Episode 28 (2003 Anime)

All Is One, One Is All
Japan airdate	2004 April 17
USA airdate	2005 September 24
Series Information
Series	Fullmetal Alchemist (2003 anime)
◄ Previous	Teacher
Next ►	The Untainted Child

This article is about the 2003 anime series episode. For the similarly named 2009 anime series episode, see Episode 12: One Is All, All Is One (2009 series).

All Is One, One Is All is the 28th episode of the Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 anime series.

Synopsis

Izumi dumps Ed and Al on Yock Island. Now they must once more survive the savage climate to relearn the lessons they've forgotten.

Full Synopsis

Izumi has decided to leave Edward and Alphhonse on Yock Island, an uninhabited island, which is the same place she left them during their training with no alchemy allowed, hoping they could take the time to learn something. Winry can only watch as she, Izumi and Sig return to the mainland by boat. As they are walking, the Elrics realize they are not the same as before since both of them can no longer swim.

Flashing back, the two remember the day where Izumi and Mason left them there for a one month evaluation test with the same rules to see if they were worthy of her training, and she left with the quote "One is All, All is One", pointing out they needed to know the meaning to pass the test. In the present, Ed remembers how they had to work hard to understand it compared to now, unaware that a mysterious figure is following them. They then arrive at the spot that served as their bed, which on the first night back then, they were pondering on what Izumi had meant. It was also on that night that both of them had to deal with a mysterious masked man, who overpowered the boys and forced them to run away and hide.

In the present, Ed notices some foxes as the mysterious person continues to observe them. As the present Elrics catch some fish by having Al walk in shallow water without damaging his blood rune, they recall how they caught a bunny during their training days. Because of their hesitation to kill it, a fox got ahold of it, and then it injured Ed's original right arm when he confronted it. Eventually locating the fox's nest and watching the fox give the rabbit to its cubs, the past Elrics tried fishing instead. Several days passed and they caught some fish, but the masked man scared them off. In the present, as Al tends to cooking the fish, the mysterious person observes him. Al accuses Ed of eating the fish when the fire is destroyed with only a hand print. Ed verifies that he didn't do it and the two go look for this mysterious person.

In the past, the Elrics had to develop weapons and use other tools while avoiding the masked man, but with no luck and barely any food since the island's mushrooms they found were inedible. As the past Elric brothers were frustrated with their difficulties, the present ones are continuing their search, and Al mistakenly thinks the stranger is Ed shortly before the real Ed returns.

During an encounter with the masked man in the past, Ed saw a dead cicada being devoured but realized how important survival was. Ed was able to convince the masked man to let Al go and leave. After talking it over with Al, Ed now recognized how small his existence was, and if he died, his body would remain and eventually degrade as a part of nature and larger flow. Ed realized this was something that Izumi was trying to teach him since nature's flow and alchemy work together, which was the answer to her question. The Elrics then worked together and found the right mushrooms and caught food, including killing a rabbit without hesitation, for their remaining days of training before passing the test and moving on with their training.

In the present, Ed realizes the point is to reteach them this concept, due to transmuting their mom, as well as their present mission. Upon talking it over with present Izumi, who returned to the island with Mason, Ed decides to move forward. Once Izumi notices another person is present, the Elrics believe it could be the same masked man from the past. Mason reveals he was that person due to Izumi sending him in secret to watch over the boys, agitating them greatly. The stranger, who is a boy, comes out of the bushes and Edward glares at him caustically.

Trivia

• This episode is adapted from content in Chapter 21: The Brothers' Secret, Chapter 22: The Masked Man and Chapter 23: Knocking on Heaven's Door.
• During the episode, after finding their campfire ransacked and their dinner eaten, Al accuses Ed of having gotten hungry and eating ahead of schedule, pointing to a handprint in the ground as evidence. Ed points out that the handprint is of a right hand and therefore can't belong to him. Ironically, since it was Wrath who left the print, it is, in fact, Ed's right hand print.
• In series director Seiji Mizushima's opinion, Ed and Al did not truly understand the philosophy of "all is one, one is all" at the time, as they still went on to commit human transmutation.