History Main / FriendlyPirate

* {{Invoked}} in ''WesternAnimation/SonicPrime'' by Knuckles the Dread. After a failed venture for a legendary treasure, Dread lost his original ship and was abandoned by his crew for risking their lives. Dread swore of general piracy since then and would rather spend his days partying aboard his new ship with his new crew, though they would much prefer to do some actual pirating.

Of course the concept of a Friendly Pirate would be (in most cases) very bizarre in reality. Piracy is defined by the act of robbery or criminal violence by ships or boats. So, aside from burying and hunting treasure (maybe they actually payed for it at first - who knows?), why are they considered a pirate at all? It appears that in spite of the fact they are no different from any legal sailor, the commitment to the roleplay and non-violent treasure endeavours are enough for them to be deemed a pirate.

Of course the concept of a Friendly Pirate would be (in most cases) very bizarre in reality. Piracy is defined by the act of robbery or criminal violence by ships or boats. So, aside from burying treasure (maybe they actually payed for it at first - who knows?), why are they considered a pirate at all? It appears that in spite of the fact they are no different from any legal sailor, the commitment to the roleplay and non-violent treasure hunting is enough for them to be deemed a pirate.

Of course the concept of a Friendly Pirate would be (in most cases) very bizarre in reality. Piracy is defined by the act of robbery or criminal violence by ships or boats. So if they aren't breaking any laws then why are they considered a pirate at all? It appears that in spite of the fact they are no different from any legal sailor, the commitment to the roleplay is enough for them to be deemed a pirate.

** In the early draft of ''One Piece'', called "Romance Dawn", pirates were known by two classifications. Friendly pirates were known as "Peace Mains", while the RapePillageAndBurn pirates were "Morganeers". Luffy's journey was to find a crew of Peace Main pirates to join while also defeating any Morganeer crews he came across.

Alternately, they may be a form of KarmicThief or JustLikeRobinHood, dabbling in stealing and plundering but only from [[AssholeVictim evil people who really deserve it]]. They may get around the moral issues of their profession by only raiding TheEmpire, with or without a {{Privateer}} license from a "good"-aligned policy. Either way, they almost certainly won't engage in any violence more lethal than the obligatory [[SwordFight swashbuckling]], at worst subjecting their opponents to a HumiliationConga (or at the ''very'' worst a DisneyDeath). When a Friendly Pirate makes someone WalkThePlank, it's to laugh at them for getting their clothes wet.

{{Pirate}}s are traditionally savage outlaws who reside in the seas. Expect them to RapePillageAndBurn, and consider yourself lucky to survive encountering one. However, due to the popularity of the StockCharacter, a different interpretation has emerged in fiction: a pirate who is nice. Meet the Friendly Pirate, a pirate who has no intention of harming others they encounter. They will often adopt many of the traditional pirate mannerisms such as being DressedToPlunder (EyePatchOfPower optional), having a CoolShip, and seeking out treasure. However, any behavior that makes a pirate traditionally dangerous, is virtually absent.

Alternately, they may be a form of KarmicThief or JustLikeRobinHood, dabbling in stealing and plundering but only from [[AssholeVictim evil people who really deserve it]]. Either way, they certainly won't engage in any violence more lethal than the obligatory [[SwordFight swashbuckling]], at worst subjecting their opponents to a HumiliationConga. When a Friendly Pirate makes someone WalkThePlank, it's to laugh at them for getting their clothes wet. Even when they do engage in violence and plundering, they may get around the moral issues of their profession by only raiding TheEmpire, with or without a {{Privateer}} license from a "good"-aligned policy.

* ''WebVideo/OutsideXBox'''s ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' ActualPlay series:

Alternately, they may be a form of KarmicThief or JustLikeRobinHood, dabbling in stealing and plundering but only from [[AssholeVictim evil people who really deserve it]]. Either way, they certainly won't engage in any violence more lethal than the obligatory [[SwordFight swashbuckling]], at worst subjecting their opponents to a HumiliationConga. When a Friendly Pirate makes someone WalkThePlank, it's to laugh at them for getting their clothes wet.

Related to but distinct from ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything, as Friendly Pirates can still be fairly active in their piracy, but tend to stick to the less dangerous activities. Even when they do engage in violence and plundering, they may get around the moral issues of their profession by only raiding TheEmpire, with or without a {{Privateer}} license from a "good"-aligned policy.

