Romance Dawn

In a world echoing the familiar tale yet parting from it, this Luffy turned pirate because his grandfather, here a buccaneer rather than a Marine, lit the dream. Alone at sea, he runs into a girl named Ann and her winged friend Balloon, both prisoners of the psychic warlord Shupeal. Confined below deck, Ann tells him the captain hungers for the magic in Balloon's blood, and Luffy stretches through the bars to release them. When her bid to win the creature's freedom meets treachery, Luffy storms onto the deck and stops the warlord's strike against her. Shupeal blows apart his own vessel and escapes on a flying broom with the captive bird, but Luffy launches himself after him, lands a deciding Gomu Gomu no Pistol, and reclaims Balloon. He restores the pair atop the wreckage, then sets sail toward open horizons.

Luffy encounters Ann and Balloon and springs them from Shupeal's cell. Ann battles for the bird's release and is double-crossed by the warlord, sending Luffy charging the deck to thwart the blow aimed at her. Shupeal wrecks his ship and flees with Balloon. Luffy gives chase, knocks him off the broom, recovers the creature, and returns it to Ann before the two part. Balloon, Ann, and Shupeal all make their debut here.

Produced for the anime's 20th anniversary, the special adapts the second one-shot that came before the main series and plays under OVER THE TOP. The source catalogs many shifts from the printed one-shot, touching on how Balloon falls relative to Luffy, where its wound lies, how notorious Shupeal is said to be, and the way Luffy consumed the fruit his grandfather held. The adaptation puts Ann's fight on screen rather than off panel, shows Balloon saving Luffy from a fall toward the sea, and has Shupeal offer a bounty for handing the bird over. For the banner flown by his grandfather's crew, the special borrows the Jolly Roger seen on Luffy's manga cover.