This episode introduces the legend of the Saints of Athena, who have always fought without weapons since the mythological times. The legend tells that they could smash the ground with their kicks and destroy stars with their punches. And now, they're back to the modern times. The main character of Knights of Zodiac is Seiya, who is training in Sanctuary, located at Athens, Greece, to gain the Bronze Cloth of Pegasus. However, he'll have to defeat Cassios, his rival, to get it, and Shina, Silver Amazon of Serpent, to stay alive...

Seiya arrives in Japan and learns about the Galaxian Wars, but he's not interested. All he wants is to find his missing sister, Seika. Saori tells him that she's disappeared when he went to Greece and makes a deal with Seiya: He wins the tournament, she'll find his sister. On his first battle, Seiya will fight against Geki, Bronze Saint of Bear.

This episode introduces a new saint: Hyoga, who has trained in Siberia for five years and now is the Bronze Saint of Cygnus (Swan in the American version), warrior of ice. He returns to Japan to fight in Galaxian Wars and his first opponent is Ichi, Bronze Saint of Hydra, whose fangs are deadly poisonous.

The most furious battle of the tournament begins: Seiya versus Shiryu, Bronze Saint of Dragon. Seiya has hard times against Shiryu, whose Rising Dragon attack is so powerful that it can invert the course of Rozan Waterfall, and whose cloth's fist and shield are the most solid and strong ones in the world. Seiya takes desperate measures to win, and Shiryu tries desperately to finish this battle quickly, since his master is on the verge of death.

Seiya and Shiryu are now without their clothes, which means that the smallest mistake will lead one of them to death. Shiryu is still fast enough to avoid Seiya's meteors, but Seiya has got an ace up his sleeve: he has found out that Shiryu's attack, the Rising Dragon, has a small weakpoint that might lead Shiryu to his defeat, and possibly to his death...

Andromeda battles against Unicorn Andromeda uses his chains to form a nebula chain (Andromeda Galaxy). Unicorn runs directly to Andromeda but his chains attacks Unicorn, thus impoosible for Unicorn to attack. He tried to attack Andromeda from the air but the chains still attack him in the air. Suddenly, the chains set a reaction and form a code for Andromeda. He wonders what is could be until at the end, his brother appears.

Phoenix Ikki attacks his brother, Andromeda, without mercy. He's full of hate against all Saints and Saori Kido, whose grandfather had sent him to Death Queen Island. Jabu tries to stop Ikki but he's defeated with one single punch. Then, the official battle begins, between Ikki and Nachi, Bronze Saint of Wolf, who has his mind completely destroyed by Phoenix's attack. Then, Ikki bids farewell to all and, along with his henchmen, the Black Saints, steals the Gold Cloth.

Seiya, Hyoga, Shiryu and Shun chases Ikki and his Black Saints through the city as they run away with the Gold Cloth. Kido's Foundation sends an helicopter after the enemies, but Ikki destroys it with a single strike. They hide in the harbor and Ikki finally wears the Gold Cloth, but Seiya finds and hits him, making the Gold Cloth fly away from Ikki's body and split up. The black saints get the cloth's parts and runs again. One by one, they're defeated by the Bronze Saints, but they only manage to recover both arms and both legs of the cloth. One of the defeated Black Saints reveals that they follow Ikki because four stronger Black Saints support Ikki, and that Ikki's real intent is to take over the world. The next morning, Shiryu returns to the Five Peaks of Rozan, taking the destroyed cloths of Pegasus and Dragon with him, in order to repair them. But a black shadow watches them carefully...

Seiya is searching for Ikki with the aid of a police dog. Shun is in the forest remembering of the past and wondering what had made his brother change, when a new enemy arrives: one of the black saints, Black Swan. He attacks Shun, but Hyoga arrives and challenges him to a freezing duel: Swan vs. Black Swan. The other three black saints (Black Pegasus, Black Dragon and Black Andromeda) eventually show up too.

Shiryu goes to Jamil's Mountains in order to find Mu, the only one who can repair the clothes of Pegasus and Dragon. However, getting there will not be easy as he thinks. The Cloth Graveyard lies on his way, where many undead saints are waiting for him. When he finally arrives at Mu's Tower, Mu gives him some bad news about the clothes.

The battle of the Bronze Saints against Ikki and his Black Saints begins. Seiya, already wearing his Pegasus cloth (brought by Kiki), faces the Black Pegasus, whose meteors hide a terrible curse and might lead Seiya to an horrible death. Hyoga has no difficulties in defeating Black Swan, who alerts Ikki about Hyoga's attacks before dying. Finally, Hyoga finds the Phoenix Saint and challenges him to a duel. The battle is starting to heat up!

