Chapters · East Blue › Orange Town

Chapter 9: Femme Fatale

Arc: Orange Town · Saga: East Blue · Released: 1997-09-22 (Vol. 2)

Summary

In Orange Town, Luffy meets a strange girl who introduces herself as a “pirate robber” — she steals treasure from pirates (page 2). She tries to recruit Luffy as muscle but recoils when she learns he’s a pirate too. The chapter cuts to Captain Buggy the Clown, captain of the Buggy Pirates, raging at his crew because someone stole their map of the Grand Line and the key to the map room (pages 3-5). Buggy is revealed to wield “the power of the fruit of the devil” — a Devil Fruit user (page 6). After Buggy threatens to blast the town to pieces, Nami brings Luffy back to a borrowed/looted house, explains the situation, and presses Luffy on why his “raggedy old hat” matters — Luffy answers: “I treasure this hat because a friend gave it to me a long time ago. That’s when I swore I’d gather a crew and become a pirate” (page 13). Nami reveals her dream: steal 100 million berries to buy “a certain village” (page 10). She conditionally agrees to navigate for Luffy if he helps her with “one little thing” — going to see Buggy. She drags him to Buggy’s tavern, ties him up, and delivers him as a captured thief alongside the recovered map — pretending to defect to Buggy’s crew (pages 18-19). Buggy laughs and accepts. Nami caged-locks Luffy with a hidden smirk: “Infiltration accomplished!” (page 20). On the dock, three of Buggy’s men report failure to a new arrival — a green-haired swordsman calling himself Zolo (Zoro) carrying three swords, who orders them to take him to their captain because “maybe he knows where Luffy is” (page 21). Cover page is a Zoro character feature (page 1) — second consecutive Zoro cover.

New reveals

• Nami — first appearance. Self-styled “pirate robber” who exclusively targets pirates.
• Nami’s dream — 100,000,000 berries to “buy a certain village” (page 10). The mystery of which village and why is seeded here, paid off later in Arlong Park.
• Buggy the Clown — pirate captain, Devil Fruit user, terrorizing Orange Town with cannons. Crew explicitly identifies his power as “the fruit of the devil” (page 6) — second on-page reference to a Devil Fruit in the series, after Luffy’s.
• Map of the Grand Line — physical artifact; Nami has stolen Buggy’s copy. First time the Grand Line is named as a destination Luffy is heading toward (page 11).
• Buggy’s nose — verbal taboo. Mocking the nose (“rubber nose?”, “fake?”) triggers immediate lethal rage; crewmen visibly terrified of saying it (pages 4-5). Origin-tell for Buggy’s psychology.
• Zoro/Zolo — arrives at Orange Town with three swords, hunting Luffy. Second consecutive cover appearance (chapter 8 + 9), bridging him into the active plot.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Cover: Zoro under a tree with three swords and a sleeping cow. Title “Femme Fatale.” Second consecutive Zoro cover — explicit “incoming character” signal.
• Page 2 — Nami’s debut panel, sitting atop a stack of boxes/treasure, sun lighting her from above. “NAMI THE PIRATE ROBBER” caption frame.
• Page 6 — Buggy seated on a barrel-throne, flanked by crewmen, jolly roger pendant on his hat. “PIRATE CAPTAIN BUGGY THE CLOWN” caption frame. Mirrors page 2’s framing (both new characters introduced in throne-like seated poses with formal caption nameplates).
• Page 10 — Nami’s “buy a certain village” declaration — single panel, head-and-shoulders, sun-spread background. Frames it as a core dream, matching the visual grammar Oda reserves for character mission statements.
• Page 13 — Luffy’s hat-origin speech — large central panel, hand on hat, eyes hidden under the brim. Same visual grammar as the chapter-1 handoff.
• Page 19 — Luffy face-down on the tavern floor, hogtied, hat fallen beside him. The hat as a separated/threatened object is a recurring stress-image throughout the series.
• Page 21 — Zoro’s first plot-relevant panel: at the dock with three swords, white shirt, haramaki, earrings. The chapter cliff-hangs on his arrival.

Open questions raised

• Which village does Nami want to buy? → Paid off Arlong Park (Cocoyasi).
• Where did Nami’s navigation skills come from? → “I love the sea!” (page 11) — the only hint; Bell-mère/Genzo/Nojiko reveal much later.
• What is Buggy’s Devil Fruit? → Named later as the Bara Bara no Mi (Chop-Chop).
• Why does Buggy obsessively protect his nose? → Running gag with deeper backstory (Roger Pirates cabin-boy era).
• Why is Zoro hunting Luffy by name? → Continues from the Coby/Morgan arc; pays off on next-chapter swordsman recruitment.

Mentions / first appearances

• Nami — first appearance. Called “Nami the Pirate Robber” in caption (page 2). Self-introduces by name on page 8.
• Buggy — first physical on-page appearance. Caption: “Pirate Captain Buggy the Clown” (page 6).
• Zoro / “Zolo” — first appearance at Orange Town, page 21. (Earlier appearances were at Shells Town; this is the first time he enters the Orange Town plot strand.)
• Luffy
• Buggy Pirates — multiple crewmen visible: a striped-hat lieutenant, a fat-lipped lookout, an axe-wielder.
• Orange Town — first explicitly named via “this town” / cannon-bombarded streets context.
• Grand Line — named on page 10 as the destination on Nami’s stolen map; named again page 11 by Luffy.
• Bara Bara no Mi — implied (not yet named) via “fruit of the devil” reference, page 6.