Orange Town Arc

The Orange Town Arc, also referred to as the Buggy the Clown Arc, is the second story arc in the East Blue Saga of the manga and anime, One Piece. The arc finds Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro unwittingly crossing paths and butting heads with the pirate clown Buggy and his crew, as well as meeting their future navigator, Nami. The arc begins with Luffy and Zoro out at sea, lost and starving, due to the fact that neither of them have any sense of direction. Luffy spots a bird in the air and uses his rubber powers to try and catch it so that they can eat it. However, the bird turns out to be much larger than he thought and flies off with Luffy in its mouth. Zoro rows after him but comes across three pirates struggling in the ocean. They jump into Zoro's boat as he passes them (since he cannot stop) and then try to steal the boat from Zoro, only to get beaten up for it. The pirates then apologize for their actions, recognizing Zoro as the famous pirate hunter, and explain to him how their situation came about. They were returning from successfully plundering a ship when they came across a small boat drifting the ocean with a female passenger on board. She asked for some food and water and offered a treasure chest as payment. The greedy pirates decided to check the chest first, only to find it empty and that the girl had stolen their boat. A sudden maelstrom appeared and sunk the small boat along with the pirates, while the girl waved goodbye as she rode off with their boat.

Back in the present, the pirates growl about getting revenge and worry about what their captain Buggy will do to them if they come back empty-handed, while Zoro wonders who Buggy is. Meanwhile, in a small village named Orange Town, a pirate ship designed like a carousel is docked near the town. One of the pirates on the ship spots Luffy and the bird, alerting the captain, who orders him to shoot it down. In town, the same girl who had robbed the pirates is running away from three more angry pirates, who are yelling at her to return a map of the Grand Line she stole. An explosion halts the chase for a moment, and something crashes in the middle of the four. Luffy emerges from the smoke unharmed, wondering what shot at him. The girl suddenly gets an idea and calls Luffy "boss", asking him to take care of the pirates. The pirates crowd around Luffy, one of them striking him on the head and knocking off his straw hat. This angers Luffy, and he easily defeats all three. The girl, who was watching, is impressed by his abilities and introduces herself as Nami, a thief who specializes in robbing pirates. Nami at first tries to form a partnership with Luffy, but when she finds out he is a pirate, she switches to the idea to pretend to turn Luffy in to Buggy as her former boss. She ties up Luffy and gives him to Buggy, who locks him in a cage. Later, Nami pretends to join Buggy's crew so she can steal his gold. This works well, until Buggy orders her to kill Luffy to prove her loyalty. Nami's conscience gets the best of her, and she is compelled to save Luffy. Fortunately, Zoro shows up in time to save them both and fights Buggy. He cuts Buggy into pieces, marveling at how easily he was defeated. However, when he turns around, he finds that Buggy's hand has managed to detach itself, stabbing Zoro in his midsection. Buggy then reveals he has eaten a Devil Fruit giving him the power to detach his body parts, separating into sections, rendering him invulnerable against sharp objects such as swords. However, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami manage to escape by firing Buggy's cannon at Buggy and his crew.