Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / One Piece: Straw Hat Pirates
aka: One Piece Straw Hat Pirates East Blue

Go To

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.


Main Character Index > Straw Hat Pirates > Monkey D. Luffy | Roronoa Zoro | Nami | Usopp | Sanji | Tony Tony Chopper | Nico Robin | Straw Hat Grand Fleet

Straw Hat Pirates
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/straw_hat_pirates_jolly_roger.png
"The Straw Hat crew has performed countless miracles on their way here!"

A small, but formidable pirate crew who hail from the East Blue. The Straw Hat Pirates are the protagonists of the series, with the central hero - Monkey D. Luffy - leading the charge. The name "Straw Hats" stems from Luffy's signature hat, gifted by Red-Haired Shanks. Smoker first refers to the crew as such in Alabasta. The crew initially sails on the Going Merry, their first official Straw Hat vessel, from Syrup Village until the Water 7 Arc. Following the Enies Lobby Arc, they acquire a new ship called the Thousand Sunny. The Straw Hats comprise ten members, five from the East Blue and five who join on the Grand Line. Their combined bounties total 8,816,001,000 Berries.

After the events on the Sabaody Archipelago, the initial nine members get separated. Over two years, they train in relative isolation, becoming stronger to support each other.

After the Dressrosa arc, the crew expands massively. Although the main crew remains the same, seven other captains and their respective crews pledge their allegiance to Luffy, forming the Straw Hat Grand Fleet.

Following the events of the Whole Cake Island and Wano Arcs, which involve Luffy's successful raids against Big Mom and Kaido, Luffy ascends to become one of the Four Emperors of the Sea, and the world acknowledges the Straw Hats as one of the most potent and dynamic pirate crews in the world.


Character-Specific Pages


    open/close all folders 

    As a Group 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/one_piece_vol_64_cropped.png