Seiya is suffering from Black Death's curse and is on the verge of death, while Hyoga tries (in vain) to defeat Ikki. Shun finds Seiya and tries to help him, but Black Andromeda and Black Dragon show up and Seiya makes a last sacrifice so Shun won't get killed. Shun manages to kill his black shadow and Shiryu appears and challenges Black Dragon. The combat between the Dragons is about to begin!

In this episode, Shiryu challenges the Black Dragon, while Shun tries to save Seiya, who is slowly dying because of Black Pegasus' Black Death Horror. Shiryu, still weak because of his blood loss, almost sacrifices his life for friendship (which Black Dragon can't understand why, since he doesn't believe in such thing as friendship).

The four Saints prepare to face Ikki (Hyoga wasn't dead after all), but they are no match for the mighty cosmo of Ikki. He knocks them out with one single strike, except for Seiya, who was protected by the Gold Cloth. Aided by the cosmo of his friends, Seiya finally manages to defeat Ikki after a deadly battle.

Ikki reveals what happened to him in the Death Queen Island. Since the beginning of his training, his master (Guilty) has taught him to hate everyone, as a way to gain strength and kill his enemies. The only person in the whole island who cared about Ikki was Esmeralda, Guilty's daughter. She used to take care of Ikki's wounds and both of them were real friends. Ikki's last day on Death Queen Island has come. Unless he killed his master, he wouldn't get the Phoenix Bronze Cloth. In the middle of the battle, Guilty killed his own daughter, Esmeralda. That transformed Ikki in a demon of rage, and he murdered his master with all his power, becoming the demoniac Bronze Saint of Phoenix. Back to the present, Ikki tells Seiya and the others the battle wasn't over because he was defeated. Suddenly, the black saints show up and steal the Gold Cloth. A new enemy has come: Docrates, the most powerful man in the Sanctuary. He shows his tremendous power (Hercules' Tornado Punch) and asks Ikki f

At many places round the world, tragedies are happening because of the Sanctuary's agents. In Greece, the Sanctuary's Pope is furious because Docrates hasn't returned yet with the Gold Cloth. Marin is about to be killed by Shina, but Aiolia stops her, saving Marin. According to Marin, the former Pope of the Sanctuary has suddenly died and his younger brother, Ares, is the new Pope, bringing a dark time for the Sanctuary. Back to Japan, Saori is in the planetarium dome when her grandfather, Mitsumasa Kido, appears to her. He tells her that the Gold Cloth always shows up when a new crisis is about to happen in the world and that she must be like Athena and guide the Bronze Saints to the victory. Meanwhile, Docrates's henchmen search for their boss under the rocks, when he shows up and they march for the Kido Mansion. Next morning, Docrates attacks the mansion. Shiryu, Hyoga and Shun defeats his henchmen but can do nothing against the mighty power of Docrates's Hercules Tornado Punc

Docrates is in the Colosseum and will free Saori and Tatsumi if Seiya gives him the Gold Cloth's helm. Seiya and Shun goes to the Colosseum while Shiryu and Kiki (who saw telephatically where the other missing pieces of the Gold Cloth were hidden) goes to the island where Ikki's challenge took place. Docrates' henchmen deceived the Bronze Saints and stole the helm without setting Saori free. His henchmen leave the Colosseum but Hyoga was waiting for them and he recovers the Helm. Seiya learns that Docrates is the older brother of Cassios, who was defeated by Seiya in Greece, and seeks revenge. Seiya and Shun are no match to Docrates's ""Hercules Tornado Punch"", but Hyoga arrives and, with a dangerous technique that he learned from his master, the Crystal Saint, freezes Docrates' legs, paralyzing the giant enemy. Then, Seiya and Shun attack and finally kill Docrates. Meanwhile, Shiryu and Kiki arrive at the place, but the Sanctuary's soldiers had already flown away with the other Gold Cl

The Pope is furious with Docrates' failure, and Shina advises Gigars to send the amazon Jeist (Shina's disciple, who was banned from the Sanctuary by the former Pope) to recover the Gold helmet. In an castle on an island at the Carribean Sea, Jeist receives a letter from the Sanctuary and summons her disciples, the Ghost Saints: Serpent, Dolphin and Medusa. They take over a big nuclear energy-powered oil ship that belongs to Kido Foundation and threaten to destroy it unless the Bronze Saints give the helm to them. Seiya and the others go to the ship and Seiya is forced to fight alone against the Serpent and the Dolphin. Otherwise, Medusa will destroy the ship. However, Shun immobilizes Medusa with his chains and the Bronze Saints go to help Seiya but, all of a sudden, the ocean is filled by ghost pirate ships, and thousands of ghost pirates invade the oil ship and distract the saints. The Ghost Saints seize the opportunity, steal the helm and jump to the ocean. The pirate illusion was

