As the Straw Hat Pirates prepare to leave East Blue and enter the Grand Line, each of them reminisce about their journey to that point as they reaffirm their dreams.
Long Summary[]
At sea, during a storm, the Straw Hats spot the lighthouse signaling the way to the Grand Line. To celebrate, Sanji takes out a barrel as each of them take their place around it, and declare their vows and dreams.
Returning to the beginning of the special, the Straw Hat Pirates break open the barrel as a narration of their adventures yet to came is heard. During the credits images of their future crewmates, and Luffy's brothers are shown:
This is however only the second time the origin of Luffy's scar was shown, as it was censored in the anime adaptation (prior to Episode 878 which was released two years after this special).
In the Funimation dub, the English version of We Are! was extended to add the end part of the Japanese version, taken from the final chorus part.
Episode of Zoro[]
This part is split between Zoro's introduction from the Romance Dawn Arc and his battle against Dracule Mihawk from the Baratie Arc, making it the only section comprised of two separate arcs.
Episode of Usopp[]
This special shows Mornin, the mayor of Syrup Village, for the first time since the manga.
Episode of Usopp is the only section in which the title character's childhood is not shown.
Episode of Sanji[]
Although not directly stated, Zeff is implied to have eaten his own leg as in the manga. In the anime adaptations of the flashback in Episode 26 and Episode 801, the events were censored so that Zeff cuts off his leg when it gets caught in wreckage while diving to save Sanji. However, in Episode of East Blue, these scenes are not shown nor recalled by Sanji. Instead, Sanji simply leaves his sentence incomplete when he sees that Zeff has lost a leg, rather than explicitly asking if he ate it.
This is the first accurate anime portrayal of Bell-mère's death scene.
Nami stabbing her hand when pretending to kill Usopp was left out and as a result, she has no stab wound on her hand.
In this special, there is no flashback where Bell-mère decides to adopt Nami and Nojiko.
Trivia[]
As part of the celebration for One Piece Film: Red returning to cinemas in Japan, Episode of East Blue became available to watch on August 31, 2023 for a limited time on the official One Piece Youtube channel.[1]