  • Above Good and Evil: For most of them, labels of "good" and "evil" generally don't matter. It's evident right from the beginning of the series, although various crew members took some time to get used to the label of "pirate".
    Zoro: Pirates are scum! Who would want to be one?
    Luffy: Does it matter? You're known as an evil pirate hunter.
  • Achievements in Ignorance: A critical key component to the crew's ever-rising infamy and success is how they manage to perform feats of daring that defy the imagination of many, while they themselves are oblivious to the magnitude of the Impossible Tasks they undertake.
    • The formation of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet happens entirely without Luffy's intention. At the end of the Dressora arc, the group found that they all like working with one another and they all have a mutual respect and admiration towards Luffy, who saved their lives and inspired them. Despite Luffy's protest, they all pledge themselves to him and decide to declare themselves as a member of his Fleet without his actual approval. The side effect of this ends up tipping the power scale of the universe and increasing the Straw Hat's infamy.
    • Luffy becomes the "Fifth Emperor" of the Sea without even aiming for it. The crew's entry into Big Mom's territory is supposed to be a discreet rescue mission for Sanji; circumstances cause the situation to escalate, which leads to an assassination attempt on Big Mom because Sanji refuses to abandon his biological family to their fates by the Big Mom Pirates' hands. The ensuing chaos that results from the Big Mom Pirates chasing them down is then sensationalized by "Big News" Morgans, who declares Luffy to be the "Fifth Emperor" of the Sea. Essentially, the Straw Hats cause their reputations to skyrocket, to the point of being considered one of the five most powerful pirate crews in the world, by complete accident, despite Capone Bege being the mastermind for Charlotte Linlin's assassination attempt; instead, he's just considered an ally to Luffy, who gets all of the credit.
  • Action Hero: Obviously, all of the Straw Hats are powerful fighters. Even Nami isn't afraid to use her weather abilities to slow her enemies down.
  • Almighty Janitor: The Straw Hats have been a strong crew long before they actually start getting recognized by the world; during the early days, the government keeps their exposure under wraps with various cover-ups and lies. As a result, they are often vastly underestimated and would shock the small groups of locals who witness their strength when they roll into various countries and defeat whatever corrupt forces are in charge there. Thanks to their undeniable rampage through Enies Lobby and Luffy's personal actions during their separation, their fame now matches their caliber and they're known as The Dreaded among most people. Their formerly outdated and disproportionately low Enies Lobby bounties (except Luffy's) still keep this trope somewhat in play for a bit after the Time Skip, but it's fully averted by their most recent bounties following their role in the uprising on Dressrosa (thanks to Admiral Fujitora revealing what happened to the entire world), their little excursion through Totland and then their part in the rebellion within the elusive Wano (thanks to "Big News" Morgan publishing articles about them).
  • Always Save the Girl: The crew goes before everything else. That level of devotion is where the Protagonist-Centered Morality comes from, as while the Straw Hats are genuinely good people, they tend to prioritize each other and their friends before everything else, even if it pits them against the laws and politics of the World Government.
  • Animal-Motif Team: They all have an animal motif.
    • According to Oda, they are as follows:
      • A monkey for Luffy; hence his name Monkey D. Luffy
      • A shark for Zoro
      • A cat for Nami
      • A duck for Sanji
      • An armadillo for Usopp
      • A reindeer for Chopper
      • A crane for Robin
      • A bull for Franky
      • A horse for Brook
      • A bear for Jimbei
    • For the ships, it's a sheep for the Going Merry and a lion for the Thousand Sunny.
    • A cover also shows alternate motifs by showing the crew together with the animals: a tiger for Zoro, a bighorn sheep for Sanji, a chameleon for Usopp, a red panda for Chopper, a falcon for Robin, a rhino for Franky, a skeletal giraffe for Brook, and the rest remains the same.
    • Additionally, in One Piece: Unlimited Cruise, each of the Straw Hats has their own animal-themed costume:
      • Luffy: Lion
      • Zoro: Dragon
      • Nami: Tropical Fish
      • Usopp: Owl
      • Sanji: Goat
      • Chopper: Dinosaur
      • Robin: Butterfly
      • Franky: Rhinoceros
      • Brook: Swallow
  • Anti-Hero Team: To an extent. They don't have morally ambiguous intentions as true antiheroes have, but don't really care about politics, and as a rule have a "live and let live" attitude when it comes to the oppressive customs of countries they visit. Barbaric cruelty towards the helpless and/or innocent will rouse their anger, but in general they only fight tyrants when It's Personal. That being said, due to their friendliness and generally good nature, they tend to make friends wherever they go. As a result, they almost always inevitably come in conflict with the oppressive regimes that are harming their new allies. When they topple said regime to save them, they earn the friendship of all the inhabitants of islands they liberated.
  • Arch-Enemy: While all pirates (except the Seven Warlord of the Sea and their crews, and even they are automatically declared criminals again once the Seven Warlords system is abolished) are outlaws in the eyes of the World Government, the Straw Hat Pirates in particular outright declare war on the World Government by burning the World Government flag at Enies Lobby. The Straw Hat Pirates, especially their captain Luffy, are involved in several major incidents that are problematic for the World Government. Additionally, several individual members have had their lives negatively affected by the World Government even before becoming Straw Hat Pirates.
    • Luffy's brother Sabo was attacked and presumably killed by a Celestial Dragon, resulting in Luffy spending years believing Sabo was dead.
    • Roronoa Zoro was tortured and nearly executed by Marines at Shell Town for petty reasons.
    • The Arlong Pirates enslaved Nami and her home village of Cocoyashi. The Arlong Pirates are an extremist splinter faction of the Sun Pirates who went on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against humanity after the Marines killed the Sun Pirates' captain Fisher Tiger, who was an escaped slave of the Celestial Dragons.
    • Chopper's home island was oppressed by the World Goverment-backed ruler Wapol.
    • Robin's home island of Ohara was destroyed by the World Government, which spent the following decades hunting Robin.
    • Franky's father figure Tom was taken into custody by the World Government.
    • Marines killed Jimbei's captain Fisher Tiger.
  • Badass Crew: They may be a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, but there's no denying that this crew considers each other family, and will break anyone who threatens another Straw Hat. Despite the Enies Lobby incident being a prime example of this trope, the World Government still hasn't learned this lesson.
  • Badass Family: The lineage of a few of the Straw Hats are undeniably awesome.
    • Usopp's father, Yasopp, is also a legendary sniper working for an equally legendary pirate captain.
    • Luffy's grandfather Garp is a (now former) Vice-Admiral, his father Dragon is a revolutionary leader, and his adoptive "brothers" Ace and Sabo are powerful Devil Fruit users like he is.
    • Nami's adoptive mother Bell-Mère is a fiery ex-Marine who stood down Arlong just to give her girls a fighting chance, at the cost of herself.
    • Sanji's family, the Vinsmokes, are royalty and Underworld assassins, and their name is so renowned that even Brook has an Oh, Crap! moment. All of them are powerful warriors; Sanji's four siblings are physically/psychologically-enhanced Tykebombs who all wield special abilities of their own without ingesting a Devil Fruit.
    • Robin's family were the Scholars of Ohara, researchers into a period the World Government wanted covered up so desperately they massacred them all. Robin surviving is actually the reason she's a wanted pirate.
    • Franky's adoptive father and brother are widely renowned to be the greatest shipwrights in the world, to the point where the Marines and World Government considered Iceburg (who is also the mayor of Water-7) too invaluable to assassinate, even when he'd clearly spent more than a decade outsmarting them.
  • Badass on Paper: If you were to read half of the Straw Hats achievements over the course of the series, you would assume that they were a ruthless crew of One-Man Army pirates who could steam roll anyone they face. If you were to actually spend ten minutes with the Straw Hats, you'd realize that they're a bunch of nut jobs who are lucky to have made it as far as they did. However, they're still able to defeat any pirate crew they come across. Trafalgar Law played this trope straight when he made an alliance with the Straw Hats, and was left dumbfounded by their antics.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: They are one of the most amicable, fun-loving pirates who never try to instigate fights or ruin the lives of others For the Evulz. But, they're NOT pushovers. Many villains who decide to push their Berserk Button above end up kissing the metaphorical pavement.
  • Beware the Silly Ones:
    • They are one of the most eccentric crews on the Grand Line. They are also one of the most powerful and legendary ones as well, having defied the World Government several times and have practically gotten away with it. They've broken into one of the most secure government facilities in the world, while Luffy, The Captain, has also broken into the other two. One of them, he broke into twice.
    • The crew wages war on the World Government's courthouse and makes a mess of it, later nullified by the Buster Call outright destroying the whole island bringing down thousands of armed guards and the World Government's best assassins in the process. Then Luffy breaks into Impel Down, an underwater prison/fortress/hell and then breaks out with 240 other prisoners (Impel Down has only had one successful breakout in history, Luffy being the second), and then arrives at the Marine Headquarters in the middle of a war with said escapees. By falling out of the sky in a battleship. A few days later he strolls back into the Headquarters, makes a statement by ringing a bell and having a moment of silence and then walks out.
    • They defeat three of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, a Carnival of Killers who are some of the biggest badasses in the setting, an Emperor and his top fighters. Boosting the Straw Hats' ranks are three of those same Warlords — Hancock, Law, and Jimbei, two of which perform a Heel–Face Turn and fight the opposition.
    • This is contrasted amusingly when the crew meets Law, who's the captain of a formidable crew in his own right, and is highly shocked when the crew shows their very unorthodox tendencies.
  • Break the Cutie: All of the Straw Hats' backstories have shades of this, to varying degrees. Perhaps the most heartbreaking stories among them would be Robin's (hunted down by Marines just for being an Ohara survivor and betrayed by almost every single person in existence) and Sanji's (failed Tyke-Bomb who was viciously bullied and abused by both his father and similarly enhanced quadruplet brothers for being a compassionate "dud" until he ran away from home).
  • Bring It: Essentially what the Straw Hats told the World Government during the CP9 saga: if getting back Robin was tantamount to declaring war on the World, then the Government can bring it on.
  • Bully Hunter: Not intentionally, but as of the Sabaody Archipelago Saga, the Straw Hats have become feared amongst tyrants and despots for being this trope.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Not what they do, but what people do to them. Despite their fearsome reputation, there continues to be villains well below their league (like, let's say, Hody Jones and Caesar Clown) who insist on provoking them and/or people they befriend until they force them to kick their asses.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: They're an utterly random collection of individuals, quirky as hell (even the relatively saner ones), and about as far from normal pirates in this series as one can get. Get on their bad side, though, and they'll show you just how they earned those seemingly ridiculous bounties. Here's the list, in the order in which they joined the crew:
  • Butt-Monkey: Everybody, to varying degrees. Whatever kind of humiliation it might be, no one in this crew is immune. Robin is the only one to avoid this so far.
  • Character Development: In the earlier parts of the story, the crew's main characters not only demonstrate their initial strength but also improve as they visit more islands. However, the Enies Lobby arc highlights the importance of self-improvement, overcoming insurmountable obstacles, and relying on innate abilities. This crucial turning point deconstructs the previously carefree and adventurous tone of the Straw Hats, revealing that their survival hinges on their determination to improve and protect each other. Every crew member must undergo a significant transformation and recommit to their goals to face this and other challenges head-on. Furthermore, we gain insight into some of Luffy's inherent talents as the son of a powerful revolutionary and the grandson of a legendary marine hero.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Every single one of them, to varying degrees. Even Nami, Robin and Usopp, by far the most grounded members of the crew, have their moments: Nami's reasoning flies straight out the window and plunges down into the sea the very moment money is mentioned, Robin gives some morbids comments, and Usopp is a perpetual liar whose fear often gets the best of him, and frequently joins in on Luffy's antics. Sanity is in no way a priority with this crew.
  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Due to Luffy being Luffy, almost everyone functions as the voice of reason for him, including the similarly crazy Zoro. They usually fail to reign him in, more or less.
  • Color-Coded Characters: According to Oda, each member has their own color scheme: red for Luffy, green for Zoro, orange for Nami, yellow for Usopp, blue for Sanji, pink for Chopper, purple for Robin, light blue for Franky, black and white for Brook and ochre for Jimbei.
  • Commuting on a Bus: Due to the Party Scattering in the Sabaody Archipelago arc, the Straw Hat Crew (minus Luffy and Jimbei, although and the latter isn't yet an official member) are absent for almost the entirety of the Paramount War Saga, except for some sporadic appearances in cover pages. note 
  • Cool Ship: Both the Going Merry before her death in Enies Lobby and the Thousand Sunny.
  • Costume Evolution: After the Time Skip, the entire crew get entirely new clothes that symbolize Character Development and taking a level in badass.
  • Crime of Self-Defense: Their 'crimes' against the World Government are mainly for protecting themselves and their friends from either corrupt members of the Government, and/or the pirates on their payroll. Usopp even lampshaded it during the Fish-Man Island arc when he, Brook, Nami, and Zoro took King Neptune and his soldiers hostage by saying they wouldn't have done so if the latter hadn't attacked them first.
  • Criminal Found Family: While the Straw Hats tend not to commit many of the crimes associated with pirates, they are still criminals with a massive collective bounty on their heads. One of the recurring themes of the series is how much they all love each other, how well they work together, and the lengths they would go to when it comes to supporting each other.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Don't let the Straw Hats' crazy antics fool into thinking they aren't dangerous. Many foes have made the mistake of Underestimating Badassery... and paid for it dearly.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Aside from Nami, they have rather jubilant reactions to their bounties going up, with Chopper being continually disappointed that his is always so low, due to constantly being mistaken for the crew's "pet". Indeed, to folks like them it can be as much of a benefit as a liability.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: All of the crew members have a painful past that explains their motivations and personality. The only one who averts the trope is honorary member, Vivi, who had a loving family and happy childhood.
  • Delinquents: In the gag comic "Mugiwara Theatre: Red-Hair of Class 3 — Sea Time", all of the Straw Hats are portrayed as problem students — Usopp is a hacker; Zoro is a sword-carrying punk; Sanji is a chainsmoker; Franky and Chopper constantly coerce their classmates into bringing them soda and cotton candy, respectively; Robin makes shady dealings with criminals behind the scenes (with Vivi being a criminal she deals with); Nami wears very short skirts and charges anyone who looks at her legs 500,000 beri; and Luffy is an aspiring college student with an extreme Hair-Trigger Temper. Shanks is sent to discipline the Straw Hats by the principal, Bon Clay, and turn them into model students. Shanks inspires them to become pirates instead.
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: As noted in Beware the Silly Ones above, when one of their own (Robin) was captured by the World Government, they reacted by burning the World Government's flag, saving Robin, and leaving Enies Lobby in ruins, taking down CP9 in the progress. Thus why all of them get new/improved bounties three days afterward.
  • Does Not Like Spam: In an SBS question, a fan asked Oda what each crew member's least favorite food was.
    • Monkey D. Luffy: A certain shop's cherry pie
    • Roronoa Zoro: Chocolate (It's too sweet)
    • Nami: Orangettenote  (Prefers actual fruit)
    • Usopp: Mushrooms (Got sick once)
    • Vinsmoke Sanji: Konjac (Not nutritious)
    • Tony Tony Chopper: All things spicy (It's not sweet)
    • Nico Robin: Gum (Can't swallow it)
    • Franky: Marshmallow (It's not hard)
    • Brook: Lemon (Can't make a sour face)
    • Jimbei: Parfait (It's hard to eat)
  • Dope Slap: Or rather, "Dope Punch", and applied liberally. Luffy is the most frequent victim of this, due to being... well, Luffy.
  • The Dreaded: Following the timeskip, the crew has such an infamous reputation that only veteran New World pirates or Vice-Admiral class (or higher) fighters would dare to get on their bad side. After becoming an Emperor crew following the defeat of Kaido and Big Mom, even Sakazuki, who two years before wanted Luffy's head on a spike, sends out a do-not-engage order on the entire navy because of ramifications of attacking the Straw Hats.
  • Dysfunction Junction: With the exception of Luffy at first, all of them have complicated quirks that somehow mesh together in a weird family bond unlike any other crew in the series.
  • Elemental Powers: Somewhat unusual version in-universe, as none of them possess a Logia Devil Fruit:
  • Everyone Has Standards: For the most part, they are a pirate crew who has no problems with breaking the laws, but they are still good guys, so there have been many instances where an evil pirate's action shocks them.
    • They're typically shown to be quite upset whenever their enemies callously harm their own minions, from Sanji and Franky's shock at Rob Lucci killing Nero for having lost a fight, to Chopper saving an Enforcer from Gedatsu's attack.
    • All of the Straw Hats are thoroughly horrified and disgusted at the truth of SMILE devil fruits and the starving treatment of the citizens of Wano.
  • Famed In-Story: In the beginning, they're nobodies who get laughed at wherever they go, which is justified by the World Government covering up and lying about their exploits. By the Time Skip, they're considered one of the most dangerous pirate crews in the setting and are always instantly recognized. But it isn't until the Dressrosa arc that things really kick off thanks to Fujitora revealing to the entire world that it was pirates who defeated Doflamingo, not the World Government. After their excursion through Totland which sees Luffy being declared "The Fifth Emperor", it's safe to say that everyone knows who they are.
  • Family of Choice: As per one of the show's themes that "family is who you choose", all of the crewmen are detached from their blood relatives in some way, and found a new family in the crew.
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief: Two of the combat trios form this dynamic:
    • The Weak Trio, with Chopper being the physically strong Fighter, Nami being the squishy, weather manipulating Mage, and Usopp being the ranged, quickfooted Thief.
    • The Middle Trio, with Franky being the physically imposing fighter, Robin being the lithe and ranged Thief with her powers, and Brook being the ice-controlling Mage.
    • The Monster Trio rolls thusly: Zoro the brutal Fighter, Luffy the wily Mage, and Sanji, the sneaky Thief. Sanji and Luffy can swap roles, as the situation demands.
    • The new Monster Trio, Zoro is still the Fighter, Sanji is still the Thief, Jimbei joins as the Wise Mage.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Really becomes evident during the climax of Arlong Park arc, and reinforced during the Enies Lobby arc. Their efforts in sailing the Grand Line turn them become the Badass Family that we know and love now.
    • The crew as a whole has a habit of forging meaningful and deep friendships with their allies, even if they used to be enemies with said allies. A prime example is Trafalgar Law and his Heart Pirates, particularly after forging an alliance at Punk Hazard. Through Dressrosa, Zou, Whole Cake Island, and Wano Country, the crew now think of Law as a friend more than just an ally.
  • Fisher Kingdom: Fisher Crew, rather. It doesn't matter if you grew up as a stoic, paranoid child as you betray crews after crews like Robin, a Creepy Child whose default expression is a Psychotic Smirk like Law, or an infamous pirate feared and respected through the seas like Jimbei. The longer you spend time with the crew, the more their zaniness rubs off on you, and sooner or later you'll find yourself making facial expressions you never think you would. Jimbei is somewhat resigned to it, while Law is still trying to resist. Vivi has learned to just roll with it, and indeed often laughs along with them. As of chapter 1077, Kaku and Rob Lucci has joined in the bandwagon.
  • Flower Motifs: In an SBS question, a fan asked Yuriko Yamaguchi (Robin's voice actress) what flower would suit each of the Straw Hats. She gave the following combinations:
    • Monkey D. Luffy: Cosmos — represents a balanced universe (he opposes villainy of all kinds as well as the heavily corrupt World Government).
    • Roronoa Zoro: Thistle — represents nobility (a stern yet noble swordsman) and warnings (a deadly and absolute Blood Knight if suitably provoked).
    • Nami: Sunflower — represents, in Chinese culture, vitality and intelligence (Oda stated she was one of few people who had the most intelligence in the series).
    • Usopp: Daisy — represents innocence and loyalty, though it can also represent dishonesty (he's a Consummate Liar).
    • Sanji: Delphinium — represents passionate attachment and a huge heart; ironically, because of the plant's toxicity, he can mean "death" (either a villain's evil plan dies; hilariously, any attempt on his part to attract and form serious relationships with women dies; or a reference to his family of assassins, how his biological mother died trying to save him and his quadruplet brothers from being turned into emotionless Tykebombs by their father, and Sanji being sentenced to starve to death in the family dungeons for being a "dud" while still a child).
    • Tony Tony Chopper: Tulip — represents forgiveness (he accidentally poisoned his Parental Substitute with a mushroom thinking it'll cure his sickness, and became a doctor to rectify that mistake) and cheerfulness (a Cheerful Child and Genius Ditz).
    • Nico Robin: Casablanca — represents devotion (Undying Loyalty to the Straw Hats) and the restoration of innocence after death (she is the Sole Survivor of the Ohara incident and an extremely Broken Bird who had her faith in humanity restored by the Straw Hats).
    • Franky: Anemone — represents death of loved ones (Tom's Frame-Up by Spandam and subsequent execution by the Marines), forsaken/forgotten love (he was thrown into the seas by his pirate parents as a child), bad luck (was a gang leader for a time, and was indirectly involved in Tom's death), and protection against evil (he built many hidden weapons into the SUPER Thousand Sunny, for one).
    • Brook: Rose — represents passion, love (his passion for music and love for women's panties) and/or death, farewells, and rebirth (his death as a human to illness and subsequent rebirth as a walking skeleton due to his Devil Fruit). Ironically, not even death will stop him from achieving his dream of reuniting with Laboon, a giant whale that befriended his old crew as a baby before their untimely deaths.
    • Jimbei: Peony — represents prosperity (having a former warlord on the crew is a sign of prestige for the Straw Hats to the world at large), good fortune (he's vital in getting Luffy out of harms way many times in the Paramount war), riches, honor, and compassion. While he's not without flaws and mistakes, Jimbei is one of the more honorable Warlords while the system exists, and eventually he officially becomes part of the crew during the Wano Arc.
  • Friendly Pirate: The Straw Hat Pirate crew consider themselves to be pirates, but they abide by a code of honor and will never harm innocents, frown upon traditionally cruel pirate behavior and will even fight against them if they ever encounter any.
  • The Friends Who Never Hang: Robin and Brook have very limited interaction just with one another outside teaming up to take on Black Maria in Wano.
  • Friend to All Children: The Straw Hats act as big brother/big sister figures towards the children they meet in their journey. Which means they don't take it very well when the Big Bad hurts one.
  • From Zero to Hero: To the world's eyes, Luffy started off as an overly-ambitious kid in a small town with no crew. Two years and a whole lot of adventures later, his crew is considered legendary par none, with their latest jump in power officially making them into an Emperor-class crew, and the manga isn't even over yet!
  • Goal in Life: Going with the overall theme of dreams in One Piece, each Straw Hat has a dream that they want to come true someday.
    • Luffy wants to become the Pirate King, obviously. In addition, it's later revealed that Luffy has an unrevealed second dream, which he believes is obtainable when he becomes the Pirate King.
    • Zoro wants to become the greatest swordsman, a goal shared with his deceased childhood friend, Kuina, and defeat Dracule Mihawk.
    • Sanji wants to find the All Blue, a sea where all types of fish gather from different parts of the ocean, and become an even better Supreme Chef.
    • Nami wants to make a chart of the entire world, and earn lots of money.
    • Usopp wants to become a "brave hero of the sea" like his father, Yasopp, who is serving as a sniper in Shanks' crew.
    • Chopper wants to become a doctor who is so skilled in medicine, that he'll be seen as a walking "all-purpose cure" for the afflicted.
    • Robin wants to find the Poneglyphs, which contain information about the "Void Century", a period in time that was heavily censored by the World Government.
    • Franky wants to build, and sail on, the greatest sailing ship of the seas.
    • Brook wants to find and reunite with Laboon, a baby whale his dead former crew befriended at the Grand Line, and whom the Straw Hats previously met before the Thriller Bark arc, after successfully circling the globe and come back from the East Blue.
    • Jimbei wishes for peaceful coexistence between humans, fishmen and merfolk, a dream inherited from his previous captain Fisher Tiger and deceased queen, Queen Otohime.
  • Heroic Neutral: They're pirates who do not commit acts of piracy. All around, they're the nicest crew in the series. When you closely examine their heroics though, you'll notice they very rarely go after any of the antagonists until one of their own gets targeted. This extends to people they consider allies as well.
  • A Hero to His Hometown: Their friends and families all regard their Wanted Posters as cause for celebration (which is justified, as none of them have much love for the World Government.)
  • Hey, You!: To Zoro, Sanji is "Cook", nothing more. To Sanji, Zoro is "Marimo" (ball seaweed, referring to his short green hair), nothing more.
    • In the Funimation English dub, Sanji instead calls Zoro "Mosshead", nothing more.
    • A fan in one SBS brought to Oda's attention that Sanji has used Zoro's name on a handful of occasions, while Zoro has never called Sanji by name (at least not in the original Japanese version; some translations will have him say it to clarify who he's talking about).
  • Hidden Depths: Whether indicated in backstories or present events in the story, none of them are exactly what they seem at the surface.
  • Honorary True Companion: You don't have to be part of the crew for them to see you as part of the crew.
    • Vivi is given an offer to join the crew but has to turn it down due to her responsibilities in Alabasta. Despite that, she still remains a staunch friend and is notably the only person outside the crew to realize the true message of Luffy ringing the Ox Bell, though she lacked the context to understand what the message meant.
    • Jimbei is also given an invitation to the crew he turns down, but only to wrap up some business with Big Mom since he's allied with her and he fully intends to take up the offer if it still stands by the time he's free to do so. In the Whole Cake Island Arc, Jimbei decides to fully leave Big Mom's service in the Totto Land arc and join the Straw Hats officially.
    • At the very end of Wano, Luffy considers Yamato, Momonosuke, and Kinemon to be honorary Straw Hats, saying that when they feel like sailing the seas, he will personally pick them up and welcome them onto the crew.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: Everyone is this to Luffy. Unless it's fighting, eating, or personal/friendship related, Luffy sucks at it. Luffy himself has acknowledged this in the Arlong arc:
    Luffy: (to Arlong) I know! Of course I can't use swords, you idiot! I can't navigate! I can't cook! I can't even tell lies! This is why I need my friends if I want to survive!
  • The Idealist: A whole crew of them, unified by their unwavering desire to achieve their collective dreams.
  • Improbable Age: Most of the crewmembers are teenagers or young adults, and the oldest members of the crew are less than 50s years old (with the only exception of the 90 years old Brook), yet, in a short time, the crew goes from a small rookie crew from a backwater sea to one of the four most powerful pirate crews in the world.
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: Since Luffy's opponent in each arc is the main antagonist, the other Straw Hats face off against the minions. To justify facing their opponents, sometimes the Straw Hats have a personal reason to fight them.
  • Justified Criminal: Much like anyone who opposes the World Government, and their status as such tends to grow with every arc. Among the Straw Hats in particular, only Robin and Franky had direct, personal involvement with the World Government, since it screwed them and their families over in epically horrific ways.
  • Ki Manipulation: Haki (Ambition), an ability that comes in three varieties and can be used by five of the ten Straw Hats. Luffy and Zoro have all three varieties (including the one-in-a-million rare Conqueror's Haki), Sanji and Jimbei have both Armament and Observation, and Usopp has Observation.
  • Leitmotif: During their "eyecatcher" in the anime, they each have their own short, musical piece.
  • Let's Split Up, Gang!: While rare in the beginning, after entering the New World because of the increasingly complicated problems they face, the Straw Hats frequently split into groups to complete different objectives.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: All of them support each other in their lowest moments — remove one of them, everyone else falls apart. Ace's death in the Marineford arc sends Luffy very close to the Despair Event Horizon and it's the reminder of his crew being out there that keeps Luffy from complete desperation. In the sixth movie, Luffy is a near-dead wreck, trudging like a zombie towards Baron in an attempt to save his friends from being completely devoured by Lily, despite being turned into a human pin cushion.
  • Magnetic Hero: Due to their general combination of incredibly zany personalities with pureness of heart and big dreams, tend to earn the respect and friendship of many characters in their travels. Most notable during the timeskip, when they are all separated and resolved to train and become more powerful to tackle the challenges of the New World. All of the Straw Hats make fast companions during this time.
  • Mama Bear: The female members are fiercely protective over their fellow crewmates, especially the much younger Chopper.
  • The Mutiny: Luffy has experienced his share of insubordination and bonafide betrayals from his crewmates which range from the dramatic (Arlong Park and Water 7) to the comedic (the epilogue of the Wano arc).
  • Nice Guy: While they're pirates and some of them are more selfish than the standard hero, they're mostly heroic people who help the inhabitants of the islands they visit. At their worst, the meaner members are Jerk with a Heart of Gold types.
  • Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: During the East Blue saga, the Straw Hats establish themselves as the strongest pirate crew in the East Blue. However, because the East Blue is the weakest sea in the world, all the opponents they face from that point on are far stronger than anyone they faced beforehand. It takes them several years, two of which were entirely dedicated to training, to finally catch up to the real top tier crews of the world.
  • Not a Game: Part of the crew's Character Development during the Water 7 saga is the overall realization from their harrowing meeting with Aokiji and the events of the saga that if they want to have any chance of overcoming the even greater trials that lie ahead, they would have to start being less cavalier about pirate matters.
  • Not Me This Time: In the gag comic "Mugiwara Theatre: Detective Loomes", the titular detective Loomes (Luffy) and his assistant Dr. Usotson (Usopp) investigate the murder of rich man Bronegie (Brook) and round up some notorious criminals — Sanjeen (Sanji), a professional assassin; criminal couple Robie (Robin) and Cholyde (Chopper); Namiron (Nami), a greedy maid; Hanzoru (Zoro), an Ax-Crazy samurai; and Frack the Ripper (Franky), an equally Ax-Crazy Serial Killer. Despite committing horrible misdeeds themselves, the criminals Loomes interrogates insist they didn't kill Bronegie. Turns out they were right; Bronegie wasn't murdered, he knocked himself out by slipping and hitting his head. Namiron just so happened to discover him while he was out cold, leading to the murder investigation.
  • Older and Wiser: While they're still as quirky as ever, the trauma caused by the crew's separation by Kuma's hands and the realization they need to get much stronger for the New World, caused them to mature a lot during the two years timeskip.
  • One-Man Army: Or "One Woman Army". Each of the crew members are capable of kicking ass on their own, except for Usopp (and he is getting closer to being one).
  • Only One Name: Nami, Usopp, Brook and Jimbei never have their last names revealed. Nami's case is justified in that she doesn't have a last name to reveal in the first place, as her birth-given first name and surname have been lost to history due to her being orphaned as a baby.
  • Outside-Context Problem: The Straw Hat Pirates, led by Luffy, are known for being an unexpected and unprecedented force in the ongoing conflict between pirates and the Marines. The world has been in a political deadlock for several decades (if not centuries), and most people follow certain rules without considering other possibilities. Therefore, when the Straw Hats arrive with their own goals and no regard for the status quo, it catches people off guard. The Marines are unsure of how to handle a crew that is not afraid of destructive attacks like Buster Calls or the power of The Government, especially considering the Straw Hats are relatively altruistic. Similarly, other pirate crews are surprised by the Straw Hats' fearlessness and willingness to take a personal stake in conflicts that existed before them, as they are not intimidated or bribed. Even the most chaotic and individualistic pirate crews are unprepared for the unexpected actions of the Straw Hats.
  • Papa Wolf: The male members are fiercely protective over their mates. Hurt them and you'll die.
  • Parental Abandonment: Most all of them had adoptive families; Usopp's the only member so far who's even shown to have both biological parents (not counting Chopper, since his parents were just some average reindeer), and when he was a kid his father left and never came back, and soon after his mother died of an illness.
  • Party Scattering: At the end of the Sabaody Archipelago arc, Bartholomew Kuma defeats the crew easily and sends them off to faraway places at different ends of the world (though it turns out that he did it to make each of them stronger and ready for the New World). They get back together after the two-year Time Skip.
  • The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Despite being pirates, they're rarely seen doing actual pillage or theft like stereotypical pirates. The closest to legitimate theft they get is to steal some gold from the Shandorians that they don't know about and who would have given them far more if they haven't run away and, in Fishman Island, when they rob Pappag's store blind when he tells them to take what they want for helping him.
  • The Power of Friendship: The mere hint that one of their companions is troubled or in danger by an outside force will make them rise up to defend the friend. Even making them withstand what should be normally fatal attacks or situations simply because their friends need them. It's what motivated them to rescue Robin from the Marines and declare war on the World Government in the Enies Lobby arc and later rescue Sanji and the Vinsmoke family from Big Mom's crew in the Totto Land arc. Sanji even tried turning down the opportunity to marry an attractive woman because of his loyalty to the Straw Hats — unfortunately, his asshole family blackmailed him into complying.
  • Price on Their Head: While most pirates in general have issued bounties, the Straw Hats are the only known crew where every member (not counting the members of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet) is confirmed as having an individual bounty (most have bounties for the captains and highest-ranking officers only). After every major arc, the Straw Hats receive a bounty raise for their actions and, after the Water 7-Enies Lobby arc, every Straw Hat has his own bounty.
  • Quantity vs. Quality: Definitely a win for quality. Despite being smaller than most organized crews, the Straw Hats have proven to be one of the most dangerous crews in the world thanks to each individual's strength. When Luffy declared he wanted at least 10 members for his crew, he knew he wanted them to be on par, hence the reason he sought out members with specific roles.
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits:
    • The story starts with a rubber man recruiting a swordsman as his first mate. Then, they recruit an ace thief and meteorologist, a hapless cowardly sniper, and a kick-boxing chef. When they enter the Grand Line, they recruit a shape-shifting reindeer doctor, an archeologist, a soda-run cyborg shipwright, and a living skeletal musician. Around the time they attack the Emperors, they are joined by a Fish-man. Over the course of the series, the heroes evolve into a Badass Crew. Justified because Luffy recruits crew members on sheer novelty, like Chopper and Brook who are notoriously weird, even for One Piece standards.
    • Combine them with the Straw Hat Grand Fleet and they take this Trope one step further.
  • Red Baron: All members have a moniker to go along with their badassery — "Straw Hat" Luffy, "Pirate Hunter" Zoro, "Cat Burglar" Nami, "Devil Child" Nico Robin, "King of the Snipers" Sogeking (also known as Usopp), "Black Leg" Sanji, "Cyborg" Franky, "Humming/Soul King" Brook, and "Knight of the Sea"/"First Son of the Sea" Jimbei. ("Cotton Candy Lover" Chopper doesn't really count though, since his cute appearance led the Marines to believe he's the crew's pet). Usopp was later known as "God" Usopp and got a drastic bounty increase to match following the Dressrosa Arc.
  • Spanner in the Works: This crew is the main reason why several villainous plots on the Grand Line haven't succeeded. It's either because they befriended someone who just happened to be directly affected by said plot, or thwarted said plot unknowingly while trying to accomplish a completely different goal. Sanji in particular is very good at displaying this trope when his crew isn't looking, especially in the Alabasta arc thanks to the adult-level military training his father, Judge, gave him when he was still a child living in the Germa kingdom.
  • Stunned Silence: On Egghead Nami, Robin, Sanji, Franky, and Usopp are left speechless when Vegapunk tells them the truth of Luffy's fruit and the true origins of the Devil Fruits.
  • Taught by Experience: One of the main factors contributing to the Straw Hats' success is their continuous improvement and innovation of their abilities and tools. As they encounter progressively stronger opponents, they develop new techniques to overcome them and enhance their strength on their journey. During the attack on Enies Lobby, Zoro talks to Nami and Chopper about the crew's ability to surpass the odds and grow stronger, including Usopp.
    Zoro: Each time we've passed an island, we've gotten stronger. And each time he's been on an island, he's cheated death. No one who dies easily would still be with us!!
  • Tears of Fear: Nami, Usopp, and Chopper are quite prone to this in troubling situations, especially pre-timeskip.
  • Took a Level in Badass: They start out well enough with Luffy, Nami, and Zoro. But between each arc, they slowly get stronger and gain a new member, each one even more awesome than the last. This is invoked by Luffy after realizing that he and his crew are too weak for the New World; he sends a secret message through the news that orders his crew to wait for two years before going back to Sabaody, and during said time-skip, each Straw Hat trains and improves their skills, often with the guidance of a master, before returning to Sabaody much stronger than two years before. This training allows them to keep up with the New World's most dangerous threats and two Emperor crews (Emperors included), compared to the other Supernovas' crews who, when they first enter the New World, find themselves outmatched and unprepared. As a result, their arrival in the New World is what starts to destabilize the fragile Balance of Power that is created after the Paramount War.
  • Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Luffy pulls each of his crewmates out of a desperate set of circumstances they are trapped in, renewing their hopes and giving them a chance to pursue their dreams. This is most evident with Franky, who starts out as an aggressive and prickly minor antagonist still haunted by the death of his mentor, but becomes more relaxed, inquisitive, and joyful after joining the crew, or Robin, who goes from a cold assassin to a cheerful member of the crew.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: In an SBS question, a fan asked what each of the Straw Hats' favorite food were. Oda gave the following as a reply:
    • Monkey D. Luffy: ALL KINDS OF MEAT.
    • Roronoa Zoro: White rice, Sea King meat, and anything that complements ale.
    • Nami: Mainly tangerines as well as other kinds of fruit.
    • Usopp: Pike from an autumn island as well as other fish of the season.
    • Sanji: Spicy seafood pasta and food that complements black tea.
    • Tony Tony Chopper: Cotton candy, chocolate, and other sweet food and drinks.
    • Nico Robin: Sandwiches, cakes that aren't too sweet, and food that complements coffee.
    • Franky: Hamburgers, French fries, and food that complements cola.
    • Brook: Tea, takoyaki, and curry.
    • Jimbei: Vinegared Mozuku seaweed, fruits.
  • True Companions: The Straw Hat crew is the original Trope Namer, having had coined the term "Nakama" (before the page name was finally changed after 3 attempts). Despite their arguments, insults, and fists, their bond is so strong that in the Enies Lobby arc, when the Marines captured Robin for the crime of being the Sole Survivor of Ohara's Buster Call incident, the Straw Hats burned the flag atop the Tower of Justice and literally declared war on the world. Even Sanji, who is a Chivalrous Pervert par none, turned down Charlotte Pudding, a (supposedly) sweet girl he was forced to marry, instead choosing to stay loyal to his crew. Luffy, Nami, Brook, and Chopper were even shocked at the fact.
  • Two Girls to a Team: The crew consists of ten members, two of which are girls: Nami and Robin. Vivi doesn't count, since she's only an "honorary member".
  • Underdogs Never Lose: In general, everyone, especially the World Government, saw the Straw Hats as the underdogs of the pirate world, since they started off as nothing more than fresh-blooded upstarts who decided to challenge more and more dangerous threats. What they failed to realize was 1) how powerful each of them are, and 2) how good they are as a team. This led to many a villain seriously underestimating them and paying for it later, arc after arc... until the Sabaody arc, where the Straw Hats not only lose against Kuma, but they could barely land a scratch on him together. Fortunately, Kuma was not malicious, and instead recognized how weak they were and separated the crew to help them, which led to two years' worth of training and getting stronger.
    • After the Sabaody arc, the Straw Hats go right back to winning, but it's getting clearer that the enemies they face are much more powerful. This culminates in half of them facing Big Mom and her crew in the Totto Land arc while trying to rescue Sanji, a fight that they can't hope to finish even while together. However, it's zigzagged in that while the Straw Hats couldn't defeat her crew, let alone an Emperor, the fact that they managed to get into an Emperor's territory, cause as much chaos as possible, and get out unscathed is seen as a huge victory in itself.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Can go both ways with this crew.
    • On the one hand, they'll happily jump to meet the next challenge, regardless of the danger posed (in fact, Luffy would have it no other way) which later resulted in a case of realistic consequences when the crew pre-Time Skip try to confront Bartholomew Kuma and turn out to be collectively massively unprepared to take on such a foe, resulting in a humiliating defeat.
    • On the other, many of their enemies have a pattern of seeing the Straw Hats as easy pickings... only to severely regret it later on when they see just how much trouble this crew can make when they set their minds to it, as lampshaded by Trafalgar Law. It's doubly so since some of the Straw Hats were born/lived in the East Blue, seen by many as the "weakest" of the four seas.
  • Undying Loyalty: No matter whatever hardships they face, no matter the burdens they carry, not a single member of this crew will ever betray Luffy. Ever. Likewise, this crew is the main reason why Luffy bothers continuing to live especially after Ace is murdered by Marines.
    • In the Arlong arc, when Nami discovers she's been screwed over by the titular arc villain and becomes a wreck over having her one chance to escape smashed to pieces, Luffy puts his Straw Hat on her head... before he leads his crew against Arlong to make him pay for what he did. They later beat up Franky's entire gang for badly wounding Usopp, and declare war on the World Government to save Robin.
    • When news of Ace's death reaches all the Straw Hats, the first instinct every crewmate has is to ditch where they are and find Luffy as soon as possible, realizing the immense pain he'd be in seeing his brother die.
    • This trope became a plot point for the majority of the Totto Land arc where Sanji is kidnapped by the Vinsmokes, his own abusive family, and forced to choose between marrying a beautiful woman who shares her interest, or escaping to rejoin his crew. It turns out that the blackmailing was all for naught since said marriage is actually a sham and his bride-to-be's family (including the bride-to-be herself) wants to kill off the Vinsmokes and obtain their secret cloning technologies. The result is a Trauma Conga Line.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Subverted. Law makes an alliance with the Straw Hats to take down Doflamingo and Kaido with the hopes to use them as he please, but they become more of a hindrance to his plans, which don't go as smoothly as he likes. Law himself acknowledges it when Smoker confronts Law about his alliance after the battle at Punk Hazard is over, and Law replies he is not so sure who is using who. It becomes evident in Chapter 700 that Law, despite being the one who's calling the shots on the plan they have to take down Kaido, is not the one in control, and probably never was in the first place because Luffy does what he wants and doesn't give a damn about the consequences. Then he realizes that he's being sucked into Luffy's circle, just like Luffy's entire crew did when each of them first met him.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Read any chapter and you're likely to find one of them yelling at/slapping/hitting another one (Sanji and Zoro, though, take the cake on this one). Don't ever let that fool you, though, they're as close as family.
  • Wake-Up Call: Starting from the Sabaody Arc up to the Marineford arc, a series of horrible events, up to and including the death of Luffy's brother make the crew realise that the journey ahead is tough and they need to get stronger for the second half of the Grand Line.
  • We Are "Team Cannon Fodder": Averted. While Luffy is the one to fight the Big Bad/strongest opponent, the others get their moments by fighting the remaining opponents. Luffy tells Arlong that there are some things he can't do on his own and thus needs to rely on his crewmates.
  • Weirdness Magnet: It's deliberate. Most pirate crews on the Grand Line carefully calculate their routes to avoid danger. This crew on the other hand goes on the most dangerous route possible for the captain's amusement.
    • It gets worse in the New World. The Log Pose there has three needles, and the ones that shake the most violently are the most dangerous. Nami has a major freak out about the possibility of Luffy finding out (which he does, mere moments later). Upon entering the New World they actually land on an island which is so dangerous that the new Log Pose doesn't even point at it.
  • What Could Have Been: In-Universe example. In an SBS question, a fan asked Oda what each crew member's career of choice would be if they weren't pirates, and he provided a response to the question made by another fan, seeing as they were suitable enough (Jimbei's was added in SBS Volume 99):
    • Monkey D. Luffy: A Firefighter
    • Roronoa Zoro: A Police Officer
    • Nami: A Nursery School Teacher
    • Usopp: A Graphic Designer
    • Sanji: A Stylist
    • Tony Tony Chopper: An Elementary School Teacher
    • Nico Robin: A Flight Attendant
    • Franky: A Pilot
    • Brook: A Detective
    • Jimbei: A Train station attendant.
  • We Do the Impossible: In the latter half of the series, the Straw Hat Pirates earn a formidable reputation for being unstoppable. Led by Luffy, they attack some of the World Government's most heavily guarded facilities, including the Judicial Island Enies Lobby, the prison Impel Down, and the Navy headquarters Marineford (during a titanic war). They even dare to punch a World Noble in the face and manage to survive the consequences. Despite the circumstances surrounding these incidents, the crew become known for their incredible feats and bravery. In the New World, they up the ante by triumphing over the Emperors Big Mom and Kaido, along with their empires, cementing themselves as an Emperor-class crew. All of this is accomplished in just over two years since the start of their voyage. During Dressrosa, Trafalgar Law has no problem being Defiant to the End to Don Quixote Doflamingo as he knows that even if he gets killed, nothing will stop the Straw Hats from destroying the villain's operations for good.
    Trafalgar Law: The Straw Hat crew has left nothing but sheer miracles in its wake.
  • Wild Card: There exists a tentative stability between the pirates and the Marines, which most crews can be expected to abide by. The Straw Hats are not one of those crews. To put it in perspective, the crew or its individual members have fought and unseated three Warlords under various circumstances, gave the proverbial middle finger to the World Government, punched a World Noble in the face, helped stage a mass breakout from Impel Down, fought in war between the Marines and Whitebeard, indirectly helped expose and abolish the Warlord system by liberating Alabasta and Dressrosa to protect their Honorary True Companion (Vivi and Law respectively), and are on their way to taking on the Four Emperors.
  • Wild Take: Hilariously exaggerated expressions are a trademark staple in One Piece, but the Straw Hat crew does this a lot, especially when they're reacting to a crewmate's (usually Luffy) idiocy. Usopp does it the most when the going's getting good. Even the crew's former ship, the Going Merry, pulled one just after everyone discovered the only way out of Skypeia was a 7,000 meter drop!.
  • Women Are Wiser: Nami and Robin, the only female members of the crew that are permanent, often serve as voices of reason for their male crewmates, but sometimes their antics infects the girls.
  • Worth Living For: This crew is filled with misfits and (in society's eyes) freaks. There isn't much that many of them have to live for — but for many of them, this crew, their family, is enough. After Ace's death, Luffy was close to crossing the Despair Event Horizon. Yet in the face of such an overwhelming tragedy, it is ultimately his crew that gives him the strength to move on and live his life, as Ace would've wanted him to.
  • You Are Worth Hell: Every single one of them would gladly suffer any pain and face certain death for each other's sake. Best exemplified in the Enies Lobby arc when they declare war on the World Government, so they'd carry the same burden as Robin.

