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The Four Emperors

The four most powerful pirates alive who rule the New World, the second half of the Grand Line.


    Shanks 

"Red-Haired" Shanks — Bounty: ฿4,048,900,000

Youngest of the Emperors and the one with the least apparent manpower, a former Roger Pirate and hard-drinking partygoer who lost his left arm many years ago to save Monkey D. Luffy's life and inspired him to sail the Grand Line as a pirate. None of the above has diminished how powerful he is.


  • The Anti-Nihilist: Shanks's inner musings have elements of this mindset following the end of the Marineford War. He considers the world to be "an incredible place: filled with horrors and tragedies of uncountable magnitude — and yet, dotted with honest miracles."
    • It should be noted that in the last part of Strong World, Shanks admits he actually agreed with most of Shiki's speech about how Might Makes Right, and that the weak have no choice but to follow the whims of the strong and exist at their mercy, something even Eustass Kidd was disgusted by. Shanks also told Luffy plenty of stories about Shiki in the past, and Luffy recognizes him from them as "the most evil, hateful, bastard of a tyrant he ever met."
  • Awesomeness by Analysis: By observing the telltale mouth position of a cigar smoker from his Transponder Snail and the mention of "an impressive Devil Fruit" and "wielding twin swords", he deduces the mystery guest to be Shiki, which immediately alarms him.
  • Berserk Button: Besides the obvious one of attacking Luffy, he also hates people wasting good booze. He got into a fist fight with Yasopp when the man's Spit Take sprayed alcohol over everyone.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: He may appear to be a hard-drinking partygoer, and he is. But never forget that he's one of the four most powerful pirates in the whole world and he's earned his title, intending to teach Shiki that the hard way if he beats the Straw Hats.
    Shanks: We'll see if the Golden Lion has bitten off more than he can chew by challenging the Straw Hat Pirates. And if he hasn't? (Delivers a burst of Conqueror's Haki) Then he'll wish that he had.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • He, Rayleigh, and Mihawk were potentially going to go to the East Blue to fight Shiki and his forces if the Straw Hats lost during Strong World.
    • He later shows up at Marineford and blasts the entire island with his Conqueror's Haki, stopping Blackbeard's massive attack and having his crew stop the attacks everyone else was going to use to counter him, ending the war without any further bloodshed.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Compared to the monstrous Kaido, the tyrannical Big Mom, and the venerable Whitebeard, Shanks is a drunkard who doesn't look like he should be standing on par with them and the World Government or even respected in the same breath, and yet he is. And he knows it, considering what he told Lucky Roo a few years back:
    'Every second someone like me is the worst nightmare of the World Government, the Elder Bastards die a little bit more inside'.
  • The Dreaded: Played for Laughs. Mihawk plans on avoiding him after Marineford due to stomping on two of his major Berserk Buttons during the battle: attacking Luffy and wasting good booze. He's left fuming when Shanks shows up at the battle anyway, with clear plans to ream his old rival a new one.
  • Friendly Rival: To Buggy. After Buggy stops playing the part of a weakling, the two happily agree to a scrap once they meet up again.
  • The Gadfly: The Christmas special has Shanks sending out drink bottles to a variety of people who are, at the very least, rivals if not outright enemies. Kaidou is getting sake, Big Mom is getting soda, Whitebeard is getting rum, Mihawk is getting wine, Garp is getting whiskey, and the Five Elder Stars... are getting nitroglycerin.
    Rayleigh: ...excuse me?
    Shanks: Well, it's not Christmas without a good gag-gift, is it?
    Rayleigh: *flat stare*
    Shanks: For the last time, Old Man, I'm 100% positive that I'm not a D!
    Rayleigh: Psh. Could have fooled me.
  • Give Me a Reason: Part of him wants Blackbeard to try attacking again so that he has an excuse to kill him, in Part 4 of Marineford Misery. Considering the last time they fought, he got the scars on his left eye, that says a lot.
    "That. