Since this movie takes place between Loguetown and Reverse Mountain, this is a really time and concept for a movie/side story to take place. The movie starts with the Straw Hats on vacation on some island, which already has one of the funniest running jokes in the series (at least to me), that Zoro is constantly grinding and working out, meanwhile, Sanji is just cooking or being a lover boy and Sanji is barely (at this point at least the gap grows on later) weaker than Zoro. Not only does it show the joke, but it shows what makes the pre-time skip era so cute. The Straw Hats were on an adventure, not constantly pushing forward and fighting on with such a clear goal (not a complaint at all, just a common sentiment I think). Here we see them just chilling out and relaxing (except Zoro who never relaxes).
Then, as the Going Merry gets stolen by someone offscreen, our crew gets new outfits (Zoro’s dripgrade is CRAZY) and the crew gets robbed yet again/kind of rescued by our movie’s two main characters that the Straw Hats will be interacting with/helping to complete their dreams, Borod and Akees. Borod found Akees in a cradle in the sea and saved him, raising him as his little brother and partner in literal crime. Their dynamic reminds Luffy (and us of course) of himself and Shanks, and immediately endears him to the brothers.
As they’re discussing this, the Card Pirates arrive and break the crew, as Zoro and Sanji don’t have their weapons (I guess Sanji’s shoes count) and their boat is barely functional as it is. It is kind of funny the amount of toe shots that are dropped in this movie, and it is very interesting that since this is before any power upgrade Sanji gets, Sanji and Zoro are pretty susceptible to taking hits and damage from regular attacks. They kidnap Nami, whom Luffy gave his straw hat to keep safe while he brawled with the Card Pirates, which begins the movie plot in earnest: Save Nami and help the brothers complete their dreams.
They head towards Clockwork Island, which is a massive tower in the sky with seemingly hundreds of feet in the air. Borod tells Luffy that the way up to the tower is covered head to toe with traps and that there is a secret door that opens up that will provide safe passage. Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji ignore the warning and rush headfirst into the traps with ease.
This is the first big showing of how much stronger the Straw Hat are compared to the rest of the East Blue, something that I think One Piece does a SUPERB job of in the realm of power shonen, is that we are consistently shown not told how much stronger a person is, rather than having a clunky dialogue about said “powerscaling”. One of the best examples is that throughout the movie, Luffy is playfully fighting and not taking any of the threats seriously, up until Akees and Borod are potentially in danger, which then he snaps in and goes all out and easily can handle the threats of these Card Pirates and their senior officers, even the captain. Throughout the East Blue saga, Luffy’s fights are guided by his will to free people from the chains that drag them down and prevent them from fighting for their dreams. That is shown beautifully in this movie, with Akees and Borod having their dream to steal the Diamond Clock, but Akees having a dream unknown even to himself, that Borod has come here to complete for him: to find his family and take him back to the parents who gave him his music box. I think this “simple” dream is so perfect for a movie of this length, and with characters like Akees and Borod, it automatically sets the tone and stakes of why they’re fighting so hard and scrappily to get this dream and make it real. As the Straw Hats start to head towards the Tower, Borod notices the Going Merry on top of the tower, and Zoro, in an awesome moment, calls out Borod for his alleged amazing eyesight and continues his distrust of the man.
The Straw Hats make it to the village, where the toy Luffy was playing with in the opening is sold and is a neat tie-in. The Straw Hats eat, meet the Mayor and his wife (who you can kind of tell immediately are Akees’ parents because they know his music box and the name so there’s a strong plot thread), and start their journey to the titular Clock Tower to save Nami and get their ship back. This starts with Honey Queen and Boo Jack beating up and stealing Sanji to take him back to the Clock Tower. There, we see that the Bear King has been trying to win over Nami unsuccessfully and she is using her wits to outsmart the seemingly oafish man to stall until she can have a more fair fight. The Straw Hats, sans Sanji and Nami, make it to the tower and break down the gate to start fighting their way inside. Usopp saves Zoro, Luffy, Akees, and Borod at the cost of his lungs and health, and gets captured as well. As they continue forward, they get trapped, stuck between the floor and the ceiling and they start to be crushed. Here Borod reveals his plan all along: To leave behind Akees with his family and steal the Diamond Clock at any cost. This was foreshadowed, through how Zoro pays attention to Borod, but at the end of the day, Luffy and Zoro don’t hold it against him. Sure, in the moment it sucks and puts them in a worse position, but Luffy can see that his heart just wants what is best for Akees, and it makes Luffy want to push forward even harder. Pin Joker arrives via a secret door and attempts to stab Luffy with his needle dart feathers, but Zoro blocks Luffy and gets dragged away to be captured with the rest of his crew.
