| 1 | !All spoilers regarding the Super Rookies era are unmarked. New World spoilers are ''unmarked'' in character descriptions, and examples relating to the New World era can be spoiler-tagged if deemed necessary. |
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| 9 | [[center: [- [[Characters/OnePiece Main Character Index]] > '''Seven Warlords of the Sea''' > [[Characters/OnePieceBaroqueWorks Baroque Works]] | [[Characters/OnePieceDonquixotePirates Donquixote Pirates]] ([[Characters/OnePieceDonquixoteDoflamingo Donquixote Doflamingo]]) | [[Characters/OnePieceThrillerBarkPirates Thriller Bark Pirates]] | [[Characters/OnePieceKuja Kuja]] | [[Characters/OnePieceSunPirates Sun Pirates]] -]]] |
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| 11 | [[header:Seven Warlords of the Sea]] |
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| 16 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shichibukai.png]] |
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| 18 | ->''"The Seven Warlords of the Sea inhabit wild regions, and unlicensed pirates are easy targets for their marauding. The government allows the Seven Warlords to raid the seas in return for a cut of their haul. Other pirates call them "government dogs". But they're tough!!!"'' |
| 19 | -->--'''Yosaku, chapter 69''' |
| 20 | |
| 21 | The Seven Warlords of the Sea (王下七武海, ''Oka Shichibukai'', literally translating into the "Royal Seven Military Seas") were a loose group of powerful individual pirates who have allied themselves with the World Government, in exchange for certain benefits. Upon becoming a Warlord, their bounties got frozen, meaning the Marines and World Government stopped actively hunting them. They were permitted to retain their crews, territory, and any operation that they have. In exchange, they were required to hunt other pirates and do the government's bidding when needed, which can include, but is not limited to, helping them fight wars. They were also required to give the World Government a portion of their plunders, though this was rarely followed. Along with the [[Characters/OnePieceFourEmperors Four Emperors]] and [[Characters/OnePieceMarines Marines]], the Seven Warlords used to comprise one of the Three Great Powers that define the current era. Although they were referred to as a group, the Warlords never worked together nor do they even like each other; as a result, they mainly served as a supplementary buffer for the World Government against the pirate threat. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | While the Marines would rather not work with such characters, [[TeethClenchedTeamwork they feel as if they have no choice if they want to preserve the "balance" of the world]]. In light of their abysmal performance, such as the Straw Hat crew regularly managing to defeat one of them, several Warlords being revealed as corrupt or others just plainly betraying the Government, several voices have been raised to scrap the whole system altogether, including a high-ranking World Government figure, Admiral Fujitora. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | During the Reverie, the decision is made to abolish the Warlord system, aided by the testimonies of the kings of the Alabasta and Dressrosa kingdoms, both of which have suffered greatly under the Warlords Crocodile and Doflamingo respectively. The proposal is approved with a majority vote, stripping all Warlords of their titles and privileges, and dismantling the system altogether. The Marines immediately move to arrest the former Warlords, who are now just regular, albeit extremely strong, wanted pirates. |
| 26 | ----- |
| 27 | |
| 28 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 31 | * AloofAlly: Despite allying with the World Government, the Warlords are hardly loyal to them. With the exception of Mihawk and Kuma, they all display either contempt or blatant traitorous actions towards the World Government. [[spoiler:The Warlords prove to be so unreliable that the Warlord system gets abolished]]. |
| 32 | * AlwaysABiggerFish: Several of the Warlords during their early pirate careers eventually ran into the same insurmountable wall all seeking the One Piece must face: the Four Emperors of the Sea. Crocodile and Moria challenged Whitebeard and Kaido respectively and were crushed for it, while Jimbei and Doflamingo opted instead to serve them for different reasons. Blackbeard is the only one who managed to surmount the wall and become an Emperor himself, though it's implied Mihawk (who is a former rival of Shanks) could have done the same had he ever bothered to try and accrue the necessary military and political power needed to become one. [[spoiler:Later on, Buggy also becomes an Emperor thanks to sheer coincidence.]] |
| 33 | * AnimalMotifTeam: While not exactly a team, as they never cooperate, each is based off an animal and has the corresponding AnimalThemeNaming except for Jimbei (who is actually a shark-whale Fish-man): Dracule Mi''hawk'', Crocodile, Donquixote Do''flamingo'', Bartholomew ''Kuma'' (bear), ''Gecko'' Moria, and ''Boa'' Hancock. Among the recruits after the Time-skip, Trafalgar Law is nicknamed ''Torao'' by Luffy (from the katakana rendering of his name, ''Torafarugā Rō''), which means "tiger", however, Oda states that Law's AnimalMotifs is the seal, and there's Edward ''Weevil''. Blackbeard doesn't have a stated associated animal but, through SBS, it's agreed to be the hippo. |
| 34 | * ArtifactName: They frequently go through periods where they have less than the titular 7 members, due to many of them quitting or being expelled. Even when the Government tries to recruit new privateers over the two-years TimeSkip, Luffy and his allies reduce their numbers again when they [[spoiler:beat Doflamingo, and Trafalgar Law is also kicked out for his alliance with the Straw Hats, leaving the final count at five known members before the system is abolished entirely]]. |
| 35 | * BalanceOfPower: Collectively, they act as the third great force and the World Government's buffer against the Four Emperors, presumably so that the World Government has less pirates to deal with. When the Warlord system is abolished, this balance is broken and leads to a permanent change of the status quo: [[spoiler:the Warlords are replaced by the Seraphims, a cloned version of them with genetic empowerments, while former warlords Crocodile and Mihawk (and Buggy) form a new pirate alliance that threatens the entire World Government]]. |
| 36 | * BigBadEnsemble: On paper, they're all allied with the World Government and on the same side. In reality, they tend to not get along with each other ''or'' with the World Government. Besides the Summit War, during which they're all called to take part of on the pain of losing their title otherwise, they all do their own business and face the Straw Hats on their own. |
| 37 | * BoxedCrook: Their bounties are frozen, and they are given certain privileges in exchange for hunting down pirates, and giving a length of their loot to the government. |
| 38 | * BrokenAce: All of the Seven Warlords of the Sea are supposed to be {{The Ace}}s who can match the Four Emperors along with the Marines. However, all of the Warlords, save for Blackbeard and Buggy, are people with severe emotional and mental issues. |
| 39 | ** Crocodile had his will broken by the harshness of the Grand Line, and tries to take over a kingdom and turn it into his own military state and utopia. |
| 40 | ** Mihawk is constantly bored since [[VictoryIsBoring no one can challenge his sword skills]]. |
| 41 | ** Hancock was enslaved as a child by the World Nobles and has a tattoo permanently embedded on her back. |
| 42 | ** Jimbei lost his captain and friend who was betrayed by humans, his queen was killed by an assassin, and his subordinate Arlong went on to terrorize East Blue after he was freed since Jimbei became a Warlord. |
| 43 | ** Doflamingo [[spoiler: is a former World Noble who was exiled, hunted, and tormented by people who were wronged by the World Nobles, lost his mom to illness, and was raised by a gang who treated him like a god]]. |
| 44 | ** Moria had his entire crew wiped out by one of the Four Emperors and resorts to create a zombified pirate crew so he never has to experience something like the loss of his friends again. |
| 45 | ** Kuma is an exiled king from the South Blue who founded the Revolutionary Army alongside Monkey D. Dragon and Emporio Ivankov. Through unknown means, he was forced against his will into serving the World Government as a Warlord. Due to [[spoiler:being part of a rare race]], he was regularly experimented and slowly had his humanity stolen from him. Even after he's turned into a complete android, he is made into a slave and his body is used as a source of amusement by the World Nobles. |
| 46 | ** Law [[spoiler:had his life ruined because the government covered up how his homeland got lead poisoning (which caused other kingdoms to wall off his country and kill anyone who tried to escape), he only had a few years to live because of said poisoning, his entire family was murdered by people who thought his illness could be spread, and his adoptive father-figure was murdered saving his life both from Doflamingo and his illness]]. |
| 47 | ** Edward Weevil is denied belief that he's Whitebeard's son and is under the thumb of his controlling mother who's more interested in finding Whitebeard's supposed treasure than avenging his death. |
| 48 | * BullyingADragon: After disbanding the Warlord system, the World Government attempts to capture all of them. Not only do the Marines fail to bring in a single one [[spoiler: until it turns out Admiral Ryokugyu managed to capture Weevil]], but [[spoiler: a new Emperor crew is formed under Crocodile, Mihawk, and (seemingly) Buggy]]. |
| 49 | * CarnivalOfKillers: [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]]. Not all of of them are directly opposed to Luffy: Mihawk is neutral and interested in Zoro's journey, to the point that he trained him during the TimeSkip; Hancock pulled a HeelFaceTurn and fell in love with Luffy; Kuma is a member of the Revolutionary Army and saves the Straw Hats from Kizaru during the Sabaody Archipelago arc; Jimbei immediately offered to help Luffy, befriended him, and was even asked to join Luffy's crew (which he does later on); and Law formally allied with him despite knowing it was against the rules of being a Warlord, and ultimately came to befriend Luffy as well (even if he never admits it out loud). Though, the latter two forfeited their positions, with Jimbei coming back to Luffy's crew after he took care of some unfinished business with Big Mom. |
| 50 | * ContemptCrossfire: Civilians and other pirates hate them for being the World Government's "war dogs" and major {{Karma Houdini}}s. The Marines view the Warlords as a necessary evil at best, but otherwise have little more than contempt for them. [[spoiler:No one feels sorry for them when their immunity is revoked.]] |
| 51 | * DarkAndTroubledPast: All of them are implied to have a very strong [[FreudianExcuse reason]] for why they're the way they are. |
| 52 | ** Crocodile is implied to have dreamed of becoming the Pirate King like Luffy until his difficulties on the Grand Line broke him including an ill-fated encounter with Whitebeard, turning him into the cynical person he is today. |
| 53 | ** Moria's entire crew was killed by Kaido, leading to his desire for an indestructible, but expendable army for companionship. |
| 54 | ** Hancock used to be a slave to the Celestial Dragons alongside her sisters. This entailed being forced to eat a Devil Fruit for the nobles' amusement, and being given a brand marking her enslavement. |
| 55 | ** Blackbeard during his short time as a Warlord is also strongly implied to have one by [[AllThereInTheManual Oda when he drew the Warlords as children]] -- rather than being as carefree as he is now, [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130703113906/onepiece/images/d/dd/Marshall_D._Teach_as_Child.png he is holding both arms around his legs in fetal position while crying]]. |
| 56 | ** Doflamingo's past [[spoiler:as a former World Noble. When he was a child his father decided to give up his title as such and leave Mariejois, off to live with his family amongst common people (both heretical ideas amongst World Nobles, who consider themselves above humanity). The people in the place he moved to promptly rose up and tried to kill them all once they learned he was a World Noble. This leads to the family being forced to live in the dumps, and later, his mother dying from illness. He also killed his father out of anger and desire to go back to Mariejois, only to be rejected by the nobles]]. |
| 57 | ** Law's [[spoiler:homeland and everyone in it (including his family) were massacred, he had a disease that would kill him in three years, and, a few years later, the man who saved his life and served as a father-figure to him was murdered... by Doflamingo]]. |
| 58 | ** Averted with Jimbei, who is the only one so far whose past actually [[TookALevelInKindness improved his outlook]], rather than [[JadeColoredGlasses making him jaded]] like the others. Though, he lost his old captain, Fisher Tiger, and he also has to live with the guilt that comes from knowing that he indirectly helped unleash Arlong onto the world, making him partially responsible for [[spoiler:his future crewmate]] Nami's suffering. |
| 59 | ** Kuma's whole life was one tragedy after another. [[spoiler:Born a Buccaneer, Kuma and his parents were captured by the World Government and turned into slaves. His mother was worked to death and his father was shot in front of him. Kuma was later forced to partake in a "Native-Hunting Competition" as one of the "rabbits," where he met Emporio Ivankov and Ginny but they managed to escape alongside hundreds of slaves. After returning to his homeland, Kuma lived out several years of happiness alongside Ginny and joined the Revolutionary Army. However, Ginny was kidnapped and forced to become a Celestial Dragon's wife. She was only freed after she contracted an incurable disease that killed her, but not before she made it back to her home and gave birth to her daughter, who Kuma adopted: Jewelry Bonney. Kuma raised Bonney in her place and lived happily with her for several years, but Bonney had inherited Ginny's disease, forcing them to live in isolation while he desperately searched for a cure. This culminated in Kuma having to ''literally'' sell his soul to the government he had been fighting his ''entire life'' in order to enlist Vegapunk's help in saving Bonney's life]]. |
| 60 | * DeckOfWildCards: All seven original members betray or are disloyal to the World Government in some way, and two of the new recruits only join with ulterior motives: |
| 61 | ** The actions of the three most antagonistic Warlords -- whose messes the Straw Hats have to clean up by defeating them, rather than the government handling it -- consist of: one secretly planning a coup to take over a founding member country of the World Government (Crocodile); another having ''already succeeded'' in doing the same to another such country and ruling for 10 years as a usurper before being ousted (Doflamingo); and the third secretly building a zombie army, targeting civilians as well as pirates, as part of a plan for a ZombieApocalypse (Moria). |
| 62 | ** The entire reason the Warlords system exists is to be a check against the Four Emperors, with the Warlords recruited on the condition that they will fight against the Emperors if needed. Two of them, Hancock and Jimbei, outright refuse to do this in the Summit War saga: Hancock only eventually agrees to it as a way to help Luffy and even then, she's still a WildCard on the battlefield and attacks members of ''both'' sides indiscriminately, while directly helping Luffy (who's working against the Marines and the government) multiple times. Jimbei, meanwhile, ends up fighting ''against'' the government on Whitebeard's side.[[note]]Though, from the reader's perspective, these are sympathetic examples, since the World Government and the Marines are the villains in this situation.[[/note]] That's not even accounting for Doflamingo, who (until his defeat in the Dressrosa arc) is revealed post-TimeSkip to have been double-dealing the World Government by supplying artificial devil fruits to Kaido, increasing the threat the already-dangerous Emperor poses and threatening the very BalanceOfPower Doflamingo is supposed to help maintain. |
| 63 | ** Even Mihawk and Kuma, who initially seem to be the least disobedient members, both have their own instances of subterfuge by helping and/or sheltering pirates who are direct enemies of the Marines, and thus whom, according to their contracts, they should be taking down instead. When the Marines have the Straw Hats cornered and effectively dead to rights on Sabaody, Kuma intervenes and sends them all flying away to other locations to save their lives and help them get stronger, while Mihawk secretly shelters Zoro and trains him to become much more powerful for ''two whole years''. Hancock similarly helps Luffy avoid Navy capture after the Summit war and shelters him -- as well as other pirates and wanted fugitives helping him -- on her island. |
| 64 | ** Two of the four new recruits, Blackbeard and Law, only join in the first place to, via their Warlord privileges, gain access to a certain location that would otherwise be much more difficult (Impel Down and Punk Hazard, respectively). Once they've done so, they each openly defy the World Government by doing something blatantly illegal (in Blackbeard's case, breaking out prisoners and then fighting against the Marines; in Law's case, allying with the non-government-aligned Straw Hat Pirates and then taking out a fellow Warlord), not caring a bit when they lose their Warlord titles because of it since they've already gotten what they wanted all along. |
| 65 | ** Weevil isn't outright disloyal, but he also isn't particularly loyal to the World Government either -- his only real loyalty lies with his mother. He's also so wildly unstable, destructive, and prone to gigantic rampages that end with countless casualties and massive property damage that it's debatable whether he helps the World Government more than he hurts it. Notably, the Marines already have forces in place to detain him if he goes too far, [[spoiler:as seen when the system is dissolved and those forces subsequently try to arrest him]]. |
| 66 | * DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: The group takes the concept of RecruitingTheCriminal and associated tropes and utterly rips it apart. |
| 67 | * DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Defeating one of them is a ''big deal'' in the ''Franchise/OnePiece'' world, and the World Government's usage of them relies on this ''never'' happening to them by anything less than one of the Four Emperors themselves. If it happens to one of them, especially in public, then they risk expulsion and the World Government finds a new replacement like with Crocodile who is beaten by Luffy and replaced by Blackbeard, and [[spoiler: Ace defeated a previous Warlord during his rising pirate career according to Jaygarcia Saturn, which Kuma fills in as the new member]]. In fact the only reason Moria isn't immediately expelled after Luffy beat him is because it's never been made public. |
