About the Romance Dawn Arc
Seven-year-old Monkey D. Luffy befriends the Red Hair Pirates and swears to their captain, Red Haired Shanks, that he will become a great pirate. Ten years later, Luffy sets sail and, after meeting cabin boy Koby, confronts the brutish pirate Alvida. He then travels to Shells Town, which is ruled over by the tyrannical Marine Captain Morgan. There he meets "Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro, a dangerous criminal whom he wishes to become his first crewmate.
Gold Roger, the Pirate King, had attained enormous wealth, fame, and power. Before he was executed, he announced to the crowd that he had left all his treasure at a certain place that could only be discovered by scowering the entire world, causing the world to enter the Great Age of Pirates.
Eleven years later, the Red Hair Pirates came to a small port village named Foosha Village. After a year of them being there, a young boy named Monkey D. Luffy came to their ship to prove he was tough enough to join them by stabbing his face under his left eye. The pirates and Luffy then went to the bar, where the pirates toasted to Luffy's craziness as they ate and drank. Luffy tried to convince the captain, "Red-Haired" Shanks, to let him join the crew, but Shanks gently refused due to Luffy being too young and unable to swim.
Suddenly, a group of mountain bandits led by Higuma entered the bar and demanded alcohol. The bartender Makino told them that the pirates had drank all of it already, and when Shanks offered Higuma the last bottle, he responded by breaking it over Shanks' head, not fearing the pirate due to his 8,000,000 bounty. Shanks simply responded by apologizing and cleaning up the mess, causing Higuma to break some more dishes before leaving with his gang. Afterwards, the Red Hair Pirates just laughed, but Luffy was angry at Shanks for not standing up for himself. He stormed out of the bar, and Shanks tried to grab his arm to hold him back, but to his shock Luffy kept walking as his arm stretched like rubber. The Red Hair Pirates then realized that the Devil Fruit they had stolen, the Gomu Gomu no Mi, was no longer in its chest, and Luffy confirmed that he had eaten it for dessert. Shanks revealed that Luffy's body was now made of rubber due to eating the Devil Fruit, and he would be unable to swim for the rest of his life.