    "Iron Man" Franky 

"Iron Man" Franky

Voiced by: Kazuki Yao, Junko Noda [young] (Japanese); Patrick Seitz, Terri Doty [young, TV series], Greg Ayres [young, Unlimited Adventure] (English)note 

Age: 34 (Pre-Timeskip), 36 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 329 (Manga), Episode 233 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/franky_anime_8.png
Click here to see his Pre-Time Skip appearance
Click here to see Franky Shogun

"No matter what weapon you've got... Just BEING isn't a crime! Existing is not a crime!!!"
—Chapter 375

Franky, real name Cutty Flam, is initially the leader of the Franky Family, a gang of villainous dismantlers living in Water 7 who provoke the Straw Hats' wrath by mugging Usopp and stealing most of their money. But after fighting against CP9 together, he soon becomes friends with the other Straw Hats and becomes the crew's shipwright. His eccentric behavior (SUUUPPERRR!!) and habit of wearing very little other then his trusty speedos lead many to brand him a pervert (which he takes pride in), yet he is loyal and protective of his friends, often calling them his "little bros". He's also prone to striking poses and breaking out into torrents of tears at the slightest hint of anything sentimental. As his epithet implies, he is a cyborg known as BF-36 (BF = Battle Franky) due to being hit by a sea train, then washing up on a scrap yard and using said scrap to modify his body to keep from dying. He later uses blueprints from the world's best scientist to upgrade himself to BF-37 during the Time Skip.

His past is tied to Nico Robin's, as while she can read the location of the superweapon Pluton, he owns the blueprints themselves, with the plans having been passed down among the shipwrights of Water 7 for generations. After the World Government captures him along with Robin, he burns the blueprints and fights alongside the rest of the Straw Hats to save her. After the Straw Hats blackmail him through theft of his speedos at the end of the arc, he officially joins the crew.

His dream is to build and sail on what he deems the greatest sailing ship on the seas, which results in the construction of the Straw Hats' new ship, the Thousand Sunny.

