TV Special Summaries – Special 1: Adventure in the Ocean’s Navel
Japanese Title: ワンピース TVスペシャル 海のヘソの大冒険篇
Full Title: Luffy’s Fall! The Unexplored Region – Grand Adventure in the Ocean’s Navel
Air Date: 2000-12-20
Running Time: 47 minutes
Opening: Believe (2nd Opening)
Ending: Run! Run! Run! (2nd Ending)
TV Special Information
Every so often, Toei produces a year-end TV special for One Piece. “Adventure in the Ocean’s Navel” was the first, and aired on December 20, 2000 on Fuji TV. It wasn’t for another two years that another year-end special would air.
TV Special Summary
The Straw Hats come upon the Ocean’s Navel, a great hole in the ocean, and after descending into it encounter many strange creatures. Zoro and Luffy come to a town where they meet two young people struggling to do something to save their home. They learn that long ago, Captain Joke came with his men and pillaged the city, going to the Mountain of God and breaking the seal on the Monsters of God. The Straw Hats head to the mountain to claim the secret of the Ocean’s Navel and to set everything right again.
TV Special Retelling
The special opens with several pirates battering a door in an underground cavern using a battering ram. After being unsuccessful, their captain steps forward with a multi-barreled gun upon his arm, and he fires it off to reduce the door to gravel. The pirates walk through into a cavern with an eerie red glow, and in the center is a glowing red fountain. The pirates watch with glowing red eyes as the captain ascends the stairs, only two have his back pierced with many swords. He looks back, seeing that his men have turned against him, and they lift him up as his blood spills onto the floor.
On the Going Merry, Luffy relieves himself in the water as he is fishing, and Nami yells at him for doing so. After Luffy says he isn't catching anything, Nami sees that he is using sponges as bait, because he thought they looked like hamburgers. Luffy then hooks his rope on something, and he pulls on it, pulling the entire ship along in doing so. As the skeleton of the sword-pierced captain with a bat in his ribcage is shown in the underground cavern, Luffy continues to pull the rope until the Straw Hats find themselves in the midst of very thick fog. The ship rides up to a rocky ledge, causing Luffy and Nami to fall off of the bow. Sanji helps Nami back up, and on the rocky landing is Luffy, who holds a treasure chest chained to it. He asks if he can eat the treasure chest, but after taking a bite he casts it away because it tastes bad. Nami freaks out and dives after it, pulling it above water, and using a knife she manages to jiggle the lock off of the chest. As she opens it, the bat in the skeleton in the underground cavern flies up and out of it.
Nami tosses the contents of the chest to Usopp, who catches it. It is a pirate's skull, and he turns it over to the back to read an inscription: "Plunge into the Ocean's Navel; therein lies the secret to making your dreams come true..." It is inscribed with the name Captain Joke. The Straw Hats think about the Ocean's Navel, and before them spot a huge pit in the ocean where waterfalls flow into. Nami decides they will go to search for the place where their dreams come true, so she, Usopp, and Sanji pile into a small barrel vessel lowered underwater by a winch device hooked up to the Going Merry. Luffy operates the device, already growing quite bored. Luffy spots some bottles flying through the air with little parachutes, so, thinking they contain drinks, he grabs one to drink it. He finds that there is a note inside instead, but is unable to get it out. Underwater, the lowered vessel enters a large cavity, as Usopp reports to Luffy, and tells him to lower it further. Luffy loses his grip with his foot on the handle and it ends up getting all twisted up, so the vessel plunges out of control. Luffy is barely able to grab the top of the hose with his hand so that the three underwater can still breathe.