| 68 | * TheDreaded: A large part of the reason why the World Government enlists them, and why they allow them to stay. It's later revealed in a conversation with Kuma, that if that reputation is seriously affected (like losing to rookie pirate or having poor showing in battle) it could result in their expulsion. Most of them never even personally know each other before the Summit War and have only heard of each other. This principle is demonstrated by Buggy the Clown's inclusion in the group after the Summit war; being a relatively pathetic fighter and hilariously weak compared to the rest of the Warlords, is no obstacle if the world and the World Government ''believe'' you to be a threat. At the end of the day, the Warlords are a propaganda vehicle used by the World Government to intimidate lesser pirates and those who would dream of joining them as much as dealing with the New World. A criminal that's both cooperative and seen by the joe public as a fearsome big-shot is more than welcome. [[spoiler:When the Warlord system is abolished, the updated bounties for the four who evaded capture -- plus former Warlords Crocodile and Jimbei -- are in the low ''billions'' range, second only to the Emperors themselves (or in the case of Mihawk, outright surpassing two of the Emperors (Luffy and Buggy))]]. |
| 69 | * EnemyMine: Despite being officially on the side of the World Government, and therefore antagonists to any other pirate crew, they have no problem with secretly allying with other pirate crews for their own gain. Doflamingo in particular is a business partner of Kaido, one of the people that he was explicitly recruited to be a ''check'' against. |
| 70 | * HatedByAll: While individually some of the Warlords aren't so bad and are actually respected by certain parties, the organization as a whole is strongly disliked by civilians, the Marines, and other pirates, primarily because they're pirates allowed to plunder as they please with no consequences. Everybody is pretty happy when [[spoiler: the system is abolished and the Warlords are stripped of their immunity, with the only concerns being the possible power vacuum that could result]]. |
| 71 | * JadeColoredGlasses: [[DarkAndTroubledPast Their experiences on the seas]] has given all of them a cynical outlook on the world in some form, either about the Golden Age Of Piracy, or concepts such as justice, and belief in morality. However, none of them are [[NietzscheWannabe nihilistic]], and some such as Crocodile, Doflamingo, and Teach sought to [[TakeOverTheWorld dominate the world]] in some form either by [[{{Ubermensch}} imposing their own values]] or by [[BiggerStick superior military might]]. Jimbei is an [[InvertedTrope inversion]] as his life started out rough, but became gradually optimistic as time went on. Zig-Zagged with Law, who started off as a very kind child, then became a cold, evil, and heartless nihilist after his first tragedy, but softened slightly thanks to the influence of a beloved parental figure; while he's ''definitely'' jaded and still rather cold as an adult, he is still capable of compassion and empathy. |
| 72 | * TheMillstone: They cause just as much if not more damage to their employers than the very pirates they're supposed to keep in check. With several public betrayals, multiple losses to the Straw Hats (only their fearsome reputations gave the system any merit), and the fact that they generally don't ever listen to legal authorities, even the corrupt World Government has to admit that the Warlords are much more trouble than they are worth. The only one who follows their orders with any regularity is Bartholomew Kuma, and that's because [[spoiler:the World Government [[IHaveYourWife had his daughter hostage]] and leveraged that to [[DeathOfPersonality turn Kuma into an emotionless cyborg]]. Inevitably, when two kings whose kingdoms were devastated by the treachery of Warlords motioned to have the system abolished, it eventually passes with a majority vote.]] |
| 73 | * MysteriousPast: For a good portion of the story, their pasts are never shown -- at best, they're quickly told or implied, even though they are famous and feared across the entire world. Later, however, many members' pasts are revealed: Hancock's is briefly shown in the Amazon Lily arc, Jimbei's in the Fishman Island arc, Law's and Doflamingo's respective pasts are revealed in the Dressrosa arc, in two long flashbacks closely tied together to further clarify the source of their mutual enmity, and [[spoiler:Kuma's past is revealed in the Egghead arc]]. |
| 74 | * NormalFishInATinyPond: Downplayed. In the New World, they're powerful veteran pirates but not necessarily the strongest, with many of them clearly being beneath the Emperors and their top executive officers in strength. In ''Paradise'', however, they're almost beyond any and all combatants there. Even Moria, the physically weakest member (at least until Buggy joined), is more than a match for the pirates that sail that half of the Grand Line. It's for that reason that Paradise pirates are more likely to panic at the appearance of a Warlord than New World pirates. |
| 75 | * TheNotableNumeral: "The Seven Warlords of the Sea", or "Ouka Shichibukai" in Japanese. "Shichibukai" in particular puts an emphasis of the number of people who share the same title. |
| 76 | * OneManArmy: Just one of them was enough to take over a country for the World Government. Or "liberate it" as they call it. Crocodile was assigned as "Alabasta's guardian." When [[spoiler:the status is annulled following the Levely meeting, the Marines send out a large army ''each'' to capture the former Warlords. Rather telling, ''none'' of the Warlords are initially captured, although Buggy was only saved by the timely arrival of Crocodile, while Weevil was eventually captured by a second army led by Admiral Ryokugyu. Heck, the Navy even feel the necessity to deploy ''two'' Seraphim to help the army send to capture Hancock, and she was only defeated by Blackbeard himself when he also show up.]] |
| 77 | * {{Privateer}}s: In short, they are pirates who are given freeway as long as they only target other pirates. Only Kuma seems to actually follow through with his job and not even he can be trusted completely. |
| 78 | * RankScalesWithAsskicking: With the notable exceptions of Dracule Mihawk and Bartholomew Kuma, all the Warlords have large organizations of powerful fighters supporting them and are usually the [[LargeAndInCharge biggest]] and strongest member of the groups they lead, especially with Moria and his zombified crew prior to his expulsion from the Warlords. |
| 79 | * RecruitingTheCriminal: They're called "government dogs" for a reason. As a lot of the tropes on this page shows, there are a ''lot'' of problems with this. See DeconstructedCharacterArchetype above. By the time of the Reverie, things have gotten so bad that [[spoiler:Vegapunk is working on a project to render the Seven Warlords unnecessary, namely the Seraphim: Lunarian clones of the Warlords as children. Then Kings Riku and Cobra outright abolish the Warlord System altogether.]] |
| 80 | * RedBaron: Each has an epithet which plays a big role into the threatening aura that is required to become a Warlord. The only one to lack it is Gecko Moria. |
| 81 | * SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Subverted, as the earliest members introduced (Mihawk, Doflamingo, Kuma) were also among the most powerful that the Warlords had to offer, while later introductions range from powerful but not ''quite'' on par with the earlier introductions (Hancock, Jimbei) to surprisingly weak (Moria). |
| 82 | * SuperpowerLottery: One thing most of them (both current and former members who ate a Devil Fruit) share in common is that most of them happened to have obtained very powerful and unique Devil Fruit abilities, which they have complete mastery over (except former member Law, who's still young and improving, and Blackbeard, who instead goes on to take other powers). In Gecko Moria's case, his ability was the only thing that kept him up to par with the other Warlords for a while. Even Crocodile's comparatively mundane Logia power is unique among Logia's in a way, since it has a secondary ability to [[TouchOfDeath drain all the liquid from a person's body]]. |
| 83 | * SuperToughness: All the known members share the trait of being horrendously difficult to put down, with some being more justifiable like the high-tech durable cyborg Kuma and Fish-man Jimbei who are naturally more durable than any human and some more bizarre like Doflamingo and Crocodile who are fully human but can tank monstrous amounts of damage even by superhuman standards. |
| 84 | * SystematicVillainTakedown: While clearly set up in this manner up until Paradise (with Luffy fighting Crocodile, then Moria and then Kuma[[note]]Although it should be noted that the Straw Hats actually ''lose'' against him[[/note]], as well as Buggy preemptively, as the ClimaxBoss of each arc; not to mention Mihawk's position as Zoro's FinalBoss), this is ultimately subverted by the Marineford arc because Luffy ends up gradually ''befriending'' some of them rather than having to defeat them all and later [[spoiler:the organization is forcibly disbanded anyway]]. |
| 85 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: None of them really care for the World Government, and some join only to [[DragonWithAnAgenda betray]] [[TheStarscream them]] on occasion. Even the supposedly most loyal member has saved the Straw Hat Pirates twice. They're also not the best of buds, the narration noting [[LampshadeHanging that the very idea of them working together during the build-up to the Summit War is unthinkable]]. However they do work briefly together to bring down Oars Jr. |
| 86 | * UltimateJobSecurity: The crap they're allowed to get away with is staggering. The WG apparently considers the pirate problem so dire that they're willing to overlook one of them switching sides in the battlefield (sorta), another planning a ZombieApocalypse and one running a slave ring even after it was abolished two centuries before (though the main reason why that was overlooked was because it catered to the World Nobles and because he had blackmail material on the World Nobles, giving him significantly more leeway than any other Warlord). Though one of the major things that guarantees an expulsion is a very public loss to a relative upstart and/or being exposed as attempting to take over a member state of the Reverie ("liberating countries" is perfectly fine, though). The only other way for them to get kicked out besides the aforementioned defeat is for them to act directly against the World Government very publicly, such as what Crocodile and Jimbei did, as it basically means a resignation from the group. It is because of this benefit that Marines Vice-Admiral Smoker and Admiral Fujitora find issue with the entire system as a whole, since smart, ambitious and downright cunning pirates can abuse this privilege and essentially get away with crimes against humanity; Crocodile almost succeeded with taking over Alabasta while Doflamingo ''did'' succeed with Dressrosa, ruling over its people for ten long years. It also doesn't help that when their crimes come to light, the World Government will do everything in its power to make sure that the truth is silenced. The main issue comes down to the basic idea being "Find the most powerful and dangerous pirates you can, then give them a full pardon in exchange for their word that they are totally definitely working on your side", which sums up the competence of the World Government as a whole. Doflamingo is an extreme example of exploiting it, as even nearly wiping out a country once his tyranny is exposed wouldn't have been enough to warrant an expulsion by itself and it take an Admiral to publicly apologize before the deposed former ruler and exposing his carnage to the world, as well as the Marines arresting him, acting ''independent'' of the World Government's orders, for the World Government to stop dragging its heels and take action. It is because of his pull with the Celestial Dragons that he's been holding such privileges, which are a wide berth even by Warlord standards. In fact, he was given Warlord status in the first place because he kept raiding ships with tributes to the Celestial Dragons and the World Government figured that putting a massive bounty on his head clearly wasn't doing shit to stop him. However, it is [[spoiler:averted by the end of the Reverie Arc. The shit they've pulled throughout the story has led to the abolishment of the Warlord System, with their former 'allies' gladly baying for their blood immediately after.]] |
| 87 | * VillainForgotToLevelGrind: {{Averted}}; as the story has progressed Luffy has defeated a few and befriended others, but their threat level has only increased, especially after entering the New World, with Doflamingo himself saying that he too, has gotten stronger during the two years TimeSkip. Moria gets kicked out because he plays the trope straight and had gotten too weak for the standard of a Warlord. |
| 88 | * VillainTeamUp: [[spoiler:Crocodile and Mihawk team up with Buggy unwittingly roped in for the ride. The resulting organization, Cross Guild, with Buggy as their "leader" is regarded by the World Government to be the birth of a new Emperor and his crew.]] |
| 89 | * WildCard: Due to their very nature as pirates, Warlords tend to be driven by their own desires and whims and take advantage of the World Government's lax regulations over their activities to pursue them, even if that means going against the World Government themselves occasionally. The World Government doesn't care as long as their more severe crimes aren't publicized and they don't directly work against the government's agenda -- and sometimes not even then. Mihawk, for example, fights in the Summit War, then ditches said war when Shanks shows up and then takes on Zoro, a member of a crew that declared ''war'' on the World Government, as his student for the following two years. And he's the only Warlord that has never actively worked ''against'' them. |
| 90 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Following the abolishment of the Warlord system, the Marines launch a simultaneous attack against all former members to capture them]]. |
| 91 | [[/folder]] |
| 92 | |
| 93 | !!Members at the Start of the Story |
| 94 | These are the original seven Warlords as they appear in the story; a few of them get deposed and have others take their place. |
| 95 | |
| 96 | [[folder:"Hawk-Eyes" Dracule Mihawk]] |
| 97 | !!"Hawk-Eyes" Dracule Mihawk |
| 98 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TakeshiAono (JP), Creator/HirohikoKakegawa (JP, Episode 461+), Chuck Powers (EN, Odex), Chris Collet (EN, 4Kids), Creator/JohnGremillion (EN, Funi); Jorge Badillo (4Kids), Esteban Desco (Netflix) (Latin American Spanish) |
| 99 | !!!'''Age:''' 41 (Pre-Timeskip), 43 (Post-Timeskip) |
| 100 | !!!'''Debut:''' Chapter 49 (Manga), Episode 23 (Anime) |
| 101 | |
| 102 | [[quoteright:275:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dracule_mihawk.png]] |
| 103 | [[caption-width-right:275:[[labelnote:Click here to see his casual attire]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dracule_mihawk_anime_7.png[[/labelnote]]]] |
| 104 | |
| 105 | ->''"A sword with power alone is not powerful."'' |
| 106 | |
| 107 | The first of the Seven Warlords to be formally introduced, with his appearance marking their very first mention in the story. Being unparalleled in swordsmanship skill, Dracule Mihawk currently carries the title of the "Greatest Swordsman in the World" and thus is the man that Zoro strives to defeat. He holds admiration for Zoro's spirit, wishing for Zoro to one day surpass him and personally training Zoro during the TimeSkip. His main weapon is his gigantic black-blade sword Night (''Kokutou Yoru''), one of the 12 Supreme Grade swords in the world. \ |
| 108 | |
| 109 | He is a reclusive man who prefers solitude, living on the mostly empty Kuraigana Island, sailing by himself in a small boat and never interacting with others unless it's absolutely necessary. As a Warlord, he only comes to meetings at Navy Headquarters when his interest is piqued by something or it is mandatory. He is also the only member of the Warlords who does his job honestly and dutifully, attacking nobody but other pirates who antagonize the World Government and rarely, if ever, showing disobedience or engaging in deceitful activities. \ |
| 110 | |
| 111 | Mihawk was famous even before the Great Pirate Era started as the 'Marine Hunter', and while he was issued a bounty, it remains unknown. He and Shanks used to be legendary rivals, dueling often in the past before Shanks lost his dominant arm. |
| 112 | |
| 113 | His bounty prior to being frozen as a Warlord is unknown, but his bounty at the end of the Wano Arc is 3,590,000,000 Berries. |
| 114 | |
| 115 | For his appearance in the [[Series/OnePiece2023 live-action series]], go [[Characters/OnePiece2023 here]]. |
| 116 | ----- |
| 117 | * AbsurdlySharpBlade: As befitting for the best swordsman in the world, his sword can cut through entire ships and mountains of ice as if they're made of butter. |
| 118 | * TheAce: As far as swordsmen go in the ''One Piece'' world, Mihawk is ''the'' bar against which every other swordsman is measured. Zoro, the most renowned swordsman in the East Blue, couldn't even touch the guy when he was only using a tiny dinner knife as a weapon, and even two years training under Mihawk himself isn't enough to close the gap between them yet. On top of that, he's also handsome, well-educated (judging by his extensive library), and a skilled cook and farmer. It's also implied that he could be an Emperor if he ever bothered to put in the effort, but hasn't simply because he lacks the ambition to accrue the necessary political and military power needed to claim such status. Supporting that, [[spoiler:the World Government gives him a higher bounty than Buggy, his supposed captain, after the Cross Guild is established and Buggy is mistaken as its leader and made an Emperor]]. |
| 119 | * AdaptationDyeJob: His eyes are red in the manga, to reinforce the {{Dracula}} inspiration of his character. They're gold in the anime to reinforce his character's hawk motifs. |
| 120 | * AloofAlly: To the Marines. Granted, the Warlords aren't exactly known for keeping up their end of the agreement, but it's particularly telling that both the Marines and his ''fellow Warlords themselves'' are visibly surprised when Mihawk actually starts to fight for real with them. Ironically, despite this status, Mihawk is the only Warlord that never actively works against them, making him their only real ally in the group [[spoiler:before its dissolution -- which, if anything, proves how screwed up the idea of the Warlords was to begin with. Ironically, it's revealed that he used to ''hunt'' the Marines before he was a Warlord.]] |
| 121 | * AmbitionIsEvil: He has an interesting take on this trope. In his first appearance he mocks Zoro for saying his goal is to defeat Mihawk and Luffy for wanting to be the Pirate King, saying they're foolish and lofty. However, he seems to greatly admire, or at least approve of, those who have the will to actually try achieving their ambitions no matter how lofty or impossible they are. So it's not so much he has a high opinion of ambition itself, but that he has much greater respect for the will to achieve it. |
| 122 | * AnimalMotifs: The hawk, for having sharp, narrow eyes. He's even nicknamed "Hawk-Eye". |