He has a bounty of 394,000,000 berries.note 


  • Achilles' Heel: Because Franky did all his upgrades himself, everything (including his defenses) ended up in front, while his back is unchanged and vulnerable. Despite the upgrades he does on himself over the timeskip, this weakness remains. Senor Pink exploits his weakness to land on Franky's back with a suplex from the top of a tower, but Franky is resilient enough to survive it.
  • Anatomy Arsenal: Thanks to extensive self-modification after being hit by the sea train, Franky turned his body into a cyborg. Most of his weapons are in his massive forearms, but he packs them in anywhere, as anyone who deals with his Nipple Lights can attest. Even his sideburns are two retractable blades.
  • Anime Hair: His Post-Timeskip hair changing feature includes relatively normal and probable styles (Mohawks, goldilocks), to styles normally expected by anime standards, to downright bizarre changes like the shape of a cannon or a whale.
  • Annoying Younger Sibling: Was very much this to Iceburg, who's shown in flashbacks constantly bickering with Franky about how irresponsible and selfish he is.
  • The Apprentice: He and Iceburg were the shipwright apprentices to the late Tom.
  • Arc Villain: Subverted. Early in the Water 7 arc, Franky is presented as if he would be the arc's main antagonist as his group is responsible for stealing the Straw Hats' money, an act which leads to the fallout between Luffy and Usopp. However as events further unfold, Franky's position of supposed villain shifts to unexpected ally with the reveal of the arc's true villains, CP9. At the end of the arc, the money is used to buy top-of-the-line material for the Straw Hats' new ship.
  • Arm Cannon: Franky can combine both arms into a cannon for his most powerful attack, which he uses to finish off Fukuro. After the timeskip, Franky just needs his left arm, which is packed with an equally strong cannon.
  • Artificial Limbs: To a near exaggerated extent. He's a soda-powered cyborg, having rebuilt his limbs and much of his body from the wrecks of his old battleships aka Battle Frankys.
  • The Atoner: Iceberg suggests that the creation of the Franky Family to give its members a living while stopping crime in Water 7 is Franky's atonement for indirectly condemning Tom to execution.
  • Badass Biker:
    • In One Piece Film: Strong World, he made two motorcycles out of a giant crayfish, which he called Zarley Davidson, and a giant grasshopper, which he called Batta GT-7000.
    • Post-Time Skip, he has built the Black Rhino FR-U IV, a massive rhino-themed caterpillar track motorcycle.
  • Bell-Bottom-Limbed Bots: He's got big, inflated forearms which becomes even bigger and boxy after the Time Skip. Justified in that he puts many things in there, such as ammunition, long chain, a shield and a box of tools.
  • Big Fancy Sword: General Franky is equipped with a giant Marauder's sword, the "Franken".
  • Big Little Brother: Franky is four years younger than Iceburg, but as an adult he easily towers over his adoptive brother, especially with his latest body modifications.
  • Birds of a Feather: He and Usopp are both born craftsman. And despite their rough first meeting, they naturally bond over their love for ships and are both often seen tending to the Sunny once Franky joins the crew. The twelfth OP even sees the two buildling a suit of armor for an alpaca.
  • Blatant Lies: He's not crying, damn it! HE'S NOT!
  • Blow You Away: His Coup de Vent technique, which shoots a blast of compressed air at the opponent. After the Time Skip, he has a one-handed version which acts as a Hand Blast.
  • Blue Is Heroic: Franky's a big-hearted dude represented by the color cyan or light blue.
  • Bootstrapped Leitmotif: Franky's theme actually pre-dates Franky himself, originally being used for Usopp's 5-Ton Hammer escapade, and especially before that, when Luffy first meets Eyelash the camel.
  • Boxing Battler: When he does fight hand-to-hand, he typically resorts to standard boxing moves, simply called "Franky Boxing". He's skilled enough at it that even when he doesn't have access to his arsenal, he's a tough customer. It helps that his fists are reinforced with iron from his surgery.
  • Breath Weapon: Franky's ''Fresh Fire'' attack has him spitting fire from his mouth, his Master Nail consits of him spitting nails at his opponent.
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center: Despite his tough persona, a Running Gag is that Franky gets extremely compassionate whenever he overhears or experiences a touching story or moment, causing him to cry uncontrollably.
  • Building Swing: Like Luffy and Robin, he can use an expandable arm (his right forearm being connected to his bicep with a metal chain, in his case) to climb and swing from buildings.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite all of his eccentricities, never doubt the genius of Franky's work. The Thousand Sunny alone is a testament to his genius at engineering and ship building, and he saved himself from the brink of death by turning his body cybernetic A perfect example would be a recent addition to his body, Nipple Lights.
  • Character Catchphrase: "SUPER!"
  • Chick Magnet: If his interactions with Señor Pink are any indication, plus the fact he spent his time as an underworld boss surrounded by two hotties everywhere he went, Franky's a real hit with the ladies.
  • Child Prodigy: Tom took on a child Franky as a shipwright apprentice because he witnessed him make a cannon out of scrap that was lying about.
  • Cloud Cuckoolander: With his eccentricity and his tendency to shout "SUPER!" whenever he can, there's no denying he's an odd man.
  • Combat Pragmatist: A former gang leader whose body is loaded with weapons, Franky is the dirtiest fighter in the crew, comfortable with blasting regular human opponents with heavy ordinance and even outright lying about what his cybernetics do to throw enemies off. This is first seen in the Water 7 arc and then brought up with more emphasis in the Dressrossa arc where Franky is cut off from most of Doflamingo's top lieutenants, so he makes do by battling his hapless rank-and-file before Señor Pink challenges him to an honorable duel where they straightforwardly exchange their strongest attacks mano-a-mano until one of them can't get back up again.
  • Combining Mecha:
    • While fighting Oars, Franky attempts to form a giant mecha with the other Straw Hats in Thriller Bark (he and the boys are just standing on each others' heads). Robin is mortified at the thought.
    • The Iron Pirate Franky Shogun is composed of two other vehicles, the Black Rhino FR-U IV and Brachio Tank V combined together.
  • Cool Shades: He always wears a pair of sunglasses.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite how he usually behaves, you really really don't want to get in a fight with him. Two close subordinates of Doflamingo learned this in a very painful way.
  • Cruel to Be Kind: While he respects Usopp's devotion to his ship, he realizes that it would be suicidal to set out on a journey with the Going Merry, which can't even reach the next island and Usopp doesn't want to go down with the ship. He then tries to get Usopp to abandon the Merry by tearing chunks off of the ship, and then by throwing him into the water under the ship so he can get a good look at the damage.
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul:
    • Inverted. Despite being part robot, he's one of the most emotional Straw Hats, being extremely quick to laugh, cry, or get angry.
    • Played for Laughs after the timeskip, as he occasionally repeats instructions in a robotic voice and (sometimes) adds the suffix "-robo" or "-mecha" to sentences, though it's implied he's showing off. Robin jokes (maybe) that she can't really consider him "human" anymore.
    • On SBS 101, Oda imagines a Bad Future version of Franky who is fully roboticized by age 50. At age 70, this Franky-gone-wrong would turn himself into a battleship.
  • Cyborg: After being swept up by the sea train, Franky rebuilt his body with ship parts and tools, making him fully robotic (sans his back, which he could not reach). During the time-skip, Franky upgrades his body with Vegapunk's technology. Even the epithet on his Wanted poster is "Cyborg Franky".
  • Dark and Troubled Past: After being thrown overboard by his pirate parents, Franky was taken in at Water 7, and trained to be a shipwright along with adoptive brother Iceburg. His mentor, Tom, was prosecuted for building Roger's ship, the Oro Jackson, but cut a deal where he would build the Sea Train. After building it and four lines, he was framed by the World Government when they used ships built by Franky to attack Water 7. When they tried to take Tom to Enies Lobby to be executed Franky tried to stop the Sea Train, and got run over in the process.
  • Debt Detester: He's noticeably grim when he states that with Kuma's personality now being completely overwritten, the Straw Hats owe him a debt they can never repay.
  • Determinator: He had enough strength and willpower to turn himself into a cyborg... after getting hit by a train!
  • Defiant Captive: During his time as a captive of CP9, he repeatedly insults the Marines and attacks them and Spandam.
  • Dr. Fakenstein: A subtle example; while he doesn't mess around with corpses, he is a talented engineer who is more than willing to modify his own body and his name sounds close enough to Frankenstein's. One Halloween-themed artwork also had him cosplaying as a Frankenstein's Monster, just to drive the point further.
  • Drink-Based Characterization: Cola, which is his favorite drink as Oda confirmed which is justified as the drink is his main source of fuel.
  • Eagleland: While the USA obviously doesn't exist in the world of One Piece, Franky's appearance and personality are a very over-the-top mishmash of various stereotypes the Japanese have about Americans, and Oda claimed in an interview that if Franky were real, he'd hail from America. A full analysis can be found halfway down this page.
  • Emergency Transformation: He rebuilt himself from the scraps of a derelict ship after being hit by a train. Heck, this guy gives Tony Stark a run for his money, appropriately enough.
  • Energy Weapon: After the time skip, he's developed a Finishing Move called the Franky Radical Beam as a replacement to his Coup de Vent, firing a highly destructive laser from his arms. According to One Piece Film: Z, he can wipe out the highly durable Pacifistas with this technique.
  • Exposed to the Elements: He seems to have no issue wearing just a speedo in frozen environments like Vegapunk's lab or Punk Hazard.
  • Expressive Hair: His hair style automatically changes according to what he's fueling himself with at the time. While he usually uses cola, which makes it stand up in a sort of pompadour, it tends to hang-down and wilt when he's running on empty, has a more onion-like shape if he uses vegetable juice and a more wavy style when using tea. Post-Time Skip, his hair can change between infinite styles with a push on his nose. Oda has decided to make this a Running Gag.
  • Expy: According to Eiichiro Oda, his initial look is based on Ace Ventura.
  • Fanboy: Following the Time Skip he becomes an unashamed fanboy of Vegapunk because he studied his inventions and was deeply impressed by them. He's outright gushing when he meets him (Or rather them) in person during the Egghead arc.
  • Fartillery: He can channel his Coup de Vent attack out of his posterior ...resulting in a name change to Coup de Boo.
  • Finger Firearms: Before the Timeskip, he had the "ability" to open his finger like a door hinge and fire a bullet.
  • Foil: His past in relation to Nami's; both grew up adopted with a sibling, with both children and the parent all the same gender. While Nami's adoptive parent was a former Marine killed by a Fish-man, Franky's adoptive parent was a Fish-man killed by the Government to which the Marines are associated.
  • A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted: Zigzagged, and ultimately subverted. Back when he was a villain, Franky and his Family blew a lot of the money they stole from the Straw Hats on booze and parties, and a large part of the remainder went into the huge party the crew had to celebrate their victory in Enies Lobby. However, most of the money went to a much better use, as Franky used it to buy some Adam wood which he used to build the Thousand Sunny.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: While they're not brothers by blood, Franky had this dynamic with Iceberg. One guess as to who was the former.
  • Friend to All Children: Or more specifically to all boys (girls react to him and anything he does with a blank stare). After the Timeskip, most kids he comes across tend to get starstruck at the sight of (what they think is) an actual robot right in front of them. And Franky is all too happy to oblige in showing his features to them. In Punk Hazard, he steps up with Sanji to hold off the guards from killing the kids being experimented on, saying disappointing them is not an option.
  • Full-Conversion Cyborg: He started out human, until he was hit by a train. This required him to transform himself into a cyborg to survive, with only some of his organs and back remaining unchanged due to his being incapable of reaching it. During the two-year timeskip, Franky further modifies his body to the point where he appears more mechanical than organic.
  • Full-Name Basis: To Robin, when he first joined the crew. It eventually switches to First-Name Basis. Justified, as Nico Robin was a sort of bogeyman to him when he was younger, and as he gets to know her she stops being a mythic figure and becomes a person.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Franky was able to remake his own body into a Cyborg, and displays immense skill in all manner of construction from ships, land vehicles. weapons, and basic carpentry.
  • Gatling Good: There's a machine gun in the knuckles of his left hand.
  • Genius Bruiser: He built fully functioning robotic prostheses out of random junk from scratch and attached them himself, while severely injured. He's also the largest of the Straw Hats by a good margin, with a body that is mostly made of literal iron.
  • Gentle Giant: It becomes apparent that beneath the hard metal shell of his gigantic body is a really soft center.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: After the Time Skip, Franky now has two stitch-mark scars on his torso running down from the back of his neck indicating that he had sewn his skin back on.
  • Gratuitous English: He probably spouts the most English outside of combat than any other character.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Initially introduced as the leader of a gang who acted as villains for most of the Water 7 arc.
  • Hidden Depths: Iceberg suggests different reasons for why he became a mob boss. Recruiting the bums and thugs off the streets gives them stable employment, and the job they do (hunting down pirates and dismantling their ships) is good for Water 7 as a whole.
  • Hot Blooded Sideburns: Weaponized; his "Franky Triangle Jacker" consists of him plucking off his sideburns and throwing them like sharp boomerangs.
  • Humongous Mecha: The Iron Pirate Franky Shogun is a massive robot replica of himself, down to having his pompadour only it's a drill. It's also equipped with a huge sword and various weapon systems. Though in a hilarious subversion of what normally would be expected of a giant mecha, it proved pretty useless in its first appearance, as the only attacks that actually hit the opponents were the ones used by Franky himself when he hops out of the cockpit. Robin wonders why he even brought it out in the first place. Double-subverted HARD when it wiped out Baby 5 and Buffalo. And Franky reveals that he has a scaled-down copy of the Thousand Sunny's Gaon Cannon, called the General Cannon, built into the thing. Nothing says surprise quite like getting hit by a compressed air stream that can blow up an entire ship.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal: How he fits every gizmo inside his body is probably best left unanswered.
  • Iconic Outfit: Open, loud red Hawaiian shirt? Sharp black shades? Inappropriately small blue speedo? It could only be SUUUUUUUUUUUUPER Franky of course!
  • Immune to Bullets: Bullets will simply bounce off his iron body, especially important when he's literally Taking the Bullet for Robin during the Enies Lobby arc. However, he's only immune in the front and not the back; after all, none of his modifications reach his back.
  • Important Haircut: He got one of these after the Time Skip, but can revert to his old style or change to a new one by pressing his nose for more than three seconds.
  • Improbable Hairstyle: Since the timeskip, he can change his hairstyle by pressing his nose. Some of them are really bizarre, like rifle-shaped hair.
  • In-Series Nickname: His real name is Cutty Flam, but Iceburg considered it weird and gave him the nickname Franky because of that. When Franky returned as a cyborg to Water 7, he used his real name to talk Iceburg, and after a secret meeting, Iceburg told him to use "Franky" as his new legal name instead when he entrusted him the blueprints of Pluton.
  • Inelegant Blubbering: Will bawl his eyes out whenever he hears a sad story. Considering that almost everyone in the One Piece world has some kind of tragic past, this happens a lot.
  • Instant Awesome: Just Add Mecha!: Invoked; his weapons and robotics are enough to make the boys of the crew squeal in delight when he deploys them, and he's generally very appealing to little kids in-series. Even more self-serious characters like Sanji are impressed by his work (although he doesn't go crazy over all of it like Luffy does). On the other hand, women (like Robin and Nami) just don't understand what's so great about robots.
  • Insult Backfire: He takes "pervert" as a compliment.
  • It Runs on Nonsensoleum: His cyborg functions are powered by carbonation! So is the ship he made, for that matter. It may also serve as a Pun and a joke on Steampunk, since the most popular brand of cola is Coke and coke is a type of fuel that was used in steam engines.
  • It's Personal: He takes on CP9 because of his grudge against Spandam for getting his mentor and father figure killed. He also has a vested interest in saving Robin, because keeping her out of government hands prevents their access to the ancient weapon Pluton.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Franky starts out seemingly just a bully who picks on the weakest and most vulnerable of the Straw Hats just because he can. During Enies Lobby, more of his Hidden Depths get shown, revealing that he's actually a massive softie with a tough exterior. Even his previous jerkishness was mainly Franky's way of trying to protect Water 7 and the thugs and outcasts who looked up to him. Even after his Heel–Face Turn, he's abrasive and boisterous, but is still has his soft center.
  • Kavorka Man: Given his obscenely Frankenstein like appearance after the time skip, it's amazing he can charm Señor Pink's hired help the way he can. Though given that said hired help was also attracted to Señor Pink, it's possible that they were admiring his manly attitude more than anything.
  • Kick the Dog: In one scene Franky and a couple of enemy agents see each other at a distance, said agents decide they have no reason to attack an unknown bystander, on the other hand Franky just starts shooting them. It is never justified why he attacked them, though given his history with government agents, it was probably just out of spite.
  • A Lady on Each Arm: Used to be the case with the Square Sisters; Mozu and Kiwi back in his mafia days. Even two years later at the final stages of the Dressrosa Arc shows that he's still got it, having smitten some of Señor Pink's fanbase with his charm.
  • Large Ham: Undoubtedly the hammiest of all the Straw Hat Pirates. His full introduction to the series is accompanied by background drum riffs and smoke machines he pre-installed for dramatic flair. He once responds to a sad backstory by playing a somber tune on his guitar.
  • The Leader: Before becoming the shipwright of the Straw Hat Pirates, Franky is the underworld boss of Water 7 and the leader of the Franky Family.
  • Legally Dead: "Cutty Flam" has been officially declared dead by the World Government, so all crimes under this name cannot be charged at him. He can only be charged under his new name, Franky, which is also why his Wanted poster has the name "Franky" on it.
  • Leitmotif: Franky Eyecatcher.
  • Likes Older Women: Unlike Sanji, Brook, and Usopp, Franky has no interest in young beautiful women as he and Señor Pink stated in their battle Franky only kissing Qween (Smile factory Manger) to shut her up. Franky does however show interest in older women like Robin, and did show excitement when Nami ripped up Kalifa's clothes shouting "AOW!" and giving the thumbs up.
  • Lost in Translation: Some of the situations involving Franky and the word "pervert" are actually Japanese pun-based jokes involving "Hentai!" (abnormality) and the more traditional Toku phrase "Henshin!" (transform) commonly used in Sentai series. While "hentai" can also mean "metamorphosis", its more common meaning of "weirdo" or "pervert" creates obvious humor.
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Hilariously parodied. The forearm is actually much larger than the Iron Pirate Franky Shogun's shield.
  • Mad Scientist: Played for Laughs. He is a prodigy in cybernetics who has added some truly bizarre features to his cybernetic form, such as having his legs extend forward to become a "centaur", detachable sideburns that can be used as boomerangs, the function to fart with such force that he is able to "rocket jump", and in the timeskip, he added functions like nipple lights and the ability to change his hair by pressing his nose.
  • Made of Iron: In order to become a literal example of this, he somehow survived getting run over by the sea train, which would otherwise kill any normal person. After becoming a cyborg, he's still pretty durable even if he gets heavily damaged or injured.
  • Magnetic Hero: Because of his unbiased and protective attitude, he is quick in making friends and allies with the most unlikely of individuals, such as street thugs and pirates. He is seen as a 'big brother' figure, and is admired by many for his efforts to protect them, such as Nico Robin and the Franky Family.
  • Man of the City: According to Iceburg, Franky's tied his whole identity and purpose to Water 7 because he felt responsible for their adoptive father Tom's death. He took the downtrodden dregs of the city and formed the Franky Family to get them off the streets, who he had work as salvagers and bounty hunters to give them legitimate work, and said work was intended to protect the city by taking out pirates that approached it. Joining the Straw Hats is Franky's chance to finally see the rest of the world for himself and better find himself as a person.
  • Manly Man: Franky's really used to showcase Oda's viewpoint on gender. He alone is a ripped, overexposed bruiser with a heart of gold that other men, especially young boys, are impressed by.
  • Meaningful Name: His name Franky is derived from Frankenstein. Franky's body has been modified thanks to Franky's science.
  • Meaningful Rename: His original name was "Cutty Flam" but Iceburg decided to nickname him "Franky" because "Cutty Flam is a weird name". This became his new legal name later on, especially since "Cutty Flam" is Legally Dead.
  • Mighty Glacier: The slowest Straw Hat in the crew; Oda says that he would rank last in a 50 meter race with the rest of the crew because he weighs the most. Not that he's snail-slow or anything, but he runs and moves about as fast as a normal, athletic man his age and size is expected to. But when it comes to raw strength, he's easily the 5th strongest Straw Hat, just behind the Monster Trio and Jimbei.
  • Must Make Amends: After failing to save Tom, Frank gave up his true love of building ships. He instead did the best he could to support Water 7 with the Franky Family, giving the destitute and hopeless a new purpose while hunting down dangerous pirates. Iceberg recognizes he was doing this as a sort of penance, and after Enies Lobby convinces Franky he can finally stop denying his own desires.
  • My Greatest Failure: His Battle Franky ships being stolen by Spandam and used to attack the judicial ship in order to frame him, Tom, and Iceberg, injuring the latter two in the process. This motivated his decision to give up on making ships.
  • Naked People Are Funny: He almost never wears pants and instead bares a speedo at all times, which should tell you the kind of weirdo he is. The Straw Hats stole his speedo to convince him to join them, causing Franky to rampage towards Water 7's docks with his little man flailing around, to the horror of every onlooker he passes.
  • Never Gets Fat: He drinks a lot of cola, and never gains a pound. Although justified, since his body is mostly robotic and the cola actually gives him more strength!
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: On the island he was sent to, he unintentionally self-destructed the laboratory of Dr. Vegapunk, the smartest man in the One Piece world. His lab was considered a treasure to the Marines.
    • He ended up doing this twice.
    • In his past, all the ships that he built end up getting used to frame him, Tom, and Iceberg for attacking the judicial ship as part of Spandam's plan to confiscate Pluton's blueprints.
  • The Nicknamer: Not long after joining, he sticks to calling his new crewmates by nicknames, calling them by attribute-related monikers like "curly eyebrow" or "skeleton" instead of their real names (Except for Robin, who he referred to by her full name). He stops using nicknames as he gets closer to his crewmates.
  • Nigh-Invulnerability:
    • Franky's armored body can resist almost anything, even more so after the time skip. Only from the front, though. He couldn't reach his back so it's totally unarmored.
    • His Iron Pirate robot is even tougher, able to take a barrage of ordinance from Baby 5 that she claimed would have been enough to damage a Pacifista. She had to turn into a sickle to penetrate its armor.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Some fans believe he might be based off of Jim Carrey.
    • His post-Time Skip body seems to modeled after Henry Rollins.
    • He was also created after Eiichiro Oda heard all of Kazuki Yao's voice work as Jango and Bon Clay, specifically designed to give him a permanent casting role. Before this, Oda had actually intended to make him humorously diminutive.
  • No Shirt, Long Jacket: Downplayed. Franky's standard outfit keeps his shirt permanently unbuttoned, leaving his chest and his abs exposed. Starting from the Punk Hazard Arc, however, Franky's outfits cover his body, although he sometimes unbutton them to shoot lasers from his nipples.
  • Odd Friendship: With Brook. He's initially the only Straw Hat to hold prejudice against Brook for being a skeleton that would only have a miserable life if he carried on in society. An opinion that Robin scolds him for. But once hearing the story of carrying on with the promise to meet Laboon, he grows to have great respect for Brook. After the time skip, Franky believed Brook wouldn't return to the crew becoming a famous rock star, but is overjoyed to see him after 2 years and continues to show him respect even greeting him first on Zou before the other Straw Hats.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: He was renamed by adoptive brother Iceberg, who found his real name silly. Everyone has called him Franky ever since.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: On Egghead he actually wears pants. Given how much of a special occasion that getting to meet the Doctor Vegapunk is for him, it's not hard to see why he'd let this one slide.
  • Out of Focus: Zoro, Robin, Usopp, and Franky are all completely absent during the Whole Cake Island arc due to heading for Wano instead. This mirrors Nami, Chopper, Sanji, and Brook's absence during most of the Dressrosa Arc.
  • Outside-Context Problem: When Franky is first introduced, The Straw Hats don't know how to really fight him since he's a cyborg. They actually think he's a Devil Fruit user. CP9 has a better advantage since half of them have lived in Water 7 for five years and personally know him. Those who don't know or understand Franky's abilities have a hard time countering him, especially since he's literally Made of Iron.
  • Power Fist: His right hand functions as a powered fist, especially after he takes the skin off and reveals the metal exoskeleton underneath.
  • Power Palms: He can shoot a burst of highly compressed and destructive air from his palms.
  • Power Source: Cola is his main source of power. Other drinks can work too but gives him a different personality per beverage. Pre-timeskip, whenever he's out of energy, his hair droops.
  • Powered Armor: The "Franky Shogun" mecha-suit, which he also refers to as "Armored Me", is a small mecha that Franky controls to fight stronger enemies. It can fire laser beams, highly compressed bursts of air, and wield a giant katana, among other things. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper personally consider it the coolest thing ever, likening it to a Humongous Mecha. Still, Franky is unhappy that the Marines apparently mistook it for his real body, as his Wanted poster since the Dressrosa Arc features the suit rather than his real face.
  • Prone to Tears: Whenever Franky hears a sob-story, his eyes turn into rivers. He does it so often it's a personality trait. Since the time-skip, he seems to have grown past his usual Sand In My Eyes routine (such as in Dressrosa where he openly admits that the tragedy of the country's backstory is bringing him to tears), and become more honest about his emotions.
  • Red Baron: His epitaph on his wanted poster is "Cyborg". After Dressrosa it becomes "Iron Man".
  • Ridiculously Fast Construction: Played for Laughs several times during the Thriller Bark arc when, among other things, he builds a bridge with flower motifs and frills in the time it took the others to blink, and builds a staircase leading up to super-giant Oars as fast as another crewmember is able to climb it. Best shipwright/carpenter/engineer ever.
  • Rocket Punch: With all of the homages to fighting robot series in his character, it's no surprise he can do this. Though, cleverly, his hand is attached to his forearm with a chain so it comes back after being fired. He can only perform this with his right arm.
  • Sand In My Eyes: Every time he cries prior to the time-skip, he vehemently and poorly denies it.
  • Scenery Censor: In episode 321 of the anime, his family snatches his speedo and takes it to the Straw Hats to get him to go with them, making him run through town bottomless. While the show has no problem showing his rear end, they occasionally use this to obscure the front.
  • Science Hero: Franky is a self-made cyborg who's built an army's worth of gadgets that operate on cola,.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: In the English dub he and Brook do this when Oars is about to throw a tower at them. In his defense though that's probably an appropriate reaction to have in that situation.
  • Self-Surgery: On the verge of death after being run down by a train when he was 26 years old, Franky rebuilt himself using spare parts from an abandoned ship. As he was alone at the time, he was unable to modify his back, making it the only part of his body that is still flesh and blood.
  • Shameless Fanservice Guy: He's totally unbothered by the "no pants" situation.
    • His flashback even has him reluctantly wear pants because Iceberg tells him too.
    • When the Franky Family tries to force him to leave with the Straw Hats by stealing his underwear, he never tries to cover up when running after them; eventually, he even lets the Straw Hats keep it while striking his signature pose in public! Even when he finally relents, he leaps onto the Sunny still half-naked while Zoro tells him to Please Put Some Clothes On.
    • In his canon Filler segment on Vegapunk's island, he declines pants because he wants to keep his "freak" reputation.
  • Shoulder Cannon: Has a couple of 'em that dislocate his shoulder blades. He gets a Shoulder Rocket Launcher and a more functional Shoulder Cannon after Time-skip.
  • Shrouded in Myth: Because of his antics in the island of Baldimore, he caused "The Nightmare of Baldimore", and he accidentally set fire to the tiger skin he was wearing to mask himself and ran out scaring the suspicious Marines chasing him, becoming "The Burning Beast of Baldimore" to make legends for generations to come.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: With Iceburg (adoptive that is); throughout their childhood, Iceburg was the dutiful, respectful sibling while Franky was violent and disruptive. This continues into their adulthood with their roles in Water 7. Iceburg becomes the beloved mayor of the island who unites all the shipwrights and helps maintain the city's prestigious status as the shipbuilding capital of the world. Franky takes over the city's seedy underbelly, reining in the criminal element and using them to keep the city safe from pirates, and is even celebrated by the city's lowlifes as the face of Water 7's underworld. Together the two of them make Water 7 a better place to live.
  • Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Franky spends the majority of the Water 7 arc being an abrasive guy with few redeeming qualities. As more is revealed about him, it becomes clear that he's actually far nicer than he appears to be and Iceburg points out that Franky has deep-seated guilt for indirectly causing the death of his mentor. Once he learns to forgive himself, his demeanor improves drastically.
  • Super-Strength: While his combat abilities may still be below the monster trio, his physical strength is very likely to be on par with them. He gives Luffy a run for his money when they first meet (as enemies). So he's likely still high up there after his post-Time Skip upgrade.
  • Swiss-Army Appendage: Franky's arms have both been modified to add extra utility and weapons. His right fist is detachable and connected to a chain, allowing him to use it as a ranged punch or grappling hook; his left arm has multiple weapons built into it, including finger guns, a wrist-mounted machine gun, and a cannon with a targeting scope in his palm.
  • Tank-Tread Mecha: He can turn his legs into tank treads for faster movement.
  • Team Dad: According to Oda, he's of the bumbling variety. And true to that, he's a big, protective bruiser who enjoys entertaining his younger crewmates and his sentimentality lets him be a source of comfort. He certainly was one to the Franky Family as well. Amusingly, after Jimbei officially joins the crew, a later SBS gave Jimbei the new title of Team Dad and Franky got the official designation of "perverted granny" (despite Franky being younger then Jimbei).
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: During the battle of Enies Lobby, despite Franky wanting to save Robin from CP9, the other Straw Hats don't trust him with many of them, justifiably, holding a grudge against him for beating up Usopp and stealing their money, which inadvertently led to Usopp leaving the crew. Thankfully after proving his worth to the Straw Hats by protecting Robin, freeing her from her Sea Prism Stone handcuffs, and fighting alongside them the Straw Hats warm up to him and, by the time he uses the money he stole to build them a new ship, they are ready to adopt him into the Crew as their shipwright.
  • Testosterone Poisoning: Acting like a mob boss in Water 7, the Cool Shades he almost always wears, Large Ham tendencies, pretending he isn't crying when he gets saddened by something, not to mention a battle of one-upmanship in being "manly" against one of Doflamingo's executives (who happens to be a man dressed like a baby...) — Let's face it, he is this trope.
  • That Man Is Dead: As part of Iceberg's plan to hide the Pluton blueprints, "Cutty Flam" died when he tried to stop Tom from being taken by the Government.
  • This Is a Drill: There's a drill on the top of the Iron Pirate Franky Shogun's head.
  • Throwing Your Shield Always Works: One of the the Iron Pirate Franky Shogun's attack, General Shield Boomerang, consists of throwing away the shield. Ironically, it's also the only way to make the shield useful, since its comically small and doesn't even cover the forearm.
  • Top-Heavy Guy: Franky was of rather normal proportions before his accident with the Puffing Tom, albeit a bit lanky. After he rebuilt himself, his arms and torso have become much wider and bulkier, while his legs haven't changed much. This is even more extreme after the Time Skip, where further modifications have made him a lot taller and his arms massive, while his legs haven't changed a bit. Oda reveals in one SBS that he has to sleep on a special cushion due to his inability to lay dow normally thanks to the massive spheres on his shoulders. Franky Shogun, just like him, has massive arms and an even bigger torso, but stick-like legs.
  • Trouser Space: Apparently he keeps the hammer he uses to build things in his speedo...
  • Trrrilling Rrrs: His Japanese voice-over emphasizes a lot of his 'R's.
  • Unfortunate Names: His real name is Cutty Flam. Iceberg, one of the few who knows it, was the one who convinced him to change it.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Iceburg can't go five seconds without getting into dumb arguments, but the two of them are brothers through and through. Iceberg even lampshades it.
    "Look at us... we yell as soon as we look at each other. You jerk! I'm glad you're alive!"
  • Walking Swimsuit Scene: He is a Parody of this in every sense of the word, considering he wears a speedo.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: More like "He Can Rebuild Himself". He became a cyborg after being run over by the Puffing Tom, surviving, and then refitting his own body with mechanical parts. In fact, he's rebuilt himself twice! After causing the "Nightmare of Baldimore" and incinerating his own skin, he rebuilds himself into an even bigger and more powerful body, incorporating plans from Dr. Vegapunk himself.
  • What If?: An SBS notes that if he were to eat a Devil Fruit, he'd have eaten the Arms-Arms Fruit. Considering his love of weapons, a Devil Fruit that would give him the ability to transform into any weapon is definitely a power he would want to have.
  • Worthy Opponent: He considers Señor Pink to be worthy; the two of them reached an unspoken agreement during their fight to take each other's blows without even attempting to avoid them until one of them finally fell. Afterwards, Franky says he'd like to meet Señor again and hear the story of his wife Russian over drinks.
  • Would Hit a Girl: As his fight against Baby 5 can testify.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: He randomly busts out a German suplex against the Smile factory leader Kyuin, despite having never used such maneuvers before. It's implied that he learned it from fighting Señor Pink, who almost exclusively uses the manoeuvre to attack.
  • You Killed My Father: Franky utterly loathes Spandam for arresting his mentor/father-figure Tom and sentencing him to death and Franky does his best to make Spandam's life absolute hell every time they come into contact. When Spandam kicks Tom unconscious upon arrest, Franky promptly breaks his face with the butt of a rifle (permanently disfiguring him), causing Spandam much grief. But if that wasn't enough, when meeting him again after twenty years, Franky, despite being chained, bites Spandam's skull and refuses to let go, forcing Kumadori to separate them. But Franky doesn't just perform physical revenge for Tom, he also burns Tom's blueprints for Pluton, the Ancient Weapon (which the The Government have been seeking for years) directly in front of Spandam's face, causing Spandam to go spare.

