Clockwork Island Adventure

First shown in cinemas on March 3, 2001, this fifty-five minute feature runs separate from the main canon, though its circumstances roughly fit the stretch between the East Blue and Arabasta portions of the saga. After thieves make off with the Going Merry along with the crew's clothing and gear, the Straw Hats throw in with the Thief Brothers, an odd pair set on plundering the fabled Diamond Clock atop Clockwork Island. Both its theatrical run and its home video editions bundle the film with the otherwise unconnected short Jango's Dance Carnival.

Lounging on a beach, the crew discovers their ship, weapons, and clothes have vanished. After renting a rough paddleboat, they pause to rescue a drowning boy, Akisu, and learn he and his partner Borodo are swindlers who call themselves the Thief Brothers. Borodo reveals that the playing-card-styled Trump Pirates hauled the Merry off to their stronghold on Clockwork Island. During a clash at sea, the lieutenants Honey Queen and Boo Jack abduct Nami, whom the fearsome captain Bear King promptly decides to wed.

The genuine Clockwork Island rests atop a towering spiral staircase, a hillside town of engineers whose castle shelters the fragile engine holding the island aloft. Bear King has ruled it for seven years, coercing the residents into finishing the King Cannon, a weapon meant to make him Pirate King. As the heroes press their assault, Sanji, Usopp, and Zoro are captured one by one and strung up for execution, while Borodo admits his aim was never the Diamond Clock but freeing the island he suspects is Akisu's true home.

Spurred by the Thief Brothers' example, Luffy forces his way loose, and a stray explosion frees his crucified crewmates, who round on the lieutenants. Luffy grapples with the rock-bodied, burning-fisted Bear King, and by snatching a King Cannon shell out of the air he hurls it back with his improvised Gomu Gomu no Neji, driving the tyrant and his cannon down into the engine chamber. The resulting blast dooms the island's balance. As Clockwork Island crumbles, Akisu learns the town engineers were his parents and the makers of his treasured music-box, yet he chooses to stay a man of the sea beside Borodo as everyone parachutes clear.

Toei presented the movie during its 2001 Spring Anime Fair, running it alongside the Digimon Adventure 02 entry Revenge of Diaboromon in a paired program. The film comfortably beat its predecessor, opening in second place and later reaching number one at the Japanese box office, and its roughly three-billion-yen gross set a series record that held until Strong World arrived close to ten years afterward. Merchandising covered exclusive Carddass cards, a printed novelization, plus a CD soundtrack. By bringing back the Hyena Three from the opening film, it stood as the first case where one movie in the series linked back to another, and its closing credits are packed with hints of the coming Arabasta saga.