| 123 | * AntiVillain: Mihawk isn't as bloodthirsty as his fellow Warlords; he might attack other pirates to alleviate his boredom, but he never drags it out and doesn't practice cruelty on his enemies. Even his ruthless curb-stomping of Zoro in the Baratie arc is more about teaching Zoro a lesson about how much farther he has to go than any genuine malice, and he ends up becoming Zoro's mentor during the TimeSkip. |
| 124 | * ApologeticAttacker: A variation. When he attacks Luffy during the Marineford War, he mentally apologizes to Shanks, Luffy's mentor, for what he's about to do. |
| 125 | * ArrogantKungFuGuy: He's the best MasterSwordsman in the world, and he does not shy from telling his opponents how ''insignificant'' they are in his eyes. [[ZigZaggingTrope That being said]], he is capable of recognizing {{Worthy Opponent}}s and personally trains Zoro since he sees him having the potential to be one, encouraging him to surpass him. |
| 126 | %%* ArtEvolution: While not as drastic as Shanks and can be largely attributed to Oda's evolving art style, Mihawk has a skinny design at the time of his first appearance. Later on, his jaw becomes less pointed and more squared out, and his body becomes more muscular, top-heavy, and proportioned. |
| 127 | * AudibleSharpness: As befitting the most powerful sword in the world, Night (''Kokutou Yoru'') makes an audible sound whenever Mihawk brandishes it. |
| 128 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: A platonic version. Mihawk readily agrees to let Perona go to help Moria after ill news regarding him pops up, making him alone for the first time in two years. [[spoiler: Also counts as a PetTheDog moment as he is ensuring her protection, making her leave the island before the full force of the Marines attack them due to the abolishment of the Seven Warlords System.]] |
| 129 | * BadassBoast: He has two memorable ones, the first being his response to when Zoro challenges him to a fight and he pulls out his smallest knife in response: |
| 130 | -->'''Mihawk:''' [[IAmNotLeftHanded I'm not the kind of fool who hunts rabbits with a cannon.]] (Chapter 51.)\ |
| 131 | ''Later, when fighting against escaped Impel Down prisoners at Marineford who want revenge on him...''\ |
| 132 | '''Mihawk:''' I can't be bothered to remember the name of every bug I step on. |
| 133 | * BadassInANiceSuit: His attire isn't as impressive as Crocodile's, but it's still worthy of showing that Mihawk is the greatest swordsman in the world. |
| 134 | * BadassLongcoat: Mihawk wears a coat with a lovely paisley pattern, befitting for his Dracula-like design. |
| 135 | * BadassNormal: He lacks a Devil Fruit and he is a (presumably) normal human being. He's also the greatest swordsman in the world who kicks just as much ass as the other, super powered Warlords. |
| 136 | * {{BFS}}: His famed Black Blade: Night (''Kokutou Yoru'') is a sword whose blade is nearly as long as a normal person. |
| 137 | * BlackSwordsAreBetter: His Black Blade: Night (''Kokutou Yoru'') is considered the greatest sword in the world. During the TimeSkip, Mihawk teaches Zoro the importance of reinforcing a sword with Armament Haki, which in concentrated form becomes visible as a black layer over whatever it's applied to. This incidentally gives Mihawk the added advantage of it being impossible for opponents to tell if he's using Armament Haki or not since his blade is already black by default. |
| 138 | * BloodKnight: It's subtle due to him being TheStoic, but it's apparent that he craves a good fight. Unlike almost every other big name pirate seen in the series, Mihawk has no crew, area of influence, or plans in motion. His only real interest appears to be fighting strong enemies. Due to being the greatest swordsman in the world with barely anyone else who can rival him, this has left him feeling unfulfilled. It's also the reason he spares Zoro's life after their duel and is willing to train him during the TimeSkip despite Zoro's goal being to defeat him, as he sees Zoro as having the potential to become a WorthyOpponent in the future. [[spoiler:His reaction to a Marine battalion converging on his home of Gloom Island is a smirk, stating that he hasn't had a good thrill for a long time. That said, he does seem to have his limits, namely if he thinks the fight he's getting into is a suicide mission, [[OhCrap which is why he's mortified when Buggy blackmails him and Crocodile into going after the One Piece, an action that will force them into a head-on fight with the three other Emperors and their respective crews and fleets]].]] |
| 139 | * BrilliantButLazy: Mihawk devotes a great deal of his time to maintaining his near-unparalleled swordsmanship skills, but he rarely puts any effort into anything else. A man of his strength could become an Emperor in his own right, but his lack of ambition means that, whenever he's not searching for a fight, he'd rather just lounge around at his castle reading and drinking. [[spoiler:Indeed, when he's forced out of his peaceful life by the abolishment of the Warlord System, he'd rather just go along with Crocodile's plan to build/acquire their own country so he can go back to relaxing rather than pursue the One Piece]]. |
| 140 | * BringIt: [[spoiler:Mihawk's reaction to a fleet of Marine ships coming to arrest him after the abolition of the Warlord System is to comment about how it's been a long while since he was on the opposite end of a pirate hunt and he's quite excited about it, topping it off with an amused smirk]]. |
| 141 | * BrokenAce: He seems to be rather disillusioned after becoming the greatest sword-wielder in the world and not having someone at his level to fight. |
| 142 | * ButForMeItWasTuesday: When two prisoners from Impel Down ask if he remembers them while they start to attack, his response is "I don't remember the name of every insect I crush." |
| 143 | * CallingYourAttacks: Averted. Unlike most other important characters in the series who name their attacks, Mihawk doesn't so much as grunt when he attacks, regardless of who he's attacking or how. |
| 144 | * CharlesAtlasSuperpower: The anime has him jump several hundred feet into the air before trying to impale Luffy. Then there's the whole business of him ''chopping a mountain of ice in half''! |
| 145 | * CherryTapping: He uses a dinner knife to fight Zoro (who's using all three of his swords) and easily overpowers him. |
| 146 | * TheComicallySerious: In the anime, after Luffy defeats Arlong and earns his first bounty, Mihawk visits Shanks to deliver the news. A joyous Shanks decides to start partying (''again'', despite being hung over from partying the night before) and offers Mihawk a drink. Mihawk keeps that eternally serious look on his face... and chugs the whole thing in one go. |
| 147 | * CommonalityConnection: [[spoiler:It's hinted in a flashback that part of how Crocodile convinced him to help found the Cross Guild was by pointing out both ex-Warlords are slow to trust others.]] |
| 148 | * ConsummateProfessional: Mihawk is the only member of the original group of Warlords to never actually betray the World Government or abuse the privileges they grant him. He obeys all the mandatory orders they give him without protest and takes the initiative to attack other pirates, adhering to the system's primary purpose as a deterrent to said pirates. While he does have a friendship with Shanks, Jimbei has a similar relationship with Whitebeard and the World Government did not imprison Jimbei for it until it caused him to betray them during the upcoming Paramount War, indicating that this connection wasn't a concern to them until it made him conflict with their interests. |
| 149 | * CoolSword: Mihawk wields the Black Blade: Night (''Kokutou Yoru''), which is one of the Twelve Supreme Grade Swords, the best-crafted blades in the world. Its durability and sharpness in combination with Mihawk's unparalleled skills are why Mihawk is considered the World's Greatest Swordsman. |
| 150 | * CowardiceCallout: Mihawk is called out by [[spoiler:Buggy]] [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness of all characters]] for his lack of ambition, outright questioning how he can even call himself a pirate by going after small-time goals. |
| 151 | * CrossAttack: Following his Dracula inspiration, Mihawk's design incorporates cross-shaped weapons. His cross-shaped necklace is actually a small knife named Kogatana, which he uses for weak opponents, while his [[{{BFS}} huge sword Night]] has a handle that resembles an ornate cross. |
| 152 | * CulturedBadass: Besides being the World's Greatest Swordsman, he lives inside of a castle, drinks red wine, cooks his own food, spend some of his free time reading, and has an interest in farming. Some of these habits are a nod to one of the characters he's based on: Dracula. |
| 153 | * CurbStompBattle: He is by far the world's strongest swordsman and wins almost every fight effortlessly. Of special note is his first duel against Zoro, which emphasizes how much the latter has to improve to challenge Mihawk again. During the only time on-screen someone appears to be giving him a good fight, Mihawk isn't using ''any'' of the skills he has displayed earlier and isn't taking the fight seriously. |
| 154 | * DeadpanSnarker: |
| 155 | ** After Zoro challenges him to a duel, he brings out his cross pendant and reveals a six-inch dagger (that he uses for eating with), explaining that he's not the type to use unnecessary force against weaklings: |
| 156 | -->'''Mihawk:''' Sorry, but this is the smallest knife I've got. |
| 157 | ** [[spoiler:Once he forms the Cross Guild with Crocodile and ''Buggy'' is mistaken for the leader, Mihawk notes during his subsequent beating that the clown is the first person to have ever become an Emperor by begging for his life. And he (initially) wants to make sure that Buggy's the ''last''.]] |
| 158 | * {{Determinator}}: Mihawk dogs Luffy during Marineford more than any other character save ''Akainu''. Even when someone shows up to stop Mihawk's pursuit, it never lasts long, and once they're dealt with or another opponent distracts them, Mihawk goes right back to pursuing Luffy. |
| 159 | * DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler: Mihawk and Crocodile had opted to let Buggy continue serving as the face of Cross Guild, reasoning that they keep him around as a PuppetKing for now and could easily dispose of him should he prove to be a hassle. This proves to be a mistake in Chapter 1082, however, when a beaten-down and tied up Buggy, frustrated and annoyed with how they have treated him so far and the lack of ambition in their dreams of creating a military nation, gives a RousingSpeech to Cross Guild via a hidden Den Den Mushi that the men should chase their dreams to the fullest by going after the great dream of them all, the One Piece, much to the loud approval of his men. Realizing they have been manipulated by [[ButtMonkey Buggy of all people]] into doing what he wants, [[OutOfCharacter a visibly sweating Mihawk]] is left aloud wondering if this is supposed to be a joke.]] |
| 160 | * DisproportionateRetribution: He hunted Don Krieg's fleet across the Grand Line and utterly destroyed it because... they woke him up from his nap. That, and to kill time. |
| 161 | * DragonInChief: [[spoiler:Alongside Crocodile, Mihawk is one of ''real'' leaders of the Cross Guild but the World Government mistakes Buggy for being the leader due to the positioning of his picture on the organization's poster, while believing that the former two are his right-hand men. Mihawk is annoyed at the mistake, but comes to see the benefits of having Buggy as a PuppetKing, and decides to let it go]]. |
| 162 | * TheDreaded: Having a reputable, fearsome name is standard fare for all Warlords, but his KillingIntent during the Paramount War is potent enough to deter [[LeeroyJenkins Luffy]] from attacking him directly. Among all the Warlords, he commands respect from the Marines that the others don't. [[spoiler:Notably, the Marines mistaking Mihawk for one of his underlings is one of the reasons why Buggy is declared one of the Four Emperors in the aftermath of the Wano arc, and despite that misconception, they still gave Mihawk the higher bounty of the two]]. |
| 163 | * EnemiesEqualsGreatness: He seems to believe in this to a certain extent. The reason Mihawk is constantly bored is because his skills as a swordsman outclass everyone else's to such an extent that almost ''no one'' can consider themselves a serious rival to him. Only Shanks has ever earned that distinction, and he lost it when he lost his dominant arm, causing Mihawk to lose interest in fighting him. In essence, without any serious enemies to challenge him, his title as the World's Greatest Swordsman loses some of its weight to him because Mihawk himself doesn't have the competition to ''give it'' that weight anymore (i.e. there's nothing to be proud of being considered the strongest of people much weaker than you). That's why Mihawk is so invested in Zoro's journey; Zoro is the first swordsman in ''years'' that has shown both the potential and conviction to challenge, if not outright surpass him. |
| 164 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: Even before making a proper appearance, he casually slices in a ship in two with a single swing, immediately showing how strong he is, and then arrives in a small coffin-shaped boat, sitting in a silent and confident pose, which gives him a shroud of mystery. His subsequent fight with Zoro where he effortlessly defeats him using his smallest knife and both spares his life and wishes him to surpass Mihawk as a swordsman after Zoro displays his honor as a swordsman shows Mihawk's confidence, honor, and his desire for a WorthyOpponent. Mihawk's might also shows how far Zoro has to go in order to achieve his dream of becoming the World's Greatest Swordsman. |
| 165 | * ExcuseMeWhileIMultitask: When Vista fights Mihawk during Marineford, Mihawk spends the first half not even looking at Vista, deflecting his blows, and making an internal monologue about Luffy's ability to sway both former enemies and complete strangers to his side. That said, it's obvious that Vista isn't taking it seriously himself, and Mihawk makes it clear that Vista is not someone who he's taking lightly. |
| 166 | * EyeObscuringHat: In his first full appearance, Mihawk's hat is covering his eyes. He then raises his head, revealing his [[RedEyesTakeWarning sharp eyes full of killing intent]]. |
| 167 | * FamedInStory: His duel with Shanks is reputed to have shaken the Grand Line. Even Edward Newgate, of all people, says that their battle is still ringing in his ears while talking to Shanks many years later. |
| 168 | * FinalBossPreview: Mihawk is Zoro's final adversary to beat to gain the title of ''World's Strongest Swordsman'' and shows up almost out of nowhere in the middle of the Baratie Arc. Zoro doesn't waste the chance to challenge Mihawk, but Mihawk defeats him easily only using his smallest knife, showing how far he has yet to go before reaching his aim. Mihawk plays this role for the Straw Hats as a whole as well since his performance shows them just a taste of what awaits for them on the Grand Line and beyond. |
| 169 | * {{Foil}}: |
| 170 | ** To Shanks. Both are extremely talented and notorious swordsman who act as the motivating figure in two of the main characters' arcs (Shanks for Luffy, Mihawk for Zoro) and who used to be each other's rivals. But both contrast in several key ways: |
| 171 | *** Shanks is normally friendly and laid-back, but is implied to have [[GoodIsNotSoft an extremely dangerous and ruthless side should he be pissed off]]. Mihawk is cold and aloof, but has respect for those he considers having the potential to be a WorthyOpponent and has a HiddenHeartOfGold. |
| 172 | *** Shanks is always accompanied by his TrueCompanions and is often shown having parties with them. Mihawk has always been a loner prior to the TimeSkip. |
| 173 | *** Shanks, for the vast majority of the series, is a distant childhood figure who Luffy aims to surpass, with the time when they finally reunite being teased multiple times. Mihawk's relationship with Zoro is considerably more personable, even mentoring him over the TimeSkip. That being said, Luffy and Shanks' relationship is still considerably warmer than Zoro and Mihawk's; their last meeting ends with Shanks giving Luffy his hat and making a promise to meet each other again when Luffy became a great pirate. Zoro and Mihawk's ''first'' meeting ends with Mihawk dealing Zoro a massive scar for life and making a promise to meet again at the top so they can have a DuelToTheDeath. |
| 174 | ** As Zoro's main rival, mentor, and ultimate goal to surpass, Mihawk contrasts Zoro in a few aspects. While Zoro is an ambitious and driven young swordsman who has the epithet of "Pirate Hunter" while becoming a pirate, Mihawk is an experienced and jaded swordsman known as "Marine Hunter" who is aligned with the Marines [[spoiler:until the dissolution of the Warlords system]]. While Zoro is ultimately loyal to Luffy's ambitions, Mihawk seems to answer to no one except himself. While Zoro uses three swords, Mihawk uses one powerful Black sword. |
| 175 | * FriendlyEnemy: To the Straw Hat crew, in a sense. Specifically, he keeps tabs on Luffy's and Zoro's growth as pirates, boasts that Luffy's goal of becoming Pirate King is more dangerous than surpassing Mihawk himself (which is Zoro's dream), gives a mental apology to Shanks before fighting Luffy at Marineford, and agrees to train Zoro during the TimeSkip for the sake of Zoro being better able to protect his TrueCompanions. |
| 176 | %%* GenerationXerox: After his training with Mihawk, Zoro resembles him more. They're both self-assured in their abilities, hate fighting weaker opponents and do the bare minimum when facing such foes, and have a low tolerance for those who refuse to take serious situations seriously. |
| 177 | * GoMadFromTheIsolation: A relatively mild example since he's certainly not outright ''insane'', but it's clear that his eccentric and destructive behaviour largely stems from spending far too long LonelyAtTheTop without anyone able to challenge him. |
| 178 | * TheHermit: He's one of the few characters who travels the seas completely alone, and when he's not out and about he hangs out alone in his island castle. |
| 179 | * HiddenHeartOfGold: While he may be an aloof loner, his interactions with Shanks, Zoro, and Perona show Mihawk ultimately isn't that bad a guy. He remains friends with Shanks despite Shanks losing his left arm and thus no longer being a WorthyOpponent, he is a harsh but fair mentor to Zoro and encourages his dream to surpass Mihawk, and he allows Perona to live with him after Zoro leaves. When she decides to leave on her own, he encourages it [[spoiler:because he can tell by the news that the Warlord System is about to be abolished, making him and anyone directly associated with him a target]]. |
| 180 | * HiddenDepths: Besides being the greatest swordsman in the world, Mihawk also has an interest in agriculture and is able to cook for himself. |
| 181 | * HighCollarOfDoom: His attire has an high collar befitting his draculesque appearance. |
| 182 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: Deliberately invoked. He decides to spend a couple of years training Zoro, whose only real goal in life is to defeat Mihawk, rather than wait around for possibly decades before he could get a good match out of him because he respects Zoro's desire to become stronger for the sake of his captain rather than himself. |
