After Luffy announced his decision of continuing, Zoro and Sanji got back up and sat back on the couch. The next episode started playing after the Straw Hats had finished discussing the first one.

While the opening was playing, Brook took out a paper and pen from somewhere in his suit and started to write down the notes and lyrics for the song.

The first scene opened with Luffy and Coby still on the boat. According to Coby, they were close to the Marine base that Zoro was held in.

Luffy was impressed that they were actually going to reach their destination. Coby claimed that he was just using the most basic skills that all sailors were supposed to know.

'

'And I'm once again asking, how did you survive without me? ' Nami groaned. Some of them could get from one place to another, but others got lost on their way to the bathroom.

While Luffy was laughing about Coby's navigational skills, Coby started talking about Zoro. He described him as a bloodthirsty beast and a demon in human form. The pictures on the screen only helped along.

This caused Chopper to freak out, which in turn meant that Luffy had to pass him to Zoro, so he could see that Zoro wasn't so scary.

'Enter the Great Swordsman! Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro! '

'So, we are going to see you being recruited, huh? '

'I guess so. '

The small boat made its way to the Marine base island and the two boys left the ship after docking it. They began walking through the lively street, while Coby tried to convince Luffy to leave Zoro alone.

The rubberman hadn't decided whether he was going to recruit the swordsman or not. He needed to figure out if he was a good guy or not.

'And he was, shishishi, ' Luffy announced, causing Zoro to slightly blush and Sanji to quietly grumble under his breath.

The townspeople acted very scaredly after Luffy mentioned Zoro's name, making it seem his name was taboo.

'Jeez, dude, what did you do?"

'Not a lot 'I think, ' Zoro grumbled.

They continued walking until Coby mentioned Captain Morgan's name causing people to act the same way as before

.

'WHAT DID HE DO?? '

"A lot."

The two continued walking, Luffy, again, finding the situation hilarious. Coby began to feel unease after the townspeople's reactions. Eventually, they reached the Marine gate. While Coby was busy thanking Luffy and crying, the straw-hat-wearing boy climbed the fence.

'Of course, you would ' ' Nami sighed, causing Luffy to snicker.

The scene now showed Zoro tied up in the middle of the courtyard, seemingly asleep or passed out.

'That can't be comfortable,'' multiple people thought.

Zoro looked and felt kind of uncomfortable at the sight. He didn't like looking weak, Luffy sensing his discomfort put a hand on his shoulder.

'To be honest, I understand why people were scared of you, you're looking quite intimidating there, ' Robin observed.

'I guess? Even though that was never my intention. '

Luffy suggested untying Zoro so he could get away, which Coby quickly shot down.

'Hey, you guys! '

The not-asleep swordsman called out.

'You're an eyesore. Get lost! '

Which of course didn't deter Luffy. Suddenly a ladder appeared next to the two and a little girl climbed up it.

'Aw, I remember her, she was nice, ' Luffy smiled, getting an acknowledging nod from Zoro.

'I wonder how she's doing right now, ' the swordsman thought. 'I hope she's alright. '

The girl quietly made her way to Zoro. The girl revealed to Zoro that she had brought him onigiri.

'That 's so nice of her, ' Nami cooed.

Zoro just told her to scram, very rudely to boot.

This made some Straw Hats angry, especially Sanji, but one look from Zoro and Luffy calmed them a bit as clearly there was more to the situation.

Suddenly a third voice joined the conversation and three figures were shown approaching from a gate. They were two Marines and a very snobby-looking man in the center.

Luffy exclaimed that there was another weird guy, from his spot on the wall.

"Oh, it's that guy."

'You seem to always come in contact with weird people, Luffy, ' Robin giggled.

'What does that say about us then? ' Brook pointed out while also giggling. This observation caused a fit of giggles in the rest of the crew as well.

The snobby-looking one noticed the rice ball and s

natched one from the girl. After taking a bite from one, he caused a fit when the rice ball was too sweet. He trampled them to the ground.

This instantly infuriated Sanji, to the point that he stood up and sighed heavily a moment before yelling: 'YOU DON 'T DO THAT TO FOOD! IT WOULD 'VE BEEN FINE AND SHE 'S A LITTLE GIRL! '

He paced around for a moment to calm himself down and none of the Straw Hats interrupted as wasting food had always been a sore spot for Sanji.

The girl was distraught at the destruction of the rice balls, while the snobby bastard informed her that those who help the criminals will be executed and told one of the Marines to throw her out while mentioning that he 's the son of Captain Morgan.

While Sanji was about to throw another fit, he got kind of distracted by the mention of Morgan. The bastard wasn't forgiven tho.

'Son of Captain Morgan, huh? I wonder why he 's as feared as his father? ' Usopp pondered quietly.

'I hate his guts with a passion, ' Zoro said to absolutely no one in particular.

'He seemed to be a better person at Water 7 tho, ' Chopper vocalized, only getting a grunt from Zoro as an answer

When the girl flew over the wall, Luffy immediately caught her. While Coby was fussing over the child, Morgan 's son was laughing at Zoro 's promise to survive the entire month, he had only ten days left after all.

