The episode started with a close-up of Buggy 's Jolly Roger. Three of his men were looking at a chest full of treasure, talking about how Buggy won't be mad at them. To the left of them, they saw another boat. At a closer look, it was Nami 's boat. She seemed to have passed out.

'Before anyone says anything, I was fine, ' Nami said quickly to stop the avalanche of questions that would've been inevitable otherwise.

'But Namiii ' ' Chopper cried, his doctor senses going into overdrive.

The pirates approached Nami, and she asked them for water. The navigator offered the three men a treasure chest that got them to go into her boat. The Buggy pirates managed to get the chest open, but only found a panda on a spring popping out. That was enough time for Nami to steal the bigger boat and sail away.

'Good thinking, Nami-san, ' Brook complimented, suddenly getting a thought in his empty skull. 'Such a smart woman would have incredible panties, can I- ' Before that thought was finished, the pervy skeleton got double-teamed by both Nami and Sanji.

'Don't you dare, you perv, ' Sanji hissed and then went all noodly and addressed Nami. 'You were incredible, my dear! '

'Ignoring all that, you sure are clever, Nami, ' Robin added and got a blush out of Nami.

Nami gave a weather forecast just as storm clouds were gathering. The smaller boat definitely wouldn't manage that. Nami watched from a distance as the boat sank.

'Luffy 's past! Enter Red-Haired Shanks '

'Oh jeez! There we go, ' Luffy sighed. He didn't know how much would be shown, as Zoro 's past wasn't shown that much. Were they only going to see the hat thing, or was it going to show Ace and Sabo as well? Just in case, he had to prepare himself for the worse. He wasn't ready to see Ace again just yet.

Zoro sensing his Captain's plight put a comforting hand on the younger man's shoulder, getting a grateful smile back.

Luffy was hungry, and Zoro seemed to be bored. Luffy was sure that everything was going to work out fine.

'Isn't it kind of weird that someone tryin to be King of the Pirates, doesn't even have any navigational skills? '

Zoro very rightfully questioned.

'It's not weird. I just drifted around. But aren't you a Bounty hunter who wandered the high seas? ' 'I have no memory of even calling myself a bounty hunter. I set onto the sea in search of a certain man ' '

'Marimo 's right Luffy, you should've had some navigational skills. It would've made everything much easier. '

'But I have Nami now! So it's fine. '

'But Zoro, why were you a bounty hunter if you didn't call yourself a bounty hunter? ' Usopp inquired.

'I just collected bounties to make sure I had the money for eating and having a place to sleep. I never had the intention of getting rid of pirates, ' the green-headed man answered.

' 'but then couldn't get back to my village. I had no choice, so I just went after pirate ships to earn a living. ' 'Oh. So you're just lost. '

Sanji and a few others burst out laughing at that, and it took a while to calm themselves down.

'How bad can your sense of direction be, Marimo? ' Sanji wheezed, making Zoro huff angrily and slide his swords out of their sheaths. Luckily, before an actual fight happened, Luffy and Chopper, in between their giggling, managed to get the irate swordsman to sit back down again.

'Is his sense of direction really that bad? ' Jinbei whispered to Franky.

'Yes. ' was the simple answer Franky provided between his snickering. The fishman just sighed and contemplated how he managed to join this crew.

Zoro briefly got angry and rocked the boat, making Luffy 's hat fly off. This triggered a memory of Shanks, saying that the hat is very dear to him. Luckily, Zoro managed to catch it, before it flew too far. The action of Zoro catching it transitioned very smoothly into Shanks wearing the hat.

'Okay, that change looked kind of cool! ' Luffy exclaimed.

'So that's one of the four Emperors ' ' Chopper uttered. He looked kind of dorky.

'He wasn't an emperor yet, when I met him, ' Luffy explained to the reindeer.

'It's still SUPER that you know one of the Emperors. '

The Shanks transition began the flashback. The scene now showed a bar full of drinking pirates. After the camera slid a bit to the right, it revealed Shanks and a young Luffy. (With comically large feet for some reason)

'You're so tiny, Luffy-san! '

'I mean, I am seven, ' a mildly confused Luffy answered.

