ONE PIECE released episode 1029 this Sunday, and the first of 2 ONE PIECE FILM RED prequel episodes showed us how Luffy met Shanks and Uta, along with some more of his childhood. The episode begins with Uta singing “New Genesis” and the Straw Hats listening to the song. Jimbe asks about it, and Usopp tells him it’s popular all over the world. Brook and Robin also make comments, and we see Uta remembering Luffy as her concert gets closer.
Despite being a filler episode, seeing so much Shanks and learning more about how he met Luffy made for a very entertaining watch. We see Luffy being reckless as ever, challenging a monkey to spar with him over the fruit he had. Despite winning, he still gives the monkey half, showing his kind side as well. Garp also makes an appearance, talking about Luffy having to become the strongest marine in the world. Another interesting was the fact that Luffy didn’t know he wanted to become a pirate (and King of the Pirates) at that time, but he still knew he wanted to live more freely than a marine and that he wanted to something big after leaving the village.
Then we see the first meeting between Shanks and Luffy. It’s actually Uta who sees him first, and it’s because Luffy isn’t fond of pirates yet and think they want to cause trouble in his village. He threatens them, but he quickly learns to like them. We see Shanks’ wanted poster, and it shows his bounty of 1.04 billion berries. Luffy declares he wants to become a pirate, and we see Shanks messing with him and giving him the challenge to guess where he hides a coin. After failing, Luffy tries the same, and then prefers to swallow the coin than to admit it was there. We then see Uta come and perform “Where the Wind Blows” for them. Immediately after, Luffy shows them his own iconic singing style, making Uta run outside crying.
Luffy then takes Uta around Foosha village, and the two grow closer together. The episode ends with the current-time Uta smiling at the memories, and we’ll see more about their past next week.
Episode 1030 will premiere next week on August 21, and its title is “A Pledge for the New Genesis! Luffy and Uta!”. The ONE PIECE manga will release chapter 1057 next week as well, with Shonen Jump taking a break this week. You can watch episode 1029 of ONE PIECE on Crunchyroll, and you can catch up to the latest manga chapter for free on either VIZ website or MANGA Plus.
Images via Crunchyroll
©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha/ Fuji Television Network/ Toei Animation
