One Piece, Season 1, Episode 4: The Pirates are Coming
So this episode wraps up Usopp and the Syrup Town arc... but the climax between Kuro and the Straw Hats honestly isn't enough material for a full one-hour episode. Particularly with Jango cut out of the story. So it's an interesting move that they moved Zoro's flashback and backstory from the Morgan episode to this one. It's actually a rather interesting move -- I wouldn't say Zoro got a particularly strong present-day sequence to justify it since all he did was to beat up the Nyaban siblings. I honestly thought that if they were going to move Zoro's flashback, it'd be something revolving Mihawk? But then I also understand that this episode is really kind of bereft of any backstory since Usopp's story was already handled last episode. Oh, and in addition to that, the Koby/Helmeppo subplot as they chase the Straw Hats around in this version of the story is also followed-up upon here. So yeah. I do think that both the tightening of Kuro's evil plot, the greater emphasis of Kaya as a character and the involvement of the Marines all do a great job at making Syrup Island feel more like a fleshed-out story.
Zoro spends a good chunk of this episode climbing out of the well that the Black Cat Pirates dropped him into, and while admittedly this isn't the most exciting thing to watch, it's basically an excuse for us to sneak in the flashback scenes for Zoro. In the original version of this arc, Zoro was stuck out of the battle because he's trying to run up an oil-covered hill, which obviously is a bit too slapstick for a live-action adaptation. This is a pretty okay one, and cutting back and forth between Zoro's "nerfing" and the flashback really does help to make it feel a bit less stupid.
Usopp, meanwhile, is talking to Koby and I really do like that we, the audience, knows that Usopp is telling the truth. Helmeppo, despite his douchiness, does have a point in that as far as the Marines are aware, Captain Kuro is dead -- as Helmeppo's father often boasts. And there is a nice sense of a much smaller version of the 'you can't be telling the truth, the official news say something else' plotline that would be much more prevalent in future stories like Alabasta and Dressrosa. And Koby? I do find it pretty great that Koby's being shown as reluctant. He sees the points in Helmeppo's counterarguments, and he can see the earnest fear and desperation in Usopp's eyes. As ridiculous as his story is, Koby knows that in his duty as a Marine, he needs to at least go and
see with his own eyes and investigate if all this pirate stuff is really something true. After all, the Marines are here to help.
While all of this is going on, Nami, the only Straw Hat that's up and about, finds Luffy conked out from the blue soup and hides while she overhears Kuro, Sham and Buchi discuss about how Luffy's eaten the poisonous soup. The Black Cats are interrupted by the arrival of Usopp, Koby and Helmeppo... and Kuro's actor really sells the performance of a bloodthirsty, tired-of-this-shit pirate that's trying to rein in his evil tendencies to put on a veneer of stuffiness as he double-acts as a butler trying his best to cooperate with the Marines.
And... I really would've liked some extra scenes where Koby and Helmeppo corroborate Kuro's claims with the rest of the villagers or something, but Kuro basically makes use of Usopp's reputation as the town liar and troublemaker, basically discrediting Usopp as, well, a lunatic. Usopp's ramblings really ends up figuratively digging his own grave deeper and deeper, and Kuro ends up making fortuitous usage of the Marines' arrival by just handing over the KO'd Luffy over to them. It's an interesting way to make Koby and the Marines feel a bit less incompetent... they're just distracted by their actual prey showing up. Koby is trying his damn best to investigate, but the conflict between Kuro and Usopp, and Helmeppo being confused why they're still doing this when they got their Straw Hat man, is pretty good reason to basically bully Koby off of his path.
And it's at this point that we get the Zoro flashback, and... I've never really found Zoro's flashback all that exciting, if we're being honest. Especially since we didn't really get any follow-up of it in Wano, or with Tashigi. But it's definitely recreated and told pretty well, with Zoro training in Shimotsuki Village against Kuina, and always being overpowered by her. The two are portrayed as being a bit less violent and a bit more catty as rivals, with Kuina still trying to instruct Zoro in some tips even as he's losing to her. The flashback cuts back and forth in the episode with the present-day storyline with Usopp, Nami and Kaya, but I'll cover everything here first. It's an interesting sequence, of course, and one that I'm surprised (and pleased) that they actually kept in the episode since it would've been such a hot-topic button in the present day. Kuina cries that as they get older, she can't ever surpass Zoro due to their biological differences thanks to their gender, leading Zoro to swear that one of them will be the best swordsman (or woman) in the world.