'Then take me on your next voyage, Shanks! I wanna be a pirate too! '

Young Luffy asked. He didn't have his iconic scar on his face yet, otherwise, he looked pretty much the same as nineteen-year-old Luffy.

'As if you could ever be a pirate! '

'That was rude! ' Chopper squeaked.

'He was probably tired of me asking to go on an adventure with him, I don't think he was rude, ' Luffy laughed, playfully squeezing Chopper for a second.

'Luffy. Just being a good swimmer doesn't mean you'd make a good pirate. '

a scruffy-looking man with a headband with 'Yasopp ' written on it, said.

'That's my dad, guys! That's him! ' a now very excited Usopp yelled, jumping off the couch.

'That's him? Huh. He looks 'reliable, ' Sanji observed. He knew that Yasopp was powerful, but looking at that guy, he didn't look like it. And he abandoned his child. Why was Usopp so happy about it?

'He is fun to be around until he starts talking about Usopp, ' Luffy whispered to Zoro who snorted. 'Also now I miss swimming, I had almost forgotten that I could. Screw you Yasopp! '

'Were you actually a good swimmer? '

'For a seven-year-old? Yes. And I liked to do it as well. ' Luffy sulked.

The Red-Haired pirates kept teasing Luffy, making the child more frustrated by the second.

'Now, now. Don't get so mad. Here! Have some juice. '

When Luffy accepted the drink, he once again got made fun of.

'Now those are some SUPER fun dudes to be around! '

'Not when you are a child with an extremely short temper, ' Luffy added, feeling a bit embarrassed by how he was acting. He didn't remember having that much of a temper.

A lady with green hair was quietly enjoying the commotion while drying some dishes. She was probably the barmaid.

'Mellorine! Mellorine! I love her already! ' Sanji proclaimed, before getting a fist to the head from his Captain. Who apparently was very protective of her,

'Huh? ' a now bewildered cook asked. 'You never do that. '

'I pretty much see her as an older sister, don't lust for her! ' Luffy said simply and turned his attention back to the TV. Sanji and the rest were still kind of confused but stayed quiet about that.

Shadowed figures approached the bar door and kicked one of them off its hinges. Everyone other than Shanks stopped what they were doing and looked at the newcomers. One of them began making fun of the pirates and approached the bar counter. The leader of the mountain bandits introduced the group as such.

'Oh, how I hate this guy, ' Luffy grumbled loud enough for the others to hear.

'I'm just going to assume that he's a bad guy. '

The bandit leader wanted 10 barrels of booze, but the barkeep admitted that she had just run out of alcohol. Shanks apologized for drinking all the alcohol and offered up one of his own bottles. The bandit, though, didn't like that offer and smashed the bottle pretty much into Shanks ' face and then bragged about his eight million berry bounty.

'That's a lame bounty. '

'The average bounty in East Blue is three million berries, so he's doing pretty good, ' Zoro informed.

'It is the weakest sea after all, ' Jinbei mused

Instead of getting angry, Shanks was busy being worried over the fact that the floor was now wet. He offered to clean everything up, but Makino, the barkeep, refused his offer. The bandit leader took that opportunity to slice a deep cut into the counter and made a bigger mess for Shanks to clean up. Then they left because they weren't going to get booze anyway. It was quiet for a moment, but then Shanks started laughing

'Why is he laughing? ' Chopper questioned.

'You'll understand one day, I'm sure, ' Zoro supplied comfortingly and patted his head.

Luffy shook in either rage or fear. Then Shanks ' crewmates started laughing along with their Captain, calling him lame.

'Why are you laughing?! That was so uncool! Why didn't you fight them? No matter how many there are or how strong they seem, you're not men - or pirates - if you laugh after something like that! ' 'I understand how you feel, but he only spilled some booze on me. It's nothing worth getting mad over. '

'That's why he did what he did at Jaya, ' Nami suddenly understood, he learned it from Shanks.

'That attitude would have gotten you killed, Luffy-kun. '

'I'm aware of that, but I eventually figured out what he meant by that, so it's fine. ' After he got almost eaten by a Sea King.

