Episode 205: The Pirate Roundup Plan! Jonathan's Secret Winning Strategy
The episode starts with Nami skulking in a field when she finds the waver. Sanji states that Team Gold should be heading back to the dock with the gold. Nami make some remarks about the waver, boards it, and tells Sanji to grab on tight. Sanji naturally overacts and grabs a hold too tight. Nami knocks him down and drives off, dragging him along.
At the Vault, Team Gold realizes they have been played. A Marine boasts of how they knew where the pirates were headed. Usopp begins to assess the situation and wonders if they need Team Waver's help. Robin hears him and answers him by reasoning that the entire base knows their location and how reinforcements will soon arrive. Luffy says that they need to keep looking for the gold. Usopp wants to escape, but Zoro and Luffy want to fight, and fight they will, as the Marines cock their guns. Just as they all get ready to fight, the ground starts to shake and the large doors out of the Vault open. Shepherd enters with a smaller group of Marines. The Marine leading the large assault questions Shepherd, but Shepherd pulls rank on him and makes him stand aside. Luffy laughs at him for being in jail, and Usopp greets him as Condoriano. Shepherd gets worked up and vows to make them pay. The Marine who stood aside mockingly warns Shepherd not to underestimate the pirates. Shepherd insults him back and carries on. Luffy waits impatiently to fight, and Shepherd brings out a bazooka called the Eagle Launcher, which has the power of a small battleship. Zoro and Luffy are interested as Usopp runs scared. Shepherd fires the bazooka...in the wrong direction. The missile sails backwards away from the pirates towards the entrance to the vault. Usopp cheers Condoriano on. His subordinates slap him for misfiring it. He turns it around to shoot the pirates, but Robin calmly uses her hands to turn it around again and fires it twice towards the exit and once into the ground, launching Shepherd into the air like a rocket. After he crashes to the ground, Team Gold makes their escape, and Usopp knees Shepherd on the way out. No one seems to know where the gold is however.
Outside on the water, a plethora of Marine ships are searching for the pirates. Team Waver is sneaking among the rocks. Nami assesses the situation while Sanji keeps swooning over Nami until she punches him. She deduces that the Marines know they're still in the base but notes that for some reason, they're not attacking them. Meanwhile, Team Gold has left the Vault and they are looking for a place to redo their strategy. They need a safe place first when Luffy suggests the Mess Hall only because he's hungry; he gets slapped for it. Back at the ship, Chopper tensely keeps guard on the ship when Team Waver returns with the waver. Chopper is elated at this. Nami asks about Team Gold, but Chopper states that they haven't returned yet. Nami then decides to look for the gold as well, but she leaves Sanji behind with Chopper. She then heads down a slope and sees a battalion of Marines heading towards the mountains, where Team Gold has fled. Shepherd complains about how he almost had the pirates, mentions how the empty vault wouldn't discourage them, and begins his next tactic to catch the pirates. Nami overhears it all and realizes that not only does Team Gold not have the gold, but the vault was merely a trap. She then wonders where the gold is.
Back inside the base, Team Gold is heading towards the Mess Hall. As they pass the Infirmary, they overhear a discussion between a woman and her father about drinking medicine. Robin and Usopp identify them as Kobato and Mekao respectively. They go inside and talk about how they can't find the gold. Usopp asks how Mekao is, and he says that he's fine and that all he needs is his alcohol and a nap. Kobato grabs the booze before he drinks it. Usopp starts to lecture him, and Mekao then calls him impudent for asking for help again. He then asks if the gold is really important to them. Luffy affirms it, and Usopp elaborates on it, explaining how they plan to use the money to repair the ship, Mekao doesn't buy it, but Kobato does. She then persuades Mekao, and he helps them out by showing them a quick and safe route outside near a cliff. They thank him and leave, and Mekao offers some parting words to Usopp. He tells him that the commander loves fishing and is using the gold as bait. Because of that, the gold is likely in plain sight. Usopp then leaves in gratitude. Mekao realizes that his actions weren't in Navarone's best interest.
As they stand on the cliff's edge, Robin realizes they still don't have a plan and Usopp wonders if they have to wildly search for the gold. Zoro hears a buzzing noise, and Robin hears it as well. It's Nami on her waver. They fill her in on what has transpired. After Luffy yawns, Zoro points out that it's almost morning and it'll be harder for them to move about. Nami asks if there are any other vaults on the base. As Robin looks at the map, Usopp remembers what Mekao said about Jonathan using the gold as bait. Nami concludes that the gold must be in plain sight if he's using it as bait. They then launch into a metaphor of Jonathan as a fisherman to try and outthink him. Nami then realizes the gold must be close to him. In fact, she thinks it's in his room. She then asks Luffy to take her there. She asks the others to wait by the water's edge so chopper and Sanji can pick them up.
Nami and Luffy plunge onto the water and speed past Marine fire. They ride out of the water, accelerate up the mountain, and crash into Jonathan's office. Jonathan is a bit surprised they crashed in through the window. Then he and Luffy engage in some chit-chat about the waver, which prompts Nami to yell at Luffy. Jonathan then welcomes them and regrets that if they weren't pirates, there would have been partying in place of fighting. He commends their courage but also condemns it as recklessness. At that point, an armed squad of soldiers surround Luffy and Nami. Nami then asks where the gold it, and Jonathan points to corner next to the smashed window. When Nami asks if it's real, Jonathan invites them to check it out, which Luffy does. He confirms it's their treasure. Luffy grabs the treasure and jovially says that he'll be taking it. Jonathan jovially says that he can't have that. The Marines, somewhat less jovially, aim their rifles at Nami. Jonathan states that he'd rather not shoot the young lady. Then, Luffy winds up his arm to take them all out, but they shoot a kairouseki net at him, and he is taken out and captured. Nami starts strategizing what to do, and since they have guns, she pulls out her Clima Tact and uses Rain Tempo: Sprinkler!, Cool Ball!, and Heat Ball! to form a cumulonimbus inside Jonathan's office. She then uses Thunder Bolt Tempo! on the cloud to strike all the armed Marines with lightning. They are promptly electrocuted. Nami then heads over to Luffy and removes him from the net. He grabs the gold and they jet from his office. Jonathan hasn't given up on them though.
Back on the water, Luffy and Nami search for the ship while dodging search beams. Luffy spots a Marine ship, and Nami smiles, knowing it's the Going Merry in disguise. Usopp spots them and hails them on the ship. Shepherd walks into Jonathan's office and points out Jonathan's failures. Jonathan states that the Straw Hats won't get away, but Shepherd doubts him after what just happened. Shepherd offers to help him and starts bragging about his men. Jonathan casually accepts his help. Shepherd then calls his ship, the Pine Peak, and orders them to wait outside the Sea Gate in order to intercept and sink the pirates. After giving the order, he touches Jonathan's fishing pole, Jonathan snaps at him not to touch his pole. Jonathan points out that there's a ship behind the Pine Peak that isn't one of Navarone's ships. A crewman on the Pine Peak alerts the captain of a battleship-like object coming from the aft. As the captain confusedly asks about it, the "object" breaks apart, revealing the Going Merry with Luffy on the stern. As it passes the Pine Peak, Nami thanks them for revealing the currents to her. As they try to pursue, the wreckage from the disguise collides into the back of the ship. Shepherd gets upset, but Jonathan calmly states that Straw Hats are already trapped, for "At 9 o'clock, the sea of Navarone bears its fangs." This is Jonathan's ultimate trap. The Straw Hats, completely unaware, prepare themselves to blast through the Sea Gate and escape Navarone once and for all.