| 183 | * HowDareYouDieOnMe: Not exactly "die", but he seems slightly bitter about the fact that [[TheRival Shanks]] lost his dominant arm. |
| 184 | * IAmNotLeftHanded: [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe Mihawk will only exert what he thinks is the minimum required effort to fight his opponent]] and thus rarely shows the entirety of his abilities. He will even refrain from using [[{{BFS}} his signature weapon]] and will settle for his small cross dagger if he thinks that's all he'll need. He only goes all out on those he deems [[WorthyOpponent worthy of fighting.]] |
| 185 | * ImplausibleFencingPowers: People call his initial attack during the Paramount War "the World's Strongest Slash" for a very good reason. In his first appearance, Mihawk effortlessly holds off Zoro's three swords with a knife, [[ParryingBullets deflects bullets with his sword]], and [[CleanCut slices through a ship]] the size of an office building with just one swing. ''[[SwordBeam Without making physical contact with the ship]]''. Then, during the Paramount War, he accidentally cuts an entire frozen tsunami ''lengthwise'' much to the shock and horror of the majority of the battlefield, ally and enemy alike. |
| 186 | * INeedYouStronger: During the duel between Zoro and Mihawk at the Baratie, Mihawk is far stronger than Zoro and effortlessly defeats him, but is impressed by his will and determination and tells him get stronger so that they can have a rematch in the future. Mihawk actively reinforces this after he accepts Zoro as a student over the two years time-skip. |
| 187 | -->'''Mihawk:''' My name is Dracule Mihawk!! It's too soon for you to die. Discover yourself. See the world!! And grow strong, Roronoa Zoro!!! However long it may take, I shall await you at the top. Strive with your whole heart and mind to best this blade, fierce one!!! Strive to surpass me, Roronoa Zoro!!! |
| 188 | * IntergenerationalFriendship: After Perona lands on Mihawk's island, he lets her live with him and they form a good friendship despite Perona being in the mid-twenties and Mihawk in his forties. |
| 189 | * IntergenerationalRivalry: Mihawk is Zoro's rival because the latter has to defeat him to claim the title of "World's Greatest Swordsman", despite being old enough to be Zoro's father. While initially dismissive of him, Mihawk grows to respect Zoro after seeing his tenacity and potential and considers him a possible worthy rival, to the point of officially mentoring Zoro over the TimeSkip. |
| 190 | * IShallTauntYou: When Zoro challenges him in East Blue, Mihawk apologizes that he doesn't have anything smaller than his six-inch dagger, enraging Zoro. |
| 191 | * ItAmusedMe: Mihawk's reason for destroying ninety-eight percent of Krieg's fleet and then hunting down the remainder from the Grand Line all the way to East Blue to finish the job? |
| 192 | -->'''Mihawk:''' For fun. |
| 193 | * KillingIntent: Meeting his eyes causes people to sense his murderous intent running so deep it makes most of them reconsider fighting. ''[[{{Determinator}} Luffy]]'', who almost never hesitates when fighting, is given pause when their eyes meet in Marineford. Even better, it's never stated that Hawkeye has Conqueror's Haki, meaning he may just be that intimidating. |
| 194 | * KiManipulation: He can use Armament Haki and taught Zoro how to use it over the TimeSkip, especially about imbuing swords with Haki. |
| 195 | * KnightOfCerebus: No enemy prior to his introduction and for quite a while afterwards poses as much of a threat to Luffy and the others as Mihawk does during the few brief chapters he appears in. He's the first sign that the One Piece world is a much larger and more dangerous place than it initially seems. |
| 196 | * LackOfEmpathy: Zigzagged. Mihawk is not a soft person and is rather uncaring to Perona over Moria's apparent death, coldly telling her to leave since her crying hurts his ears. But he later relents in letting Perona go to see Moria [[spoiler:because he suspects the World Government is about to abolish the Seven Warlord system and thus wants to spare Perona from being associated with him, thus showing he cares a bit about her.]] |
| 197 | * LonersAreFreaks: Averted. Mihawk is a very solitary man, yet his prowess is such that he's a rather feared and respected presence whenever he appears anywhere. Plus, he's not above spending some time with people he finds worthy such as Shanks (whom he's known for a very long time) or Zoro (whom he takes on as an apprentice). He also has Perona living in his castle and doesn't appear to mind her presence despite her exuberant personality. |
| 198 | * MasterSwordsman: Mihawk is renowned for being the world's greatest swordsman, and hardly anyone is close to him when it comes to swordsmanship. Specifically, Mihawk has shown himself to be mighty enough to cut down entire ships and icebergs and precise and quick enough to deflect bullets. |
| 199 | * MeaningfulName: He's called Hawkeye and possesses tremendous eyesight, able to keep track of [[FlashStep extremely fast]] targets. While fighting him, Luffy realizes that Mihawk could easily intercept one of his Gear Two attacks and redirects the attack towards the ice below them to avoid having his arms cut off. |
| 200 | * MrFanservice: He's remarkably good-looking and often appears in an opened shirt or [[NoShirtLongJacket shirtless under his trench-coat]]. |
| 201 | * MysteriousPast: Despite being the very first Warlord introduced in the story, he remains as the Warlord whose backstory is the least elaborated on. In fact, ''all'' that's really known about him is that Shanks and him used to be rivals, that he was famous before Roger's execution, and that he [[spoiler:used to target Marines specifically to the point where he had the epithet of "Marine Hunter"]]. Nothing else about his background, where he's from, whether he had a crew at some point, how he gained the title of Greatest Swordsman in the World, etc. has been revealed at all. |
| 202 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: He has the namesake of Literature/{{Dracula}} and a ferocious predator (hawk), which his fitting for his fearsome reputation as the World's Greatest Swordsman. |
| 203 | * NobleDemon: He works alongside the government, but so far he has yet to display any outright antagonistic actions in the series. Although he opposes Luffy during the Marineford Arc, he only does so out of curiosity and because it's business. Mihawk has been shown to have a cordial relationship with Shanks and he encourages Zoro to surpass him out of respect for Zoro's spirit despite Zoro's goal being to defeat Mihawk. |
| 204 | * NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: He and Shanks, an Emperor of the Sea, had a swordfighting duel in the past. A duel that, according to fellow Emperor Whitebeard, was "enough to shake the Grand Line". When Shanks lost his dominant arm saving Luffy from a Sea King, Mihawk didn't find him challenging enough to duel anymore so he stopped. This is also one reason why he's so bored of being [[WorldsBestWarrior The World's Greatest Swordsman]], as being the best in the world means no challenger can give him a satisfactory match. [[spoiler:When he sees a bunch of Marine ships rolling up to his island after the abolition of the Warlord system, he is visibly amused and remarks that it has been a while since he saw some real action.]] |
| 205 | * NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: He's visually based on the real pirate Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts, who also lived in a hard-to-reach creepy castle. |
| 206 | * NoNonsenseNemesis: While Mihawk will use a proportional amount of force to take down the threat, he will still not hold back when fighting at that level or spend time needlessly [[CallingYourAttacks calling his own attacks]]. He keeps a cool face and plans to defeat his enemy swiftly. |
| 207 | * NothingPersonal: In general, any time he's opposing the Straw Hats it's never personal. He holds no ill will towards them and is even a bit friendly, only antagonizing them when it's his job to do so. |
| 208 | * NoShirtLongJacket: He wears a dark longcoat and bares his unscathed chest and abs underneath as an indicator of self-confidence, showing that he's never gotten a scar in a fight. |
| 209 | * NotSoAboveItAll: [[spoiler:Mihawk is just as irked by being considered Buggy's underling as Crocodile and insists quite strongly that Buggy pay for this mistake with his life. [[DownplayedTrope Once he cools down]], though, he suggests keeping the idiot alive and as their supposed boss so Mihawk and Crocodile can go about their own business undisturbed.]] |
| 210 | * NotSoStoic: |
| 211 | ** He breaks out into full grins twice, back to back. First when Luffy tells him his goal, and then when Zoro swears he will never lose to anyone again. |
| 212 | ** He also bursts out laughing (with the stereotypical "Mwahahaha!") when Zoro begs Mihawk to take him on as a disciple. |
| 213 | ** [[spoiler:When a Marine battalion rolls up to his island after the abolition of the Warlords, he makes no attempt to hide the fact that he is looking forward to a good fight.]] |
| 214 | ** Mihawk is visibly distraught when [[spoiler:Buggy throws a wrench in his plans to live a peaceful life by sending the Cross Guild into the race for the One Piece, effectively putting Mihawk on a collision course with the other three Emperors]]. |
| 215 | * OddFriendship: |
| 216 | ** With Perona, a loud and outspoken PerkyGoth girl nearly half his age. Though we've only gotten brief looks at their story during the TimeSkip, apparently Perona warms up to Mihawk enough to go back to his island after dropping off Zoro, and Mihawk doesn't mind Perona staying on his island [[spoiler:until the government abolishes the Warlord system and it's safer for her not to be associated with him]]. |
| 217 | ** A larger example would be with his old rival Shanks. Shanks is comfortable enough with inviting him to party, and he's even ''more'' different from Mihawk than Perona, being FunPersonified and all. |
| 218 | * OneHitKill: When he's serious or doesn't want to waste time, most of his fights end in a single blow. |
| 219 | * OneManArmy: He flat-out wrecks an entire armada, comprising of fifty ships and five thousand men, on his own with no effort for no other reason than because he was bored. He also deserves special mention amongst the Warlords as a whole for being the only member who has no crew to speak of, meaning that whatever danger he poses is by his merit alone. |
| 220 | * OptOut: The moment Shanks shows up at Marineford, Mihawk puts his sword away and says fighting Shanks wasn't part of the agreement before making his exit. |
| 221 | * OutsideContextProblem: Mihawk is one of the most infamous pirates of the world but generally wanders around the Grand Line since that's usually the only place that has any threats challenging enough to keep him from getting too bored. His arrival in the middle of the Baratie Arc is something completely unexpected from every character present (most of whom are from East Blue and don't even know of him, let alone of how dangerous he is) and from a narrative standpoint, as the arc already has the necessary players and the story itself is in its early stages. |
| 222 | * OverlyNarrowSuperlative: Subverted. Night is known as the 'world's strongest black blade', which initially seems like a strangely narrow and unimpressive field. It's only much later that we learn that 'black blade' is the generic term for weapons imbued with Haki to push their performance beyond physical limits, which means that Night is the absolute best of the best as far as swords go. |
| 223 | * ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest: On top of having next to no one able to give him a serious challenge and leaving him perpetually bored, Mihawk has to deal with a constant stream of ignorant weaklings trying to take his title (which only reinforces the first problem by constantly reminding him of it). When he realizes that Zoro has the potential to be his successor and give him the challenge he's been seeking, [[INeedYouStronger he flat-out demands the younger swordsman become stronger]] so he can fulfill that role for both their sakes. |
| 224 | * PersonOfMassDestruction: Mihawk is one of the strongest fighters of the One Piece World and debuts by slicing in half an entire ship with just a casual swing of his blade. During the Paramount War, he cuts a frozen tsunami lengthwise by pure accident, unleashing a massive hail of icebergs onto a significant portion of the battlefield. |
| 225 | * PetTheDog: Despite Mihawk appearing indifferent towards everything, he willingly lets Perona go after living with him for the last two years so she can go reunite with Moria. [[spoiler:He does so for her protection as he anticipates the abolition of the Warlord System, which will put her in harm's way if she remains associated with him]]. |
| 226 | * ProperlyParanoid: After reading an article about a topic that recently came up at the Reverie, Mihawk correctly guesses that [[spoiler:the Warlord System will be abolished and, knowing the Marines will come for him eventually, orders Perona to leave not just to reunite with Moria, but to protect her from the Marines, knowing she won't stand a chance against the amount of force they are going to use to try and subdue him]]. |
| 227 | * RazorWind: He's able to slash the air and use it as a projectile with his main sword Night. Bonus points for being the same eerie green as the candles on his boat. |
| 228 | * RedBaron: He has two reputable epithets that he's known by. He's called "Hawk-Eye" Mihawk because of his penetrating and intimidating eyes and is referred as "The World's Greatest Swordsman" due to his unparalleled skill as a swordsman. [[spoiler:Crocodile]] later reveals a third epithet for Mihawk's notoriety, "Naval Hunter," which serves as another parallel to Zoro, the "Pirate Hunter." |
| 229 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: Mihawk's eyes are red in the manga to reinforce his Dracula inspiration and visually communicate how dangerous he is, as well as making his glare even scarier. |
| 230 | * RedOniBlueOni: Mihawk is the blue to Shanks' red. The two are rivals but, as shown when the two meet up, Mihawk is very serious and stoic while Shanks is carefree and likes to have fun. |
| 231 | * TheRival: He used to be one to Shanks, with both being great swordsmen. This changed after Shanks lost his left arm, however. He sees Zoro as having the potential to someday become his new rival, even deciding to train him specifically out of admiration for his resolve. |
| 232 | * AScarToRemember: At the conclusion of their first duel, Mihawk deals a massive wound to Zoro's chest. After it fully heals, it leaves a huge scar that stays with Zoro for the rest of the series. It acts as a reminder of the encounter, to further motivate Zoro on his journey and towards his goal of defeating Mihawk. |
| 233 | * SinkOrSwimMentor: When Mihawk accepts Zoro as a student, which is after having him defeat an army of swordsmen monkeys, Mihawk mentions his training methods will be rather extreme and that Zoro might not survive them. He isn't lying; while Zoro manages to survive his training with Mihawk, he doesn't come out unscathed, having lost an eye during those two years. |
| 234 | * SmugSuper: Mihawk is always calm and stoic, so while it's not very evident and he doesn't vocally communicate it, his body language suggests extreme self-confidence. Mihawk often looks down on his opponents and elevates himself above the common people. That said, his fame as "the World's Greatest Swordsman" is well deserved and no other swordsman in the series has given him a true challenge. At the same time, Mihawk can recognize the value of other fighters like Zoro despite the latter being far weaker than him. |
| 235 | * SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Averted. Mihawk's debut marks the first mention of the Seven Warlords, but he's shown to be stronger than many of the Warlords who have debuted after him and he's said to be a former rival of one of the Four Emperors, Shanks. After the TimeSkip, Zoro claims to still not be on Mihawk's level, despite the Straw Hats having already defeated a couple of Warlords pre-skip. To top it off, that claim is made while they're in the process of defeating ''another'' Warlord. [[spoiler:This is only reinforced after the TimeSkip, where Mihawk has the highest-known bounty of all the Warlords after the system is officially abolished during the Wano arc, and the highest non-Emperor/Pirate King bounty in the world. That means the World Government views Mihawk as the greatest threat on the seas after the Four Emperors themselves, just by the merit of his strength alone]]. |
| 236 | * SpannerInTheWorks: He chased Krieg into the East Blue, where the latter and his armada then felt safe and tried to take over the Baratie (which was ''significantly'' undermanned in a fight, even with the Straw Hats and [[GuestStarPartyMember Johnny and Yosaku]] assisting). But then he decided to actually ''pursue'' Krieg, and single-handedly levelled the playing field for the Baratie by sinking said armada, leaving just Gin, Pearl, and Krieg himself able enough to fight. |
| 237 | * SpellMyNameWithAnS: There was some minor contention on whether his surname is "Dracule" or some variation of "Juraquille", though the former is the spelling almost universally accepted by the western world. It was ultimately resolved with the release of the One Piece Databook Green. It's "Dracule". |
| 238 | * TheStoic: Mihawk is one of the most serious characters in the ''One Piece'' world. He hardly smiles, let alone raise his voice, and never loses his temper. |
| 239 | * StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Mihawk's entire philosophy on fighting, and swordsmanship in particular, is using only as much force as you need to get the job done, and not an ounce more. When he fights Zoro in the East Blue, he only uses a six-inch knife and is able to best Zoro's three-sword style effortlessly. He decides to go all out on Zoro only after the latter has proven to have the potential to be a WorthyOpponent. |
| 240 | * SupernaturalGoldEyes: In the anime, [[http://thumbnails.hulu.com/670/50007670/117626_512x288_generated.jpg his eyes]] are colored yellow to reinforce the AnimalMotif ThemeNaming. All but the most badass of fighters start quaking in their boots looking directly at them. |
| 241 | * SuperSenses: There's a reason he's called "Hawk-Eyes". Mihawk's sharp eyes allow him to see and follow people going at supersonic speed, like Luffy in [[FlashStep Gear Two]]. |
| 242 | * SwordBeam: Mihawk can create green beams from his sword Night to cut down things many times larger than himself. He fires one at Whitebeard during the Marineford War, and it's big enough that it would've cleaved Whitebeard's ship in half if it wasn't redirected to the sky by the Whitebeard Pirates' Third Division Commander "Diamond" Jozu. |
| 243 | * SwordLines: In the anime, his Black Blade: Night leaves a green (originally purple) trail behind it when it's swung. |
| 244 | * TemptingFate: The whole reason Mihawk attacks Luffy during Marineford is just to see whether or not Luffy will somehow be able to get away from him alive. |