The vessel crashes among what appears to be a ship graveyard, with broken ships everywhere. Nami realizes that these are the ships that ventured into the Ocean's Navel. Usopp kicks out the bottom of their vessel, since the bottom of the Ocean's Navel is not flooded, and he spots a bat. The bat tells them that they will die seeking the treasure, and the three freak out that the bat can talk. The bat tells them it will be their guide to the treasure, if they are brave enough, but there is a great rumbling that topples over the broken ships. A massive green tentacled octopus monster emerges, so the three Straw Hats scramble back into their vessel, Usopp calling desperately to Luffy to pull them up. His cries go unheard as Luffy struggles to get the bottle off of his finger. Zoro comes with an axe to help him, and as he chops down Luffy manages to pull out his finger just in time. Zoro grabs the note from inside the bottle. Down below, Usopp sticks his feet out through the bottom of the vessel and tries to run from the beast, but remembers they are on a tether and doesn't get too far.
Sanji decides to take action and emerges from the vessel, leaping up and delivering a hard kick to the creature's head. The octopus monster's tentacles fall limp, but as they think they are in the clear, it springs back to life, angrier than ever. The tugging on the tether causes the Going Merry to lurch forward, careening into the Ocean's Navel. Luffy stretches out his arm to grab onto the rock, holding him and Zoro back as the Going Merry falls down the waterfall, but since Luffy is in the water he loses all of his strength and falls as well. Just as the octopus monster is about to crush Nami, Usopp, and Sanji, the Going Merry falls from above, landing right on its head and knocking it out for good. The bat gapes at the development, and elsewhere, the hand of the skeleton captain reforms. Nami decides that they should leave, but Sanji tells her that he's staying behind, as he can't move a muscle. He lies on the ground and Nami tells him to stay with the ship no matter what as she and Usopp set out.
In a ravaged town in the Ocean's Navel, a girl in a cloak runs to a small building at the harbor, knocking down a boy named Hamu because he had promised not to send out bottles with notes in them anymore. Hamu tells her that he isn't going to wait it out like her, calling her Meroie. The two stop when the bell in the small building starts to ring, and they look down below to see Zoro and Luffy wading in the water, Zoro ringing the bell by pulling on the rope. Hamu sees the note in Luffy's hand, so Hamu and Meroie help them up. As they do, a massive lobster creature looms in the streets. Hamu tells them to run as the lobster creature swings its claw, smashing the small building they are in. It runs its claw through the water, smashing the pier as the four struggle to run from it. In the chaos, Zoro grabs a big fishing spear, and twirling it around, he stops and blocks the creature's claw with it, then hurls the spear right into the creature's chest. It falls over, dead, and Zoro falls over as well, exhausted.
With thanks for their rescue, Hamu and Meroie offer Luffy and Zoro a meal. As they eat together, Hamu asks about the note they found, but neither Luffy nor Zoro can read it. Luffy then tells them he is going to become Pirate King, which makes Hamu angry, and he leaves. Meroie tells Luffy and Zoro they must leave the town immediately, because they do not accept pirates. Zoro understands, but asks why this is. Meroie explains that ten years ago, Captain Joke and his pirates came down to the Ocean's Navel in search of treasure, and they ravaged the entire town. After that, they set out for the Mountain of God for the treasure, but ended up setting loose the Beasts of God upon the town. Zoro is surprised to here there are more of the creatures like the one he killed. Meroie continues as Hamu kneels in front of a cross outside. She explains that their mother knew what would happen to the town if the pirates broke the seal on the Mountain of God, so she set out alone to stop Captain Joke, but never returned. For this, Hamu wants revenge.
Meanwhile, Usopp and Nami ascend the Mountain of God with their bat guide, who tells them they'll need to pass two more monsters before they can reach the treasure. Nami wonders what Luffy's doing at that moment, and in the town below, Meroie leads Zoro and Luffy along through a path of skeletons and rusty swords. A giant lobster monster, even bigger than the previous one, comes onto the scene, and Luffy stands up to it, but Zoro grabs three rusty swords and declares the beast is his. As Zoro does battle with the monster, Luffy runs on ahead toward the mountain. At the mountain, Usopp and Nami reach the top, entering a cavern, and there on the floor is a maze. They realize the maze is a map of the cavern, and they must get to the center of the maze to reach the treasure. Usopp says that it will be simple because they can just turn back from any walls, but the bat tells them that they may not be able to turn back. A great spiny urchin-like beast comes rolling through the cave, and Usopp and Nami leap forward, passing into another passageway. They run for their lives from the beast.