'You 'd been like that for twenty days already?! H-How? What? ' Nami yelled out. How had he managed, because seemingly he was just living off vibes on that pole?

'Willpower, ' was the only thing Zoro replied, making everyone quietly groan or even facepalm.

Sanji felt incredibly uncomfortable but did his best to hide it. He didn't really succeed, but no one wanted to suddenly invade his privacy.

The moment the Marines left, Luffy showed up in front of Zoro again, asking whether or not he was even strong, making Zoro lose his temper a little bit. He regained it quickly though and again promised to live through his ordeal. But then, when Luffy was about to leave, he asked the red-vested boy to pick up the trampled rice balls and feed them to him. Luffy smiled a bit more after what Zoro did.

'He still ate it ' ' Sanji thought with a newfound admiration for the crew 's swordsman. Not that he 'd ever admit it.

'The decision has been made I see ' ' Usopp smiled to himself.

'That had to be gross, that was more mud than rice, ' Franky shuddered at the thought of eating it himself.

'Yeah, the mud and dirt were not the best but when you ignore that the rice ball wasn't that bad, ' Zoro said casually, not realizing that it is very hard for most people to ignore the taste of mud on one's tongue.

The scene changed to an alleyway where Coby and Luffy told the girl that Zoro had eaten her rice balls. The girl also told the two boys why the swordsman was tied up Apparently he had thrown a chair at Helmeppo 's pet when it had terrorized Rika 's and her mother's bar. And subsequently punched Helmeppo in the face, like everyone had wanted to do. But instead of killing Helmeppo, he accepted a deal of being tied up for a month, if the mother and daughter are not harmed.

'Y-You're such a SUPER guy, Zoro-bro! Accepting that deal to save those two! ' Franky bawled loudly, which in turn got Brook crying with him and attempting to start writing a new song in Zoro's honor.

'Shut up, you two! It was what anyone should've done in this situation! ' Zoro yelled at them, his cheeks a bit red.

'You're right that everyone should have done this, but you're one of the rare people who would do it, ' Robin expressed while Zoro's cheeks were getting redder.

Next thing they knew Helmeppo was again terrorizing Rika's mom's bar, this time asking for free food. The scene panned to show Nami of all people drinking at a table not far from Helmeppo. Luffy walked past her.

'So 'Nami, we have somehow seen each other twice before actually meeting, huh? ' Luffy laughed. How did they manage that and not recognize each other when they officially met?

'Seems so, ' Nami also laughed while pondering the same question as Luffy. 'One of us should have noticed this. '

'Oh, yes. I've been bored lately, so I've decided to execute Zoro tomorrow. '

'HE WAS GOING TO DO WHAT?! ' Brook howled. 'No real man would do this! Where's his honor? '

'He was a slimy bastard for sure. And if Luffy had not been there I think I might have not been here right now, ' Zoro admitted.

'Well, I'm glad I was there then, shishishi. '

"So am I, Captain, so am I."

The look Luffy had was terrifying and he ran up to Helmeppo and punched him. Hard. This prompted Helmeppo to try to use his privilege but that didn't deter Luffy one bit as he had already decided that Zoro was going to be in his crew.

Zoro just simply smiled.

The next scene they saw was of Captain Morgan, back facing the camera, saying that he's great. While he and one of his

subordinates were discussing things, Helmeppo ran through the door to ask his dad to slaughter someone. And the eye-catchers, still only including Luffy, flew past the screen. Zoro was the focus again, but there was a distant sound of something hitting something.

'What's that sound? '

Zoro thought back to that day and suddenly his eye widened. He was thinking of Kuina. Was his past going to be shown? Ryo did say that some things may be shown that they were not keen on revealing. But there's no point in trying to stop this, his past isn't that bad. Yeah, it was going to be fine. Probably.

The scene faded and showed a pair of training swords going at it. It was a little Zoro and a girl sparring.

'Aw, you were so cute Zoro! ' Nami squealed happily before realizing what they were watching. 'Wait, is this ' '

'We are apparently now watching my memories from childhood. Strap in 'cause this is going to be fun, ' Zoro said unenthusiastically. Others gulped and thought about their pasts and realized that they had to become okay with a bunch of shit very quickly.

'It's going to be fine, I'm sure, ' Luffy tried to ease the sudden discomfort in the air. 'We'll be here for each other when it gets difficult. ' He hoped that no one was too uncomfortable with this situation, because he wanted to keep watching the series.

The girl overpowered Zoro, making him fall over.

'You're still as weak as ever, Zoro! ' 'I promised her 'I can't afford to die in a place like this! '

After that short memory and Zoros monologue, he woke up from his nap.

'This wasn't long at all, but ' don't think this will be the end of it'

The Straw Hats had questions but decided to keep them to themselves for the time being, when they saw the look on Zoro's face. It was a mix of quiet nostalgia and sorrow, but it disappeared as quickly as it came as Zoro attempted to calm himself.

Luffy, again, was standing in front of Zoro who was starting to become annoyed by the child constantly appearing in front of him.