Shun has been hurt in the battle and is resting in his room. Saori and Tatsumi arrive at the oil tanker. Saori does an ancient Greek tradition with her jewels (I'll tell more about it on the 'cultural references' section), bringing courage back to the Bronze Saint's hearts. Afterwards, they watch a VCR tape recorded by the Foundation's satellite. It shows where Jeist's ship has gone to: The Island of Spirits, at the Caribbean Sea. The saints fly to the island, but their plane is attacked by Jeist's illusory attack and crases on the ocean. The Serpent Saint tries to kill Andromeda by drowning, but Hyoga freezes the sea's surface and Seiya finishes him off. They swim to the island and need to climb a hill in order to move on. Shun uses his chains, but they're attacked by poisonous insects on their way up. When they finally reach the top, Dolphin shows up, but then he's easily defeated by Shiryu's Rising Dragon. Hyoga is too weak and can't go on. In the forest, they're attacked again by v

Seiya and the others have the Gold Helmet, and the Sanctuary has the other parts of the Gold Cloth. In order to gather more information about the Gold Cloth's whereabouts, Seiya goes to Greece to visit Marin, while Shiryu goes to the Five Peaks and Hyoga goes to Siberia. Shun stays to protect Saori. Meanwhile, the Crystal Saint - master of Hyoga - goes to the Sanctuary to complain about what's happening there, but the Pope seizes the opportunity and hypnotises the Crystal Saint. Seiya arrives at the Sanctuary and is attacked by Shina and some soldiers. The Pegasus Saint is about to be killed when Marin arrives and stops Shina. Then, Marin tells Seiya what happened to the Crystal Saint and that Hyoga is in danger. Meanwhile, Hyoga arrives at Siberia and finds the village where he grew up completely empty, but he eventually finds his little friend, Yakoff, collapsed on the snow. Yakoff tells Hyoga that the Crystal Saint has changed a lot, and now is a cruel man. Hyoga goes to the Crystal

In China, Roshi tells Shiryu that the previous Pope suddenly died, and Ares, his younger brother, has taken his place as the new Pope. In Siberia, the Crystal Saint continuosly attacks Hyoga, who runs away. Back to the village, Yakoff tells Hyoga that the villagers were enslavered and are being forced to build an ice piramid to symbolize the Sanctuary's power. Hyoga goes there to free the villagers, and manages to do it. However, the Crystal Saint appears, and Hyoga has to confront him. Hyoga doesn't want to fight his master, so he is an easy prey to the mind-controlled saint, who freezes Cygnus' legs and hits him mercilessly. A soldier is about to shoot Hyoga on his head, but Seiya shows up and intercepts the bullets. The Crystal Saint tries to freeze the two bronze saints, but Hyoga hits him with his Diamond Dust. The Crystal Saint prepares himself to shoot an outstanding attack at Seiya and Hyoga, but he hits the Ice Piramid instead, destroying it, and collapses on the ground.

Shun, Saori and Tatsumi hide themselves at a small house in the middle of the forest, in order to protect the Gold Cloth's helm. Meanwhile, the Fire Saint arrives at Japan and burns the Kido's mansion with his flame attack. Tatsumi and Saori wants to return, but Shun stops them, reminding Saori how important it is to protect the Gold Helm. Tatsumi disagrees and flies to Kido Mansion, being captured by the Fire Saint and some soldiers from the Sanctuary. Under torture, he tells them where the Gold Helm is. Shun has troubles in trying to put out the firespots caused by Fire Saint's flame attacks, and this is decisive for the battle, since he can't put out the fire and defend himself at the same time. Eventually, Shun falls in the middle of the flames, but suddenly a hurricane begins, blowing the flames away, and a man appears from the nothing, carrying Shun on his arms: Phoenix Ikki! Ikki is back from the hell, and he is no longer a servant of the Sanctuary. He kills the Fire Saint quick

Marin is ordered (and forced) to go to Japan and kill Seiya, but she doesn't go alone. On Japan, Seiya is at the beach when Marin shows up... along with Lizard Misty. Misty is a Silver Saint, a much more powerful enemy than Docrates or Ikki. Seiya tries to attack Misty, but Marin stops him and gives him a fatal blow. When Marin leaves, Misty digs up Seiya's body and realises the truth: Marin did not kill Seiya for real, she used a fake attack in order to save her pupil. Then, the battle between Seiya and Misty begins...