| 245 | * TranquilFury: Mihawk is usually very stoic and rarely displays any form of emotion, [[spoiler:yet when Buggy forces him and Crocodile to go along with his desire to go after the One Piece, effectively ruining Mihawks desire to live in peace, Mihawk is seething with rage towards Buggy but, unlike Crocodile, remains composed.]] |
| 246 | * TsurimeEyes: He has slanted eyes like a hawk's, which displays his confidence and ability as the World's Greatest Swordsman. |
| 247 | * UnderestimatingBadassery: [[spoiler:Mihawk underestimates Buggy's ability to actually show a backbone against him and Crocodile and manages to convince all of Cross Guild to go after the One Piece and force Mihawk and Crocodile to comply whether they like it or not.]] |
| 248 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: His complete thrashing of Don Krieg's fleet leads to the latter returning to the East Blue and invading the Baratie. Not that Mihawk cares the slightest about what may happen to the Baratie. |
| 249 | * VictoryIsBoring: His constant search for a [[TheRival rival]], combined with the fact that he's known to attack ''entire fleets'' over something as trivial as disturbing his nap, seems to be his way of alleviating his boredom of having no-one to challenge his position as the World's Greatest Swordsman. [[spoiler:When the World Government abolishes the Warlord system and revokes his immunity, Mihawk actually ''smirks'' when the Marines send a fleet to arrest him, because it means he might actually have a decent challenge on his hands]]. |
| 250 | * VillainyFreeVillain: Subverted. Despite being recruited as a Warlord, Mihawk never commits any crime onscreen. But since he's a pirate and not the nicest man around, it's likely he committed some sort of crime in the past. Chapter 1058 eventually reveals that before he was a Warlord, [[spoiler:he used to actively hunt the Marines.]] |
| 251 | * VocalDissonance: Initially with [[Creator/TakeshiAono his first voice actor]], Mihawk sounds much older than his age suggests, though Aono often used this vocal tone for doing BigBad characters like Demon King Piccolo in the 80s. His new voice, Hirohiko Kakegawa does not have this problem, sounding more appropriate for his age. |
| 252 | * WakeUpCallBoss: He serves as the first real taste of how overshadowed the Straw hats and the rest of the East Blue are by the rest of the world. He decimated the Kreig Pirates, (the largest and second strongest crew in East Blue) and Zoro, the East Blues' strongest swordsman without really trying. |
| 253 | * WineIsClassy: When not out slaughtering pirates, Mihawk can be seen relaxing in his mansion with a book and [[AGlassOfChianti a glass of red wine]], similarly to his Dracula-inspiration. His entry in the ''Vivre Card -- One Piece Visual Dictionary'' reveals red wine is his favorite food. |
| 254 | * WildCard: Mihawk is a fair weather ally to the Marines at best as a Warlord, and shifts from trying to actively kill Luffy at Marineford to helping Zoro get stronger to support Luffy almost immediately after. It's not a surprise that the Marines want him under their thumb for how unpredictable he is, and when [[spoiler:the Warlord system is abolished, the Marine hunts him down but he forms an alliances with Crocodile (and Buggy)]]. |
| 255 | * WorldsBestWarrior: '''Everyone''' in the setting recognizes him as ''the'' greatest swordsman in the world, and he more than lives up to the honor. It's said that Shanks, an Emperor, clashed equally with him in the past and the only one that Mihawk doesn't completely stomp in a duel is Vista, a very high-ranking subordinate of Whitebeard, though neither party takes their fight very seriously. Every other swordsman shown simply pales in comparison to him, even ''Zoro'', who Mihawk easily defeats using a small knife in their first duel. Even after training with Mihawk during the two years time-skip and the impressive feats of swordsmanship he demonstrates afterwards, Zoro freely admits he's still got a long way to go before reaching his master's level, and this is ''after'' he has become a widely-feared figure in his own right. In the non-canon ''Anime/OnePieceStampede'' (which Oda was a writer and consultant on), this is starkly shown when Zoro manages to slice one of Fujitora's meteors in half with one of his techniques; while he succeeds, the two halves still remain intact and threaten the people below that Zoro was trying to protect. Cue Mihawk, who manages to destroy ''both'' halves with a single slash of his sword. |
| 256 | * WorthyOpponent: |
| 257 | ** In the past, Shanks was considered a swordsman as good as Mihawk, but after Shanks lost his arm saving Luffy, Mihawk no longer considered him a worthy opponent and refuses to fight him again in the present. |
| 258 | ** Once he meets Zoro he starts hoping the latter will grow enough to fill the role, after he does some major [[TookALevelInBadass level grinding]] at least. |
| 259 | ** He also sees Vista as a competent swordsman; while it's clear that neither party is taking their fight seriously, Mihawk states that any swordsman would know and respect Vista's name and power. |
| 260 | [[/folder]] |
| 261 | |
| 262 | [[folder:"Desert King" Sir Crocodile]] |
| 263 | ->See his crew's [[Characters/OnePieceBaroqueWorks page]]. |
| 264 | [[/folder]] |
| 265 | |
| 266 | [[folder:"Heavenly Demon" Donquixote Doflamingo]] |
| 267 | ->See his [[Characters/OnePieceDonquixoteDoflamingo page]]. |
| 268 | ->For his crew, the Doflamingo Pirates, see their [[Characters/OnePieceDonquixotePirates page]]. |
| 269 | [[/folder]] |
| 270 | |
| 271 | [[folder:"Tyrant" Bartholomew Kuma]] |
| 272 | !!"Tyrant" Bartholomew Kuma |
| 273 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/HideyukiHori (JP), Creator/NobuhikoOkamoto (JP, child) Creator/JoelMcDonald (EN, Funi), David Allende (Latin American Spanish) |
| 274 | !!!'''Age:''' 45 (Pre-Timeskip), 47 (Post-Timeskip) |
| 275 | !!!'''Debut:''' Chapter 233 (Manga), Episode 151 (Anime) |
| 276 | !!!'''Devil Fruit:''' [[PowerPalms Paw-Paw Fruit]] |
| 277 | |
| 278 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bartholomew_kuma_anime.png]] |
| 279 | |
| 280 | ->''"We have no obligation to cooperate with the Marines save where the government is directly involved."'' |
| 281 | |
| 282 | The fourth of the Seven Warlords of the Sea to be formally introduced. Kuma is a very large man who is always seen carrying a bible. He has a reputation for being an incredibly ruthless pirate who crushed anyone to stand in his way, yet his quiet, calm demeanor and his (in hindsight) merciful actions fly in the face of that. He also has eaten the Paw-Paw Fruit (''Nikyu Nikyu no Mi'') and is the prototype for the Pacifista project known as PX-0.\ |
| 283 | |
| 284 | He is also known for following the World Government's orders to the letter, unlike the other Warlords. Yet he also seems to follow the code of Moral Justice, rather than the seemingly more prevalent Absolute Justice, and unlike many other characters, seems to have an idea of what goes on behind the scenes. It also turns out that he is an officer of the [[Characters/OnePieceRevolutionaryArmy Revolutionary Army]].\ |
| 285 | |
| 286 | His bounty at the time he became a Warlord was 296,000,000 berries. |
| 287 | ----- |
| 288 | * ActuallyADoombot: The Pacifistas are modeled after his likeness. The only differences between them and him are the Bible he carries around and his Devil Fruit powers. |
| 289 | * AdaptationDyeJob: His hair is brown in the manga, but black in the anime. Also, his jacket was initially orange in the manga before changing to black like in the anime. |
| 290 | * AffectionateNickname: When they were kids, Ginny nicknamed him "Kumachi". |
| 291 | * AllForNothing: |
| 292 | ** Despite the revolutionaries risking their lives at the Reverie to get his body back, [[spoiler:Kuma, now a completely mindless drone, suddenly gets up and warps himself to Sabaody Archipelago and then starts climbing up the Red Line to return to the Holy Land. Then subverted when he makes it to the top, and proceeds to wreak havoc before warping himself to Egghead, saving Bonney and the Straw Hats in the process]]. |
| 293 | ** [[spoiler:He refused to marry the love of his life because he feared if they started a family together, they would eventually be enslaved for his Buccaneer blood like his own family was not long after he was born. In the end, it didn't matter anyway as Ginny ended up being re-enslaved thanks to her beauty and would die of an incurable disease not long after]]. |
| 294 | * AmbiguouslyChristian: Kuma carries a Bible and is even seen living and praying in a Christian style church, complete with a cross, after [[spoiler: escaping from God Valley with his friends Ginny and Ivankov.]] It's later revealed that prior to joining the Revolutionary Army, he worked as a pastor. However, what is revealed of his actual beliefs aren't very similar to Christianity, they're mostly based around [[spoiler:the Sun God Nika]]. |
| 295 | * AnimalMotifs: The bear, appearing to be frightening and extremely large, having his name literally mean "bear" in Japanese, and having a Devil Fruit that gives him bear paws; he's also appropriately [[BearsAreBadNews a dangerous member of the Warlords.]] [[BearyFriendly He's also nicer than the rest of the them]]. |
| 296 | * AppropriatedAppellation: [[spoiler: As a pirate, he adopts the moniker of "Tyrant" bestowed upon him by King Bekori and the World Government. Not because he feels any pride in being called that, but rather because [[TakingTheHeat he wants to draw their attention solely on him and away from Sorbet Kingdom]].]] |
| 297 | * ArchEnemy: |
| 298 | ** Subverted with Luffy. The latter should by all means hate Kuma for doing the unthinkable: [[BreakingTheFellowship taking his crew away from him]]. But by the time Luffy meets him again, well... he's not himself. He later learned the '''real''' reason to why he did so, as well as learning he was once a fellow Revolutionary with his dad, Dragon. |
| 299 | ** The Egghead arc reveals [[spoiler:his ''real'' arch-enemy is Saint Jaygarcia Saturn, who has been a tormenting presence in Kuma's life since he was a young slave to the World Nobles, and was ultimately the one behind his change into a FullConversionCyborg with the resulting DeathOfPersonality, as the price Kuma had to pay for [[SadisticChoice saving his adoptive daughter Bonny from her deadly disease]]. He even twisted the [[CloneArmy Pacifistas]] into becoming weapons of the World Government, rather than shields for the innocent like Kuma wanted, resulting in Kuma's face becoming associated with oppression and tyranny whenever they show up. His status as Kuma's greatest enemy is cemented when Saturn reveals to Bonney that ''he'' is the reason why Ginny, and later Bonney, contracted the Sapphire Scales disease. Essentially, nearly every bad thing that ever happened to Kuma in his adult life is Saturn's fault]]. |
| 300 | * AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:During his brief encounter with Fleet-Admiral Sakazuki at Mariejois, Kuma loses one of his legs from magma.]] |
| 301 | * AuthorityInNameOnly: {{Justified|Trope}}. [[spoiler:While Kuma becomes the King of Sorbet Kingdom to appease its citizens, he doesn't have the slightest idea on how to run a country so he assigns King Bulldog, Bekori's [[TheGoodKing more competent predecessor]], to do it for him. He later steps down completely and gives the position back to Bulldog after turning to piracy and beginning his journey to find a cure for Bonney's disease]]. |
| 302 | * AttackReflector: Any attack that hits his paw pads will just bounce right off, regardless of how much power it has. |
| 303 | * BadassPreacher: Kuma's bible isn't just for show, he's a genuine man of the cloth. [[spoiler:As it turns out, he's not a ''Christian'' preacher though, but rather a preacher of the religion of the Sun God Nika, a religion the World Government has tried its damnedest to stamp out.]] |
| 304 | * BearsAreBadNews: ZigZagged: |
| 305 | ** When he confronts the Straw Hats for the first time it's played straight, as he's challenging them right after defeating Moriah and proves to be even more powerful than the latter, meaning the Straw Hats are incapable of winning. |
| 306 | ** Subverted in his second encounter with the crew, as he actually saves the Straw Hats' lives on Sabaody, even if they don't realize it until down the line. |
| 307 | * BeneathTheMask: Kuma, on the surface, is a ruthless, calculating tyrant who mindlessly follows the World Government's orders. [[GoodAllAlong Or at least that's the reader's first impression of him]]. As the reader finds out more about Kuma, the more it becomes clear that all of his apprent "ruthlessness" was nothing more than a facade belying a sweet, kindhearted family man who wanted nothing more than to liberate the downtrodden despite a lifetime of victimization at the hands of the World Government. |
| 308 | * BestFriend: To Vegapunk. Even though both Kuma and Vegapunk have other acquaintances, Kuma is the only person shown having open friendly conversations with the man and the two are shown to trust each other completely, with Kuma even entrusting Vegapunk Luffy’s lineage as Dragon’s son. [[spoiler: Which is why Vegapunk completely [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness slouches down and screams after being forced by Saint Saturn to erase Kuma’s personality]].]] |
| 309 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: As his backstory shows, Kuma is one of the nicest and most kindhearted people in the One Piece setting. That said, mistaking that kindness for weakness may prove to be a fatal mistake. [[spoiler:After fighting off King Berkori once, Kuma intercepts his returning fleet and is implied to kill them all in the resulting battle.]] |
| 310 | * BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler: He arrives just in the nick of time to save Bonney from being killed by Saturn while Luffy, Vegapunk, Atlas, Franky and Sanji are incapacitated, right before proceeding to go all PapaWolf on his ass, and attempting to deliver a Haki-Infused punch directly to the old bastard’s face. Saturn is [[OhCrap understandably scared]].]] |
| 311 | * BigDamnHug: [[spoiler: During his BigDamnReunion with Bonney, after he punches out Saint Saturn and Bonney thanks him for everything he has ever done for her, Kuma gives her a delicate hug, bringing her near his chest, right before he succumbs to a HeroicRROD]]. |
| 312 | * BigDamnReunion: [[spoiler: He finally reunites with Bonney during the Egghead arc and she exchanges a few final words with him, before he succumbs to a HeroicRROD]]. |
| 313 | * BreathWeapon: His cybernetic modifications allow him to fire a [[EnergyWeapon laser beam]] from his mouth. |
| 314 | * BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: Kuma's powerful punch on Saturn actually deals a good bit of damage, bloodying his face and sending him dragging across the ground in such a way that it grinds up his arm. While Saturn regenerates his injuries in a matter of seconds, Kuma succeeds in his goal of saving Bonney and the Straw Hats are freed from whatever lock Saturn had on them so they can fight back, all at the cost of his last movements.]] |
| 315 | * TheBusCameBack: A posthumous example. Kuma, for all intents and purposes, died during the Summit War. From the perspective of the audience, however, Kuma was completely shrouded in mystery with very little known about him or his motivations. Roughly 500 chapters later, Kuma's [[DarkAndTroubledPast past]] and the loved ones he left behind are key points of focus in the [[Recap/OnePieceEggheadArc Egghead arc]]. |
| 316 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "If you were to go on a trip, [[PreAsskickingOneLiner where would it be]]?" |
| 317 | * TheChessmaster: [[SecretTestOfCharacter Tests out]] [[WhatYouAreInTheDark the depths of]] [[TrueCompanions the Straw Hat's camaraderie]] at ''Thriller Bark'', and after confirming that they're the kind of crew that he and the Revolutionary Army are looking for, whisks all of them off to places that are [[BatmanGambit almost tailor-made for each individual member]] to [[TookALevelInBadass improve their arsenals and become tough enough]] for [[DeathWorld the New World.]] And he does all this [[StealthMentor without ever letting on]] [[GoodAllAlong that he's actually helping them]] to anyone but [[SecretKeeper Rayleigh]] - who he has to spell it out to. |
| 318 | * ChekhovsGun: During Thriller Bark, he uses his power to remove Luffy's pain from his body, telling Zoro to take it in his place. [[spoiler:Kuma is later revealed to have used this same ability on himself before his death, leaving his painful past with his friend Vegapunk]]. |
| 319 | * ChildhoodFriendRomance: [[spoiler:Kuma befriended Ginny, a fellow slave he met during the God Valley Incident when they were still kids. She went on to live with him in the Sorbet Kingdom after the two escaped with Ivankov, and the two fell in love as adults. However, they never got married because Kuma was terrified what happened to his parents would happen to them if they did. Ultimately, the last words Ginny spoke to him before she died were to tell him [[DyingDeclarationOfLove that she would always love him]]. In turn, Kuma adopted her daughter Bonney and raised her as his own, making Bonney the child Kuma and Ginny never had]]. |
| 320 | * ConnectedAllAlong: [[spoiler:It turns out Kuma is the father of Jewelry Bonney of the Worst Generation. Luffy, Jimbei and Chopper (as well as the readers) only learn about this after they and Bonney infiltrate Egghead. This is later revealed to be the reason for his presence during the Sabaody Archipelago arc: he was already on the island to check in on Bonney and crossed paths with the Straw Hats again by happenstance]]. |
| 321 | * CreepyMonotone: His voice is always emotionless, which makes him much more menacing, even when he's being affable. It's also a hint that he's a cyborg. |
| 322 | * CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Kuma has offered his body to Vegapunk to experiment on and the scientist has been slowly replacing his body parts with mechanical ones, making him much tougher and giving him the ability to shoot beams from his mouth. By the point he's introduced, his body is almost fully robotic. By the time of the Marineford Arc, because of his actions against the orders of the World Government, he's suffered one last operation which removed what his left of his personality and free will. By Doflamingo's own word, [[ThatManIsDead "Tyrant Kuma" is dead]]. |
| 323 | * DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: He agrees to help Vegapunk build his CloneArmy by donating his blood, in exchange for him using a very expensive procedure on Bonney to heal her disease, trusting Vegapunk's intentions and thinking it will be used as a force for good. Unfortunately, making a deal with Vegapunk also means making a deal with the World Government and Saint Saturn has [[KillerRobot other plans for the Pacifistas]]. The elder proceeds to amend Kuma's deal with Vegapunk adding as terms [[FullConversionCyborg the full mechanization of his body]], him joining the ranks of the Seven Warlords and Vegapunk [[DeathOfPersonality completely erasing his personality and free will]], thereby playing this trope straight]]. |
| 324 | * DeathOfPersonality: By the time of the Marineford Arc, Kuma has his personality and free will removed from his body--effectively killing him and leaving his body as a soulless husk. [[spoiler:However, as Saturn would later discover, even this isn't enough to remove his [[PapaWolf paternal instincts for Bonney]].]] |