Luffy, being very frustrated, decided to stress eat and zoned in on a peculiar fruit inside a small treasure chest on the bar.

'Don't tell me Luffy ' '

'It's exactly what you think it is, and it's going to happen exactly how you think it's going to. '

Shanks at first didn't realize that Luffy was eating the Devil Fruit and just ignored what Luffy was eating. But then he figured out that Luffy was not supposed to eat it and freaked out. He held the young boy upside down and attempted to shake the fruit out of him. It only made Luffy stretch down to the ground and face-planted onto the floor.

'I was so confused at first, ' Luffy stated while chuckling a little bit. It had been a weird day.

'I think everyone would have been. Why did he keep the box open anyway? It was so easy for you to just take it. '

'Tactical plunder on his part, for sure, ' Sanji seconded.

'But Luffy-bro got a Devil Fruit out of it, so it was to our favor. '

'Our favor? It's my Devil Fruit! '

Shanks informed the confused child that what he had eaten was the Gum-Gum Fruit and that he had now lost his ability to swim. This caused Luffy to freak out along with the Red-Haired pirates.

'Poor dude. '

Someone was now running somewhere as Luffy got pushed into a water barrel. It seemed that Luffy had picked a fight with the mountain bandits. Luffy demanded that the bandits apologize for making fun of Shanks.

'Not my smartest moment, I admit. ' This caused a few sighs and 'No shit Sherlock's! ' thrown around.

It was revealed that Makino was running to see the mayor of the village, so he could somehow save Luffy. The mayor attempted to reason with the bandit leader, but the latter revealed that it was too late, and he was going to be killed. Luckily, at the right moment, the Red-Haired Pirates showed up. Shanks took his chance and made fun of Luffy again. One of the bandits pointed a gun at the pirate captain's head.

'Put your life on the line. Now that you've drawn your pistol, put your life on the line 'I'm saying those things aren't for threatening people. '

The moment he finished talking, Lucky Roux had shot the bandit that was threatening Shanks.

'So you really did steal your speech from Shanks, ' Usopp found out, while Chopper was briefly freaking out over the death.

'I mean, I intimidated you, didn't I? ' Luffy shot back, not at all embarrassed by his plagiarism.

Shanks told the freaked-out bandits that they were pirates, not saints and that he was fine with someone mildly bullying him, but when his friends were threatened, then he was going to be angry.

'This is so much like Luffy-san. '

The bandit's leader gave an order for his men to kill the pirates, but Beckmann was able to take everyone out by just hitting them with his rifle. Now cornered, the leader got desperate, pulled out a smoke bomb, and quickly got away with Luffy, leaving behind baffled pirates.

'So you got kidnapped, ' Sanji concluded calmly.

'Yep, and it's only the first time this has happened, ' Luffy stated just as calmly, unfortunately not elaborating further, even when questioned.

'Lousy fucking bandits, ' Zoro quietly cursed.

The bandit had made it onto a boat and was quite a distance away from the shore. He was holding a struggling Luffy over the edge. After a quick conversation, he threw him into the ocean.

Luffy quietly prepared him for what was coming, he had never been necessarily fond of that memory. He was thankful, but still '

While Luffy was struggling to stay above the water, a huge Sea King showed up behind the boat and swiftly ate the bandit, boat and all.

'That was quick ' '

The Sea King though wasn't yet satisfied and set his sights on Luffy. But just as it attacked, Shanks showed up and pulled Luffy away from harm's way. The monster cowered and retreated when Shanks let out a burst of Conquerors Haki. Luffy started crying, not necessarily from fear, but to reveal that Shanks had lost his left arm.

'It's only an arm. It's no big deal. '

Luffy kind of slumped after seeing that and cuddled Chopper a bit harder. Everyone else was just shocked. They had heard that Red-Haired Shanks was missing an arm, but none of them had expected this.

'So that's how he lost it, ' Jinbei said quietly.

Zoro put an arm around his friend's shoulder until he managed to collect himself again.