Alternately, they may be a form of KarmicThief or JustLikeRobinHood, dabbling in stealing and plundering but only from [[AssholeVictim evil people who really deserve it]]. Either way they certainly won't engage in any violence more lethal than the obligatory [[SwordFight swashbuckling]], at worst subjecting their opponents to a HumiliationConga. When a Friendly Pirate makes someone WalkThePlank, it's to laugh at them for getting their clothes wet.

** Luffy's role model in piracy, "Red-Haired" Shanks, also leads an entire band of friendly pirates. For the Red Hair Pirates, piracy is about fun and adventure, to be free and see all the world has to offer.

** This is also a plot point concerning the setting and the world's police force, the Marines, and the World Government that they work for. Marines are seen as a KnightTemplar army who enforce justice and meant to be defenders of innocents while viewing pirates as AlwaysChaoticEvil that need to be stamped out -- just because they choose adventure instead of regulating themselves under the rule of the government. We're shown very early that some Marines can be corrupt and use their power for their own ends while hiding behind the justice banner. On the flip side, some pirates in the series are friendly and don't wish to cause trouble, usually only sailing for the adventure of it. Essentially, a main Aesop that is frequently shown is "don't judge a book by its cover" and that actions determine if a pirate is evil or not, not the title.
*** Though the main point is that only ''some'' of the pirate crews don't wish to cause any trouble and explore the seas. The majority of the pirate crews in the manga, even those belonging to the Seven Warlords, are as evil as they come and terrorize the seas just because they can, ostenstibly to reach the mythical One Piece, Gold Roger's treasure which no one was sure even really existed. In fact, the Emperors' protection only arose due to the slavery and all around chaos committed by these pirates. Shanks, similarly, is the TokenGoodTeammate of the Emperors, while his peers are contenders of the {{Big Bad}}s of the series. Most of the Marines' actions tend to veer towards ''perfectly understandable'', though hadn't they been indiscriminately trying to destroy ''all'' pirates except excluding the good ones, they wouldn't end up [[SelfFulfillingProphecy turning the good ones against the Marines]] instead of gaining immensely steadfast allies.

** Bruce Wayne himself becomes one in when he gets sent back in time by ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}'s Omega Beams during ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' and ends up in 18th century North America where he has a run-in with UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}}. To escape the legendary pirate, Bruce fakes his own death and then dons pirate gear, where he dismantles Blackbeard's crew before engaging and defeating him in a sword duel.

* ''WesternAnimation/AladdinAndTheAdventureOfAllTime'' involves Aladdin and Paige having to retrieve the lamp from a pirate ship. These pirates, lead by Blondebeard, are foppish, pacifistic, and overly friendly. However, they're on the verge of being taken over by far more vicious pirates...so Aladdin turns Blondebeard into UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}}, at which point he abandons all shades of the trope and becomes fully evil.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePiratesInAnAdventureWithScientists'' has The Pirate Captain, his mates, and basically all of the pirates who are basically glory seeking thieves, who engage in PokeThePoodle piracy.

* The 1973 Creator/ShawBrothers movie, ''Film/ThePirate1973'', revolves around the life of 19th-century pirate [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheung_Po_Tsai Cheung Po Tsai,]] who in the movie is depicted as a diplomatic gentleman and a Robin Hood-esque hero. He only plunders the ships of corrupted governors and often passes himself off as a trader or merchant before deciding whom he should rob, preferring to leave innocent villagers and unarmed sailors alone. Upon finding out a coastal town he intends to attack was actually exploited, Cheung instead decides to stay and help the locals fight against the tyranny of ruling officials. He even became friends with Admiral Wu, sent by the Imperial Court to arrest Cheung, and they end up fighting against a common enemy by the end of the film.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E3TheCurseOfTheBlackSpot The Curse of the Black Spot]]" features Henry Avery, historically a real-life pirate captain. While he turns to piracy out of greed, he is shown to love his son upon discovering the boy has stowed away on his ship and greatly saddened to hear his wife had passed away. When confronted with a Siren who is attracted to shiny objects, Henry throws it overboard but tries to keep one crown, which he will later regret once the Siren uses it to capture his son. Later when it's revealed the Siren is an AutoDoc of an alien spacecraft trying to save his son, Henry gives up his pirate life to stay with them. He later becomes part of the Doctor's [[TheCavalry cavalry]] who was [[GondorCallsForAid called upon to assist]] in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar A Good Man Goes To War]]".