    "Soul King" Brook 

"Soul King" Brook

Voiced by: Chō (Japanese), Ian Sinclair (English)note 

Age: 88 (Pre-Timeskip), 90 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 442 (Manga), Episode 337 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Revive-Revive Fruit

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brook_anime_9.png
Click here to see his Pre-Time Skip appearance

"I can't just die hoping to be forgiven! Because when a man promises to return, he must return!!!"
—Chapter 459

Brook is the musician of the Straw Hat Pirates. He ate the Revive-Revive Fruit (Yomi Yomi no Mi), which enabled his spirit to reanimate his corpse after he died. Unfortunately, after his death, his spirit got lost for an entire year before finding his body, which had decayed into a skeleton. He later develops the ability to control his own soul. Deprived of his shadow by the Warlord of the Sea, Gecko Moria, he was adrift within the gloomy Florian Triangle until he meets the Straw Hats by chance. After the Straw Hats recover his shadow from Gecko Moria, Brook happily accepts Luffy's invite to join the crew.

He's something of a Dirty Old Man who repeatedly asks Nami and Robin to show him their panties, and he also has the distinct habit of making cringe-inducing puns relating to his skeletal state at every opportunity. He's eighty-eight/ninety years old, though he doesn't age after dying at the age of thirty-eight. He is also a fencer who executes extremely fast attacks and can use music as a form of hypnosis.

His dream is to reunite with Laboon, a whale who lives at the entrance to the Grand Line, whom the Straw Hats meet prior to Brook. Fifty years ago, the baby whale had befriended the Rumbar Pirates, the pirate crew Brook was a part of, but they had to leave him behind as their travels became more dangerous.

