Written by: Ian Stokes
Directed by: Marc Jobst
Luffy, Zoro, and Nami find themselves in the clutches of the sinister and violent Buggy the Clown while Koby is confronted by Vice Admiral Garp.
- Arcs incorporated into the episode: Romance Dawn and Buggy The Clown
Tropes:
- Adapted Out:
- The subplot involving Chouchou has been cut. Granted, he still appears at the end.
- Most of Buggy's crew besides Cabaji are Demoted to Extra, but Richie the lion is noticeably absent (Buggy at one point asks where the lion is).
- Adaptation Deviation: In the manga Luffy gets himself abducted by a bird and lands in Orange Town, with Zoro following him. Here the Buggy Pirates abduct Luffy, Zoro and Nami by attacking their boat with a large-scale knock-out gas.
- An Arm and a Leg: Shanks loses his left arm protecting Luffy from the Sea King.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Nami and Zoro briefly do this when they face off against Buggy. It does them no good.
- Berserk Button: As Luffy discovers, accidentally mentioning Buggy's huge nose is not a good idea.
- Book Ends: When they're first captured by Buggy and his crew, Nami tells Luffy that he won't be able to reason with him as he's not a real pirate, but "just some stretchy guy in a tattered hat," which Luffy counters by saying he is "a different kind of pirate". At the end of the episode when Mayor Boodle is confused why Luffy isn't taking the residents of Orange Town as his prisoners since he defeated Buggy, Luffy tells the mayor that he is a different kind of pirate, something Nami clearly notices.
- Break Them by Talking: Buggy tries this on Luffy. It doesn't work, but Buggy does manage to read Luffy well enough to start pushing his buttons. This is the first time we see a grown Luffy get angry.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: While being held by Buggy, Zoro is accused by Cabaji of killing his brother years back in Goa Kingdom. Zoro does not recall the event.
- Captive Audience: Buggy has forced all the inhabitants of Orange Town to watch his circus shows, which includes him torturing and attempting to murder Luffy in front of them.
- Couch Gag: Buggy's jolly roger replaces Luffy's and the I is one of his knives in the title shot.
- Crazy-Prepared:
- Nami has plenty of lockpicks in case her captors find some on her.Zoro: You have a lockpick?
Nami: I have four lockpicks. The clowns only found three. - Buggy has a tank trap set up that pumps seawater inside seemingly on the off chance he ever encounters another Devil Fruit user.
- Nami has plenty of lockpicks in case her captors find some on her.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Redhaired Pirates mop the floor with Higuma's pirates once Shanks decides they've gone too far by threatening Luffy and Makino.
- Didn't Think This Through: Nami sums up how Luffy has been going on and on about finding the Grand Line but not only doesn't know where it is, he barely knows what it is.
- Eaten Alive: In the flashback, Higuma gets tossed overboard and eventually eaten alive by the Sea King like in the original.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The Sea King eats Higuma this time around by pulling him into the ocean.
- Hidden Depths: Despite looking and acting like a stereotypical Evil Clown, Buggy is able to psychoanalyze Luffy well enough that, in a matter of seconds, he figures out the boy's underlying reason for wanting to be King of the Pirates as well as his connection to Shanks.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Buggy's ability to detach himself with the Chop Chop Fruit and then use the separated pieces to attack his enemies ends up being his downfall when Luffy has Nami and Zoro trap the various pieces inside open caskets around the circus tent which leaves Buggy as nothing more than his head, hands and feet when he reattaches himself. Afterwards its a simple matter of using a Gum Gum Bazooka for Luffy to send what's left of Buggy flying off into the horizon.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Buggy says that the reason he's in it for the One Piece is because everyone will know his name once he becomes Pirate King and he thinks everyone will love him then.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: When a bandit jumps on Lucky Roo from behind, Yasopp takes him out by casually ricocheting a bullet off a nearby pillar.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Nami declares "Pirates are pirates, all the same." Then the trio find themselves in a huge circus tent.
- Keep the Reward: After defeating Buggy and releasing the captive citizens of Orange Town, said citizens put together a small collection of what they have to give Luffy out of gratitude. Luffy initially turns it down, pointing out that they need it more at the moment; of course, being Luffy, he ultimately can't help but snag a small snack out of the offering before setting off.
- Logical Weakness: Buggy initially fares well against the Straw Hats, not even breaking a sweat against all three of them due to his Devil Fruit power… but he immediately freaks out when Luffy realizes that if his dismembered body parts are locked away, he can’t reassemble himself. Sure enough, once the majority of his body parts end up locked inside the crates he keeps in his Big Top, he’s incapable of fighting back.
- Losing Your Head: When Luffy breaks out of the rack and uses Gum-Gum Pistol on Buggy, he punches Buggy's head clean off. Of course, being Buggy, this only serves as The Reveal of his own Devil Fruit power, that of the Chop-Chop Fruit.
- Mr. Exposition:
- Nami fills this role by giving Luffy and Zoro a primer on the geography of the One Piece world. Given that Luffy is painfully clueless about what direction the Grand Line is even in, it avoids As You Know.
- In the flashback, Makino explains the devil fruit to Luffy.
- Mythology Gag:
- Zoro mockingly calls Buggy Boogie, which was going to be Buggy's name before Oda changed it after seeing Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
- When Buggy is introducing himself, one of the titles that he uses is "The Genius Jester", which is a common English translation of his epithet he earns well into the series. Another is "The Flashy Fool", referencing his manga counterpart's tendency to add the word "flashy" in sentences.
- No-Sell: Buggy tries to have Luffy tortured by stretching his limbs ala a rack. Luffy makes it clear he isn't even uncomfortable.
- Not a Mask: It takes Luffy accidentally making a play on the word "nose" and Buggy getting in close for Luffy to realize that Buggy's giant red nose isn't makeup but real.
- Scenery Gorn: When Nami initially escapes Buggy's circus tent, we get a stark scene of the bombed-out town surrounding it, the sight nearly bringing her to tears as she's dragged back to the tent.
- Staring Down Cthulhu: Shanks scares away the Sea King with a glare and tells it to "get lost."
