Cover Page:

Color Spread: Luffy, Nami, and the Red Hair Pirates party in a hoard of treasure, seagulls flying overhead, and Shanks' Jolly Roger proudly flying in the background.

Short Chapter Summary:

The adventure begins! The reader is shown the execution of Gol D. Roger, the King of the Pirates. He utters his final words and entices the crowd gathered around that his treasure, the One Piece, is out there for anyone to find. This ushers in the Golden Age of Piracy and entices many to go to sea in search of his treasure.

The reader is then introduced to Monkey D. Luffy, the main character of the series as a young boy of 7, with his idol a red haired pirate named Shanks. Luffy is shown on Shank's ship cutting under his eye with a knife in an effort to prove his strength. Shanks brings Luffy to a local bar in town after some first aid to celebrate and scold Luffy's courage. The festivities are interrupted by a local mountain bandit, Higuma, and his gang which results in a small confrontation before the bandits take their leave. During the conflict Luffy accidentally eats the Gomu Gomu no Mi, a devil fruit which gives the users body the property of rubber but hinders the user making them unable to swim.

Later, Luffy comes into contact with Higuma again and incites him, causing Higuma to kidnap Luffy in an effort to hurt him. Shanks and his crew reappear shortly after to find Higuma beating Luffy and attempt to rescue him. One of Shanks' crew, Benn Beckman, proceeds to subdue the bandits and in successfully doing so, scares Higuma into using a smoke bomb to dissapear and run away with Luffy.

Higuma is then shown escaping in a small boat with Luffy and proceeds to kick him overboard in an effort to drown him, only to be suddenly eaten by the monster that inhabits the local waters surrounding the island. Shanks arrives in time to save Luffy before the monster can bite him, quickly intimidating the monster with a fierce look and causing it to leave. Luffy cries as he realizes the monster was able to take Shanks' left arm to which Shanks claims hes fine giving up for Luffy's safety.

Back in town shortly after, Shanks is preparing to leave with his crew and Luffy claims he will become a great pirate with a crew better than Shanks's when he is older. Shanks makes Luffy promise and gives him his straw hat, of which Luffy is told to give back later when he becomes a great pirate. Afterwards, Luffy is shown 10 years later wearing the straw hat and leaving the same island in his own small boat. Luffy is quickly confronted by the same monster from his past to which he delivers a swift blow to the monsters face, defeating it, and sails on exclaiming he will be King of the Pirates.

Character Appearances:

Trivia:

• This is the first chapter of the series, as well as the first chapter in the Romance Dawn Arc and the East Blue Saga.
  • As is standard for any new series premiere in Shonen Jump, it has noticibly more pages than the weekly average (and currently remains the longest chapter of the series).
  • Its color content is also significantly higher than average, with the first four pages (the color spread and the first two "story" pages) being printed in full color, and the next twelve in a red-and-gray "part color" palette.
• This chapter is sometimes called "Romance Dawn, Version 3" because of the Romance Dawn one-shots, titled Romance Dawn, Version 1 and Romance Dawn, Version 2 that are different versions of the prologue for the manga series.
• According to One Piece Magazine Vol.10, Nami's presence in the cover but not the chapter proper is a remnant of Oda's original plans for her to be Luffy's first crewmate, akin to the first and second Romance Dawn drafts.
• Though Higuma enters Partys Bar by kicking a door clean off the hinge, the same door is mysteriously intact when he leaves only minutes later. When a reader questioned this, Oda half-jokingly invented Minatomo and credited him with fixing the door.
  • Similarly, the tooth that Luffy loses during Higuma's beating reappears throughout the rest of the chapter at random.
• The events of the final chapter of Shokugeki no Sanji occur somewhat parallel to this chapter.

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