He has a bounty of 383,000,000 berries.note 


  • Afro Asskicker: Brook is powerful afro-wearing undead musician! His afro is part of his iconic appearance and has remained unchanged over the timeskip.
  • Almighty Janitor:
    • Brook's official position in the Straw Hat Pirates is the musician. That doesn't mean he won't leave you dead before you can blink.
    • Brook actually manages to fight and impress Big Mom, though he ultimately loses. It's implied that she's going easy on him because she wants to add him to her collection of rare creatures, and his Revive ability is uniquely suited to counter her Soul ability, but Brook was still the first Straw Hat to face off against an Emperor alone with anything to show for it, as he was able to wound Prometheus during their battle.
  • The Aloner: It's implied that Brook developed his bizarre humor and Pungeon Master tendencies as a means to entertain himself while he was stuck alone on a ship full of (inanimate) dead people for half a century.
  • Amazon Chaser: Nami kicking him in the skull just makes Brook even more enamoured.
    "Feisty! I~ like it!"
  • Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: A non-sexual example. A minor Running Gag with him is that he gets mad when monsters don't attack him because he has no meat on him (at one point he even gets a bit upset that a disease bioweapon doesn't affect him). He gets his wish in the Zou Arc, since his bony body is irresistibly delicious to the dog Minks, but he's no happier about being constantly gnawed on.
  • Artistic License – Biology: While being a living skeleton is because of his Devil Fruit, and we can understand that milk heals him, there's the fact he became taller during the timeskip, this despite being a 88-90 years old skeleton. (Even though, strangely, he said his hair won't grow.)
  • Astral Projection: A power he developed over the Time Skip is to leave his skeleton and travel as just a spirit.
  • Back from the Dead: The Devil Fruit he ate let him come back to life after being killed. Once. Though he's harder to kill a second time.
  • Badass Longcoat: His outfits after the Timeskip usually feature longcoats.
  • Banishing Ritual: At Thriller Bark, Brook teaches the Straw Hats how to use salt to purify the zombies. At Whole Cake Island, Brook's control over souls lets him hurt Big Mom's homies, including Zeus and Prometheus.
  • Berserk Button: How dare something turn up its nose after trying to eat him. Bone has plenty of nutritional value! (Becomes a case of Be Careful What You Wish For after encountering the canine Minks on Zou.)
  • Beware the Silly Ones: He's a simpleton and loves cracking jokes about his skeletal status, but don't let that fool you into thinking he's weak. Because just like his captain he won't back down even if it means fighting one of the Four Emperors, Big Mom alone.
    • Brook is quietly one of the most competent members of the Straw Hats, despite his strength being somewhere comfortably in the middle of the group. If Brook has a task, it will be handled.
  • Blessed with Suck: Initially, though it's later subverted. His Devil Fruit only returns someone from the dead once, and his skeletal body didn't seem to offer much additional resistance against damage and pain, leaving him at first with little more than Super Drowning Skills. However, he later discovers many more uses to both his Devil Fruit power and his skeletal body.
  • Borrowin' Samedi: Brook doesn't just look skeletal, he is in fact a walking skeleton and dresses in a nice suit and top hat as a matter of course. About the only switch-up is the huge afro. His love of music, jovial, fun-loving demeanor, and horrible manners might be further references to Samedi. He's even pictured in the trope page itself!
  • Brick Joke: Throughout the series, starting right after teaming up with Zoro in Episode 3, Luffy keeps suggesting that they need a musician for a crew member next, his suggestion getting shot down every time. 300+ episodes later...
  • Butt-Monkey: At times, Brook is the butt of the Joke, although not as often as other straw hats, partly because he joins the crew much later in the story. One notable mention is how he keeps getting chewed on by Dog Minks in Zou, thanks to him being a skeleton.
  • Came Back Strong: The more his powers are revealed, the more obvious it becomes his revival was necessary to use his Devil Fruit at his best. First of all, as a skeleton, he is immune to poison because he doesn't have any blood or internal organs, is resistant to lightning and temperature extremes for the same reason, and much harder to damage with conventional weapons.
  • Character Catchphrase:
    • "Excuse me Miss, may I see your panties?" This includes variants such as "May I borrow some money?" should panties be unavailable. These are all variants on a running joke (which works better in Japanese because of the billions of levels of politeness they have built into their language), in which he asks extremely rude things in an extremely polite manner.
    • "SKULL JOKE!"
  • Character Signature Song: Bink's Sake (or Bink's Brew depending of the translation) is Brook's iconic song. It's a famous pirate shanty in-universe and was often sang by his old crew. Brook's most prized possession is a record dial containing a recording of the last song of the Rumbar Pirates, an interpretation of Bink's Sake they all sang together before dying.
  • Chekhov's Skill: That crack in his skull cap that allows him to open it and carry a Tone Dial inside the empty space where his brain used to be is only seen in use during the arc in which he was introduced, so it probably slipped a lot of people's minds that he has this compartment unless they considered the possibility he might find another use for it in the future. Which he did: Brook used that very same compartment to hide rubbings of the Poneglyphs he copied from Big Mom's hall of treasures and slip away with them totally unnoticed, because even though he got cornered and defeated in battle against her and underwent a body check down to his underwear, Big Mom and company did not realize Brook's skull has a hatch in it. Because of this, Brook obtains one of the most important endgame pieces to finding Laugh Tale and two other important recordings, and with the Straw Hats en route to Wano, birthplace of the Poneglyphs, having these rubbings becomes all the more vital. In short, this is a huge leap forward in their quest to find the One Piece.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Never asks to see panties without a courteous "Excuse me, miss..." first, after all. There's more emphasis on "pervert" over "chivalrous" compared to fellow lady-lover Sanji, however.
  • Close to Home: Brook hates when people don't value their lives because he has first-hand experience dying and knows it's no light matter. When Zeo orders his men to throw their lives away to become martyrs for a grudge against humans, Brook singles him out for his callousness.
    Brook: Nothing but bones are left behind when you die, let alone something as a grudge.
  • Cool Old Guy: He's the oldest of the Straw Hats, an amazing musician, expert swordsman, and a Nice Guy (if a Dirty Old Man at times).
  • Cool Shades: We've never seen what Brook's eyes look like because even when he was alive — as both a child and an adult — he always wore a pair of these, hiding his eyes. After he becomes a rockstar during the Timeskip, he goes back to this look, usually always sporting a pair of shades with his outfits.
  • Cranium Compartment: Being a skeleton, he's fine having his skullcap opened up like a lid. He tends to secretly hide stuff inside his head that way.
  • Creepy Good: A reader can forget that Brook is still a walking talking corpse, which always frightens people whenever they meet him, or at least spooks them? And now that he can detach his soul from his body, he can also pass as a ghost too! And let's not forget how he channels the energy of the underworld and can dominate souls. Thankfully, it's balanced by his constant humor.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: On the surface, Brook is a highly immature, deeply eccentric loon. That doesn't stop him from being a highly skilled combatant, as well as a peer of Sanji and Robin in terms of his tactical prowess.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Because Brook took so long to find his body, the lack of any skin or organs renders him immune to most threats that a normal human would face. Ironically, the fact his body decayed to only bones was actually far more beneficial than if he had simply revived as a full-flesh human. He moves faster and is much lighter due to having no flesh, allowing him to dash across water because he's so light. He can also jump extraordinarily far and high. Since Brook doesn't have any skin or organs, he's pretty much immune to chemicals like poison or sleeping gas, and lightning doesn't affect him either.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Brook entered the Grand Line 50 years with the Rumbar Pirates before as a musician after befriending the young whale Laboon and promising he would return for him at Reverse Mountain. His captain, Calico Yorki, and half the crew then contracted an incurable disease and were forced to be abandoned. After taking over as captain, Brook and the remaining members of the crew were wiped out by an enemy with poisoned weapons after entering the Florian Triangle. Although he was resurrected by the Revive-Revive Fruit, his ship's rudder was broken, so he was stuck in the same spot for over 50 years with no way to return to his friend as promised. He wasn't even revived instantly, and spent the first of those fifty years in soul form, wandering aimlessly until he found his body, which had already decayed into a skeleton by then. And as mentioned above, he spent the remaining 49 years alone, with nothing to eat or drink, and the bodies of his crew as his sole company. Even worse, for the last five of those fifty years, he was without a shadow thanks to it being stolen by Gecko Moriah, so he couldn't leave the Florian Triangle even if he was able to.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Brook's main color scheme is black and white, and is also a skeleton due to his body having decayed to mere bones by the time his soul found it. He's also one of the nicer and more polite Straw Hat members, with a love for music (and panties) and an absolutely boneheaded sense of humor.
  • The Dead Can Dance: He can dance, and sing, and play just about any instrument. In fact, death made his playing even better. He now knows firsthand exactly what touches your soul.
  • Death-Activated Superpower: His Devil Fruit powers only kicked in after he died. Althoug he's still unable to swim.
  • Dem Bones: While his Devil Fruit brought his soul back into the realm of the living, by the time he found his body it had already decayed to a skeleton.
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Zigzagged, he distracts Big Mom by asking her to see her panties so he can cut Zeus in half. Not said as an insult exactly, but not something you would say to someone as scary as Big Mom.
  • Dirty Old Man: He has a habit of asking women to see their panties (including mermaids), with the usual reaction of being pummeled.
  • Dissonant Serenity: When he's introduced in Thriller Bark, he has a trick of calming his nerves by humming a serene song, so that he can maintain the focus he need to slice up and purify the zombies. All the zombies see is a mysterious skeleton calmly humming as he returns them all to their graves.
  • Don't Explain the Joke: His Skull Jokes would probably be funnier if he let their inherent irony sink in instead of either explaining why they should be hilarious or quickly laughing at them himself. His jokes would, but he wouldn't.
  • The Dreaded: To the denizens of Thriller Bark. He was the only man who knew the zombies' weakness to salt and used that knowledge to decimate their numbers when he tried to retrieve his own shadow. He hummed to himself to keep his spirits up, and the zombies associated his music with death, dubbing him "the Humming Swordsman".
  • Duty That Transcends Death: He will not break his promise to one day return to Laboon. Dying is no excuse.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: His power of the soul makes him immune to abilities that can affect the souls of others. Much like Luffy Vs. Eneru, this lets Brook stand against Big Mom despite her threat level being way above him, as he's the perfect counter to her life manipulating abilities.
  • Expressive Skull: Brook can emote with his eye sockets, shifting from a neutral to a battle ready angry expression frequently. He can also cry and receive lumps when hit on the head.
  • Famed In-Story: During the timeskip, he becomes a ridiculously famous musician known as "Soul King" and when he reaches Sabaody, he performs the last concert of his musical tour.
  • Fights Like a Normal: He originally relies on his swordsmanship due to not being able to utilize his Devil Fruit for combat. After the Time Skip however, Brook has learned to do so, such as turning his sword into an ice weapon by channeling the power of the underworld.
  • Force and Finesse: He's the finesse to Zoro's force, using more fancy sword techniques compared to Zoro's more power-based moves.
  • Formal Characters Use Keigo: His Japanese speech patterns are extremely formal, giving him the character of a polite gentleman despite being a living skeleton. He speaks politely even when he asks a woman to show him her panties.
  • Fragile Speedster: Brook's light body makes him very fast but frail as well. This trait is what sets him apart from Zoro as the crew's primary swordsmen, who is a "Strong Blade" type. While Brook doesn’t have the strength that Zoro has, his sword style is much faster and precise (this style is called "Gentle Blade" In-Universe). In SBS 85, Oda actually clears up that Brook would win a 50 meter dash among the Straw Hats (with Sanji in second and Luffy in third).
  • Freeze Ray: Doubles as a Sword Beam, he can fire the energy of his soul at his opponent with his sword which freezes them.
  • Friendly Skeleton: He instantly befriends the Straw Hats when he meets them, although part of it is because he craves socialization after having spent fifty years all alone, and his eccentric and entertaining personality, plus his musical skills, convince Luffy to ask Brook if he could join the crew.
  • Funny Afro: That somehow survived even after he died. Luffy finds it to be an endless source of humor, and it's in fact one of the reasons he cites for being hell-bent on recruiting Brook to the crew. Though on a more serious note, Brook's afro is very important to him since he fears that Laboon won't recognize him without it, since the rest of his body is unrecognizable compared to when he was alive. Also, because of his "condition", it won't grow back if it's cut.
  • Gallows Humor: Has a tendency to make 'Skull Jokes' which involve him making a comment, then realizing it wouldn't make sense as he's dead. Definitely more literal than most cases.
  • Gentle Giant: He's the tallest member of the Straw Hat crew, and also the kindest and most even tempered.
  • Ghostly Chill: Weaponized version. After the Timeskip, his Revive-Revive Fruit's power enables him to harness the chill of underworld and channel it through his blade.
  • Ghost Pirate: Becomes the skeletal variant after dying once and his Devil Fruit allows his spirit to return, only for his body to be reduced to bones by the time he found it.
  • Go Mad from the Isolation: You can see some slippage during his fifty year isolation, with things such as hallucinations of his crew alive and well again. Some of his quirkiness in the present is also likely attributable to this.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Brook's old head wound is, pre-skeleton, a bit more messy-looking and disfiguring than the usual Good Guy scar.
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language: His attack names are a mix of terminology from fencing and music, so it's an eclectic mix of French, German, Latin, and Italian.
  • Hates Being Alone: Decades of isolation have left him warped and deeply lonely. He happily accepts Luffy's offer to join the crew as it means he finally has others to interact with.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: He, along with the other Straw Hat Pirates, borders on anti-heroic. At one point being the captain of the guards in his home country, Brook is well versed in swordplay. Despite his usual goofy personality in battle, he is extremely capable and can do more than hold his own. His fighting style resembles a combination of classical fencing and iaidō.
  • Horrifying Hero: Especially after the timeskip, when his Yomi Yomi abilities have gotten really creepy — but, of course, mostly Played for Laughs. However, this is played straight when Brook fights against the homies of Big Mom, as the projection of his soul takes a demonic appearance.
  • Horrifying the Horror: On an island full of horrific zombies of every shape and size, Brook was feared as an unstoppable boogeyman, "the humming swordsman", who's song heralded their deaths.
  • Human Hummingbird: Thanks to his light body, he's able to run at amazing speeds, even across water without sinking for a few minutes.
  • Iaijutsu Practitioner: His fighting style is a combination of this and classical fencing.
  • An Ice Person: After the Timeskip, Brook's Devil Fruit abilities go far beyond just reviving him. One of these powers is the ability to summon and wield the freezing cold of the Underworld for powerful ice attacks like freezing slashes or covering the whole area in ice.
  • I Gave My Word: Brook's drive to fulfill his 50 year promise to Laboon firmly cements him as a Determinator. As he puts it:
    Brook: Death is never an apology!! Because when a man makes a promise, he doesn't stop fighting until he fulfills it!!
  • I'm Cold... So Cold...: Invoked with his powers, which let him summon the freezing cold of death with every swipe of his sword, leaving thin trails of ice. It's cold enough to damage equipment that works fine on the frigid half of Punk Hazard.
  • Immortal Immaturity: Brook has a serious side, but is very quick to join in on the unnecessary playfulness that the younger members make. He claims to just love having fun. Considering he was alone for over 50 years, he's probably just regressed mentally and is making up for lost time.
  • Impossible Theft: In the first half of the Whole Cake Island Arc, Brook worked alongside Pedro to pull off the seemingly Impossible Task of stealing rubbings of the Poneglyphs in Big Mom's possession. Despite WCI's security being strongest in the Treasure Room and Brook being captured by Big Mom herself, he ended up succeeding in obtaining the imprints of the Poneglyphs and stashed them in his skull.
  • In a Single Bound: Since he's nothing but bone, hair and clothing, Brook is very lightweight and can jump great heights because of it.
  • Inhuman Human: Brook ate the Revive-Revive Fruit, which gave him the ability to come back to life after he died. Problem is, he died in a very foggy region of sea, and it took him an entire year for his soul to find his body again. By this time, all that was left of it was a skeleton and a massive afro.
  • Insane Equals Violent: Greatly subverted. As described by some of the other tropes listed, Brook is not entirely well. As described by still other tropes, he is also the least likely to even act like a jerk, let alone be particularly violent as pirates go.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: Brook is old enough to be Franky's grandfather or Luffy's greatgrandfather!
  • Ironic Fear: He is easily scared by spooky things, like ghosts and zombies.
  • It Only Works Once: The Revive-Revive Fruit can only bring you Back from the Dead once. If Brook dies a second time, it will be permanent.
  • It Runs on Nonsensoleum: His entire existence.
    • According to The Other Wiki, his Devil Fruit allows him to function like a normal human despite not having the necessary organs to do so. (Yes Luffy, he poops.) He's finally given an explanation. It's not organs, or muscles, it's his soul!
    • The reason why he still has an afro even as a skeleton? Deep roots.
    • An 88 year old somehow grew five more inches by the time he was 90. A technically dead 88/90 year old, mind you. How? Who knows. Why? Because why not, that's why.
    • He can completely heal a cracked bone and regains missing bone fragments with milk. Because... calcium!
  • Just Between You and Me: He witnesses the conversation between Big Mom and Pudding about their plans to murder both the Straw Hats and Germa 66 at the wedding ceremony.
  • The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: Brook regularly sustains what would be life-ending injuries for anyone else, largely because he can recover from any injury that doesn't damage his bones too much. Of particular note is when he's beheaded by Zeo on Fishman Island, after which he cheerfully re-attaches his head to his spine without missing a beat. In fact, the only damage he goes out of his way make sure never happens is to his hair, as he claims that since he's dead, he can't regrow it (despite this, his afro grew bigger in the timeskip). He does however still seem to feel pain, so he tries not to get hurt in general if he can.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Once, when he says "to be continued in the next chapter".
  • Leitmotif: Brook Eyecatcher.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: For all his antics, Brook did manage to amass a large bounty while he was still alive, and can hold his own on a fight, though he's not as badass as Zoro is in swordsmanship.
    Brook: Young lady...What kind of fool would ever... plan to die?
  • Loner-Turned-Friend: After his crew, including himself, died, Brook was left alone and stranded on his ship for fifty long years, until he met the Straw Hats.
  • Losing Your Head: During their fight, Zeo rips Brook's head off with a chain. After a moment of Zeo bragging about killing a Straw Hat, Brook reveals he's perfectly fine. His head even floats back up to reattach to his body. Since learning it's his soul that controls his body, which is made of bones, such injuries are trifles to him now.
  • Mad Libs Catch Phrase: Usually often would make a common phrase that includes a body part (eyes, stomach, etc.) and then say: wait, I don't have [said body part].
  • Magic Music: Brook uses violin chords to put people to sleep. After the Time-Skip, he can use music to hypnotize people into seeing illusions, such as a festival.
  • Misery Trigger: He loves making skull jokes, but they are all he's got. He gets very sad when somebody steals his punchline.
  • Musical Assassin: Brook sometimes uses his music as a weapon, combining his musical and fighting skills together. Especially because his violin bow hides his sword.
  • Named After Someone Famous: Brook's name comes from the Soul Musician Brook Benton, Eiichiro Oda's favorite artist of that genre.
  • Nerves of Steel: A Downplayed case when one compares it to Jimbei's absolute lack of fear towards Big Mom, but despite Brook's normal tendency to react exaggeratedly to some of the most dangerous situation the Straw Hats finds themselves in the New World (not unlike Nami or Usopp) in every confrontation Brook has with Big Mom during the Whole Cake Arc he's actually a lot more composed and self-assured than normal, even once blatantly condescending her by calling her "Young Lady". The fact that his own Devil Fruit is a hard-counter for her own somewhat explains this, but even taking that into consideration Big Mom is monstrously and far more powerful than Brook, yet Brook is surprisingly and notably less fearful of her than the majority of his Crew or their allies during the Whole Cake Arc.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: He's a pirate musician and swordsman resurrected as an undead skeleton with an afro.
  • Nobody Touches the Hair: He'll try to prevent enemy combatants from contact with his hair at any cost. This is because being a skeleton, he considers it his only visible trait still the same from when he was still alive, and it won't grow back if it gets cut off again (and considering his sole purpose now is to meet up with Laboon again, he kinda needs Laboon to still be able to recognize him somehow). He protects it to such an extent that he loses his very first real fight in the series in order to avoid damage to his hair.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Brook is undoubtedly based on famous guitarist Saul "Slash" Hudson. The resemblance is more noticeable in his younger appearances. When he was alive, he also wore rocker shades that added to the resemblance. He also shares some minor resemblance to Jimi Hendrix, Phil Lynott, and Ozzy Osbourne, the former moreso after the Time Skip. As a skeletal being, much of the resemblances are, of course, ancient history now.
  • No Last Name Given: Brook has said absolutely nothing of his family or if he even has one... or if he even remembers them anymore.
  • No-Sell: Has a habit of doing this to enemy attacks. Some examples include:
    • Pierce or shoot him, and it goes right through gaps in his body harmlessly (unless you strike his bones directly).
    • Suck the moisture out of him? There's nothing left to drain.
    • Decapitate him? He simply reattaches his head.
    • Try to fry him with lightning? He has no flesh or organs or nerves to affect, so he'll shrug it right off.
  • Not Hyperbole: His stage name and new epithet "Soul King" isn't a mere title that references his soulful music. As he demonstrated against Big Mom's homies, he truly has become the King of Souls.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Brook is the Straw Hat most likely to play dumb for a purpose. It helps that he doesn't have any facial expressions to read and usually has to announce how he's feeling at any given time. Notably, he'll often act scared in the face of a threat, only to quickly and competently neutralise it once it becomes too big a danger.
  • Odd Friendship: Despite the fact his personality resembles Sanji's, Brook actually gets along extremely well with Zoro of all people. It probably helps they're both dedicated to the sword and Brook has a very powerful respect for his fellow swordsman.
  • Officer and a Gentleman: Simultaneously played straight and subverted to humorous effect. By default, he's far more polite and formal than the rest of the Strawhat Crew in both his speech patterns and his mannerisms. This serves to make the actual content of his speech, which is extremely rude, all the funnier.
  • Old Soldier: He's a 90 years old swordsman and pirate. Granted, being an animated skeleton mitigates the problem of age. So much so that he refers to Big Mom as "young lady" to her face!
  • Our Souls Are Different: Due to the effect of his Devil Fruit. Even more so after the Time Skip.
  • Out of Focus: He, Chopper, Nami, and Sanji during the second half of the Dressrosa Arc. They were absent from the story for more than a year and a half in the real world before reappearing (from December 2013 to July 2015).
  • Papa Wolf: Don't dare attack his crew. "I already lost a crew once. You won't make me lose another!"
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Invoked In-Universe by himself, he acknowledges that he can help fight to protect his crew, but thinks his primary purpose is to raise their spirits with his humor and positivity.
  • The Pollyanna: "If we're going to die, we might as well enjoy it..."
  • Power Perversion Potential: First thing he did once he learned to separate soul and body at will: peep in women's baths.
  • Pulling Themselves Together: A natural extension of being a living skeleton, which he unveils after the timeskip.
  • Pungeon Master: He's constantly making puns about being a skeleton, to either the amusement or annoyance of others around him. Puns of the incredibly lame variety are his favorite types of jokes.
  • Random Smoking Scene: In the movie One Piece Film: Strong World. (While dressed like a hippie. Exactly what he's smoking is anyone's guess.)
  • Red Baron: "Humming". After the Time Skip it's "Soul King", his stage name while he was a famous musician.
  • Ridiculously Alive Undead: Thanks to the Revive-Revive Fruit, Brook is a living skeleton who can get bruised despite lacking skin, and when asked by Luffy, he confirms that he is capable of pooping. He also eats despite lacking a stomach, is shown frequently to be a Dirty Old Man, and like every other Devil Fruit user, he is weak to seawater.
  • Running Gag:
    • "(Common expression including a body part). Oh, wait, I don't have (body part). Yohohohoho!"
    • Demonstrating that he can make a forty-five degree angle by standing straight and leaning forward so his head is against a wall. He's improved to forty degrees since the timeskip.
  • Sad Clown: Especially in his introductory storyline. He's by far one of the goofiest Straw Hats, in no small part because he's a goofy pervy skeleton with an affinity for puns. He's also a lonely, miserable soul who's at the lowest point in his life by the time the Straw Hats find him.
  • Scars are Forever: Even 52+ years later and with all his flesh gone, whatever head injury he once suffered while alive remains visible.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl:
    • In the English dub, he and Franky have this reaction just before Oars throws a tower from Thriller Bark at them, not that it's not warranted mind you.
    • He reacts like this again when he rides the rollercoaster at Sabaody Park.
      Brook: Oh, look at this view, how relaxing! [Beat as the coaster enters the drop.] AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!
  • Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Or "screw politeness, I spent fifty years of my afterlife without food or company after watching my friends die". He still regards himself as a gentleman, but that's less to do with his (bad) manners and more to do with his own personal code.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Brook's former captain, Yorki, presented himself as a tough (if a bit silly) guy and affectionately teased Brook for being sentimental.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: While fighting Big Mom, of all people, Brook coldly replies to her death threats and remains confident that none of his allies will die.
    Big Mom: Ma ma ma ma! That worst-case scenario you envision is rather tame!! Sanji not returning?! That's the worst thing you can imagine?! Nobody dies?!
    Brook: Young Lady, what kind of idiot draws up plans with the expectation of dying?
  • Signature Laugh: The traditional pirate laugh: Yohohohoho! Often done after making a joke about a body part that he no longer has.
  • Silly Walk: Brook can run on water by flailing his legs wildly, avoiding one major Devi Fruit user weakness.
  • Skeletal Musician: He was an excellent musician in life, and remains one in death.
  • Soul Power: During the Time Skip, he learned the true power of his Devil Fruit: the power to control the inexhaustable energy of his soul.
  • Stealth Pun: (Combined with Punny Name and Fridge Brilliance.) His becoming the Soul King, because (apart from his skeleton and his hair) that's the only part of him remaining after he came back to life. After the Time Skip, his soul can become mobile at will.
  • Stepford Smiler: He kept himself (sorta) sane over fifty years of isolation by constantly cracking lame jokes and performing silly stunts. Underneath that though... It's telling that at the end of the Thriller Bark arc, he's surprised he was happy to be alive.
  • Super Drowning Skills: As with all Devil Fruit users, he sinks like a stone in water. Though one would assume, since he has no organs, that this wouldn't be as inconvenient for him, his body still seems to act as if it has the organs even if they don't physically exist. Like Chopper, he also forgets he can't swim, but he can at least run on the surface of the water.
  • Super-Speed: Certainly one of the quickest Straw Hats.
  • Surreal Humor: Loves making "skull jokes" about the fact that as a skeleton, he no longer has skin, blood or stuff like that.
  • Sword Cane: His primary weapon. During the timeskip, the longarms sharpened the blade and it was given the name "Soul Solid."
  • Thanatos Gambit: Having already died once (and not by choice), he heavily disapproves of these on general principle.
    Brook: Young Lady... what kind of fool... would ever plan to die?!
  • This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: The power of his Devil Fruit really shines during the Totto Land arc due to many of the enemies being animated by errant souls, courtesy of Big Mom's power, which he can exorcise with little effort. He even gets to fight Big Mom directly because of this, and though he can't exorcise Prometheus, Zeus and Napoleon (they're extensions of Big Mom's own soul), he can still harm them.
  • Unable to Cry: Subverted. He claims that he's so happy to meet the Straw Hats after decades of solitude that he would cry if he could. At the end of the Thriller Bark arc, he sheds Tears of Joy after Luffy informs him that Laboon is alive and well.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
    • Played with; the Grand Line is full of people with odd powers and Devil Fruit abilities, so Brook being a nine foot tall living skeleton might not raise too many eyebrows, but at the same time, even Franky warns him that he might stand out too much... yet no one ever comments on his appearance. The most he ever gets is someone thinking that he's wearing a mask.
    • While it was kind of weird before the time-skip, it's justified after, since he became a famous musician.
  • Visual Pun: Brook sees the world through rose-tinted glasses.
  • Vocal Dissonance: He's a living skeleton with creepy (and downright horrific) abilities. Yet his voice is amazingly soft, calm and musical. In fact, most of the time he sounds as if he's about to burst into good, healthy laughter at any moment, as indeed he often does.
  • Walk on Water: Due to his light frame, he can dash across the ocean's surface for a short time and avoid the main Devil Fruit weakness. How long is only limited by endurance.
  • Warrior Undead: Brook is a skeletal pirate with a cane sword and a massive afro. He later gains the ability to use ice by channeling his Ghostly Chill. He's also a Skeletal Musician.
  • Wowing Cthulhu: Big Mom becomes practically smitten with him after he actually manages to put up a fight against her personal homies.
  • You Are Already Dead:
    • His signature attack, Hanauta Sancho: Yahazu Giri (Three Verse Humming; Arrow Notch Slash), involves slicing his opponent once at incomprehensible speeds (literally, the audience never even sees Brook do so much as Flash Step during this attack), and then slowly walks away. After three steps, Brook sheathes his sword... followed by a massive slash bursting from his opponent. He has many variations on it, as well.
    • After the time skip, Brook has added new Diagonal Cuts to his arsenal. Quinto Tierce Fantasia which he uses on victims hypnotized by his Magic Music and Song of Scratches: Blizzard Slice.
  • You Shall Not Pass!: He tries to stop a Pacifista with his own body to protect Sanji and Usopp at Sabaody Archipelago, but it doesn't go very well.
  • Your Size May Vary: Brook is ridiculously tall, but sometimes sloppy animators forget this fact while others exaggerate it. In other words, his height (and the size of his afro) depends on the art director of an episode. Officially, he's 8'9 before the timeskip and 9'1 afterwards.
  • Your Soul Is Mine!: His "Soul King" moniker is no empty boast; he really can manipulate souls, up to ripping unnatural souls off the physical shell.

    "First Son of the Sea" Jimbei 

"First Son of the Sea" Jimbei

Voiced by: Daisuke Gōri [2009], Katsuhisa Houki [2010-present] (Japanese), Daniel Baugh (English)note 

Age: 44 (Pre-Timeskip), 46 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 528 (Manga), Episode 430 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jimbei_anime_0.png

"It's not my flesh that hurts! It's my heart, Ace... because I'm not able to do what's right!"
Chapter 528

The last of the Seven Warlords to be formally introduced, and the 10th member and helmsman of the Straw Hat Pirates. Jimbei is a whale-shark Fish-man and the former captain of the Pirates of the Sun after the death of Fisher Tiger. His becoming a Warlord eight years before the events of the main story saw the crew split up, with one faction headed by Arlong. Unlike Arlong, Jimbei's time with the Sun Pirates changed him for the better, as his dream is to have peace between humans and fishmen. He is also the series' most skilled practitioner of Fish-man Karate.

He's first seen locked away in Impel Down due to his protesting the execution of Ace. Jimbei feels indebted to Whitebeard and his crew, thanks to Whitebeard's putting Fish-Man Island under his protection from marauding slavers, and has a friendship with Ace, despite fighting with him in the past. Luffy ends up setting him free, and the two work closely together to rescue Ace.