* ''Series/OurFlagMeansDeath'': Stede Bonnet's crew aspires to be actual pirates, but in reality skew toward the friendly side, owing to Stede's self-professed positive management style, upper-class breeding, and distaste for any of the more dangerous piratical activities.

* ''Music/ParryGripp'': The song "Pirate Snail on Broccoli Isle" features the titular snail, who wears traditional pirate garb, sails the seven seas with his crew and searches for treasure. He, however, doesn't bury his treasure "Because that's no fun", and instead shares it with everyone.

[[folder:Video Game]]

--> "''If you are unsatisfied with your pirate purchase for any reason... tough luck, pal! WE'RE PIRATES! You're lucky that we didn't just rob you blind in the first place!''"

** Brigid from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' is the captain of Orgahill pirates, who starts off as Sigurd's enemy, but whose honorable ways eventually cause her crew to mutiny against and to oust her, after which she joins Sigurd's army. While she was raised by her crew's late captain, she is eventually revealed to be the long-lost twin sister of Lady Edain of Yngvi, whom the pirates had kidnapped as a baby.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' we have Fargus and Dart. The former is a jovial but powerful pirate captain who offers you passage aboard his ship if you can beat his crew in a sparring contest and later becomes an important ally. The latter was saved by Fargus as a boy when he washed up unconscious on the shore and went on to become one of his most trusted crewmates. Dart, despite being rough and rude, compared to the lords and more polite party members, nonetheless cheerfully lends his aid to the party, and even asks a woman for help with moving an unconscious girl, as he doesn't "know where to grab her" to avoid impropriety.

* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersPirates'' pretty much locks you into playing one by default, given the game's light-hearted tone. While you're free to attack and rob ships and do all kinds of piracy, your character is never presented as anything but a LovableRogue and any nations you choose not to attack will happily give you letters of marque and give you access to their ports, mercants and governors' daughters.

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': {{Downplayed}} with the Sith Inquisitor PC's second companion, {{space pirate|s}} Andronikos Revel. He's a {{revenge}}-obsessed HotBlooded gunslinger who is reputed to have destroyed more Republic ships than half the Imperial fleet put together, but he's pretty easygoing and friendly with his current or former crew members (those who didn't mutiny at least): he's an {{amicable ex|es}} with bit character Casey Rix, and can become close friends with the Inquisitor and is a potential LoveInterest for a female PC.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'': Patty is a granddaughter of the legendary pirate Ainfread who has entered the family business to find her grandfather's legendary treasure. Given she's a [[TokenMiniMoe growth-stunted 14-year old]] Patty isn't particularly dangerous to anyone ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation except during gameplay]]) and the party spends most of their early encounters rescuing her from various jams she swears she has perfectly under control.

* VideoGame/DragonQuestIX: Cap’n Max Meddlin is the resident collector of Mini-Medals in this game. He’ll gladly hand over all the treasure he has in exchange for the tiny collectibles.

* Samurai Goroh from the ''VideoGame/FZero'' franchise is a pirate and BountyHunter, however, in the ''Falcon Densetsu/GP Legend'' continuity, Goroh lives by a code of honour, namely, he does not kill the people he robs.

* ''Fanfic/JuniorOfficers'': Kwazii's backstory as a pirate is elaborated on more than in the [[WesternAnimation/TheOctonauts original series]][[note]]He was a pirate known as "Kwazii the Brazen" until he was separated from his crew.[[/note]], and he's still as friendly as ever.

* The 1973 Creator/ShawBrothers movie, ''Film/ThePirate1973'', revolves around the life of 19th-century pirate [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheung_Po_Tsai Cheung Po Tsai]], who in the movie is depicted as a diplomatic gentleman and a Robin Hood-esque hero. He only plunders the ships of corrupted governors and often passes himself off as a trader or merchant before deciding whom he should rob, preferring to leave innocent villagers and unarmed sailors alone. Upon finding out a coastal town he intends to attack was actually exploited, Cheung instead decides to stay and help the locals fight against the tyranny of ruling officials. He even became friends with Admiral Wu, sent by the Imperial Court to arrest Cheung, and they end up fighting against a common enemy by the end of the film.

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': {{Downplayed}} with the Sith Inquisitor PC's second companion, SpacePirate Andronikos Revel. He's a {{revenge}}-obsessed HotBlooded gunslinger who is reputed to have destroyed more Republic ships than half the Imperial fleet put together, but he's pretty easygoing and friendly with his current or former crew members (those who didn't mutiny at least): he's an {{amicable ex|es}} with bit character Casey Rix, and can become close friends with the Inquisitor and is a potential LoveInterest for a female PC.

