Try Hard, Koby! Diary of Koby-Meppo's Marine Struggles

The Going Merry drifts to a halt when the wind dies, and a bait shortage caused by Luffy eating the bugs leads to a chase around the mast. When Nami lists the big names Luffy has toppled, Arlong, Don Krieg, Captain Kuro, and Axe-Hand Morgan, the mention of Morgan jogs Luffy's memory of Koby just as the sail catches a fresh breeze. The story shifts to Koby and Helmeppo serving as lowly chore boys, enlisted without qualifications. Koby throws himself eagerly into every task while Helmeppo slacks and stews, blaming Luffy for stripping his father of his captaincy.

Koby tells Helmeppo that pinning blame on others changes nothing and is a mark of weakness, pointing to his reliance on his father. A rooftop scuffle over their dreams ends with a stray cannon blast destroying a building, costing them fifty years of pay. Rika's mother's diner offers a brief refuge, and a newspaper reveals Luffy escaped Smoker and reached the Grand Line. The two are then assigned to help escort the imprisoned Morgan to Vice Admiral Garp for trial. Helmeppo tearfully admits he admired his father yet knows the man abused his power, and wonders aloud whether he will be executed.

Garp arrives in his dog hat, dozing off mid-handover and boasting of eating 842 doughnuts straight. When he nods off again, Morgan slashes him, breaks free, and seizes Helmeppo as a hostage aboard a small boat. Koby blocks the cannons to protect his friend and swims after them, and both boys are easily beaten when they confront Morgan, who throws them aside as not worth killing. Dismissed for letting the criminal flee, the pair are instead taken aboard by Garp toward Marine Headquarters and the Grand Line. Garp and Bogard debut here. In the manga Koby brandished guns to stop the Marines firing, cut apart by Bogard, whereas the anime has him merely plead with them.