Summary
One Piece introduces a couple of new characters in the beginnings of a meatier mystery.
This recap of the 2023 Netflix series One Piece Season 1 Episode 3, “Tell No Tales”, contains spoilers.
Until now, each One Piece episode has told a fairly standalone story. Of course, the individual elements are clearly part of an ongoing narrative, but the first two episodes were able to stand on their own terms to some extent, with an objective and villain to be achieved and defeated, respectively, at the end.
“Tell No Tales” bucks this trend a little. It takes longer to get to what is by all accounts quite an obvious reveal, and it has far from reached a conclusion by the end.
This isn’t a criticism, by the way, just an observation. It’s actually a good way to vary the show’s structure and pacing and keep people invested, especially since the episodes are quite long.
One Piece Season 1 Episode 3 Recap
Anyway, the action begins in Syrup Village, seven years prior, which is really just a very brief cold open to introduce the character of Usopp, who we’ll meet later.
In the present day, the Straw Hat Pirates – which Luffy has taken to calling them – need a new boat. The one they’re presently using is letting on water, resulting in Nami’s hidden communicator being flooded, so we don’t get any more on that subplot introduced in Episode 2 here.
The gang heads for the Gecko Islands, the archipelago where Syrup Village is located, to try and acquire a new vessel. It’s there they meet Usopp.
What is Koby doing?
Koby and Morgan’s useless son Helmeppo are now aboard Vice-Admiral Garp’s Marine ship, and Garp takes an immediate liking to Koby because of his sailing experience thanks to being forced to work under Alvida in Episode 1. Garp respects that Koby did what he could to survive, and the two play Go together, forming a strange bond during the journey.
Who are Usopp and Kaya?
The gang meets Usopp while he’s cleaning a ship that takes their fancy. When Luffy expresses an interest in buying it, he says that it’s owned by his best friend, Kaya, a wealthy shipyard heiress who has taken badly ill and is in the constant care of servants led by her head butler, Klahadore.
Usopp has a habit of telling exaggerated tales of his derring-do and piratical adventures, even though he’s making them all up. Kaya finds the habit charming, though her minders think he’s a bad influence – and that’s without knowing that he frequently sneaks inside the property through the servant’s tunnels to spend time with Kaya.
Most of the episode takes place in Kaya’s home, where the crew are invited for dinner before they negotiate a sale of the ship.
Who is Klahadore?
Kaya trusts her head butler Klahadore implicitly, but Zoro seems to recognise him, and it becomes obvious almost immediately that he’s a villain.
What seems to be happening is that Kaya is being kept in ill health with poisoned food, and Klahadore is quietly taking control of her family’s business. In fact, she’s due to transfer ownership of the shipyard to him on the pretence of him looking after its affairs until she’s well enough to take over. Some of the home help are loyal to Klahadore and complicit in the plan, while others, like Merry, whom Klahadore is forced to kill, are suspicious of him.
The Straw Hat Crew get along with Usopp and Kaya. Nami bonds with the latter while she’s creeping around the house stealing valuables, and Luffy is shocked to learn that Usopp’s father, Yasopp, is a part of Shanks’ crew.
However, things take a turn when Zoro and Usopp discover Merry’s corpse in the wine cellar, thus exposing Klahadore. Zoro realizes he is a pirate leader named Kuro, who was supposedly killed by Axe-Hand Morgan. Zoro recognized him from his bounty posters.
One Piece Season 1 Episode 3 Ending Explained
Just when it’s about to kick off, Zoro is knocked out from behind by one of Kuro’s goons, and Usopp flees. He tries shouting for help, however, in flashbacks we see that he has been prone to fanciful raving about pirates since his childhood. It’s a “boy who cried wolf” scenario – nobody believes him.
In these flashbacks we can deduce that Usopp used his imagination as a coping mechanism for the absence of his father and the worsening health of his mother.
The episode ends with Usopp getting upset that nobody believes him, asking aloud why they don’t. He looks up to see Koby standing over him, and Koby very much believes that pirates have arrived in Syrup Village.
You can stream the 2023 series One Piece Season 1 Episode 3, “Tell No Tales” exclusively on Netflix.