...and then Kuina dies. The adaptation does the very smart thing of just having Koushiro say that there's been an accident and nothing else, because whether Kuina really did 'fall down some stairs' or if it's meant to be an euphemism for suicide, the important thing is that she died, leading Zoro to pick up her dream alongside her blade, the Wado Ichimonji. This is punctuated with present-day Zoro finally climbing out of that well.
Again, not my favourite backstory, but it's handled very competently and surprisingly faithfully to the source material.
Anyway, while all of this is going on Usopp tries to tell the full story of Kuro's betrayal to Kaya, but... the sheer amount of stuff streaming out of Usopp's mouth -- badmouthing Kuro, saying Merry's dead... this all drives a wedge between Usopp and Kaya. Kaya slaps Usopp, and tells him to go away, but Usopp refuses to budge unless he can ensure that Kaya is safe. This isn't drawn-out particularly long, because Nami barges in, having knocked out Sham. Her previous friendship girl-talk with Kaya in episode 3 works well here, too, explaining why Nami is so personally invested in rescuing Kaya when she's shown disdain towards people most of the time. Having Nami be the one that point out certain facts instead of Usopp -- like making Kaya realize that she started getting sick right around the time that Kuro started working there -- also works well in the urgent time-frame that we have here.
Kuro, meanwhile, realizes that it's midnight, that they can finally kill Kaya and all her money will go to 'Klahadore'... and we get a pretty great change in setting. In the manga, the final fight against Kuro and the Black Cat Pirates happens at a nondescript coast. Here, it happens in the mansion, and apparently Kaya's parents installed some kind of an over-the-top defense mechanism that locks down the entire mansion with metallic walls and grills and whatnot. Sham and Buchi also change into their comic-accurate cat-themed pirate outfits, and... bless Buchi, he's trying his best to look menacing, but his twiddly-hair without the mask look far more like a villain than the fat cat-mask and santa-cape he has on. There's a pretty fun, very comic-book-y shot of the three of them intercut across each other with their weapons out as they stalk through the mansion.
And... I don't want to dismiss a huge chunk of the episode, but it is just a pretty fun and effective 'serial killer' sequence with Kuro and his creepy monologues and insane finger-blades terrorizing the helpless Nami, Usopp and Kaya as they run around the mansion, hiding behind paintings and pillars and secret servant passages (another thing foreshadowed well last episode). It really does feel like the 'helpless protagonist hiding from a powerful serial killer' scenes that many horror movies do, and they do it pretty effectively.
And Kuro's actor is eating the scenery with gusto, mocking Kaya's dead parents, unleashing all the frustrations that a powerful pirate is stuck playing butler for a rich brat, and just psychotically slashing and stabbing and very nearly killing Kaya a couple of times. We get a nod of the wing in the mansion where all of Kaya's parents' items are stashed, and emphasizing that Kuro killed Kaya's parents and using that fact to mock Kaya and try and draw her out of hiding is a great and cruel way to really hammer home what a jackass Kuro is. It's something that later depictions of Usopp would emphasize (most notably in the recent Wano arc), but both Nami and Usopp tell Kaya that what's most important right now is to survive and live. Something that also thematically plays well to Zoro and Kuina's flashback, though it's not quite as obvious.
While all of this is going on, Helmeppo and Koby discuss the weirdness of the situation. I do like that Helmeppo is still douchey and jealous of Koby even while cooperating with him. In the cover story, Helmeppo and Koby's friendship and development kind of happens offscreen and without dialogue, and it's actually surprisingly refreshing to see this actually happen in real time. Of course, Helmeppo is forever the series' butt-monkey, and Luffy vomits out the poisonous blue soup onto Helmeppo's uniform. It around this point that we cut to the full scene of Zoro's flashback and then when we cut back to the present-day stuff. Luffy, meanwhile, talks to Koby about how they both want to protect the innocent... and Kaya's innocent.