Misty hits Seiya with his technique, Marvel Tripper, making Seiya vomit blood and fall in the ocean. A drop of Seiya's blood hits Misty on the neck and he, feeling horribly dirty, takes his cloth off and cleans himself on the ocean's water. However, Pegasus was still alive. Seiya manages to block and deflect Misty's attack and, grabbing him by the back, throws Misty (and himself) into the sea, since Misty's Marvel Tripper, a wind-based attack, is useless underwater. Finally Misty is defeated. Two more Silver Saints arrive at Japan, Kaisto Moses and Hound Asterion. On discovering Marin's treason, they capture her as a way to attract Seiya to their claws. Seiya arrives and is attacked by Moses. On the verge of death, Seiya learns from Moses that Marin is his sister. Then, Seiya recover his strenghts and kills Moses, but he still has to fight Asterion.

Seiya is tired because of his two battles and is no match for Asterion, who is faster and can read Seiya's thoughts. Seiya is easily defeated by Asterion's ""One Million Ghosts' Attack"" and is about to be killed when Marin comes to rescue. Kiki has freed her from the chains. Asterion tries to read Marin's thoughts, but Marin keeps her mind clear, nullflying the Silver Saint's advantage. As a last shot, Asterion tries to kill her with his special attack, but it's Marin who hits him and kills him. Hyoga arrives at the beach and finds Seiya unconscious. Marin is gone, but they find a message from her written on the sand: ""Seiya guard Athena"". Back to the Colosseum, the five Bronze Saints are surprised when Tatsumi reveals that Saori is actually the reincarnation of Athena, and that the Bronze Saints' duty is to protect her. All of a sudden, another Silver Saint appears: Centaur Babel, who uses flame attacks. Hyoga challenges him and, in the middle of the battle, three misterious Saints

In the Sanctuary, Shina learns that the Bronze Saints are flying towards the Sanctuary, and sets up an ambush on a island near the Sanctuary with two Silver Saints: the telekinesis master Spartan and Perseus Argol, whose power turns anyone into stone. The Bronze Saints' airplane is attacked by Spartan's power and it's forced to land on the island, where Shina, Spartan and Argol are waiting for them.

The battle begins. Shiryu is unable to hit Spartan, since he can attack and defend himself with his telekinetic powers. Seiya challenges Shina and eventually defeats her, and she tells him that Marin hasn't gone back to the Sanctuary. Shun tries to hit Argol's back with his Chain, but the Nebula Chain is paralyzed in the middle of the air, and loses his attack power. For the surprise of all, Argol reveals what's hidden on his back: The Medusa Shield, which turns Shun into a stone statue. Argol puts the shield on his arm and direct its gaze towards Shiryu and Seiya, but only Seiya becomes is petrified, since Shiryu used his shield to avoid Medusa's power. Spartan tries to make Shiryu to look at the shield, but a quick move from Dragon makes Spartan look at the shield, and now he is petrified. The battle is balanced again, and Shiryu has troubles to avoid Argol's attacks and the Medusa's gaze. Meanwhile, Hyoga and Ikki are flying to the battlefield, in order to help their friends. Will t

Shiryu is having troubles to attack Argol, since he needs to pay attention to the Medusa Shield. As an attempt to avoid the Shield's gaze, Shiryu uses a piece of cloth to cover his eyes, but it's useless against the Medusa Shield, and Shiryu' left arm (and his shield) is petrified. Being unable to use his shield anymore, Shiryu is about to be totally petrified when the Silver Saints show up and save the Dragon Saint from certain death. However, they are no match for Argol, and are defeated. As a last resort, Shiryu blinds himself in order to avoid Medusa's gaze. Now Shiryu can see Argol through Athena's aid, and with one last strike, he destroys the Medusa Shield and kills Argol. Seiya, Shun and Spartan come back to life, and Spartan runs away, taking Shina with him. Back to Japan, the Bronze Saints learns that the Silver Saints are a secret project from Mitsumasa Kido, and that their mission is to aid the Bronze Saints on their fight against the Sanctuary. Shiryu was operated, but the

Shiryu goes back to China with Shunrei to rest and try to find a cure to his eyes. Meanwhile, the Pope sends another Silver Saint to Japan, and Shina is pissed because she won't be allowed to go to Japan and kill Seiya, but she goes eventually. In Japan, Jamian, Silver Saint of Crow, orders his trained crows to kidnap Saori. Seiya chases him through the mountains, but Saori is still being taken to the Sanctuary by Jamian's army of crows.

