The Way of the Thief

Buggy's upper half chases Nami across the town after she makes off with his loot, but just as he closes in, Luffy spots that the clown's lower body has stayed rooted in place and drives a kick between his legs. Doubled over in pain, Buggy is reminded who his real opponent is. Luffy urges Nami to ditch the treasure and flee, yet she flatly refuses, insisting that whatever she steals belongs to her and arguing she has done nothing bad enough to be lectured by a pirate.

Buggy scatters more of himself into the air to strike at Nami, but Luffy realizes the man's feet cannot fly, grabs one, and torments it by tickling and slamming it on the ground, breaking the assault. Nami swings her treasure sack at Buggy, who seizes it; as the two refuse to release it, Buggy readies his knives, only for Luffy to kick him head-first into the bag and tear it open. Luffy seizes the Grand Line map during the opening, and when Buggy tries to pull himself back together he finds Nami has bound most of his drifting parts, leaving him with just his hands, feet, and head. With his foe beaten, Luffy launches him skyward using Gomu Gomu no Bazooka.

The chapter records two milestones: Luffy seizes Buggy's chart of the Grand Line and delivers the clown his first defeat. The cover, an Animal Theater piece, shows Zoro slicing through a bamboo grove while a panda trainer munches the stalks behind him; ironically Zoro is absent from the chapter proper despite headlining the art, and it is the first cover to feature him solo. That fully colored cover later appeared in the credits montage of the first One Piece film.