Chapter 583

Settling in with Dadan proves rough for the young Luffy, since the mountain bandits keep putting him to work. Determined to befriend Ace, he ventures into the surrounding woods to forage and to shadow the older boy, who wants nothing to do with him and keeps blocking his path. Luffy keeps finding ways around, trailing Ace home from his fights with wild beasts. After three months of dogged pursuit and battling nearly every dangerous animal in the forest, he finally discovers Ace's hidden base in Gray Terminal.

At the hideout waits a ten-year-old named Sabo, who along with Ace has been stockpiling stolen money and valuables to one day buy a pirate ship. The idea thrills Luffy, who shares the same dream, but the pair are furious that he now knows where their hoard is. They lash him to a tree and resolve to kill him, then bicker over who should do the deed. Before they can act, adult voices approach, the Bluejam Pirates led by Porchemy, hunting the boy who robbed them. Ace and Sabo dart into hiding, only to find Luffy gone, snatched by the pirates. Porchemy questions him about the missing money, but Luffy plays dumb so convincingly that the pirate hauls him off for harsher interrogation while the two boys watch, frozen.

Sabo appears for the first time, and it is established that he and Ace are saving up to purchase a pirate ship. Porchemy of the Bluejam Pirates is introduced. The chapter contains an art error in which Luffy's shirt switches between a 56 and an anchor design across scenes set on the same day. The cover shows Absalom and Hogback attending a beach matchmaking event.