| 325 | * {{Determinator}}: Kuma stopped at nothing to find a [[spoiler:cure for Bonney's disease, even deciding to make a DealWithTheDevil when it came down to it. Not even a DeathOfPersonality can stop him from protecting his daughter. Sensing her in danger prompts him to reactivate, launch himself to the Red Line, tear through everything in his way and endure Akainu's attacks, launch the rest of the way to Egghead, tank an absurd amount of firepower from the Marines, and finally withstand being stabbed by Saturn, all to protect her]]. |
| 326 | * DisappearedDad: [[spoiler:While not her biological father, Kuma nonetheless raised Bonney for the first eight and a half years of her life and is her father in all the ways that matter. He hasn't been in her life since then due to the deal he made with Saint Saturn to serve the World Government as a mindless cyborg in exchange for Vegapunk curing Bonney of her Sapphire Scales disease. Bonney's original motivation for becoming a pirate was to reunite with him, but after she discovered his personality had been wiped, it turned to getting revenge for his (functional) death]]. |
| 327 | * DontCelebrateJustYet: After Gecko Moria is defeated at ''Thriller Bark'', Kuma takes center stage and proves to be an even more dangerous threat, but quietly leaves the island after fighting Zoro. |
| 328 | * DotingParent: [[spoiler:He spent just as much time assisting the Revolution as he did raising Bonney, and was an incredibly loving and attentive father. A scene shows him crying TearsOfJoy when a baby Bonney calls him "Daddy" for the first time, and the last words he told her in their final in-person meeting before his DeathOfPersonality were to thank her for being born. It's clear that despite the tragic circumstances that led to Bonney falling under his care, she was the best part of his life]]. |
| 329 | * DramaticIrony: [[spoiler:The Egghead Arc reveals that Kuma learned about the Nika myth from his father. In spite of this, the same arc reveals that he never learns that Luffy has eaten the Nika Devil Fruit, merely noting that he is a man with rubber-powers who opposes the oppression of the World Government just like Nika before him. In the end, it is Luffy's extraordinary action of punching a Celestial Dragon to defend a fishman that shakes Kuma, moves him and makes him [[LeapOfFaith place his faith in Luffy]]. Luffy would later go on to become Nika incarnate once he awakened his Devil fruit, meaning Kuma's actions unknowingly heralded the return of the deity he worshipped, and he would never find out about this thanks to his DeathOfPersonality]]. |
| 330 | * EmpathicHealer: While he can push the pain out of others, someone else needs to take it in or else the pain bubble eventually returns to the original person. In the past, Kuma chose to take on the pain of the old folks who visited his church every Sunday. |
| 331 | * EmptyPromise: [[spoiler:When he sees Bonney for the last time, he tells her he is going to return in a year when she gets better, in order to take her to all the places they talked about, knowing full well that he is going to be functionally dead by then.]] |
| 332 | * EnigmaticMinion: He's known for following the World Government's orders more than the other Warlords and never shows any hint of a rebellious personality, but Gekko Moria says he doesn't trust Kuma. At the Summit war, it's said Kuma has been punished (by having the last organic parts of his body removed) because he has acted against the World Government's will, until is revealed Kuma works undercover for the Revolutionary army. |
| 333 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: He doesn't do much in his first appearance (during the meeting with Sengoku, along with Doflamingo), but the first thing he does when arriving on ''Thriller Bark'' is make Perona disappear in no time flat. |
| 334 | * ExactWords: After sending all of the Straw Hats flying at Sabaody, Kuma tells Luffy they will not meet again. This is later revealed to be due to him sacrificing his humanity shortly after [[spoiler:to cure Bonney and not being able to truly interact with Luffy or anyone else ever again]]. |
| 335 | * ExpendableClone: [[spoiler: While he is the progenitor of the original Pacifista CloneArmy, the World Government was more than happy to hand him over as a disposable obedient mechanical slave to the Celestial Dragons, who proceeded to use him and abuse him to their hearts' content]]. |
| 336 | * FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:He gave himself to full cybernization willingly for the sake of his daughter, without any hint of fear. When the time comes, Kuma simply smiles and accepts the end with no complaint and only asks that Bonney be wished a happy tenth birthday.]] |
| 337 | * FantasticNuke: In his devastating "Ursus Shock" attack, by condensing air pressure into a tiny sphere, Kuma can release the sphere which will rapidly expand, creating a concussive force as massive as an entire ''island''. Something of note is that in the anime, the sound of a siren is heard when Kuma makes the Ursus Shock akin to warning systems for missile attacks. Flashbacks show that his usage on Thriller Bark isn't even him ''trying'', he doesn't want to kill anyone present. When Kuma does Ursus Shock with real killing intent behind it, he can wipe out entire ''armies'' and reduce fleets to blazing ruin in seconds. |
| 338 | * FatalFlaw: Kuma doesn't value his own life ''at all'', and [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth neglects his own health and needs to the point he actually needs other people (like Ginny) stepping in to prevent him from giving too much of himself to others]]. [[spoiler:When he makes the DealWithTheDevil with the World Government, he is all too happy that the only price he will have to pay for curing Bonney is his own life]]. |
| 339 | * FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: Subject to an especially cruel example, with his personality and free will removed, the World Nobles use him as a mount, forcing him to crawl on all fours while they do things like stick blades in him for fun.]] |
| 340 | * FireForgedFriends: Kuma first met his friend and fellow founder of the Revolutionary Army, Ivankov, [[spoiler:38 years ago at God Valley during the Celestial Dragons' hunting games. Iva encouraged Kuma and the other slaves to take their lives into their own hands; thanks to his efforts, Kuma ended up eating the Paw-Paw Fruit and saving 500 slaves from God Valley. They parted on happy terms, and sixteen years later, Iva rescued Kuma and Ginny from captivity, introducing them to Dragon in the process.]] Sadly, [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul Kuma's fate]] renders him incapable of remembering Iva as anything other than an enemy. |
| 341 | * FlingALightIntoTheFuture: [[spoiler:The Egghead arc reveals Kuma saved the Straw Hats during the Sabaody Archipelago arc because he was impressed by their actions and moved by Luffy's similarity to Nika, coming to believe Luffy will become the man who'll save the world; so he separated the crew to ensure they would survive and become stronger, despite being fully aware that he wouldn't survive to see the outcome.]] |
| 342 | * {{Foil}}: Kuma poses as a contrast to Moria. It's especially apparent in their MirroredConfrontationShot [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vonPZpu6TE4/maxresdefault.jpg here]]. They are equal in height but Kuma is top heavy and has very small legs while Moria is bottom heavy. Moria dressed very flamboyantly while Kuma dressed simple. Moria is a broken PerpetualSmiler while Kuma is TheStoic and the emotionless. At the time of their meeting, the World Government had little faith in Moria while they trusted Kuma almost completely due to his programming. Moria's power seems very flashy and scary but suffers from a major WeaksauceWeakness (salt) and he himself is dependent on his shadow collection and zombie army; Kuma meanwhile is a OneManArmy with his [[StoryBreakerPower surprisingly broken power]] to push things and [[HollywoodCyborg cyborg augmentation]]. During the fight with the Straw Hats, Moria constantly mocked them and was defeated; Kuma meanwhile play the role of NoNonsenseNemesis and defeats them easily (both times). Later during the Summit war, Moria is TheLoad on the government's side while Kuma and his Pacifistas effectively turn the tide of the battle against the pirates. |
| 343 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 344 | ** [[spoiler:When Big Mom meets King in Wano, she tells him that there are three races she doesn’t have in Tottoland yet. One of them is of course the giants and the other is King's race: the Lunarians. The third is not elaborated on beyond that they're apparently extinct. In Egghead, it’s revealed that Kuma is part of an obscure race, the Buccaneer race, which officially went extinct with his death]]. |
| 345 | ** [[spoiler:After Kuma sends the Straw Hats to different locations to save them, they were all sent to locations conveniently to help them become stronger with their respective skills. The fact that Kuma sent them to these locations would imply he not only knew about them, but that he visited them at some point. As during his time as a pirate shows he visited all of the locations he sent the Straw Hats.]] |
| 346 | ** In chapter 1061, Lilith mentions how impossible it is to control a mechanized shark's urges i.e. the mechanized beast's instincts, no matter how much they try. [[spoiler: This foreshadows Kuma still maintaining his paternal instincts when he [[BigDamnHeroes saves Bonney from being killed by Saint Saturn]] and goes all PapaWolf on him]]. |
| 347 | * FullConversionCyborg: At Thriller Bark, Kuma is revealed to be a cyborg and has metallic upgrades to his body, making him even tougher and giving him the ability to fire a laser beam from his mouth. Doflamingo explains he's been slowly modified by Vegapunk and by the time of the Summit War his brain has been modified; essentially rendering him a soulless machine. |
| 348 | * GeniusBruiser: One of the largest and powerful character in the One Piece world, yet is very intelligent and perceptive, seemingly having a vast geographic knowledge of the known world judging by the separation of the Straw Hats and his status as TheChessmaster. [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/onepiece/images/5/5f/Bartholomew_Kuma_as_a_Child.png/revision/latest?cb=20130703114706 Even in his youth, he was known to read books on philosophers while carrying massive burdens on his back]]. |
| 349 | * GentleGiant: Kuma is absolutely massive, yet he's undeniably one of the most kindhearted characters in the entire series. |
| 350 | * GoodAllAlong: While Kuma is introduced as an enigmatic character who seemingly opposes the Straw Hats and serves the World Government, Luffy states he's actually good after he finds out that he's one of the Revolutionaries and he sent the crew away in the Sabaody Archipelago to save their lives. During the Egghead arc, all the questions and mysteries surrounding Kuma are weaved together, revealing the Warlord's entire life to have been one [[DarkAndTroubledPast awful]], '''[[TragicHero awful]]''' [[TheWoobie tragedy]]. Despite the ''constant'' suffering Kuma endured at the hands of the World Government, he always kept the wellbeing of others, [[spoiler:his adopted daughter Bonney]] in particular, at the center of his heart. Kuma wasn't merely "good" all along; he was an honest-to-God saint who always chose to do the right thing no matter what the world put him through. |
| 351 | * GoodIsNotSoft: Kuma might have been a kind and selfless man, but even when he still had his full personality, he wasn't someone to shy away from violence if he deemed it necessary. For example, [[spoiler:when criminals are attempting to enslave the poor people of his kingdom, a furious Kuma deems it an "unforgivable sin" and mercilessly attacks them, inciting a rebellion]]. Not to mention, he was a member of the Revolutionary Army, which is a heavily militaristic organization. |
| 352 | * GoodParents: [[spoiler:Flashbacks show that he was nothing but a caring father to his adopted daughter Bonney and the two had a very close relationship. After Kuma is turned into an android, Bonney is willing to risk life and limb to get to Mary Geois and then Egghead to either save or avenge him.]] |
| 353 | * GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler: In his final moments during his flashback, right before Vegapunk activates the machine that completely erases his personality, he is smiling completely calm and at peace with his imminent DeathOfPersonality, while Vegapunk is crying BrokenTears]]. |
| 354 | * HandBlast: His ''Pad Cannon'' is a paw-shaped [[BlowYouAway air bullet]] created by pushing the air at extremely high speeds. |
| 355 | * HappyDance: [[spoiler:One of Bonney's flashbacks depicts Kuma telling her of Nika's myth with the accompanying dance and heartbeat melody. His own flashback shows he got Vegapunk, Sentomaru and even Kizaru to dance it with them.]] |
| 356 | * HarmfulToMinors: Kuma and his family were enslaved when he was only ''four years old'', his mother was worked to death, and then his father was abruptly killed in front of him after pissing off a Celestial Dragon when he made too much noise. |
| 357 | * HealingHands: Kind of. He can push the pain and fatigue out of a person's body (which is manifested as a paw-shaped bubble) and put it in someone else, which doesn't heal the person's wounds but does free them of their suffering. |
| 358 | * HealthcareMotivation: [[spoiler: One of the primary motivations for becoming a pirate is to find a cure for Bonney's condition (the other being that he wanted to protect the Sorbet Kingdom from retaliation by the World Government). It's also why he makes a DealWithTheDevil with Vegapunk and Saturn afterwards]]. |
| 359 | * HeartIsAnAwesomePower: One of the most powerful characters in the One Piece universe. His power? The ability to push things. As in the ability to push things miles away in an instant, to push himself so fast it looks like he's teleporting, to create sonic booms by pushing the air, and to push away abstract concepts like ''pain'' and ''exhaustion''. The latter parts, however, aren't ''quite'' as crazy as they may seem at first glance, as Vegapunk notes pain and exhaustion are still physical things, taking the form of electromagnetic signals emitted by the brain's neurons. |
| 360 | * HeroAntagonist: Every meeting with the Straw Hats has him in opposition with them in some form, save for his last appearance where [[spoiler:Franky met him outside the ''Thousand Sunny'']]. Despite so, there's more to him than meets the eye; Franky outright called him a valuable ally after what he did to them Pre-Timeskip. Though Franky says that the crew should not expect this to continue after his full conversion as he will not be the same person should they met again. |
| 361 | * HeroicRROD: [[spoiler: After punching Saturn, saving Bonney and freeing the Straw-Hats from Saturn's influence, he gives Bonney one final hug to Bonney and completely stops moving after his damaged mechanical body reaches its limits]]. |
| 362 | * HeroicSacrifice: Chapter 1100 reveals the circumstances behind his [[DeathOfPersonality "death"]]: [[spoiler:One of Saturn's conditions for curing Bonney from her sapphire disease, was abandoning his free will alongside becoming a warlord. While Vegapunk called him out on it, Kuma happily obliged, [[PapaWolf as long as it meant Bonney will be saved]].]] |
| 363 | * HeroicWillpower: [[spoiler:Kuma's will supersedes even his individuality and mind being erased. His devotion to Bonney results in him flying to her rescue, powering through the marines and giving a Haki-enhanced blow to St. Jaygarcia Saturn of the five elders., all while he's been supposedly turned into a mindless machine. You can tear him down, turn him into a soulless machine, but Kuma's willpower will always rise above for the sake of his daughter.]] |
| 364 | * HeroWithBadPublicity: ZigZagged. In spite of his epithet of "Tyrant," those who actually knew him describe him as a very kindhearted man.It's later revealed that [[spoiler: thanks to King Bekori's [[MaliciousSlander smear campaign]], the citizens of the World Government view Kuma as an evil "Tyrant" who threw over a "Just King" and took over Sorbet Kingdom by force. The citizens of Sorbet Kingdom on the other hand, who witnessed both King Bekori's cruelty as well as Kuma's kindness, absolutely adore Kuma and are more than happy to have him as their king, not giving a damn what the rest of the world thinks]]. |
| 365 | * HiddenDepths: During Kuma's flashback, some events of the story are shown from his point of view, showing his thoughts behind his seemingly cold and stoic persona. The flashback culminates with TheReveal of what he was ''really'' thinking at the end of the Saboady Archipelago arc as he "pushed" Luffy and his crew to the respective places where they conducted their TimeSkip training. |
| 366 | -->'''Kuma:''' (''as he is about to "push" Luffy'') [[spoiler:This is just the level of the New World. It is still too soon for the likes of your crew!! Don’t come here yet. One day in the future… You will be the man who saves the world.]] |
| 367 | * HollywoodCyborg: He's a Pacifista prototype human weapon and his body is almost fully cybernetic, making him extremely though and powerful. Then, after a final operation, Kuma becomes a full robot and functionally dead. |
| 368 | * HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler: He adamantly refuses to meet up with Bonney when she becomes a pirate, honoring his deal with Saint Saturn, instead choosing to see her from a distance without encountering her]]. |
| 369 | * HowTheMightyHaveFallen: [[spoiler:From revolutionary to king to pirate, to lackey of the World Government, to finally being a mindless slave, Kuma has fallen low. Making things more tragic is that Kuma was MadeASlave as a young child before he became king, so he's back to square one]]. |
| 370 | * HumanizingTears: Throughout most of the series, Kuma is an extremely enigmatic individual who the reader knows next to nothing about. One of the first glimpses the reader gets of the man Kuma truly is underneath his mysterious exterior occurs during chapter 1072. [[spoiler:When Bonney looks through Kuma's memories, she witness a scene from his childhood of him in chains, sobbing as he's horribly abused by Celestial Dragons. And that's just the start of the absolute tragedy that was Kuma's entire life.]] |
| 371 | * IHaveYourWife: Or rather [[spoiler: "we have your child". Saint Saturn makes it perfectly clear that Bonney is the World Government's hostage in order to ensure Kuma's compliance]]. |
| 372 | * ImplacableMan: Kuma is a cyborg almost indestructible and incredibly though. While fighting him at Sabaody, the Straw Hat Pirates are unable to touch nor hurt him, let alone stop him. |
| 373 | * InelegantBlubbering: In true ''One Piece'' fashion, Kuma's flashback shows him [[spoiler:sobbing from joy when raising his adopted daughter Bonney.]] |
| 374 | * InformedFlaw: He is called "The Tyrant" for his limitless cruelty. He never shows any malice, and he certainly doesn't after being fully mechanized. It's later shown that his bad reputation [[spoiler: was due to a smear campaign by the overthrown [[TheCaligula King Bekori]] who wanted to get the World Government by his side, in order to get back in power]]. |