Two years later, Luffy and Jimbei meet again on Fish-Man Island. Having gotten close to him during the ordeal there, and as well as their previous encounter in the Paramount War, Luffy asked him to join his crew. However, Jimbei turned him down for the time being, stating that he had some unfinished business to attend to. That business was severing his ties with the Big Mom Pirates, which he does eventually do, and later meets up with Luffy and company in the midst of doing so, helping to arrange the necessary players to crash Charlotte Linlin's tea party so they could rescue Sanji from harm. He left his captaincy of the Sun Pirates to Aladdin and Praline, with the intention of fully joining up with Luffy at the end of this situation. He does indeed join the crew as their official Helmsman, but as Big Mom and her crew bear down on them, he stays behind to help Aladdin and the Sun Pirates escape, with Luffy giving him captain's orders to survive and rendezvous with them in Wano Country. He eventually survives the encounter with Big Mom, and is able to come to his captain's aid in Wano. He is thus the first and so far only person to officially join the crew as one of its core members (Grand Fleet notwithstanding) after the time-skip.

He has a bounty of 1,100,000,000 berries.note 


  • Acrofatic: Jimbei is a big, but nimble Fish-man, able to keep up with speedsters like Luffy and is an excellent martial artist.
  • Actually Pretty Funny: Jimbei seems amused that S-Snake inherited Hancock's crush on Luffy.
  • Animal Motifs: The shark, being a whale shark Fish-man.
  • The Atoner: For inadvertently allowing Arlong to rampage in the East Blue, Jimbei decides to make amends. Nami even notes how much it was eating him up inside.
  • Badass Driver: He's a phenomenal helmsman, able to steer an entire ship through the green room of a massive wave and make it look easy.
  • Bait-and-Switch: Considering that he was Arlong's former captain and the one who let him run wild in the East Blue, it seemed like Oda was setting Jimbei up to be a major villain. Who would've thought that he would not only be one of the Straw Hats' biggest allies, but also become the 10th member of the crew?
  • Baritone of Strength: Initially with Daisuke Gōri, who had a natural tough sounding voice. After Gōri's death, Katsuhisa Houki (who originally voiced the higher pitched fellow Warlord, Gecko Moria) manages to pull it off well. Also very present in the English dub.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: For all his kindness and gentleness, you do not want to piss him off. Jimbei flat-out admits that if he had any idea what Arlong had been up to in the East Blue, he would've killed his "brother" and quite possibly the other Fish-Man's entire crew.
  • Big Damn Heroes: He has a growing habit of these moments.
    • He appears just in time to free Luffy and Nami, right before Nami is about to be tortured by Charlotte Opera.
    • Jimbei does it again during the Wano arc, where he saves the samurai fleet (Including Straw Hat crew, Kid Pirates and Hearts Pirates) from being sunk by the Animal Kingdom Pirates' long distance cannonballs, by sinking their ship with a well placed water attack.
  • Blow You Away: His Arabesque Brick Fist technique (Karakusagawara Seiken) creates a shockwave that blows away enemies.
  • Blue Is Heroic: Jimbei is a blue whale-shark Fish-man known for his bravery, nobility, and kindness.
  • Breakout Character: Ever since his debut during the Impel Down arc, he became very popular with the fanbase, despite not being a Straw Hat. And then during the end of the Whole Cake Island arc, he officially becomes a member of the Straw Hat crew, 9 years after his debut (and 20 years after his first mention).
  • The Bus Came Back: Jimbei returns just in time during the Wano arc to take part in the battle against Kaido and Big Mom. Jimbei's appearance is Big Damn Heroes moment as he sinks a warship singlehandedly and giving a badass introduction.
  • Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": He looks less like a whale shark and more like a guardian lion with gill slits and blue skin.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: He's mentioned by Johnny and Yosaku at the end of the Baratie Arc, as the one who, supposedly, sent Arlong in the East Blue, but makes his proper debut in the Impel Down Arc, hundreds of chapters later, where he allies himself with Luffy for the escape and during the Paramount War. Later, he becomes one of the Straw Hat Pirates.
  • Close to Home: Jimbei doesn't like when someone talks down about the slavery of Fishmen and assumes all were slaves at one point. Who's-Who touches a major nerve when he insinuates that Jimbei should know about a legend within the species by assuming he was a slave at one point. Jimbei responds by cranking up the durability of his Armament Haki, breaking Who's-Who's fingers when he tries to pierce him with Finger Pistol attacks. Followed by crushing his wrists and finishing it with a Fishman Karate punch that not only hits Who's-Who but demolishes the area behind him.
  • Commuting on a Bus: Over the story, Jimbei appears and leaves temporarily multiple times:
    • The first time happens during the Time Skip, as he leaves Luffy with Rayleigh and Hancock to allow him to train after helping the boy work through his grief over losing Ace.
    • The second time is when he meets the crew again on Fishman Island - though he's invited to join after dealing with Hody Jones, he temporarily defers joining and departs to handle his business with Big Mom but with a promise to see them again.
    • The third time is in the climax of Whole Cake Island, where, although he officially joins the crew for real here, he stays behind in the end to help Aladine and the rest of his former crew escape the wrath of Big Mom and her children.
    • It's finally averted in Wano, when he returns properly before the climax of the arc and properly stays with them for good.
  • Cool Old Guy: He's like a third dad to Luffy.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Although he resembles an oni (traditional Japanese ogre) with a whale shark motif, he's far from a bad guy.
  • Declaration of Protection: Ace's last request to Jimbei is to protect Luffy in his place. Jimbei stands up to Akainu all for Luffy's sake, and even tanks a lethal blow to protect the boy.
    "Strike me as many times as you like. I will shield him as long as I live."
  • Delayed Causality: His Arabesque Brick Fist technique (Karakusagawara Seiken). After throwing the punch the shock wave takes a couple of seconds to take effect. In the anime, this is stretched out, and has the shock wave build up to its full effect.
  • Deus Exit Machina: As a former Warlord of the Sea, Jimbei would have tipped the scales of power for the Straw Hats too far if he had joined up earlier in the series. Therefore, despite the fact that Luffy asks him to join the crew at the end of the Fish-Man Island arc, Jimbei turns him down until he can settle things with Big Mom. It's pretty telling that Jimbei doesn't officially join the crew until the Straw Hats begin actively fighting against the Four Emperors and their crews.
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Jimbei is one of the few people to stare down Big Mom and tell to her face he's not afraid of her. His courage is proven when Big Mom fails to steal his lifespan.
  • The Dreaded: While the public fears him as a (former) Warlord of the Sea, he's also a feared name among the Arlong Pirates, who were all former crewmates of his in the Sun Pirates under Fisher Tiger. One of the reasons why Arlong and his crew set up shop in the East Blue is to avoid Jimbei's wrath, and they support that by trying to keep as low a profile as possible. This includes bribing the Marines in the immediate area to ignore their activities and making no major moves for eight years after conquering Coco and its surrounding villages and enslaving the populace. Their fear is well-justified; Jimbei himself says that if he had known what they were doing, he would've killed all of them without a second thought.
  • Easily Forgiven: Nami forgives him for indirectly causing Arlong to make her childhood a misery. This is justified in that Jimbei had no intention in letting it happen or even any idea that it would, and Nami had already forgiven Hatchan, another member of Arlong's own crew who did have a more direct hand in the matter, though in his case far less easily than Jimbei.
  • Escort Mission: He finds himself on one in Caribou's cover story, in that he finds him in the process of trying to kidnap mermaids again, beats the tar out of him, and then promptly takes him to G-5.
  • Face of a Thug: Jimbei has a dour-looking face and an imposing figure (being roughly ten feet tall), but is nothing but a good man and a very positive paternal influence to Luffy and the other, younger Straw Hats (particularly Nami, who he feels responsible for due to accidentally setting Arlong loose on her hometown).
  • Famed In-Story: As a (former) Warlord of the Sea and a well-known ally of Whitebeard, Jimbei is easily the Straw Hat with the most pre-crew fame. When his decision to join Luffy as an official member of his crew becomes publicly known, it causes major waves across the world and heavily boosts Luffy's already notorious reputation, playing a part in his promotion to being "The Fifth Emperor".
  • Fangs Are Evil: Subverted. He has a mouth full of fangs (though real whale sharks have small teeth), and his lower canines even stick out prominently from his closed mouth, but they're round instead of sharp, indicating he's not a bad person like the rumors say.
  • A Father to His Men: His compassion for his crew outstrips that of Arlong. His decision to accept the government's offer to become a Warlord was at least partially motivated by a desire to allow members of his crew to return home to their families without fear of punishment by the law. And he primarily backed down from Big Mom's roulette not because of the threat it presented to his own life, but because a number of his crew would've been killed alongside him.
  • Gentle Giant: He's 9'8'' and a Nice Guy all around. The trope goes along with his basis; whale sharks are the largest fish, but are quite docile.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: To Luffy, to make him realise that even if he has lost his brother, he still has to get his crew back together.
  • Good Is Not Dumb: His gentleness makes people underestimate his intelligence. He was smart enough to back off from his request to leave Big Mom's crew, as she only would have willingly let that happen if he had spun her roulette, which would have very likely killed him and his crew. He instead frees Luffy and Nami when they are captured and decides to openly rebel against Big Mom.
  • Good Is Not Soft: He was actually much more ruthless back in his youth, to the point that it even gave Arlong pause at times for some of his acts of brutality. While he gradually softened up during his time as part of Fisher Tiger's crew, when he became a Warlord after Fisher Tiger's death and arranged Arlong's freedom, the latter made it clear that he'd continue his ways unless Jimbei killed him right then and there. Jimbei beat him to a pulp and didn't kill him only because Hatchan pleaded for him to stop.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has lightning-shaped scar over his right eye and he's quite noble.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: As he explains to Luffy during their skirmish in the Fish-Man Island arc, the principle of Fish-man Karate is that the user can manipulate water for their attacks, even if that water is in the atmosphere or in a person's body. Which means his very punch can create shockwaves potent enough to hurt Luffy, whose rubber body normally makes him immune to blunt attacks.
  • Heroic BSoD: He goes into a brief one when Sanji reminds him about what Arlong did to Nami.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Jimbei himself claims that he's not very impressive on dry land, which is technically true compared to his capabilities in the water, but it is a bit misleading, seeing as he can still outfight his fellow Warlords on land.
  • Honor Before Reason: Zigzagged with his departure from Big Mom's crew. At first Jimbei insists on approaching the infamously temperamental Big Mom and formally withdraw from her crew face to face. When it becomes clear this departure would cost him years of his life and an unknown number of his own crew's lives, he relents and chooses to instead quietly start a rebellion against her by joining forces with Luffy and Bege. But when this rebellion leads to him coming face to face with Big Mom again, Jimbei does formally quit her crew, complete with returning his ceremonial sake cup in the middle of a battle.
  • Inconsistent Spelling: Due to different ways you can romanize Japanese, his name can be written as either Jinbe (used in the French official translation), Jinbei, or Jimbei. The One Piece Databook Green decided to go with "Jinbe", while Viz and Funimation use "Jimbei", which is the spelling used on this very wiki.
  • Ki Manipulation: He demonstrates Armament Haki during the Whole Cake Island arc, and according to Vivre Card — One Piece Visual Dictionary (card #0010), he's got Observation Haki as well.
  • Large and in Charge: He's a whale-shark Fish-man, so naturally he looms over most normal characters. And on top of being a former Warlord, he was also the captain of what remained of the Sun Pirates after Captain Tiger's death
  • Lightning Bruiser: Obviously he becomes very strong and fast underwater due to being a Fishman, but this applies even in land battles. He's able to blitz Gecko Moria with a powerful gut punch, the latter lampshading how Jimbei's is "fast for a big fellow". He is also able to keep up with Luffy in their brief skirmish, although to be fair, neither opponent really wanted to seriously injure the other.
  • A Lizard Named "Liz": He is a whale-shark fishman named after the Japanese word for his species, jimbei-zame.
  • Lost in Translation: His title is a pun on a Yakuza title and the word for a channel. This doesn't carry into English, leading to the "First Son of the Sea" approximation.
  • Made of Iron: Jimbei is very though and survives Akainu's lava fist through the chest, the same attack that previously killed Ace.
  • Making a Splash: When he gets into the water, he uses his karate moves to throw around torrents of water as if they were silk.
  • Manly Tears: Although Jimbei is a strong and imposing fish-man, he still cries when his captain Fisher Tiger dies, when Ace dies, and when Nami forgives him for Arlong's deeds. All these moments don't detract from his badassery.
  • Master Actor: He pulls a very convincing act when infiltrated into Kaido's crew by laughing at a crucified Momonosuke.
  • Mr. Exposition: He's a very knowledgeable man and he often explains pivotal background information on things to Luffy.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: He let his hatred for humans get the best of him and wound up indirectly responsible for Arlong committing his atrocities, which includes causing Nami's tragic past. He feels quite ashamed of this.
  • My Greatest Failure: This is how he feels about how his becoming a Warlord allowed Arlong to run free in the East Blue. When he meets Nami, the biggest victim of Arlong's rampage, he doesn't hesitate to beg for her forgiveness and asks her not to place the blame of Arlong's actions on the entire Fish-men race.
  • Nerves of Steel: Not only is he completely and utterly unafraid when facing down Big Mom (which saves him from her Touch of Death powers), but he even takes a moment to lay down a cup of sake and formally leave her crew with a sincere thank-you. She's so dumbfounded that it actually takes her a brief moment before she tries to kill him again.
  • Never Gets Drunk: Never demonstrated, but Oda states that he has the highest alcohol tolerance among the Straw Hats, above Zoro and Nami, who certainly can hold huge amounts of alcohol.
  • Nice Guy: Despite his somewhat intimidating appearance, he's the nicest pirate warlord there is, and fits right into the Straw Hats.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • His actions in sparing Arlong during the breakup of the Sun Pirates ensured that Arlong would enslave Nami's village and make her life a misery.
    • At one point during the breakout at Impel Down, he's fighting to take over a Marine battleship alongside Crocodile and Mr 1. He tries to support them with his Fish-man Karate, only to wreck the ship instead.
  • Normally, I Would Be Dead Now: As mentioned, he takes a magma fist through the chest yet turns out just fine after resting up a bit.
  • No-Sell:
    • He shrugs off Big Mom's attempt to steal his lifespan, since her powers require fear to work. And Jimbei will bow down to no less than the King of the Pirates.
    • During their fight, Who's-Who tries to hit Jimbei with a barrage of Fang Pistol and Finger Pistol, but Jimbe covers himself with an Armament Haki strong enough that he doesn't even flinch under his attacks.
  • Not Afraid to Die: Jimbei is a man of conviction and does whatever he thinks is right. After breaking out of Impel Down, Jimbei was willing to lay down his life for Whitebeard for protecting Fish-Man Island. When Big Mom demands his lifespan for leaving her crew, her powers fail to work, as Jimbei doesn't fear her.
  • Not So Stoic:
    • While usually one of the most focused characters in the series, he can occasionally lose his cool, as shown in how he dealt with Ace's death. On a lighter note, see the Oh, Crap! entry below.
    • In Chapter 650, after telling the Straw Hats some vital information, he gets a face fault at Luffy being more concerned about food. When he berates Luffy for not taking the news seriously and Luffy cheerfully replies that he likes to leave things to chance, Jimbei bemoans to the others how hard it must be to have Luffy as a captain.
      Luffy: Chill out Jimbei! I like taking my chances when it counts!
      Jimbei: (To the other assembled Straw Hats) Oh, you poor souls.
      Sanji, Nami, Usopp & Chopper: Yeah, we know.
    • Chapter 899, right after Luffy misinterprets every last insult Judge sent at Sanji as compliments and wondering why he'd do that, Jimbei actually bursts out laughing, knowing he's gonna have a good time aboard from that moment on.
    • Chapter 1060, after a moment of shock, he bursts into loud, amused and fond laughter (with tears of laughter in his eyes) when Luffy reveals what his true dream is. He both looks and sounds utterly gleeful when affirming he joined the right crew.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • His Wild Take after the timeskip when he sees Shirahoshi and a wounded Hachi with Luffy.
    • A more serious example is shown in the anime, when Sanji reveals to him how badly Nami had suffered under Arlong's tyranny.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: At first, he seems to feel this way with regards to Hody Jones, as he feels if a human (Luffy) were to defeat him, the Cycle of Revenge would create some new tyrant like Jones was when Arlong was defeated. It turns out that he's merely opposed to Luffy beating up Hody without the support of the citizens of Fish-Man Island. If Luffy can come out of the ordeal looking like a hero to Fish-men and merfolk, and not like a domineering human (the kind with which the island has plenty of experience), then Jimbei has no problems whatsoever.
  • Only Sane Man: After Fisher Tiger's death, he and Hatchan become the only voice of reason left for the Sun Pirates as everyone else has become fixated with waging war against humans for their crimes against Fishmen.
  • Pacifism Backfire: In sparing Arlong during the confrontation that led to Fisher Tiger's crew splitting up, Jimbei was indirectly responsible for, among other things, Arlong enslaving Nami's hometown and making her childhood a living hell. He does not take this discovery well at all.
  • Perpetual Frowner: He's usually seen with a frown on his face. Later downplayed, as he smiles a lot more often after he officially joins the Straw Hats in Wano.
  • Prongs of Poseidon: He wielded a trident during his days in the Neptune Army.
  • Protectorate: This is Played With during the events of Impel Down and Marineford in regards to his protection of Luffy. Before being send for his execution Ace asks Jimebi to look out for Luffy. However Jimbei gently refuses, telling Ace that while he owes Whitebeard a great debt and considers Ace to be his friend, that doesn't necessarily mean he is going to put his life on the line for someone he doesn't know or respect. Nevertheless Jimbei staunchly protects Luffy with his life during the Paramount War, internally noting that his thoughts on the matter haven't changed since then, the difference is that he's come to respect Luffy and now wants to protect him.
  • Put on a Bus: While, as of the conclusion of Whole Cake Island, he is officially a Straw Hat Pirate, he stays behind to help his former crew escape. Luffy orders him to survive and rendezvous with them on Wano. He keeps his promise, arriving just before the Alliance arrives at Onigashima, ready to fight side-by-side with his captain.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni:
    • He's the Blue, Ace the Red.
    • He's also the Blue in relation to Arlong's Red. Jimbei decides to take a reasonable approach to help the Fish-men/Merfolk relations to accept the World Government's request to be a Warlord, while Arlong chose to make himself "the wrath of the Fish-men" to humanity. Interestingly, they were both pretty firm Reds in the Sun Pirates, with Arlong being the calmer one.
  • The Reliable One: Jimbei is a stolid and straightforward man who can be counted on to do more than his part whenever he's around. Sengoku says that Jimbei's refusal to fight in the Paramount War is surprising, as he is usually so dependable when it comes to fighting pirates. One of his best attributes is his ability to keep every aspect of a situation in mind so he keeps ahead of his enemies. He's the member of the Impel Down escape crew to keep in mind that they will need a ship to leave the prison and goes to get it. Baron Tamago says that Jimbei timing the Fish-Man Pirates' departure from Totto land to coincide with the chaos of the Tea Party assassination attempt is the kind of meticulous planning they can expect from Jimbei.
  • Sand In My Eyes: In the anime, he denies shedding Tears of Remorse after Nami forgives him for indirectly letting Arlong into her life when Luffy (who slept through the explanation) asks why he's crying.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Really, this is what Jimbei is all about:
    • In full defiance to Fish-Man Island's laws, Jimbei donates blood to Luffy. He lampshades it himself while stepping forward, reasoning that since he is a pirate, he really shouldn't be expected to follow the rules anyway.
    • He refused to answer the World Government's call to fight Whitebeard because his homeland owed a debt to Whitebeard, which leads to him being arrested and sent to Impel Down. But by doing so, he befriends Luffy and defects to help Luffy and Whitebeard in rescuing Ace from his execution.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When he tries to leave Big Mom's crew, she tells him that he has to stay or spin her wheel and pay a price. Jimbei originally is perfectly willing to spin it as he realizes that the price is likely to be his life regardless of where the pointer lands. However, when he knew that the wheel also dictate certain number of his men that also going to be sacrificed, he decides to Take a Third Option and back out of leaving long enough to just up and run later. Pedro later commends him for doing so.
  • Shark Man: Specifically whale shark.
  • Sinister Shades: When playing the part of an Animal Kingdom pirate, Jimbei wears a pair or round dark-shaded glasses to be more into the role.
  • Sixth Ranger: He formally joins the Straw Hat Pirates in the Wano Arc as their Helmsman, much later than the previous official Straw Hat, Brook. For this reason, he's initially unaware of the full dynamics of the crew and a bit of a fish out of water.
  • Skewed Priorities: Downplayed. When discussing a plan with the Straw Hats on how to face Hody Jones, he stops to ask them what they should name their plan before they actually carry it out.
  • Slave to PR: Downplayed, but Jimbei is very aware of how public image is important in dealing with the Fantastic Racism from humans towards Fish-men and vice versa. One of his reasons for joining the Seven Warlords was it would be a good gesture of inter-species cooperation. When confronting Hody, he makes a point of arranging the Straw Hats' counter attack in a way that wouldn't look like humans oppressing Fish-men yet again.
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: He can communicate with whale sharks, a trait that's unusual for Fish-men to possess.
  • Staring Down Cthulhu: When Jimbei openly declares that he intends to leave Big Mom to join the Straw Hats, Big Mom demands a price and Jimbei offers his lifespan. However, while most people cower in fear of death, her powers don't work on Jimbei, because he is not one bit afraid of Big Mom.
  • Stout Strength: He's real stocky, but he's also very strong even by the impressive standards of his race, and as a Fish-man karate master, he can use his punches and kicks to propel jets of water fast and hard enough to destroy warships in a single blow.
  • Strong and Skilled: All Fish-men have innate Super-Strength by human standards, and Jimbei is strong even for a Fish-man. He's also a master of Fish-man Karate, an undersea variant of the martial art that uses the force of its blows to create devastating shockwaves in the surrounding water. Even on dry land, Jimbei's mastry of Fish-Man Martial Arts is potent enough that he can use his techniques to manupulate the water molecules in the air to generate devestating shockwaves with his techniques.
  • Take a Third Option: Big Mom gives him a choice: Stay with her crew or spin her wheel and pay a price, and then he can leave. Jimbei ultimately does neither. He refuses to spin the wheel, as he knows the price would certainly cost his and his men's life, no matter where the pointer lands. He then decides to just openly rebel against her.
  • Take This Job and Shove It: In the Paramount War, Jimbei leaves the Warlords for good so he can support Luffy and Whitebeard's efforts to rescue Ace.
  • Takes Ten to Hold: During the Battle of Marineford, the Marines tries keeping Jimbei down with chains without success.
  • Taking the Bullet: During the eleventh hour of the Paramount War, Jimbei vows to protect Luffy from Akainu's wrath and, when the insane admiral tries to kill Luffy with a magma punch, Jimbei uses his own body as a shield to save Luffy from the brunt of the attack.
  • Team Dad: After he officially joins the Straw Hats in Wano, Oda gave him this title in the crews family dynamics. In terms of temperament he serves as a reliable rock for the Straw Hats even before he officially joined the crew, and Luffy in particular wouldn't have survived Marineford or its aftermath without his strength and guidance.
  • Tempting Fate: His most common Running Gag is that he's immune to this trope. He'll do or say things that should result in his immediate injury or death by all narrative logic, and come out without a scratch.
  • Third Time's The Charm: Luffy first asks Jimbei to join at the end of the Fish-Man Island arc, to which the latter declines due to having to deal with Big Mom first, since she is in charge of protecting Fish-Man Island in exchange of sweets and Jimbei has sworn loyalty to her. Jimbei returns during Whole Cake Island, resolves the Big Mom situation and declare his loyalty to Luffy only to remain behind to protect his former crew, the Sun Pirates. When he returns for the third time in Wano, Jimbei has finally officially joined the crew as the helmsman.
  • Threatening Shark: Subverted. He's the only shark Fish-man thus far that hasn't been a villain. He used to be hardcore to the point that even Arlong used to think he was too brutal, but has considerably softened up, thanks to Koala's innocence and Fisher Tiger's death and final words. Still a threat to his enemies, though. This is downplayed since the whale shark, Jimbei's fish-type, is pretty innocuous and eats krills.
  • Token Good Teammate: Among the Warlords, Jimbei is the only one that isn't cruel, out of his mind, a prick, or not caring about anyone. The reason he joined the Warlords in the first place was to prevent the World Government from interfering with Fish-Man Island.
  • Token Non-Human: He’s the only one of the original Seven Warlords to be explicitly non-human and, upon, joining the crew, becomes its only fish-men, even when counting the Grand Fleet.
  • Took a Level in Idealism: He grew up in a disenfranchised neighborhood embroiled by violence and saw many of his fellow fishmen enslaved by human nobles. He served the Ryugu kingdom and Sun Pirates already disillusioned with human-fishman relationships. But thanks to the teachings of both Tiger and Otohime, he realized what he truly desired was peace, and so shifted his goals to achieving peace between the races.
  • The Unfettered: Jimbei is an honorable guy, but he proves he's a true pirate in that he's willing to do the dirty business if he has to. Case in point; knowing that he and the Straw Hats need firepower, he's willing to disregard Pekoms' wishes and fight Big Mom alongside a scoundrel like Capone Bege if it means that the Straw Hats get to accomplish their goals.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He becomes a Warlord and spares Arlong during the confrontation leading to the dissolution of Tiger's crew. This causes Arlong and his crew to go rogue in the East Blue, leading to Belle-Mère's death and the enslavement of Coco Village.
  • Visual Pun: The type of traditional Japanese tunic he wears is called a jimbei. In Japanese, whale sharks are called jimbei-zame (jinbei-shark) because the patterns on their bodies resemble those weaved into jimbei.
  • Warrior Therapist: His consoling of Luffy after Ace's death shows that Jimbei has a deep understanding of pain and coping with trauma, no doubt having lots of it of his own from his own experiences. His words help Luffy realize that he still has a future and people who love him, even when lost in deep grief.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: He was one when he was a member of the Sun Pirates, championing Fish-man/merfolk rights, and he in particular was especially brutal during their battles with the Marines to the point where even Arlong thought he was too rough.
  • We Will Meet Again: Heroic version done thrice. First was when Jimbei said he'd see Luffy on Fish-Man Island. Second, when he said he'll be back to join the Straw Hats. Third, when he promises to reunite with the rest of the Straw Hats in Wano.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: He considers himself useless on land. This is not really true despite him being a One Piece version of Aquaman –- even without water to throw, he is still a huge Fish-man karate master capable of taking on top tier pirates and Marines.
  • Worthy Opponent: He considered Ace one, as they fought for five days straight to a standstill.
  • Would Hit a Girl: To send Linlin away from the Thousand Sunny, Jimbei hits her with a full-force karate fish-man hit, without holding back. Justified since a little less effort and the hit would do nothing to Big Mom.
  • Yakuza: It's in his full title, a translation of which could be "Jimbei, Yakuza of the Sea". Despite this, he's a benevolent person.
  • You Shall Not Pass!: In the anime, he tries this on Mihawk, who is in the process of curb-stomping Luffy. Keyword being "tries".