Helmeppo plays the jackass and pulls out his gun to threaten Luffy to walk to the Marine ship... and in Helmeppo's defense, someone could make an argument that he just doesn't want Koby to let the fugitive run off. Zoro finally shows up, one-shots Helmeppo with a gut-punch... and we get a hilarious adaptation of the 'Zoro has a terrible sense of direction' running gag in the manga as Zoro tells Luffy that he got lost trying to find the mansion and showed up there.
There's a pretty great scene that reminds me of specifically Luffy's confrontation with Smoker in Alabasta, and again it's a scene like this that I feel would really build up Luffy's bond with other 'good' Marines like Koby, Smoker, Aokiji and Fujitora. Sure, by law, the Marines should arrest Luffy... but he's going off to save the civilians whether people like him or not. That's pretty cool. So ends Koby's little involvement in this story as Luffy and Zoro rush back to the mansion for the big fight scene.
As Kuro menaces Kaya, Usopp and Nami in Kaya's parents' room, Luffy and Zoro make their way to the mansion. Kaya is 'stronger than Nami thinks' and the two of them try to charge out of the room... but Kuro is way too fast and speed-blitzes them. Usopp manages to distract Kuro long enough with his slingshot, causing Kuro to speed-blitz and whack Usopp with his bladed hands. It
really is slightly weird why Kuro doesn't just go slit their throats or impale Usopp in the chest, but seeing just how sadistic he is throughout this whole scene, I can buy that he's toying with his prey.
Roronoa Zoro, meanwhile, bandana's up and is accosted by the Nyaban Siblings in the main lobby of the mansion, and... I really can't say too much about the choreography since I'm not really an action-scene-analysis guy. It's pretty neat to watch, though. It's obviously nowhere as over-the-top as the manga equivalent of their fights, and there's a bit more of a 'furniture-fu' action going on, and a lot of spinning-spinning. Zoro obviously mostly uses one or two swords to fight, and I do like that brief action scene of Zoro climbing and jumping off the side of a staircase. Later on in the fight, there's also a pretty thematic scene with Sham and Buchi disrespecting Zoro's sword by stealing the precious Wado Ichimonji, driving Zoro into a bit of a frenzy just to get it back.
Also, I do like the added little gimmick of Sham, who's masquerading as a maid, using a blade hidden within her broom to fight Zoro. I think it's not quite as good as the battle against Captain Morgan's marines, or against Buggy... which I wouldn't really call out attention towards except for the fact that this is supposed to be Zoro's episode and it's just not the most impressive action scene, is all. I do think the disappointment is that Zoro fights around to get the Wado back, and as we get a slow-motion moment of him posing with his swords after retrieving Wado Ichimonji... he sheathes it and just wallops Sham and Buchi with two swords. It's a bit anticlimactic, especially after how the episode really built up the backstory for the Wado.
Luffy meanwhile confronts Kuro, stretch-grabbing his hand right as he's about to kill Kaya. We get a very nice shot of serious Luffy, who's pissed off beyond all relief that someone's messing with his friends. Kuro makes use of his speed to zip around the room, hiding behind furniture and we get a very nice sequence of Kuro trash-talking Luffy's dream of wanting to be a pirate. Kuro is
extremely jaded about being a pirate, saying that all he got for being a pirate was a lifetime of worry, being betrayed by even his own crew, and a giant target on his back. Kuro has none of the childlike enthusiasm or the boundless dreams of Monkey D. Luffy, and I do like the back-and-forth about their differing viewpoints about being a pirate, which I think is emphasized a bit more in this live-action version. Whereas Luffy took to the sea to be free, instead piracy became a prison for Kuro.
It's a bit of a shame that in this version, Kuro's talk about finding his crew expendable isn't actually explored on, since in the manga's version of events he slices up Sham and Buchi once they've lost.