| 375 | * InstantExpert: Kuma learned how to use his Devil Fruit shortly after eating it, given that [[spoiler:he was able to save 500 people from the World Nobles' hunt while being chased down by Saint Saturn]]. |
| 376 | * IronicName: |
| 377 | ** His moniker is the "Tyrant", [[spoiler:but his past shows that he was a selfless and devoted leader to his people, not to mention a revolutionary who opposes tyranny. It's later revealed that he was given that name by the overthrown King Bekori and he [[AppropriatedAppelation adopted it as a pirate]] in order to keep the attention of King Bekori and the World Government away from Sorbet Kingdom]]. |
| 378 | ** The name "Pacifista" that he himself eventually adorns comes from [[spoiler: him describing himself as a "Weak-Willed Pacifist", which inspires Vegapunk to adopt the name for his upcoming CloneArmy, intending for it to "bring peace" to the world . This is a stark contrast to [[FullConversionCyborg what Kuma becomes later]] and [[KillerRobot how the Pacifista are being routinely used in the series]]...]] |
| 379 | * {{Irony}}: A flashback shows that as a child, Kuma's greatest dream [[spoiler:was to be a hero who liberated slaves like the legendary Sun God Nika, who his father told him stories about to keep his hopes of freedom up. Decades later, one of Kuma's last acts of free will is to save the life of Monkey D. Luffy, the man destined to become the next incarnation of Nika, the hero Kuma strove to be like so long ago]]. |
| 380 | * ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: [[spoiler:A flashback to his past reveals the World Government was able to discover the existence of his family and enslave them due to Kuma's birth, as a government agent planted at the hospital where he was born leaked the results of his blood tests to his superiors, exposing both him and his father as Buccaneers. It's for that reason that Kuma refused to get married to Ginny and start a family with her despite returning her feelings for him, for fear of that same exact scenario repeating. Very tragically deconstructed when Kuma's refusal to marry Ginny did ''nothing'' to change her fate]]. |
| 381 | * KilledOffForReal: While it was unknown for a long time (Both in-universe and out) if Kuma could be saved due to all the mysteries surrounding him, [[spoiler:Vegapunk makes it very clear to Bonney that Kuma is long past the point of no return. Bonney, for her part, later seems to have accepted that there is no saving her father]]. |
| 382 | * KnightOfCerebus: Anytime he shows up by himself, the situation becomes far more desperate. His first encounter with the Straw Hats is followed by the most one-sided defeat they've endured to that point, and then he's the one who separates the crew for two years across the four seas. [[spoiler:[[OnceMoreWithClarity His side of these events]] (as seen in his flashback) makes it clear he was intentionally trying to drive in to the Straw Hats [[YouAreNotReady how unprepared they were for the New World]] within the limitations of his orders, having taken an interest in Luffy after deducing he was Dragon's son from observing his old friend's behaviour and seeing the many of the curious similarities between the young man and the mythical Nika Kuma idolized as a child]]. |
| 383 | * LanternJawOfJustice: Double subverted. Kuma has a protruding jawline and is a frighteningly powerful enforcer for the corrupt World Government, but it's revealed that he's actually a man who thrives in his nobility and compassion. |
| 384 | * LastOfHisKind: [[spoiler:He's the last known member of the Buccaneer race[[note]]as Bonney is not his biological daughter[[/note]], which officially went extinct with his (functional) death.]] |
| 385 | * LeapOfFaith: [[spoiler:He never finds out that Luffy is the present incarnation of Nika. However, the fact that Luffy is a man with rubber-like properties who opposes the oppression of the World Government and the fact that he dared ''to punch a Celestial Dragon'', in the defense of a fishman no less, is enough to convince Kuma that Luffy will be the one who will eventually save the world, right before he saves him and his crew by pushing them away from danger]]. |
| 386 | * LightningBruiser: He's big, but he's also among the fastest and powerful characters in the series by using his Devil Fruit power to push himself at high speeds, which seems like teleporting. He's also extremely durable and can still fight even if his body is severely damaged. |
| 387 | * LostInTranslation: Kuma's power to "push" (押す) things makes more sense in Japanese, where verbs are much more often used to describe metaphorical or abstract concepts compared to English. This linguistic nuance makes some uses of Devil Fruit, such as "pushing" pain into someone, come off as less random in the original text than it does in translations. |
| 388 | * LovedByAll: Outside of [[spoiler:Saint Saturn]], everyone who knows Kuma personally (and not his facade he puts on as a Warlord) loves him for being one of the kindest characters in the entire series. |
| 389 | * MadeASlave: Kuma [[spoiler:was born free but spent most of his childhood as a slave of the Celestial Dragons due to having blood of the almost extinct Buccaneer race on his father’s side]]. |
| 390 | * MakeAnExampleOfThem: Cited words for words as the reason for his FateWorseThanDeath after the Timeskip listed above. [[spoiler: The World Nobles wanted to show the world that no matter who you are, even if you are the king of an ''affiliated'' country with the World Government; defying the gods mean suffering a FateWorseThanDeath.]] |
| 391 | * MaliciousSlander: [[spoiler:His subtitle of "Tyrant" was given to him by the actual tyrannical king of the Sorbet Kingdom to frame him as an evil monster who usurped his [[BlatantLies just and fair]] rule and that he instead rules with an iron fist, as a ploy to sic the Marines on him. In reality, the king was forcibly kicked out of the kingdom by Kuma after he attempted a genocide of the poor]]. |
| 392 | * MeaningfulName: While Bartholomew Kuma is most likely named after famous pirate "Black Bart" Roberts, Bartholomew is also the name of one of Jesus's apostles who was martyred for his beliefs, which is wholly appropriate to Kuma's pious, self-sacrificing character. |
| 393 | * MemoryJar: [[spoiler:Kuma used his Devil Fruit to store his memories in a bubble prior to his death, which are then taken on by his daughter Jewelry Bonney]]. |
| 394 | * MessianicArchetype: The more the audience learns about Kuma, the more it becomes clear that [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth he was someone far too good for the corrupt and cruel world he lived in]]. [[spoiler:As a child, he was enslaved and punished for some "grave sin" his people, the Buccaneers, committed against the World Government in the past. Despite all the suffering he went through, he never lost his [[NiceGuy kind and empathetic]] nature, always striving to help others and aspiring to be like his hero, the Sun God Nika, and spread freedom throughout the world. Ultimately, he ends up sacrificing everything for the sake of this one goal, including his body and soul, and ends his life as he began it: as a slave for the people who so thoroughly poison the world he wanted to save. Ironically for this trope, his actions in saving Luffy and his crew ends up directly leading into Luffy becoming Nika's new incarnation, meaning Kuma unknowingly heralded the return of his god]]. |
| 395 | * ModestRoyalty: [[spoiler:Even after he became the official King of the Sorbet Kingdom, Kuma continued to live as he always had: as a humble priest in a broken down church with his daughter, Bonney]]. |
| 396 | * TheMole: For much of the story, it seems that Kuma has become a Warlord while secretely working for the Revolutionary Army, as he saves the Straw Hat crew from Borsalino in Sabaody. The reveal of his backstory subvert this however, as he has [[spoiler:left the Revolutionary Army long before becoming a warlord, which he was forced to do to save his daughter, and he helped the Straw Hats for his own personal reasons]]. |
| 397 | * MoodWhiplash: His presence in ''Thriller Bark'' causes the situation to go from a silly horror parody to very serious, especially after defeating the already exhausted Straw Hats with no effort. |
| 398 | * MoralityPet: Up until the Egghead Arc, Bonney is shown to be frequently selfish, rude and a bit loose with her morals compared to the more heroic Straw Hats. [[spoiler:But with the reveal of Kuma being her father, their dynamic takes on a whole new meaning as she's in a desperate quest to restore his humanity and bring back the kind man he once was, showing that she herself has a capacity for compassion and kindness in the process.]] |
| 399 | * MysteriousPast: Kuma's past is shrouded in deep mystery, and not even his fellow Revolutionaries know what caused him to go from hating the World Government to becoming their lackey. The only other snippets of info known are that he used to be the king of Sorbet Kingdom, he's [[spoiler:Jewelry Bonney]]'s father, and he was enslaved as a child. It's not until the Egghead arc, over eight hundred chapters after his debut, that his past is finally elaborated on. |
| 400 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: His given name is Kuma, which is Japanese for "[[BearsAreBadNews Bear]]". Also his epithet is "''Tyrant''", which is not really the name a of a loving person. |
| 401 | * {{Narm}}: In-universe. While everyone is initially terrified of his mysterious abilities, when he reveals that the source of his powers are paw prints, they temporarily stop taking him seriously. They regret this when Kuma responds to Franky's mocking by one-shotting him. |
| 402 | * NiceGuy: Those who personally knew him state that, prior to being turned into the World Government's cyborg slave, Kuma was a good man. His comrades call him "kind", [[spoiler:his daughter Bonney has nothing but fond memories of him, and his only real goal in life was to be like Nika and help the downtrodden and oppressed. Even as a child, despite all the suffering he went through as a slave, he was unfailingly good; after escaping God Valley and saving the lives of five hundred innocents, he went to church to pray and castigate himself for not saving ''more'', and for years he used his powers to heal the elderly by taking all their aches and ailments ''onto himself.'' Even as a warlord with his daughter held hostage by the WG, he would still subvert his orders to rescue injured people before chasing pirates]]. |
| 403 | * NinjaPirateZombieRobot: he's an ex-slave pastor revolutionary king pirate warlord cyborg paw-man. Dragon even lampshades at one point the vastly different titles Kuma has held throughout his life. |
| 404 | * NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: His status as a heavily-abused slave-for-rent after the Straw Hats reunite after the TimeSkip is a result of the World Nobles and Government catching onto his selfless actions in helping the Straw Hat crew, like helping facilitate their escapes in ''Thriller Bark'' and Sabaody Archipelago as well as guarding their ship for two years straight. As such, they have chosen to make an example of him for his defiance. |
| 405 | * NoNonsenseNemesis: Following his cyborg-like personality, even before he [[spoiler: becomes a mindless Marine drone]], Kuma is completely serious on the job and plays no games. |
| 406 | * NotSoStoic: When Kuma's encountered pre-timeskip, he has a cold, robotic demeanor which makes him come off as almost emotionless. However, he only comes off this way because the reader isn't provided with any insight to Kuma's inner thoughts. Once the reader gets a full perspective on Kuma's life during the Egghead arc, it becomes abundantly clear that the emotionless front Kuma put on as a Warlord was not at '''all''' the man he truly was. In truth, Kuma was a deeply emotional, gentle man who wanted nothing less than to protect the innocent and to make sure his loved ones were happy. |
| 407 | * OddFriendship: With Vegapunk. Kuma is a former member of the Revolutionary Army which opposes the World Government, while Vegapunk is a scientist that makes weapons for that same government. One is a pirate while the other is a genius scientist. [[spoiler: When the two meet, they hit it off almost immediately and instantly become friends]]. |
| 408 | * OneManArmy: Kuma is able to defeat the entire Straw Hat crew ''twice'' without even trying. An extended flashback depicting his past repeatedly shows him being able to decimate entire armies by himself, including at point winning a three year-long war just by getting there. It got to the point even the ''narrator'' considered it a given Kuma would easily win any battle by himself, no matter the odds, by the time he faced off against a fleet of Marine battleships in a tiny sailboat. |
| 409 | -->''"Naturally... Kuma sunk all the ships..."'' |
| 410 | * OutsideContextProblem: He shows up reasonably late in the Thriller Bark arc and seems rather out of place there, being neither one of Moria's minions nor involved in the current arc's conflict. He only gets involved after Moria is defeated. |
| 411 | * ParentalSubstitute: [[spoiler:He is not Bonney's biological father, instead being the closest friend and love interest of her deceased mother, Ginny. After Ginny died, Kuma adopted and raised Bonney as his daughter in her memory]]. |
| 412 | * PapaWolf: [[spoiler: His paternal urge to protect Bonney is so strong that not even his DeathOfPersonality prevents him from running to Bonney’s aid when her life is in danger. In fact, his instinctual will to protect Bonney is so strong, that it manifests into a ''Haki-Infused punch'' towards Saturn's face]]. |
| 413 | * PersonOfMassDestruction: He's one of the strongest Warlords and, with the power of his Devil Fruit and his mechanical body, could easily destroy an entire island if he wanted to. Note, while other heavy hitters could destroy an island, most of them can't do it in ''one shot'' like Kuma can, and the ones that can are ''Emperors.'' |
| 414 | * PoorCommunicationKills: [[spoiler:Not telling Bonney the reason why he let Vegapunk erase his mind was out of a misguided hope that she wouldn't blame herself for his death. All that did was give Bonney a burning hatred for Vegapunk that would have let the real culprit Saint Saturn go free if she didn't discover the truth against her father's wishes.]] |
| 415 | * PosthumousCharacter: Kuma suffered a DeathOfPersonality before the events of the Summit War at the hands of the World Government. In spite of this, Kuma is a major character in the Egghead arc, with much of the arc focusing on [[spoiler:Kuma's daughter, Jewelry Bonney, trying to uncover his past]]. |
| 416 | * ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler:Vegapunk cites his love for Bonney as the only possible explanation for how he was able to defy all scientific logic to save her despite having had his sense of self and even his ability to move of his own will or on orders shut down, even saying the trope by name.]] |
| 417 | * PowerPalms: His Devil Fruit gives him [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal powerful paw pad palms]] that let him perform terrifiying feats of destruction. |
| 418 | * PunchedAcrossTheRoom: With the Paw-Paw fruit, Kuma can push anyone he touches everywhere he wishes, even to the other side of the world. |
| 419 | * RageBreakingPoint: Kuma is normally a very calm, kind, gentle and collected sort of person. Witnessing King Bekori kill Sorbet Kingdom's elders while burning down their homes in a attempt to re-enact the Gray Terminal massacre, however, angers his so much that [[OneManArmy he single-handedly destroys King Bekori's army and demolishes his palace in an event known as "The Solo Revolution"]]. |
| 420 | * ReallyDeadMontage: [[spoiler: In the last pages of his flashback, there is a sequence of panels showing him running during various phases of his life as he sees the faces of all the important people he encountered. First his parents, then Iva, then Ginny, then Dragon and the Revolutionary Army, then the adult Ginny (stumbling and nearly falling down as he deals with her loss) then Bonney, then Vegapunk. It ends with a final shot of him [[GoIntoTheLight running towards the light]] as Vegapunk prepares to activate the machine that erases his personality]]. |
| 421 | * TheQuietOne: He doesn't speak as often as the other Warlords and is by far the calmest one. |
| 422 | * ReallyRoyaltyReveal: Zigzagged. His appearance in the Reverie arc introduces him as “former king of the Sorbet Kingdom” without explaining how he was this in addition to a pirate and a revolutionary; during Egghead we learn [[spoiler:to put an end to [[TheCaligula King Bekori]]'s cruelty, Kuma singlehandedly overthrew Sorbet Kingdom's monarchy. By popular demand of the people, Kuma became the new king of Sorbet. However, because Kuma had zero experience with leading a kingdom, he was just a figurehead and left all the actual ruling to Bekori's predecessor, Bulldog. He was forced to abdicate the throne and become a pirate to stop Bekori from returning]]. |
| 423 | * RedBaron: Kuma is known as "The Tyrant". |
| 424 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: If a red light appears in one of his eye pieces, watch out. |
| 425 | * ReligiousBruiser: Kuma is one of the most physically imposing and powerful pirates in the world, and he carries a Bible with him wherever he goes, with the flashback revealing he was formerly a pastor. [[spoiler: It's implied that the Bible represents his faith in the Sun God Nika, of which he learned of when he was a slave.]] |
| 426 | * LaResistance: Kuma was a member of Monkey D. Dragon's army before his piracy days. |
| 427 | * SamaritanSyndrome: Flashbacks to his past show that Kuma was a man who was ''way'' too selfless for his own good. [[spoiler:After saving over five hundred people during the God Valley Incident, he goes to a church to pray and blames himself for not saving more -- and he was no older than ''ten'' at the time. Later, after he becomes a pastor, he starts using his power to take away the aches and pains of the people who visit his church. Then, after they leave, he takes on all of that pain ''himself'', otherwise it will just go back to them. He used to do this ''every week''. It's no wonder Ginny became so protective of him]]. |
| 428 | * SaveYourDeity: [[spoiler:Kuma saves the lives of the Straw Hat Pirates, including Monkey D. Luffy, toward the end of the Sabaody Archipelago arc -- and in turn unknowingly rescues the next avatar of the Sun God Nika, the Buccaneer FolkHero who he modeled his dreams and ideals after. However, this isn't a coincidence; the reason why Kuma saves Luffy and his crew is ''because'' Luffy reminds him so much of the stories of Nika, all while completely unaware that Luffy ''is'' Nika. Even then, he still believes to the end that Luffy would be the one to carry on his hero's will, and save the world]]. |
| 429 | * ScaryShinyGlasses: Actually Scary Shiny Focusing Lenses, but the effect is the same. |
| 430 | * SecretKeeper: Kuma was the only person in the Revolutionary Army who knew that Luffy is Dragon's son long before the reveal. |