Seiya attacks the crows that were taking Saori and she falls on the abyss. On his attempt to grab her, Seiya ends up by breaking his arm, but manages to save Saori, but Shina and Jamian show up. Between the foes and the abyss, Seiya and Saori throw themselves into the abyss. In the morning, Saori wakes up and protects a badly injured Seiya from Shina and Jamian with her powerful cosmo, and Hyoga and Shun arrive. Jamian is hit by Andromeda's Nebula Chain and falls on the abyss, but Shina won't fall that easily. Eventually Hyoga manages to attack her with the Aurora Thunder attack, and she falls on the abyss as well. However, the battle is not over, as two Silver Saint show up and block their way.

Two new silver saints arrive to take Saori, they are Capella, Silver Saint of Auriga (he uses discs to attack) and Dante, Silver Saint of Cerberus(he uses a spiked ball and chain). Hyoga and Shun fight them, but are defeated and thrown into the abyss. Just as they aproach Saori and a wounded Seiya, Ikki shows up. Saori is glad Ikki is finally back, but Ikki explains he and he's there only to help. Ikki draws a line on the ground and states it is the borderline between life and death, should the silver saints cross it they'll die. Capella is angry and attacks, but is defeated with a single punch. Dante uses his ball and chain but Ikki easily blocks all threats, jumping to the other side and explaining that he has already crossed the borderline between life and death many times, so that means nothing for him. Dante attacks once again but Ikki dodges and beats him with an uppercut. Ikki picks up Seiya and proceeds to leave when Capella gets up and throws a disc towards him, beheading I

Seiya is having his injuries treated at the hospital, being watched by Saori, Shun and Hyoga. Meanwhile, Ikki arrives at the Death Queen Island, where he had received his training and the Phoenix cloth, in order to pay a visit to Esmeralda's grave. However, the island is now ruled by Jango, the new leader of the Black Saints. Ikki faces Jango and the Black Phoenix at the island and Seiya and the others are going there to help him. But the Pope has different plans for the Death Queen Island, and the Saints are in great danger!

Back in China, a blind Shiryu is suffering for not being able to do simple things like training or holding a cup of tea that ShunRei had prepared for him. When ShunRei takes him to the river, so she can swim in it, a strong current makes her start to drown, and Shiryu can do nothing. She is saved by a man who Shiryu knows very well: Oko, who trained with him in the childhood and had been expelled by Roshi because of his violent spirit. Now he's back to kill Shiryu and get the Dragon Cloth, but Shiryu's cosmo is so weak and opaque that Oko loses the will to fight and leaves. That destroyed Shiryu's pride, and now he's suffering even more, since he feels he's not worthy to fight along with Seiya anymore. Meanwhile, Seiya desperately looks for something that can heal Shiryu's eyes and eventually departs for Mu's Palace in Jamiel, believing that Mu might now a way to cure Shiryu.

Ohko reveals to Roshi his long-time resentment of Shiyru. Ohko attacks Roshi, but his strong, golden aura prevents him. Shiyru finally does decide to fight Ohko. Ohko, being the honorable man he is, uses a blindfold, to make him even with Shiyru. After a tough fight (and them falling down a waterfall), Shiyru defeats Ohko, and Ohko gives up on the Dragon Cloth. And Shiyru now believes that he deserves the Dragon Cloth and can fight with Seiya too.

At the Five Peaks, Shiryu drinks the Water of Life, but it doesn't work. Roshi tells Shiryu about the existence of twelve gold clothes at the Sanctuary, and that the Pope has decided to send his Gold Saints to retrieve the Sagittarius Cloth and defeat the Bronze Saints. All of a sudden, the waterfall water arise and a man appears from inside the waters, walking towards Roshi. He's Death Mask, Gold Saint of Cancer, and came to assassinate the Roshi. Shiryu challenges him, but Death Mask can move at the speed of light. Soon, Shiryu is defeated and thrown into the waterfall. Death Mask then reveals that Roshi is actually one of the 12 gold saints, the Libra Saint. Here follows a discussion between Roshi and Death Mask about justice. The Cancer Saint attacks Roshi, but Shiryu jumps out of the water wearing his cloth and attacks Death Mask with his Rising Dragon attack. Death Mask feels the hit this time, and is furious. Through his Sekishiki attack, Death Mask tries to send Shiryu's

Everyone is ready to battle at Sanctuary, as Shun heads to the airport to meet the others. June interferes, claiming that he betrayed Santuary. Cancer, the Gold knight attacked Andromeda Island and captured their leader. June was there to capture Shun as a prisoner to free their leader, but Shun explained and indirectly defeated June. Eventually June believed Shun and warned him other Andromedan knights are seeking him but it was too late for Shun to escape. Two more knights appearred and locked Shun up.