Luffy, meanwhile, counters that piracy is about adventure and freedom, and no one who gave up on their dream has any right to call themselves a pirate. Pretty great stuff... and Luffy has a pretty great comeback about how "I'm done talking. Now I'm listening.", as he closes his eyes to figure out which direction Kuro's going to speed-blitz him. There's a cool shot of Luffy's arm snaking around and bopping Kuro while he thinks he's hidden.
Luffy's fight with Kuro, I feel, has much more impressive choreography compared to the Zoro fight against the Nyabans, though I do find Kuro's super-speed and giant fuck-off finger-blades, as well as Luffy's bounces and expressions to be much more fun by default. We get a simultaneous finisher as Luffy finally gets Kuro to go crazy and lose his cool, before grabbing both his hands and using a Gum Gum Bell to bash Kuro out of the mansion.
In addition to the ending of the Zoro fight being kind of abrupt, I'm also not a fan that the lack of Jango means that Usopp is robbed of his big spotlight feat in this arc. Sure, he got the moment where he launches a little slingshot pellet at Kuro, but it's different from taking out one of Kuro's lieutenants, y'know? I thought he'd at least help in taking down one of the Nyaban Siblings, at least. As it is, while a majority of episode 3 and half of episode 4 has been about Usopp, the later half made it the Zoro-and-Luffy-and-Kuro show. The scenes we got for those three characters are all great, but I really wished Usopp got more.
The Straw Hats need to get out of town since the Marines are there, and Kaya gives the Going Merry to them. In this version of events, Luffy is the one that names the ship "Going Merry", since, well, the human Merry is dead. There's a nice bit of homaging, too, towards a fallen ally. There's a nice moment where Luffy asks Usopp when he's coming on board, and Usopp's a bit torn between staying behind with Kaya or going ahead with his dream and adventure... which, again, because Kaya is much more prominent in this version of events, it's a bit more of a poignant farewell for both characters this time around. Kaya also notes that the shipyard was her parents' dream, and she's going to pursue her own path of being a doctor. They share a kiss, which isn't in the manga, but... out of the canon love interests, Usopp and Kaya are already kind of a lock-in, so it's a nice change.
The episode then closes with a wonderful and amazing rendition of "We Are", the first opening, as the Going Merry sails into the sunset with Luffy sitting on top of the (hideously open-mouthed) goat figurehead. Nami even acknowledges that Luffy managed to get things right.
And as this nice scene peters of, we get a shot of Kuro fucking off Syrup Village in a little dinghy. In the manga, Kuro also escapes justice and rows off... though we
never ever get a chance to catch up with him. He just disappears from the plot, and I honestly wonder if it wouldn't have been better to have the Marines arrest him in this version since the Marines already have an expanded role in the Netflix show. Garp, meanwhile, watches Kuro as he sails away, and notes that while Koby thinks he failed by not catching Luffy, he managed to smoke Luffy out of the island.
While the Straw Hats are celebrating inside the Merry, with Usopp showing off the 'Usopp Pirates' jolly roger (which Luffy is displeased by) and the two have a fun "I'm the captain" "I'm Captain Usopp" nonsense... cannonballs start slamming onto the waters around the Merry as Garp's ship catches up with the Merry and opens fire (or it might be Garp doing his cannonball shot-putting) and Luffy drops the surprised bombshell as he says... 'grandpa'?
So yeah. The Netflix adaptation's really going to highlight the Marines a bit more, and I really do find it so interesting to see that Garp and Koby have so much more extended scenes. The way they interweave these scenes into the existing story is also amazingly done, and while the purists might not like it as much, I feel like it really does help to flesh out the world a fair bit further. It's pretty neat! I enjoyed this Usopp/Zoro two-parter, despite my complaints. It's fun.
One Piece Easter Egg Notes:
- An instrumental rendition "We Are!", the first anime opening, plays as the Going Merry sets sail for the first time. It is epic.
- It's a bit hard to see, but the flags on the Shimotsuki training grounds are identical to the twin-swords design used by the Shimotsuki clan from the Wano arc.
- Kuina's full name is given outright as 'Shimotsuki Kuina', while this connection was never formalized in the manga until a Wano-era SBS explanation.
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