A Hungry Front - Luffy and the Marine Rookies!

His supplies squandered, Luffy grows so ravenous he tries to bite Chopper, and the rest of the rescue party is left famished. When Pedro sights land, Nami recognizes it as the island she had marked on the chart back in Zou. Pekoms warns them that this place, Fron Island, hosts a Marine base packed with elite soldiers who keep an eye on Big Mom. While Pedro and Pekoms guard the Thousand Sunny, the others ride the Shark Submerge III toward shore.

On the island, Vice Admiral Prodi watches a reinforcement vessel approach until an explosion rocks it: one passenger, the Captain named Grount, has turned on his own comrades. Overpowering them with raw speed, he triggers a steam-venting device strapped to his arm and flattens the entire group, then mocks Prodi for sending such weaklings. Prodi, furious, learns by Den Den Mushi from Garp that Grount asked to be posted here himself. Koby wonders aloud why anyone would request so distant a station, while Grount declares to Prodi his aim to bring down Big Mom and bristles when Prodi belittles his former superior, Aokiji.

Brook scares a knot of Marines senseless with his roaming soul. The uniforms then go on Carrot, Chopper, Nami, and a grumbling Luffy. Nami and Chopper scout the island, spotting the docked ship and locating the food storehouse. Luffy and Carrot stray into the cafeteria, where the kitchen lady, mistaking them for fresh recruits, cheerfully serves them. Carrot then blurts out their names, and a lovestruck Zappa, recognizing Nami from her bounty poster, lunges to kiss her but plants one on the cook's spoon instead. When Luffy grabs a whole bowl of curry, the Marines erupt. From the monitor room, Prodi spots Luffy, raises the island-wide alarm, and orders his capture, while Nami and Chopper flee to grab supplies and Grount eagerly readies himself to take Luffy down.

This episode opens the Marine Rookie Arc and is filler, set on the chart island Nami had noticed earlier in Episode 775. Captain Grount serves under Vice Admiral Prodi, intends to topple Big Mom, and once trained alongside Bonham and Zappa beneath Aokiji. Luffy's distaste for wearing a Marine outfit nods to Garp's old wish that he and Ace enlist. The installment also brings Garp and Koby back to the screen for the first time after the timeskip, with Prodi noted as a close associate of Garp.