Back at the town, Zoro plunges the lobster monster full of rusty swords, but is quickly running out. Meroie, who is quite red, offers Zoro a whole bunch more. Luffy reaches the top of the mountain and enters the cavern, as Hamu comes up behind him. As Usopp runs through the cavern with Nami on his back, he runs into Luffy, and they crash and tumble along farther into the cavern. Hamu catches up to them at this point as the giant creature continues to pursue them. The four runners hit a dead end, so Luffy turns to face the beast, using Gomu Gomu no Balloon to puff himself up and block its path. He yells at Hamu, Usopp, and Nami to run, so Usopp and Nami weave through the spines of the creature and run on through the cavern. Luffy yells at Hamu, but Hamu can't move, as he is afraid, not sure what he can do with his own strength. Luffy yells at him to show his nakama what he can do, so Hamu ducks under the urchin and runs. Luffy deflates and grabs one of the giant creature's spines as it chases after Hamu, pulling at it. The creature's spines begin to break off as it goes through the corridor.
In the middle of the cavern, the second foot of Captain Joke's skeleton reforms, and the bat flutters overhead, noting that only one creature remains. At the town, Zoro stands exhausted, as the creature he fought is finally dead. Sanji stands on top of the corpse, declaring how he got the final blow, but Zoro tells him he was late. Sanji then helps Meroie, asking her to dinner, making Zoro angry. Back in the cavern, Usopp and Nami reach the central cavern, and before them lies the treasure of the Ocean's Navel. As they ascend the stairs, the bat tries to stop them, telling them that they must defeat the final creature before grabbing the treasure. Nami doesn't believe it, but then Hamu stumbles into the chamber, collapsing on the ground. After him comes the sea urchin beast, all of its spines broken. It finally grinds to a halt, and Luffy declares victory as he collapses on top of it. As the creature's eyes fade, the turret on the arm of Captain Joke's skeleton reforms. As the red light in the fountain at the top of the staircase glows brightly, Usopp and Nami make a run for it, but both are shot in the back by Joke's skeleton. The skull falls from Usopp's backpack, tumbling down to Joke's feet, and he places it back upon his shoulders.
With his skull back on his shoulders, Joke declares victory as his fallen adversaries lie around him. He begins to ascend the staircase to the treasure, looking down at the skulls of his comrades, laughing at them for trying to betray him. Just as Joke is about to claim the secret of the Ocean's Navel, Hamu yells out to him. Joke turns on him and fires his turret, but finds that he has no more ammunition. He calls the boy lucky, tossing off the empty round, but puts on a new one. Hamu draws his sword and charges at Joke, but Joke knocks him aside. Joke points his turret right at Hamu, declaring how he recognizes him, as his mother fought him ten years ago. He realizes that Hamu must be trying to avenge his mother, but Hamu replies that he's wrong. He claims to be doing it for the town, which Joke doesn't believe. Hamu then cries out for his mother to give him strength, and the red light from within the fountain becomes a bright blue. Joke finds not a boy but a great warrior in front of him, and Joke fires at him but is unsuccessful. Hamu drives his sword through Joke's head.
As the light fades, Luffy, Usopp, and Nami are all on the floor, grabbing Joke's ankles, holding him back. Hamu stands with his sword driven into Joke's face, and Joke says that he wishes he had nakama like Hamu does. Joke then crumbles to dust, finally dead. Hamu begins to cry, thanking his mother for saving him. Nami cuts to the chase as she steps up to the fountain, but finds the pedestal empty. She gets mad at Hamu, claiming he took the treasure, as it was there a minute ago. After all is settled, the Straw Hats board the Going Merry once again, rigged up with large sails. They say their goodbyes to Meroie and Hamu, whose town has finally been saved. With a great gust of wind, the big sails pick it up and the Going Merry flies up and out of the Ocean's Navel, back onto the sea as Luffy declares his dream of becoming the Pirate King. In the cavern, the red light in the fountain lights up once more, and so the secret of the Ocean's Navel returns as the special draws to a close.