Episode 5: Fear, Mysterious Power! Pirate Clown Captain Buggy!
Air Date: 1999-12-15
Opening: We Are! (1st Opening)
Ending: Memories (1st Ending)
Manga Chapters: 8 (17-19/19), 9 (1-21/21), 10 (1-23/23), 11 (1-14/19)
Short Summary
Luffy is taken by a bird and drops in a town controlled by the pirate captain Buggy the Clown, and there he meets a girl named Nami. Nami hates pirates, however, and tricks Luffy by handing him over to Buggy, and Nami is faced with a difficult choice by Buggy.
In-Depth Summary
The episode opens with Nami pretending that Luffy is her boss, using the distraction to escape. She watches as Luffy takes out Buggy's pirates with a Gomu Gomu no Pistol, and so she asks Luffy to join her. Luffy refuses, and Nami treats him to lunch, so he goes with her. In the restaurant, Nami says that she will stop at nothing to collect one hundred million berries, and Luffy finds out she is a navigator because she mentions stealing a map of the Grand Line from Buggy. When Luffy asks her to join his crew, she refuses because she hates pirates. Nami ties up Luffy and brings him to Buggy, and Luffy is thrown into a cage. Buggy then throws a party as Nami returns the stolen map.
During the party, Buggy demonstrates the Buggy Bomb, a massive cannonball that destroys a whole row of houses. He then orders Nami to blow Luffy up with a Buggy Bomb. Nami can't bring herself to do it, but one of Buggy's pirates takes the matches and goes for the cannon, but Nami takes out her wooden staff and knocks him out. The fuses is lit, though, but Nami grabs the fuse with her hands to put it out, and declares that she hates pirates and will not stoop to their level. Buggy's pirates attack her, but Zoro arrives and saves the day, knocking them out. Buggy recognizes Zoro as the pirate hunter, and so he attacks Zoro. Zoro cuts Buggy into pieces, but Buggy's hand floats over to Zoro and stabs him in the side. Buggy gets up, his body whole again.
Buggy explains that he ate the Bara Bara Fruit, allowing him to separate himself. Luffy calls Buggy a coward with a big red nose, and Buggy throws a knife at him - Luffy catches it between his teeth. Zoro then runs for Buggy, and the two get in a fight again. Zoro slashes through Buggy's midsection to get past him, and he runs to the cannon, flipping it so it points at Buggy and his crew. Nami lights the fuse, and so the cannon fires a Buggy Bomb right at the Buggy Pirates as the episode ends.
Mumbo230's Notes
In this episode we meet Buggy the Clown, the second Devil Fruit user of the series. We also are formally introduced to Nami, though she has been sneaking around the last few episodes. Take careful note of how treasure is important to Nami, as it will turn up again in the future...
Cinder's Notes
It is also interesting to note that while creating One Piece, Eiichiro Oda originally had Zoro be a bodyguard working under Buggy the Clown. The idea changed after some thought. The Buggy Pirate Crew also had a carrier bird named Hachi that delivered messages for them. It was an "Oopo Bird" that lived in the Grand Line. All of this was revealed in Volume 3's SBS, including the first designs of Zoro and the Buggy Crew, which can be found here.
Screencaps
