We open with a group of pirates rambunctiously declaring their intention to sail to the Grand Line, just as their ships are destroyed by a volley of cannonballs thrown from Vice-Admiral Garp’s battleship. After taking care of that, his ship docks at Windmill Village, where the villagers immediately begin to bombard him with questions regarding the battle at Marineford and Luffy’s fate. He tells them to be wary, for the seas will be rough now for some time with Whitebeard gone, but assures them that he just sunk three pirate ships off the coast and then has his men erect a sign declaring that this area is under his protection.
Another one of the villagers brings up that Makino’s bar has been taken over by mountain bandits, and despite the protests of Makino herself, Dadan emerges from the bar, tells Garp that he has a lot of nerve showing his face, and attacks him with a club. Garp tells his alarmed men to stand down as Dadan grabs the front of his suit and begins beating him, tearfully demanding to know how he could’ve put duty above his family and let Ace die.
Makino stops her by grabbing her arm and claiming that Garp is the one hurting, for being unable to do anything to save Ace. Dadan, however, says that she’s wrong, that Luffy, the one who looked up to and depended on his big brother, is the one suffering the most.
After Makino runs off crying, the mayor Woop Slap asks Garp what happened to Luffy. Garp says that he managed to escape in a submarine and that the Navy hasn’t been able to find him since, so at least he’s still alive. Dadan turns away and says that Luffy’s a fool, but she’ll be on his side no matter what kind of pirate he becomes. She shouts to the sky, telling Luffy to not lose to his pain.
Elsewhere in the New World, the Whitebeard Pirates and their allies have erected memorials for both Ace and their fallen captain. Marco thanks Shanks for this, but the other man says that there’s no need for thanks; Whitebeard was his enemy, but he was still a man worthy of his respect. As he heads back to his own ship, he thinks to himself that Ace’s last actions were surprising to him, as they were exactly what Roger would have done, and that there were times when he, Shanks, wanted his captain to run away and show grief. It’s all right, he tells Luffy, to shed tears, because it’s part of growing up and overcoming hardship.
Eyecatches: Luffy and Nami
Back on Amazon Lily, Luffy is busy destroying the scenery again and cursing his weakness, declaring that he’s too weak to protect anything. He tells Jimbei to go away and leave him alone, but the Fishman responds that he won’t let him hurt himself any more. Luffy retorts that he can do whatever he wants, so Jimbei says that in that case, Ace was free to do whatever he wanted. Luffy shouts at him to shut up and threatens to beat him up, and Jimbei retorts that even though he’s weakened, he won’t lose to Luffy. Luffy tries throwing a punch, but Jimbei just grabs his outstretched arm and throws him to the ground.
With Luffy on the ground, Jimbei sits and recalls a conversation he had with Ace in Impel Down. Ace told him that he had met his little brother for the first time in three years in Alabasta, and said that he was relieved, as asks why. The answer has to wait, for Luffy tries biting Jimbei’s arm, causing him to exclaim that that hurts and smash the miscreant into a rock. While Luffy flails helplessly in his grip, Jimbei says that with the loss of his brother and his confidence, shattered by the powerful enemies he’s encountered, he’s surrounded by the darkness of the world. But he has to defeat his feelings of despair and doubt, for he hasn’t lost everything he has just yet. What’s gone is gone forever, but what remains?
Luffy slides down to the ground and looks at his hands as memories come floating to the surface. Zoro training in the Sunny’s crow’s nest, Nami telling everyone to get in position for the storm that’s brewing, Usopp bragging about the fish he’s going to catch, an irritable Sanji telling him to be patient and get out of the kitchen, Chopper elated with his new medical office, Robin reading a book on the deck, Franky boasting about the cola-powered engines, and Brook rousing everyone with a song. Tearing up, Luffy realizes what he still has: “My friends! I still have my crew!”
As he futilely wipes at his eyes, Luffy says that he has to go to their meeting place, and cries that he wants to see them. Jimbei smiles, as he goes back to his conversation with Ace. The answer to why Ace was relieved, was because he could see that Luffy was no longer the little kid who would chase after him, he’s found a reliable crew of his own.
While the art quality did take a noticeable dip at the very end there, it also managed to put a nice smile on my face. It's pretty difficult to see the normally indominable and endlessly cheerful Luffy in such a state, but by the episode's end things had gone from heartbreaking to heartwarming. Jimbei's speech admittedly came off as much more aggressive and forceful than I had imagined it, not helped by that really evil-sounding music that was playing, the "remember what you still have" scene was done really, really well with the music they used and how that flashback of Jimbei's talk with Ace was woven into the picture. The anime may have its ups and downs in its adaptation, but I feel that it really manages to shine during moments like this.
Elsewhere, it seems that the Red-Hair Pirates not only managed to find Ace's hat, but reconstruct his necklace too (it wasn't destroyed in the manga; seems Toei forgot that they did so...again)! Interesting though, to see that, for possibly the first time in the series, someone who knew Gold Roger did not compare Luffy to him, instead encouraging him from afar to not be like him. And I'll agree with Shanks's beliefs on this; it's not good to keep your emotions bottled up like that since if you don't embrace them, you won't grow as a person. And the scene at Luffy's hometown was sad too, since, as the flashback emphasises, Makino is more or less the closest thing Luffy has to a mom. I'll say though, that while Dogra's expression was probably meant to be along the lines of "oh man, this really sucks", he came off looking more like "oh man, I am really stoned right now".