** ''Batman: Leatherwing'': Applies to an {{Elseworld}}s take on Batman who is a pirate named Captain Leatherwing. He plunders ships of rival countries on behalf of English royalty, doing so in the hopes of eventually buying back lands stolen from his murdered parents. Despite his piracy, he is a LovableRogue who does not harm innocents and even saves them on occasion.

* The children's book ''How I Became a Pirate'' tells of [[CaptainColorbeard Braidbeard]] and his crew of friendly pirates in need of a digger. They take in a young boy they find on the beach and happily teach him the pirate ways.

Related to but distinct from ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything, as Friendly Pirates can still be fairly active in their piracy, but tend to stick to the less dangerous activities. Even when they do engage in violence and plundering, they may get around the moral issues of their profession by only raiding TheEmpire, with or without a {{Privateer}} license from a "good"-aligned polity.

*** Though, the main point is that only ''some'' of the pirate crews don't wish to cause any trouble and explore the seas. Majority of the pirate crews in the manga, even in the Seven Warlords crews, are as evil as they come, and terrorize the seas just because they can, ostenstibly to reach the mythical One Piece, Gold Roger's treasure which no one was sure even really existed. In fact, the Emperor's protection only arose due to the slavery and all around chaos committed by these pirates. Shanks, similarly, is the TokenGoodTeammate of the Emperors, while his peers are the contenders of the {{Big Bad}}s of the series. Most of the Marines' actions tend to veer towards ''perfectly understandable'' hadn't they been indiscriminately trying to destroy ''all'' pirates except excluding the good ones, thus [[SelfFulfillingProphecy turning the good ones against the Marines]] instead of immensely steadfast allies they could have been.

Of course the concept of a Friendly Pirate would be (in most cases) very bizarre in reality. Piracy is defined by the act of robbery or criminal violence by ships or boats. So if they aren't breaking any laws then why are they considered a pirate at all? In spite of the fact they are no different from any legal sailor, the commitment to the roleplay is enough for them to be deemed a pirate.

Of course the concept of a Friendly Pirate would be very bizarre in reality. Piracy is defined by the act of robbery or criminal violence by ships or boats. So if they aren't breaking any laws then why are they considered a pirate at all? In spite of the fact they are no different from any legal sailor, the commitment to the roleplay is enough for them to be deemed a pirate.

Alternately, they may be a form of KarmicThief, dabbling in stealing and plundering but only from [[AssholeVictim evil people who really deserve it]]. Either way they certainly won't engage in any violence more lethal than the obligatory [[SwordFight swashbuckling]], at worst subjecting their opponents to a HumiliationConga. When a Friendly Pirate makes someone WalkThePlank, it's to laugh at them for getting their clothes wet.

* Long John Silver from ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet''. While it's implied that he has done some nasty things in the past, and is fairly antagonistic at the beginning, he proves to be quite an AffablyEvil LovableRogue [[TokenGoodTeammate who has a lot more moral scruples compared to his fellow]] SpacePirates, and develops a strong and genuine friendship with the main protagonist Jim Hawkins (whom he treats like a surrogate son of sorts).

*** Though, the main point is that only ''some'' of the pirate crews don't wish to cause any trouble and explore the seas. Majority of the pirate crews in the manga, even in the Seven Warlords crews, are as evil as they come, and terrorize the seas just because they can, ostenstibly to reach the mythical One Piece, Gold Roger's treasure which no one was sure even really existed. In fact, the Yonko's protection only arose due to the slavery and all around chaos committed by these pirates. Shanks, similarly, is the TokenGoodTeammate of the Emperors, while his peers are the contenders of the {{Big Bad}}s of the series. Most of the Marines' actions tend to veer towards ''perfectly understandable'' hadn't they been indiscriminately trying to destroy ''all'' pirates except excluding the good ones, thus [[SelfFulfillingProphecy turning the good ones against the Marines]] instead of immensely steadfast allies they could have been.

* In ''Literature/{{Cytonic}}'', Spensa meets several groups of pirates in the Nowhere. Despite their aggressive recruitment tactics, they go to great lengths to make sure everyone is as safe as possible during their "raids" and almost all of the theft between the two groups is arranged behind the scenes for show.