Episode 203: The Pirate Ship Disappears! Stronghold Battle, Round 2!
Drake orders the fleet to catch the pirates, disregarding the crew's advice. He wants to avoid the disgrace of allowing them to escape, as well as potential decommission of Navarone. He uses that to motivate the crew. Luffy gets ready to leave, but Nami orders to turn around, as the Marines took all their treasure. Usopp has doubts, but Nami persists and convinces Luffy to turn back. Sanji swoons over Nami some more as they make their U-turn. Through the fog, a Marine ship rings warning bells so as to avoid collision. Nami hears this and realizes a ship is nearby. She orders Sanji to avoid crashing into said ship. They then hear more bells than before, and Nami reasons that a group of Marine ships are heading their way. She opts to leave the smoke, and they barely escape hitting the ships.
Usopp points out that once the Going Merry is seen, the Marines will blow them to pieces. Robin steps in and informs Nami about her research in the archives. She tells Nami that the amount of naval personnel at Navarone was reduced and due to that, there are many unused docks along the gulf. Nami then decides to hide the ship in one of those docks. Back on the flagship, Drake loses sight of the Going Merry and contacts the cannon brigade to see if any other ships have passed the sea gate. When he finds that none have passed, he wonders where they went. He calls Jonathan and tells him they magically disappeared. Jonathan thanks him and calls him back to base to discuss his real strategy with him. He holds the pirates' gold in the base.
Back in the dungeon, two Marines are still restraining Shepherd and harassing him as Condoriano when three Marines show up and order his immediate release. They salute him as Commander, and the other two release him. Shepherd then identifies himself. Meanwhile, Jonathan predicts the pirates' next move, and some Marines sit down to eat in the Mess Hall. As they eat, they notice the food isn't as good as before and demand the food from before. All the Marines then chant, "Give me good food!" The chefs beg Jessica to use Sanji's recipe, and when she mentions pride, they respond by pointing out everything Sanji did right. She pastes it on the wall and lets them use it for today.
The Straw Hat Pirates find an empty dock, and they debate whether to escape or retrieve their gold. Luffy, of course, wants food, and Sanji goes to make him some. They lean towards escape, but Nami entices them with equal shares or the treasure. Luffy, Chopper, Sanji, and Zoro all list what they want with the gold. Nami wants to keep a large part of the gold to maintain the Merry. They reminisce about the Going Merry for a while, recounting such experiences as Usopp's and Nami's departure from their homes, the trip up Reverse Mountain to the Grand Line, the voyage to Sky Island, when it almost burned down while there, its mysterious repair, and its descent into G-8. They agree to fix the ship first before spending their gold, and at that, Sanji brings out the food. They talk about repairing the ship some more, and Luffy proclaims to make a shipwright their nakama; the rest agree.
Nami points out that they have to get the gold back first. They try to figure out where the gold is when Robin points to a spot on the map with a very secure vault. They wonder what to do with the Merry when Luffy suggests hiding it among other ships. Robin mentions that there were a lot of spare materials lying around, and Usopp gets an idea, which he whispers to the crew. It turns out that everyone disguised the ship as a Marine ship. It's not the best job, as Sanji says, but it will work upon casual inspection, as Luffy says. With that, They set out to reclaim their gold at midnight.