Ships

    Going Merry 

Going Merry

Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima (Japanese), Brittney Karbowski (English)

Debut: Chapter 41 (Manga), Episode 17 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/going_merry_anime_4.png

"Let's go everyone...! Back to the sea of adventure again! I came to take you home!"

The Straw Hat Crew's first ship, a caravel-class ship designed by Merry in the East Blue, which later becomes a gift that Kaya gives to the Straw Hats as a reward for taking out Captain Kuro and his Black Cat Pirates. Over time, the crew come to love the ship as a home and as a friend, so much so that it literally takes on a life of its own and becomes just as much a part of the crew as any of them.


  • Animal Motifs: Sheep. Sheep are symbols of purity and loyalty, traits that Merry certainly has as a member of the Straw Hat pirates. Because she has ram horns, rams can apply as well, as they symbolize fearlessness — when it comes to helping her friends, Merry can be quite the Determinator.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: Merry's Klabautermann, a ghostly manifestation of a ship's spirit that is born out of its crew's love for it. Unfortunately, a Klabautermann being seen by its crew is a sign that their ship will soon meet its doom; Merry's gets seen in the middle of the Skypiea Arc, and true to form, she is immobilized due to accumulated, terminal damage to her keel once the Straw Hats reached Water 7 at the beginning of the Enies Lobby Arc, and by the end of the arc she is finally laid to rest.
    • The special for her reveals she lives on in the form of the Klabautermann, quietly and cheerfully watching over her crew on the Thousand Sunny.
  • Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: She was reconfigured to look like a chicken after being made able to fly. Unfortunately, the wings broke almost immediately and the rest of the modifications apart from the braces used to repair where Bellamy trashed her were removed by the Klabautermann, who decided to return to her old look.
  • Big Damn Heroes: She comes all the way from Water 7 to aid the Straw Hats and co. in Enies Lobby, her timely surprise appearance allowing them to escape certain doom at the hands of the Buster Call fleet that had finally cornered them.
  • Cool Boat: Merry might not be as visually impressive as some of the other ships in the series, but she definitely fits. How many sentient pirate ships can you name?
  • Covered in Scars: It accumulates a huge amount of damage:
    • Railing sliced apart by Johnny upon attacking the ship after thinking they were trying to kill him and Yosaku, who later made amends by repairing it himself.
    • Figurehead broken upon crashing into Laboon, then put back on with tin plates.
    • An explosion in the kitchen from Apis's horrible cuisine (non-canon).
    • Luffy breaks off the mast and uses it as a weapon against Laboon, again put back together with tin.
    • Wapol eating one of the sides of the ship, which was crudely repaired with wood.
    • Pierced through by Hina's attack ships, which drive giant stakes into the ship designed to sink vessels, resulting in a bunch of new tin plates to mend the damage.
    • The rudder lever once broke from the force of the water current and trying to steer it.
    • Floorboards totaled more times than one can count.
    • Leaks aplenty more times than one can count.
    • The ship being torn apart by the force of the explosion that launched it out of Ape's Concert (non-canon; used to illustrate the damage the anime failed to acknowledge, which had slowly accumulated in the manga)
    • Bow cracked open by Bellamy when he cruelly used the ship as a springboard, technically attacking a member of the crew along with the Saruyama Alliance and getting Luffy riled up to the point of facing him personally. It also rendered the ship inoperable for awhile. The alliance repaired the damage by partially rebuilding the site of the breakage with metal plates while reconfiguring the ship for flight. They also took off the patches where Wapol ate part of the ship and faithfully reconstructed it for real.
    • The newly-added chicken wings breaking off upon a harsh landing in the skies.
    • Shura burning the ship with his Heat Lance, causing severe damage to it. Repaired by the Klabautermann with tons of patch-ups here and there and had its configurations for flight taken off, but it was now nearing the end of its life.
    • The landing it made from a 30,000 foot drop, implied to have busted its keel and sealed its fate.
    • Crashing into the train tracks of the Sea Train (if the former incident did not ruin the keel, this certainly did, as the place where the keel damage occurred is on the front of the ship where it ran aground on the tracks; if the damage was already there, this only served to make it worse).
    • Franky tearing off part of the ship in an attempt to dismantle it and force Usopp to acknowledge it was beyond recovery and they'd be better off trying to salvage what they could. Usopp immediately lunged at Franky and attacked him before he could do any further harm.
    • Finally breaking in half from the strain of enduring Aqua Laguna and travelling all the way out to Enies Lobby in what would be its final voyage. It was then incinerated in a Viking funeral.
  • A Day In The Lime Light: Merry gets her own TV Special, the Episode of Merry: The Tale of One More Friend.
  • Determinator: Water 7's dreaded Aqua Laguna and a violent rainstorm didn't stop her from coming to her crew's rescue in Enies Lobby despite her physical form being barely held together by Iceburg's temporary fixes. The Buster Call fleet comprised of the Marines' most immense and armed-to-the-teeth battleships didn't even make her flinch (not that they managed to hit her in the first place). The only thing that did stop her was her keel (the ship equivalent of the human body's spine) finally giving in to all the damage it sustained over the past several arcs, causing the ship to essentially break in half. Even then, said damage didn't appear to have any effect on Merry until after the Straw Hats had another ship to carry them back to land, suggesting Merry was keeping herself seaworthy through nothing but sheer force of will.
  • Dub Name Change: In VIZ as well as in the edited dub, it's called "Merry Go", since the ship is commonly referred to as "Merry-gō" ("Unit Merry") in the Japanese version. The German localization completely changed the name to "Flying Lamb", and whenever the characters would call it "Merry", the German dub would refer to it as "Lämmchen".
  • Final Speech: She delivers one to the Straw Hats in order to assure them that she neither blames them for her death nor has any regrets, as she had been truly happy throughout the time she was with them.
  • Go Out with a Smile: Despite being technically a ship with a drawn smile, the happy way she talks to the Straw Hats during her Viking Funeral can make the scene be interpreted as a beloved crew member dying with no regrets, with a smile on her face.
  • I Regret Nothing: She truly doesn't regret sailing with the Straw Hats despite the tremendous crap she is subjected to as a by-product of their adventures, and tells them as much during her Viking Funeral. Her only regret, according to her, was not surviving long enough to carry her friends through more adventures.
  • Love Imbues Life: Franky explains that a ship's Klabautermann is manifested out of a crew's love for their ship, though if it's ever seen by its crew, it's a sign that the ship will soon meet its end.
  • Mortal Wound Reveal: An anthropomorphic variant. It suffered a breakage to its keel, the part of the ship that is literally its backbone. When that part breaks, the ship loses its structural integrity, and the only solution is to rebuild from the ground up. Usopp refuses to believe this until Franky physically throws him into the water, where Usopp is able to see that her hull is indeed in a grave state. Eventually, it becomes painfully obvious when the Merry breaks in half from the accumulated damage to its keel, leaving it genuinely irrecoverable and the Straw Hats only one choice-to put her out of her misery.
  • Oh, Crap!: Not even she was immune to this during the end of the Skypiea arc, when the Straw Hats returned to the Blue Sea... by being dropped 30,000 feet from the White Sea. Everyone's eyeballs popped out, including hers!
  • Out of Focus: In spite of her importance, she ultimately fades into the background as the majority of a given arc will generally take place on the particular island said arc is centered on where Merry can't follow for obvious reasons, particularly since the series tends to focus on intense personal battles between powerful individual people, rather than the ship-to-ship combat of actual real-life naval warfare.
  • Perpetual Smiler: Well, if she had a face, it would have been smiling. As it is, we have to settle for her figurehead's drawn smile.
  • Post-Victory Collapse: A variant. Her final and decisive breakdown occurs immediately after the Straw Hats meet the Galley-La ship on their way back from Enies Lobby. Or, put another way, she falls apart seconds after her crew finds an alternative means of transportation and she no longer needs to carry them to safety.
  • Replacement Goldfish: The Mini Merry II is her spiritual reincarnation. This was also Usopp's initial attitude to getting a new ship to replace the Merry, as he treated her as one of their friends, and took great offense to the idea of abandoning her, especially someone built by Kaya's servant.
  • Rewatch Bonus: Go back to the beginning of the series. As you progress, keep an eye on her expression. That's right; even in the the background of scenes, her expressions are often subtly different, and in line with what everyone else is feeling or thinking. Notably, she seems more strained and less cheerful as they approach the Sea Train, and by the time they anchor on Water 7, her usual smile is almost gone.
  • Rule of Symbolism: The damage done to her keel is drawn and shaded much like wounds would be on a person.
  • Sapient Ship: Implied at first, but then shown explicitly when she sails to Enies Lobby without a crew.
  • Sorry That I'm Dying: The first time she speaks to the crew as a whole during her funeral, it's to apologize that she wasn't able to carry them any further.
  • Tears from a Stone: Technically, it was a splash from a wave, but during the climax of the fight between Luffy and Usopp, some water falls from Merry's eye as a way to underline the tragedy the crew is facing.
  • Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Merry is the only crew-member that never complains or causes trouble and is self-sacrificing and conscientious to a fault, so of course she's the crew member who dies.
  • Undying Loyalty: The motivation for the feats described in her Big Damn Heroes and Determinator entries.
  • Viking Funeral: She is given this after she is finally broken irreparably following her Big Damn Heroes feat.
  • Wild Take: Yes, even a pirate ship in the One Piece world can do this. She was sentient enough to realize that the only way to leave Skypiea is going through a 30,000-foot drop, and have an appropriate reaction to this discovery.
  • Wound That Will Not Heal: Her cracked keel. The Galley-la shipwrights, the best in the One Piece world, tell the Straw Hats that it would be better to get a new ship. They could make a new keel for Merry, sure, but it wouldn't be the same, and nobody would feel that more than the Straw Hats. This eventually leads to Merry herself being rendered beyond repair and dying from her injuries.

    Thousand Sunny 

Thousand Sunny

Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima (Japanese, Film RED), Lisa Ortiz (English, Film RED)

The second ship of the Straw Hat crew, built after the Going Merry was destroyed. It is a brigantine-type ship designed and built by Franky with help from Yokozuna, Iceburg, and the remaining Galley-La foremen. Built from Adam Wood, it is a magnificent ship of the finest craftsmanship, at least double the size of the Going Merry. Its features include practically all of Straw Hats' various requests before arriving in Water 7.


  • Animal Motifs: The Sunny figurehead is the head of a lion. Lions have long been associated with courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness, and valour due to their historical reputation as the "king of beasts".
  • Blow You Away: The Coup de Burst and Gaon Cannon are powerful blasts of air (similar to Franky's Coup de Vent), allowing it fly into the air or fire a Wave-Motion Gun.
  • Cool Ship: The Thousand Sunny is one of the most advanced ships on the Grand Line— its features include multiple mini-vehicles, a Wave-Motion Gun, a rear-mounted thruster that can temporarily send the ship airborne, a propelling "lion's mane" that allows it to swim backwards, and a nearly impenetrable hull.
  • A Day in the Limelight: The first act of the Sabaody Archipelago arc, the Flying Fish Riders, gives more focus to the Sunny's abilities, since it deals most of the damage towards the enemy forces.
  • It Runs on Nonsensoleum: The Thousand Sunny is a ship that runs on Cola, similar to Franky.
  • King of Beasts: Iceburg tells Luffy Franky's message that if Luffy wants to become the King of Pirates, he should board the "King of Animals" ship. Franky is very insistent that the Thousand Sunny is based on a lion.
  • Rule of Symbolism: The Sunny symbolizes the Straw Hat crew's growth into a world-renowned band of pirates capable of making their captain King of the Pirates.
  • Superior Successor: The Sunny is an upgrade to the Merry in every conceivable way. It's tougher, faster, more versatile, and has way more firepower.
  • Super-Toughness: Its Adam Wood-forged hull can shrug off cannonballs, making it one of the toughest ships of the world. When Orochi's men seemingly blow it up, Franky comments that a single explosion isn't enough to even scratch it. Sure enough, it survives.
  • Wave-Motion Gun: The Sunny has the "Gaon Cannon" hidden in the mouth of the figurehead, which is a weapon capable of firing a very strong blast of air that resembles an energy beam. In fact, it's so strong that a Coup de Burst has to be fired at the same time to compensate for the weapon's recoil.

Straw Hat Grand Fleet

See its page.

Alternative Title(s): One Piece Straw Hat Pirates After East Blue, One Piece Straw Hat Pirates East Blue, One Piece Brook, One Piece Franky, One Piece Jimbei

Top