'I'll untie you, so join my crew! '

'Just like that?! Never change Luffy, never change, ' Usopp snickered.

'That was probably a weird thing to hear huh? ' Chopper asked the swordsman, still in his lap.

'Absolutely. Imagine if you will: You have been tied up for three weeks and suddenly one day this kid will come to talk to you constantly and on the third time he just asks you to become a pirate, ' the green-haired swordsman brought up. It had been a weird day.

Zoro firmly denied Luffy's offer but Luffy had already decided that Zoro was going to join him so it was just a battle of who was more stubborn. Luffy offered that if he gets Zoro's swords back Zorod has to join the crew.

'So 'the great Pirate Hunter Zoro, got blackmailed into joining the crew? ' a perplexed Sanji asked before bursting into laughter with most of the crew.

'Shishishi, it turned out fine so who cares, Zoro didn't regret it, ' Luffy attempted to make the situation less like blackmailing.

In a very un Zoro-like manner, he actually could tell that Luffy was going in the wrong direction. Luffy decided to go the other way by Gum-Gum Rocketing himself to the other side of the courtyard. Zoro looked like he had seen a ghost.

'I honestly thought I was hallucinating, ' was the only thing the man in question said to that. Everyone was too busy laughing at his face to notice the direction thing.

"After twenty days of starvation, and such an uncomfortable living situation, I wouldn't put it past you," Chopper stated.

At that moment, the Marines were busy erecting a giant statue of Captain Morgan. He had an iron jaw and an axe hand. He looked scary.

Chopper whimpered at the sight of the Captain, getting a pat on the head from Zoro.

Morgan hit Helmeppo in the face after the latter had annoyed him, calling him too worthless to hit. Morgan then asked if Helmeppo had killed Rika for getting into the yard. His son then showed a fraction of humanity by claiming she was just a child. Morgan then ordered one of his

subordinates to seek her out and exterminate her.

This caused everyone's blood to boil, but no one said anything because Morgan wasn't worth it and they knew he got what was coming to him in one way or the other.

The Marine said that he wasn't capable of killing a little girl and for that he got an axe to the head. It was the blunt side and it wasn't a killing blow, but he was going to have a killer headache when he woke up. They then got back to raising the statue and that got the attention of Luffy who was on the hunt for Helmeppo and Zoro's swords. He rocketed himself up to the tower where the Marines were but was slightly off and flew too far. In an attempt to stop himself, he broke the statue. After recognizing Helmeppo he grabbed him and went running off inside.

'And now he has a hostage, lovely. '

While that was happening, Coby ran towards Zoro to untie him. And again Nami showed up inside the base to presumably rob them.

'Are you kidding me? Again? ' Luffy gasped. He started to feel like he was an accidental tool for Nami, by causing all of the commotions.

'I'm honestly confused about how you two hadn't met by this point, ' Brook quietly pondered. Like c 'mon.

Luffy was dragging Helmeppo across a corridor when Helmeppo revealed that Zoro's swords were in his room. While they were talking the Marines that were chasing them caught up to them and pointed their guns at Luffy, who in turn used Helmeppo as a human shield.

'Luffy 'you can't just do that, ' Sanji whimpered, his face in his hands. Luffy only cocked his head in confusion.

"A pirate gotta pirate."

Coby was untying Zoro while revealing to the swordsman that he is going to be executed tomorrow.

'I won't ask you to be a pirate. But please help Luffy-san! '

Zoro seemed to be considering Coby's plea.

'I sure hope you aren't in this crew just because Coby asked you to be, ' Robin asked with an air of playfulness.

'Of course not. '

Suddenly a small army of Marines with Morgan in the back showed up, freaking out Coby, who already was having a hard time with the ropes. Luffy walked into Helmeppos' room, which didn't look like it belonged to an adult man. Luffy zoned in on the three swords in the corner of the room. Through a window, he saw the problem in the courtyard and swiftly grabbed the swords and flew through the window landing in front of the Marines. The Marines had just started shooting and Luffy caught all of the bullets which, of course, didn't hurt him. This though freaked out both Coby and Zoro.

'This was honestly freakier than the stretching. I was sure you were dead for a moment there, ' Zoro said to Luffy.

'I didn't have time to warn you about it. And looking at it from not my view, it does look kinda freaky, ' Luffy explained and observed.

Luffy bounced back the bullets, almost sending one through Morgan's face. Unfortunately,y he missed it. After Zoro asked him who he was, Luffy delivered his signature

'I'm Monkey D. Luffy! The man who's gonna be King of the Pirates! '

To be continued.

'There it is again! ' Usopp and Chopper cheered. Usopp at some point had pulled out a paper and a pen. He had written 'Pirate King counter ' with now two tally marks on it.

'It's entertaining as hell. I would love to watch more, ' the cyborg announced.

'I also say we continue but is everyone alright with the childhood memories and stuff? ' Luffy asked. He didn't want to make anyone share things they didn't want to share.

'It's going to hurt a bit, but I have my Nakama here so I'll be fine, ' Robin decided. After a little bit of thinking everyone agreed that they would like to keep watching.

'Well then. Let's continue! '