Borod attempts to blow up Bear King and the tower, but his efforts are dashed. At the same time, Akees gets up and runs up to find his brother about to be killed, and intervenes. By intervening, Borod is spared for now, but Akees is knocked away, and the windmill falls from his pocket down to the shaft to where Luffy is, and that gives him the strength he needs to easily push forward and destroy the entire trap, arriving to face Bear King finally: face to face.
The following fights will be highlighted in the next chapter, but the Straw Hats are victorious in their fights, and “save” the island (by destroying it) and say goodbye to the new friends. As they depart, they leave Akees with his family, and the Straw Hats and Borod continue their adventure. However, Akees makes his way onto Borod’s ship and Luffy looks on with joy, knowing Akees and Borod will continue to adventure together across the One Piece world.
The Credits roll, and we see the upcoming arcs previewed and we see Ace and Robin!! They’re so cute. I love seeing these early versions, like how Ace looks in Drum Island.
The animation of this movie is so crisp and gorgeous and makes me feel like I’m back in the 2000s watching this movie. The colors are so clean and pretty, and the fluid animation of the movie’s budget allows them to blend both silly and exciting scenes so seamlessly. The fights are incredibly fluid and do a great job of showing off things like Sanji’s agility, and Zoro’s strength, and has awesome physicality in just how the characters move and interact with the world, such as Akees working on the gears of the windmill.
The fights in this movie are such explosions of visuals and hype, with all of the Straw Hats having a counterpart to the Card Pirates and thus each getting a thematic and natural fit for a fight. Nami uses her wits to outsmart Honey Queen and trap her in a jar, which made me laugh out loud. Usopp uses his bravery and creativity to trick Skunk One (weakling trio for life). Sanji uses his sheer speed to surprise Boo Jack and beat him to the ground before Boo Jack can even react properly. Zoro uses his brutish strength to take on Pin Joker after being poisoned and beaten and is still able to deliver a killer (pun intended) Zoro pose.
Then there’s Luffy’s big moment. We see him knocking out dozens of Card Pirates with ease throughout the runtime, but when it comes to his big confrontation, he doesn’t even consider Bear Jack as a fun fight at first. He’s goofing around, letting Bear Jack get riled up and angry, which is so interesting to watch given the time this takes place. Luffy has just been humbled by Smoker in Loguetown, but also just destroyed Arlong with relative ease. This movie’s big fight is an interesting mix of both of those, with a new twist. We see Luffy struggle, somewhat aimlessly, as his attacks are hitting Bear Jack’s metal body and bouncing off but he decisively crushes Bear Jack in the final hit, and tears down the entirety of Clockwork Island.
One Piece, for all of the amazing fights and bombastic action, is defined by the emotional connections between the Straw Hats combined and the connections Luffy makes with the new arc characters. The really cool part of these movies is that these characters, minus 3 of them, have self-contained characters mostly and entirely semi-canon. Luffy’s bond with Akees is really beautiful, it is really simple and very, very familiar if you've seen all of One Piece, but there's something so nice in the simplicity of Luffy inspiring the next generation of pirates and adventurers in the world. Akees in general has a bunch of great moments, be it when he's fixing Luffy's toy and making Luffy smile wide or when he's talking with Borod or his family, but my personal favorite is when he takes the bullet (which he blocked with a metal plate) and drives Luffy to go all out to take down the Bear King.
The comedy is also top-tier, with Usopp's fight being genuinely hysterical and the rest of the Straw Hats having one or two good one-liners per fight. Overall, the emotional peaks of this movie are awesome, with so much of this movie being elevated constantly by how deep the bonds are people the characters. I love that we're able to see the intersection of these characters' lives and how they were able to grow just from this day of meeting. As the credits roll, it makes you feel so reassured and fulfilled knowing that all of these characters are safe and happy and that they'll keep chasing their dreams.
In conclusion, this movie makes the One Piece films 2/2 for being heartwarming, fantastic adventures of the East Blue Straw Hats and their journey before they start the Grand Line. I recommend this movie to everyone, it is such a sweet and fun journey of the Nakama, and one that I’ll think about in the days to come.
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