'It's not your fault, you know that, right? '

'That's what everyone has told me, yes, but I still feel guilty about it, ' the straw hat-wearing boy admitted, but then slapped his cheeks in an attempt to bring his head back into the game. 'Let's keep watching. '

Now Shanks ' crew seemed to be packing their things. Shanks informed Luffy that they were leaving after staying for a while. Luffy also stated that he wouldn't try to find a way into the crew again.

'Someday, I'm gonna gather a crew as good as yours, and I'm gonna find the greatest treasure in the world, and I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates! I'll show you! ' 'You're gonna surpass us, huh? In that case ' I'll leave this hat with you. It's dear to me. Take good care of it! '

Shanks said while removing his hat from his head and placing it on Luffy's head. Luffy started to cry.

'This is so sweet! I would cry if I had tear ducts! Yohohoho! ' Brook shouted, forgetting that he can in fact cry.

Luffy ignored him in favor of looking at his hat for a moment and suddenly felt teary-eyed. This hat had so many memories embedded into it.

Usopp, for some reason, walked in front of Luffy and practically sat on his lap (and Chopper) to give him the snottiest and most tearful hug possible. Luffy tried to return it as well as possible given the position they were in at the moment.

Nami, all of a sudden, came to the realization about how important giving her the hat was at Arlong Park and felt more important than ever.

The crew was now sailing away, cheers of the villagers being their exit music.

'Bring it back to me someday! Once you've become a great pirate! That's our promise, Luffy! '

And with that, the flashback ended.

'Whenever you get the hat back to Shanks, are we going to be called the Hatless pirates? ' was the question that was suddenly plagued with. This caused everyone to briefly quiet down and ponder that question.

'I think I'll worry about that when I have given the hat back, ' Luffy eventually concluded. That would be a problem for the future, he didn't have the brain power right now to figure it out.

Zoro scolded Luffy for spacing out and then complained about being hungry. Conveniently, a giant bird was flying over their heads at that very moment. In his infinite wisdom, Luffy decided to Rocket himself to the bird to bring it down. But, he got caught in its beak, forcing Zoro to start fervently paddling to go rescue his new Captain. He also was paddling right toward the three Buggy pirates that Nami tricked earlier. The Pirate Hunter let the three onto the boat and scared the men into submission.

'Knowing Luffy, he'll manage something once he spots land. '

'You already had so much faith in him? After knowing him only for a few days? ' Jinbei questioned Zoro. That was rare in this world.

'Something just told me I can. ' And he was absolutely correct, Luffy was the man he was destined to follow.

The Buggy pirates started talking about their captain, which in turn revealed that Zoro had no clue who Buggy was. The crewmates described him as a terrifying person.

All the Straw Hats who had met Buggy just sweatdropped.

Nami was shown to be running away from a bunch of pirates, yelling about a stolen map. Some of Buggy 's face was also shown as he ordered to shoot down the bird that was carrying Luffy. The rubberman landed harshly on the ground in front of Nami. The woman seemed shocked.

To be continued.

'That's one way to meet your future captain. '

'No, yeah, it was an 'unique experience, ' Nami chuckled awkwardly, remembering what happened next.

'This episode was kind of intense, wasn't it? ' Sanji said to no one in particular and got nods all around.

'So basically, Shanks lost his arm for Luffy and gave him his hat. Luffy got kidnapped by a bandit and a bird and landed in front of Nami. Am I getting all of that right? ' Chopper recapped, there were a lot of things packed in a short time frame.

'Yes, yes, and yes, ' Luffy confirmed.

'Do you guys want to continue, or do you want to have a break? Go have dinner or something, go to sleep, and carry on in the morning? ' Their host offered.

'There's a day and night cycle? '

'No. But you can imagine there is. '

'I think to keep a resemblance of normality, we probably should eat meals and have a good night's sleep, ' Jinbei advised.

'I am getting hungry ' '

'You're always hungry. '

With that, Sanji got up, stretched, and made his way to the kitchen. The rest of the pirates got up as well, some staying together to discuss their experience and some looking for other ways of entertainment.

Everyone had a lot on their minds because of the four episodes they watched.