| 431 | * SemanticSuperpower: His power can be described as "pushing". Doesn't sound very impressive at first, but it doesn't just refers to physical objects but also abstracts things like "pain". He uses his power to move all of Luffy's pain to Zoro. |
| 432 | * SelfDestructMechanism: [[spoiler: Saint Saturn forces Vegapunk to install a self-destruct mechanism on Kuma, fearing he might go rogue even after his personality gets erased. But Vegapunk instead installed a shutdown mechanism which merely puts him in a vegetative state, incapable of receiving further orders, fearing Saturn would use him as a living bomb. When Saturn activates it in an attempt to destroy the Revolutionaries, it instead allows Kuma's love for Bonney to completely guide his actions and severs him from the chain of command]]. |
| 433 | * SentimentalHomemadeToy: [[spoiler:During their stay at Egghead, Bonney draws a picture of Kuma's face and lovingly writes his name on it. Kuma then uses Bonney's painting, goofy writing and all, as his Jolly Roger after he becomes a Warlord]]. |
| 434 | * ShameIfSomethingHappened: When Kuma meets [[spoiler:Bonney's "Nurse" (actually a Cipher Pol agent), the latter makes it very clear to him [[WouldHurtAChild what is going to happen to his daughter if he ever steps out of line]].]] |
| 435 | * SlaveLiberation: [[spoiler:A flashback shows he spent his childhood as a slave to the Celestial Dragons, though his future status as the King of the Sorbet Kingdom and a Warlord shows he was freed at some point. Kuma himself dreamed of being a hero who freed slaves like the Warrior of Liberation, the Sun God Nika, thanks to the stories his father would tell him about Nika to keep his spirits up during his enslavement]]. |
| 436 | * SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Kuma is quite the intelligent individual and he used to wear glasses back in the day, as shown in flashbacks with Vegapunk and [[spoiler:Bonney]]. |
| 437 | * StealthMentor: His first meeting and "fight" with the Straw Hat Pirates is actually a SecretTestOfCharacter to Luffy's crew to see how loyal they are. Then in their second meeting he scatters them across the world to islands that all turn out to be the ''exact'' places they needed to go to each [[TookALevelInBadass becoming much stronger in a short time]]. |
| 438 | * TheStoic: Kuma is always composed and calm, which makes him one of the most well-mannered Warlord. This personality trait is also fitting for being a cyborg. |
| 439 | * StoryBreakerPower: Kuma's devil fruit is extremely powerful and versatile since it can push anything he touches anywhere he wants. This means he can win every fight by simply touching his opponent once. |
| 440 | * StrongAndSkilled: In addition to being monstrously powerful in both his body and his Devil Fruit, Kuma has an incredible grasp of his Devil Fruit's powers and precise control of it. Not only can he basically use it as a means of fast travel and to FlashStep, push things like pain and memories out of people's bodies, and create island busting shockwaves, he's precise enough in his control of it to level Thriller Bark without killing anyone. |
| 441 | * SuperToughness: Kuma's cybernetic body is resistant enough to NoSell Pre-Timeskip Zoro's slashes, despite the latter having mastered the ability to cut steel. |
| 442 | * SuperpowerLottery: Much like most of his fellow Warlords. There seems to be no limit on how fast, how far, or even exactly ''what'' he can push, judging by the fact that he can push someone onto an island hundreds of miles away, and even pushing abstract concepts like ''pain'' and ''exhaustion'' (though the latter parts aren't ''quite'' as crazy as they may seem at first glance, as Vegapunk notes pain and exhaustion are still physical things, taking the form of electromagnetic signals emitted by the brain's neurons). He's also a cyborg with a body structure so tough that not even Zoro can cut him, considering Zoro was able to cut steel before. Oh, in addition to all of this, he can also push ''himself'' for an instant FlashStep. And finally, he could lay waste to an entire island if he wanted to, by compressing the air around him into a ''bomb''. |
| 443 | * SuperPrototype: He's the original Pacifista, later finalized as PX-0, complete with BreathWeapon and a [[PowerPalms Devil Fruit power]] that can slap you halfway across the planet, the latter of which makes him different from his successors. |
| 444 | * TearsOfJoy: [[spoiler: When Saint Saturn informs him that the price for Vegapunk curing Bonney will be Kuma's mind and free will, Kuma sheds tear being happy that Bonney will finally be cured]]. |
| 445 | * ThanatosGambit: In exchange for being turned into a robot he made a deal to be able to [[spoiler:protect the ''Thousand Sunny'' until one of the Straw Hats returns to Sabaody Archipelago]]. |
| 446 | * ThisIsUnforgivable: For all his kindness, if there is one thing Kuma cannot forgive, it is [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slavery]]. [[spoiler:When slavers invaded the southern half of the Sorbet Kingdom to enslave the people there with tacit permission from King Bekori, Kuma outright called it "unforgivable" and attacked them, causing a rebellion and leading him to being imprisoned before being rescued by Dragon and Ivankov. Later, when Bekori escalated his crimes to genocide and attempted to slaughter all the poor people in his kingdom, Kuma stopped holding back entirely and liberated the entire country, kicking Bekori out of Sorbet permanently; and when the latter attempted to return and reconquer his lost kingdom, Kuma sunk him and his entire fleet, implicitly killing him]]. |
| 447 | * TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler:Everything revealed about Kuma points to him being one of the kindest and most selfless characters in the whole series, only for him to be slowly and tragically dismantled into an unfeeling machine.]] |
| 448 | * TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: During his younger years, he was easily defeated and imprisoned by King Bekori's army before being rescued by Dragon. His years in the Revolutionary Army turned him into a OneManArmy capable of crushing a Sorbet Kingdom's standing army, a Marine Division and an entire Marine Fleet completely on his own]]. |
| 449 | * TragicHero: [[spoiler:All he wanted was to help people in much the same way as Nika had, but circumstances and his own good nature cost him nearly everything; his parents, his happiness, the woman he loved, his reputation, his humanity, and ultimately his own life.]] |
| 450 | * TransferableMemory: Courtesy of his Devil Fruit, Kuma is able to transfer memories out of a person's body, as memories are ultimately electromagnetic signals in the brain. [[spoiler:It's revealed in the Egghead arc that he actually did this to his own memories shortly before having his personality and free will removed]]. |
| 451 | * UniversallyBelovedLeader: Justified. [[spoiler:For liberating the Sorbet Kingdom from the tyrannical reign of King Bekori, the people all but begged him to become their king. Kuma acquiesced to their demands, but continued his AffluentAscetic lifestyle and never abused his new authority (instead leaving most of the work to Bekori's predecessor Bulldog), so the people never had any reason to become disillusioned with him]]. |
| 452 | * UnstoppableRage: Kuma doesn't get mad easy but when he does, watch out. When he [[spoiler:goes for Jaygarcia Saturn, his face is twisted in absolute fury for the elder daring to threaten his precious daughter and he delivers a punch that would've easily killed a lesser opponent.]] |
| 453 | * VocalDissonance: For someone so large and intimidating, Kuma's actual voice is quite gentle and soft-spoken. |
| 454 | * WalkingSpoiler: Kuma is first revealed during the Jaya arc, but his full history and connections to other characters are left as mysteries until the Egghead arc--over 800 chapters after his introduction. |
| 455 | * WalkingTheEarth: He wanders the world as a pirate [[spoiler:searching for a cure for Bonney's disease]], passing by the very places he ends up sending the Straw Hats during the Sabaody Archipelago arc. |
| 456 | * WhenHeSmiles: Kuma never shows any emotions throughout his appearances, even before his mind becomes fully roboticized. The only times he has been shown smiling is in flashbacks [[spoiler:like when his daughter Bonney remembers him happily playing with her in her youth.]] |
| 457 | * WorthyOpponent: Zoro considers him this and almost immediately noticed when a [[RobotMe Pacifista]] attacked the Straw Hats earlier that it wasn't the real Kuma. Kuma, for his part, was impressed when he found out that Zoro survived back in ''Thriller Bark''. |
| 458 | * YouShallNotPass: Kuma had a mission directive installed to [[spoiler:protect the ''Thousand Sunny'' until one of the Straw Hats showed up]]. |
| 459 | * YoungerThanTheyLook: Kuma was taller than most adult from a young age, as had an extremely muscular torso going back to early childhood. Though he had a youthful face, when he was nine one could easily think he was in his late teens. |
| 460 | [[/folder]] |
| 461 | |
| 462 | [[folder:Gecko Moria]] |
| 463 | -> See his crew's [[Characters/OnePieceThrillerBarkPirates page]]. |
| 464 | [[/folder]] |
| 465 | |
| 466 | [[folder:"Pirate Empress" Boa Hancock]] |
| 467 | -> See her crew's [[Characters/OnePieceKuja page]]. |
| 468 | [[/folder]] |
| 469 | |
| 470 | [[folder:"First Son of the Sea" Jimbei]] |
| 471 | ->See his entry on the [[Characters/OnePieceStrawHatPirates Straw Hat Pirates]] page. |
| 472 | ->For his crew, the Sun Pirates, see their [[Characters/OnePieceSunPirates page]]. |
| 473 | [[/folder]] |
| 474 | |
| 475 | !!New Recruits |
| 476 | These are formerly regular pirates who become Warlords during the course of the story. |
| 477 | |
| 478 | [[folder:"Blackbeard" Marshall D. Teach]] |
| 479 | ->See his [[Characters/OnePieceBlackbeard page]]. |
| 480 | ->For his crew, the Blackbeard Pirates, see their [[Characters/OnePieceBlackbeardPirates page]]. |
| 481 | |
| 482 | Earned the Warlord status by defeating Portgas D. Ace and handing him over to the Marines. Later lost his status when he revealed he was only using it in his grand scheme against Whitebeard. Once he got what he wanted, he willingly gave it up and took Whitebeard's place as part of the far more dangerous Four Emperors. |
| 483 | [[/folder]] |
| 484 | |
| 485 | [[folder:"Genius Jester" Buggy the Clown]] |
| 486 | ->See this [[Characters/OnePieceEastBluePirateCrews page]]. |
| 487 | [[/folder]] |
| 488 | |
| 489 | [[folder:"Surgeon of Death" Trafalgar Law]] |
| 490 | ->See his [[Characters/OnePieceTrafalgarLaw page]]. |
| 491 | ->For his crew, the Heart Pirates, see them on this [[Characters/OnePieceElevenSupernovas page]]. |
| 492 | |
| 493 | Joined the Warlords during the timeskip by providing the Marines with the hearts of 100 pirates, but loses the Warlord status when he reveals that Luffy and he are working together willingly in an alliance which is a breach of agreement with the World Government. |
| 494 | [[/folder]] |
| 495 | |
| 496 | [[folder:"Whitebeard Jr." Edward Weevil]] |
| 497 | !!"Whitebeard Jr." Edward Weevil |
| 498 | !!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KozoShioya (JP), Creator/BrookChalmers (EN) |
| 499 | !!!'''Age:''' 35 |
| 500 | !!!'''Debut:''' Chapter 802 (Manga), Episode 751 (Anime) |
| 501 | |
| 502 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/edward_weevil_anime.png]] |
| 503 | |
| 504 | ->''"Dey're all dummies! Dey don't understand!! Dey all say da same thing!! Dey say da only sons of Whitebeer was da Whitebeer pirate crew! But, Mama!! But, Mama!! I'm da son of Whitebeer! My hair's white!"'' |
| 505 | |
| 506 | The self-proclaimed son of the deceased Whitebeard. He became one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea during the timeskip. There's a lot of doubt on whether he is truly Whitebeard's son, but his strength is said to be comparable to the man himself in his youth.\ |
| 507 | |
| 508 | His mother and also self-proclaimed lover of Whitebeard, Bucking, accompanies him around, telling him what he should do, with him blindly complying.\ |
| 509 | |
| 510 | His bounty at the time he became a Warlord was 480,000,000 berries. With the dissolution of the organization, he forever holds the record for having had the highest bounty of the group. As a free pirate once again, it's currently unknown if his bounty has been raised. |
| 511 | ----- |
| 512 | * AmbiguousSituation: While most people both InUniverse and out instantly assume that his relationship with Whitebeard is a bold-faced lie, Marco notes that Weevil's mother Bucking was together with Whitebeard in a crew about 40 years ago, raising the possibility that Weevil really is Newgate's son. |
| 513 | * AmbiguouslyRelated: Everyone considers his claim that he's Whitebeard's long-lost biological son to be highly suspect, with the only current evidence being the fact his mother did once serve aboard the same ship as Whitebeard 40 years ago, and Buckin claiming that [[spoiler:Dr. Vegapunk can prove they're related]]. Kizaru notes the legitimacy of Weevil's claim is irrelevant to his status as a Warlord, it's his monstrous strength that matters, which he outright compares to Whitebeard's in his youth. He's certainly taken his strength out on anyone who dares question his self-proclaimed heritage. |
| 514 | * BerserkButton: Weevil apparently doesn't take it very well when people insinuate that he doesn't count as one of Whitebeard's sons since he never served under him. According to the Marines, the former captains serving under Whitebeard got into arguments with him that started small but eventually escalated until Weevil beat up them, their crews and [[DisproportionateRetribution destroyed the towns]] they were staying in. |
| 515 | * BewareTheSillyOnes: Unlike the other Warlords, Weevil is introduced in a much more comical way through his [[DumbMuscle stupidity]] and [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas bumbling relationship with his mother]]. He's also badass enough to have defeated ''16'' former captains serving under Whitebeard and intends to eliminate Marco, Luffy and Blackbeard as well, and Kizaru treads carefully around him and knows better than to piss him off. [[spoiler:When the Marines learned that Weevil is defending Newgate's home island in response to them attacking it, they temporarily retreated and it took them needing the assistance of [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership Admiral Ryokugyu]] in an attempt to try again]]. |
| 516 | * BunnyEarsLawyer: As to be expected of the Warlords. He's very immature, stupid, and gets bossed around by his mother all the time. Not to mention, he's destroyed several towns and has caused hundreds of casualties. But the Government continues to employ him because of his frightening strength. |
| 517 | * CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: He's dumb as bricks, but he has strength comparable to ''Whitebeard'' in his youth. Kizaru himself mentions that whether his claim to be Whitebeard's son is true or not, he's still a force to be reckoned with. |
| 518 | * DisproportionateRetribution: Apparently, each town that a former ally of Whitebeard resided in is destroyed in the aftermath of the fight between them and Weevil over arguments started about whether or not the latter is one of Whitebeard's sons. |
| 519 | * TheDreaded: Let's put it this way: even ''Kizaru'' is wary of him, and Marco specifically refuses to enter the Wano Country because he would rather have Weevil in active pursuit of him than have him move on to Whitebeard's hometown. |
| 520 | * DumbMuscle: Despite his strength, his mother does all the thinking for him. |
| 521 | * ElmuhFuddSyndwome: His speech is translated like this to emphasize his childish mentality. |
| 522 | * EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Despite being a violent, destructive Warlord of the Sea, Weevil genuinely loves his mother and Whitebeard, who he believes to be his father. |
| 523 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: Turns out that [[spoiler:Marco's fears are unfounded -- Weevil has no intention to harm Whitebeard's hometown. In fact, when some corrupt Marines try to raid it in search of Whitebeard's treasure, Weevil gets enraged and attacks them, while leaving the civilians unharmed]]. |
| 524 | * FatBastard: Downplayed. He's certainly fat, but, while a villain, he's just a pawn of his mother and [[spoiler:genuinely protects his presumed father's homeland when the Marine arrives]]. |
| 525 | * GoneHorriblyRight: As a self-proclaimed heir of Whitebeard who's going after the pirate crews formerly affiliated with him, it's easy to see why the World Government employed him as a Warlord. However, the resulting civilian casualties from his rampages made the Marines question whether it's such a good idea to leave him running around. |
| 526 | ** It's worth mentioning that when the Warlords are disbanded, the Marines have to move to intercept Mihawk, Hancock, and Buggy. For Weevil, they were already in place. |
| 527 | * {{Gonk}}: He looks more like a comical caricature of Whitebeard than he does his son. |
| 528 | * MyBelovedSmother: Bakkin is extremely controlling of her son. |
| 529 | * NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The first good deed he does in the story, [[spoiler:protecting Whitebeard's hometown, ends with him defeated and captured by Ryokugyu]]. |
| 530 | * PersonOfMassDestruction: Every fight he gets in with allies of the Whitebeard Pirates ends up with a destroyed city. It's noted there's 600 civilian casualties caused by his rampages, and Marco outright refuses to go near Wano Country because he knows that Weevil is after him and would rather have that than have him tear apart Whitebeard's hometown instead. |
| 531 | * PetTheDog: Overly violent though he may be towards people who anger him, he still [[spoiler:saves Whitebeard's hometown from corrupt Marines]]. |
| 532 | * PsychopathicManChild: He appears to be very innocent and immature, which makes him easily manipulated by his mother. He's also destroyed several towns because people doubt his claim of being Whitebeard's son. |
| 533 | * SmallParentHugeChild: He is is exactly 10 times the size of his mother, [[MiniatureSeniorCitizen Miss Bakkin]], who is just over 2 feet tall. He's also about a foot taller than his alleged father Edward Newgate, better known as Whitebeard. |
| 534 | * StrongFamilyResemblance: Played with. He has some minor similarities with Whitebeard such as similar mustaches and blonde hair, but him and his mother see them as much more than they truly are. Lampshaded when Mrs. Bucking holds a poster of Whitebeard in front of him and Weevil thinks he's looking at a mirror. |
| 535 | * UnskilledButStrong: Admiral Kizaru claims that Weevil is as strong as Edward Newgate in his prime and decimated the entire Marine battalion that came to arrest him with ease. [[spoiler:However, when he goes up against the new Marine Admiral Ryokugyu, a very experienced fighter, he is soundly defeated.]] |
| 536 | * YouKilledMyFather: He doesn't give much of a crap about Whitebeard's treasure, and is more interested in killing the man that did him in; namely, [[spoiler:Blackbeard]]. His ''mother'' on the other hand, cares more about the treasure than going after Whitebeard's killer. |
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FollowingContext Characters / OnePieceSevenWarlordsOfTheSea
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