Seven-year-old Monkey D. Luffy befriends the Red Hair Pirates and swears to their captain, Red Haired Shanks, that he will become a great pirate. Ten years later, Luffy sets sail and confronts the brutish female pirate Alvida, where he meets Koby. He then travels to Shells Town, which is ruled over by the tyrannical Marine Captain Morgan. There he meets "Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro, a dangerous criminal whom he wishes to become his first crewmate.

Gold Roger, the Pirate King, had attained enormous wealth, fame, and power. Before he was executed, he announced to the crowd that he had left all his treasure at a certain place that could only be discovered by cowering the entire world, causing the world to enter the Great Age of Pirates.

Eleven years later, the Red Hair Pirates came to a small port village named Foosha Village. After a year of them being there, a young boy named Monkey D. Luffy came to their ship to prove he was tough enough to join them by stabbing his face under his left eye. The pirates and Luffy then went to the bar, where the pirates toasted to Luffy's craziness as they ate and drank. Luffy tried to convince the captain, "Red-Haired" Shanks, to let him join the crew, but Shanks gently refused due to Luffy being too young and unable to swim.

Gomu Gomu no Mi in Chest

The Gomu Gomu no Mi: a Devil Fruit that gives the eater the ability to stretch their body.

Suddenly, a group of mountain bandits led by Higuma entered the bar and demanded alcohol. The bartender Makino told them that the pirates had drank all of it already, and when Shanks offered Higuma the last bottle, he responded by breaking it over Shanks' head, not fearing the pirate due to his Beli 8,000,000 bounty. Shanks simply responded by apologizing and cleaning up the mess, causing Higuma to break some more dishes before leaving with his gang. Afterwards, the Red Hair Pirates just laughed, but Luffy was angry at Shanks for not standing up for himself. He stormed out of the bar, and Shanks tried to grab his arm to hold him back, but to his shock Luffy kept walking as his arm stretched like rubber. The Red Hair Pirates then realized that the Devil Fruit they had stolen, the Gomu Gomu no Mi, was no longer in its chest, and Luffy confirmed that he had eaten it for dessert. Shanks revealed that Luffy's body was now made of rubber due to eating the Devil Fruit, and he would be unable to swim for the rest of his life.

Sometime later, the Red Hair Pirates had gone off on another voyage, and Luffy was starting to have fun with his new rubber body. One day, however, he was sitting in Makino's bar when Higuma's gang returned and demanded alcohol. Soon afterwards, Makino alerted the mayor, Woop Slap, that Luffy had been kidnapped by the bandits after picking a fight with them. Higuma initially planned to sell Luffy to a circus due to his strange body, but then decided to kill him for angering him. However, Shanks and the Red Hair Pirates then returned, and when one of the bandits pointed his gun at Shanks, the pirate Lucky Roux shot him. Shanks stated that he could accept an insult toward him, but would not forgive anyone who harms his friends. His first mate, Benn Beckman then overpowered the bandits singlehandedly, though Higuma managed to escape with Luffy in tow by throwing a smoke bomb. Higuma took Luffy out to sea and kicked him off the boat to drown him, and as Luffy struggled to stay afloat, a Sea King known as Lord of the Coast came to eat Higuma. It then moved to eat Luffy, but Shanks arrived in the nick of time to save Luffy and scare the beast away. Shanks was glad Luffy was okay, but Luffy was saddened that he had lost his arm in the process of saving him.