Qiuqa highlights 4 key points from One Piece Episode 4.
1. Nami the Cat Burglar
Aboard a small boat, Badang, Lancelot, and Balmond celebrated as they admired a chest full of jewelry. Soon after, they passed another boat and spotted Nami lying completely helpless inside. In a frail voice, she begged for water, promising to share her own chest of jewels in return.
Lured by the offer, the three men boarded Nami’s boat to inspect the chest, only to be shocked to find it completely empty. When they turned around, Nami was already sailing away, having stolen both their boat and their treasure.
An expert navigator, Nami casually revealed that a massive storm was about to hit their exact location. True to her word, a torrential squall struck, ultimately sinking Badang, Lancelot, and Balmond’s boat.
2. Luffy Eats the Devil Fruit
A flashback to Luffy’s past revealed the Red Hair Pirates partying inside Makino’s tavern. Filled with excitement, Luffy begged Shanks to let him join the crew, boasting that his punches were as strong as pistols and that he was a great swimmer.
Shanks refused, teasing that Luffy was just a kid who still preferred drinking juice. Hearing this, the entire bar erupted in laughter at Luffy’s expense.
Shortly after, a gang of mountain bandits led by Higuma barged into the tavern. Higuma was irritated to find that the tavern had run out of beer. Shanks offered him an unopened bottle of sake, apologizing that his crew had drank the place dry. Instead of accepting it, Higuma smashed the bottle with his fist, splashing alcohol all over Shanks’s face.
Higuma and his men left with a sneer, cursing the pirates as nothing more than trash. Witnessing this, Luffy scolded Shanks for not fighting back after being humiliated by the bandits. Shanks casually replied that a spilled drink simply wasn’t worth fighting over.
Moments later, Shanks was horrified to realize that Luffy was eating a Devil Fruit he had left on the bar counter. Panicking, Shanks shook the boy violently to make him spit it out. Instead, Luffy’s body suddenly stretched. Shanks scolded Luffy for his foolishness; by eating the Devil Fruit, Luffy had become a rubber human and lost his ability to swim for the rest of his life.
3. Shanks Saves Luffy
The following day, Luffy confronted the bandits during their return visit to Makino’s tavern, demanding they apologize for insulting the Red Hair Pirates. In response, Higuma beat Luffy mercilessly. Makino and Woop Slap pleaded with Higuma to spare the boy, but the bandit drew his sword, preparing to execute him.
Suddenly, Shanks and his crew arrived on the scene. Shanks warned Higuma that while he could forgive someone for spilling sake on him, he would never forgive anyone who hurt his friend. The bandits charged, but Benn Beckman single-handedly wiped out their entire ranks in a matter of seconds.
Terrified by the pirates’ overwhelming strength, Higuma threw a smoke bomb and fled, taking Luffy as a hostage. When the smoke cleared, Shanks panicked, realizing both the bandit and the boy had vanished.
Higuma had rowed Luffy out into the open ocean, only to kick the boy into the water. Unable to swim, Luffy began to drown. Higuma laughed cruelly as the boy struggled for his life, but without warning, a massive sea monster breached the surface, swallowing Higuma and his boat in a single bite.
The beast then turned its jaws toward Luffy. At the last second, Shanks appeared and snatched the boy to safety. Emitting a fierce wave of Haki, Shanks terrified the beast, sending it fleeing into the depths. Clinging to his savior, Luffy sobbed hysterically when he realized Shanks had lost his left arm to the monster’s jaws to protect him.
4. Luffy & Shanks’ Promise
The next day, Luffy went to the docks to see off the Red Hair Pirates as they prepared to set sail. He told Shanks that he was done begging to join his crew; instead, he declared that one day he would gather a crew strong enough to surpass Shanks’s and become the King of the Pirates.
Moved by the boy’s resolve, Shanks placed his treasured straw hat onto Luffy’s head. He asked Luffy to promise that they would meet again, and that Luffy would return the hat once he had become a great pirate.
Back in the present, Zoro and Luffy were sailing the open sea. Suddenly, Luffy spotted a massive bird soaring over their boat. Without a second thought, he leaped into the air to catch it. Instead, the bird clamped its beak around Luffy’s neck and flew away with him. Seeing this, Zoro desperately rowed the boat to chase after his captain.
Meanwhile, on a nearby island, Nami was sprinting for her life, tightly gripping a map to the Grand Line that she had just stolen from the Buggy Pirates. Her heist had been discovered, and Buggy’s crewmen were hot on her trail.
At that exact moment, the bird carrying Luffy dropped him from the sky. Luffy crashed down right in front of Nami, causing both her and her pursuers to freeze in their tracks, stunned by the sudden spectacle.
