues through the Zou Arc. In the manga Rayleigh held no hip flask during the Roger flashback, a detail added here. The fight animation within the We Go! opening is refined for cleaner shading, and the preview for the following episode runs shorter than usual.