Chapter 9

Nami proposes teaming with Luffy, presenting herself as a thief who only robs pirates, and prods him about why his straw hat matters so much, guessing it hides jewels or a map. Atop a bar in Orange Town, Buggy fumes over letting her escape; mishearing a crewman as mocking his nose, he hoists the man into the air with his Devil Fruit power and has the others blast him with a cannon, then sends everyone to ransack the town for the thief and any loot.

In a sheltered house, Nami explains that the townsfolk are hiding because Buggy loves firing his cannon and once flattened a whole town over a jab about his nose. She reveals her goal of amassing 100,000,000 berries to buy a village, and her plan to use the stolen Grand Line map to plunder the ocean's famous pirates. When Luffy, thrilled to learn she navigates, invites her aboard, she balks the moment he admits he is a pirate, the one thing she hates most, caring only for money and tangerines. Luffy tells her the hat is a treasure because Shanks gave it to him under a promise to build his own crew. Realizing he carries no riches, Nami hatches a ploy: she agrees to come along, ties him up with rope on the way, and delivers him to Buggy, pretending to defect and surrendering the map while Luffy is locked in a cage. Elsewhere, Zoro reaches the island and decides to seek out Buggy for word of Luffy.

Both Nami and Buggy make their formal debuts, with Buggy revealed as the Buggy Pirates' captain and a Devil Fruit user whose real clown nose he refuses to let anyone mock. Nami is saving to buy a certain village, loves money and tangerines, and tricks Luffy into Buggy's hands. Zoro, separated from Luffy earlier, is now on the same island. The cover's Animal Theater shows Zoro cleaning his blades atop a cow while Luffy swings from a tree.