Strider Hiryu

I actually have friends that refuse to watch One Piece because of that version. 4Kids really ruined it for people that are super casual anime watchers and don't really look into stuff like the publishers, dub companies, and edited catastrophes. 

I don't doubt it, 4kids has ruined everything they've touched from Pokemon to Yu-Gi-Oh. They're really one of the worst companies out there when it come to anime localization.

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I've seen up to the recruitment of Chopper (sadly through the dub) so I could always start there if I didn't feel like slogging through the first set of episodes)

Uh oh.. was that the 4kids dub or the funimation dub? If if was the 4kids dub you're better off restarting the entire series since it'll be so drastically different. I'm not kidding about that either. 4kids even skipped the entire Little Garden arc with the 2 giant kings, literally giants with fingers the size of luffy, that had a significant reference in a later arc.. and most likely in a future arc whenever they get to Elbaf island. 4kids also edited out all the brutal violence. Some characters actually died.. while in the 4kids version everyone gets knocked unconscious with rubber mallets and prop guns, suction darts, etc. all while Sanji sucks on a lolipop instead of smoking his cigarettes. Poor Smoker had all his cigars edited out so it looks like he's biting some invisible object while smoke pours out of his mouth. Other arcs were literally trimmed by about 20 episodes each and skipped other significant moments. They even removed the entire Laboon arc that had a significant impact in a later arc. And the worst change of all was Zoro's swords no long cut anybody. He was such an expert swordsman he could knock people unconscious without drawing a droplet of blood. x_x while in the real show he murdered the hell out of alot of people. lol.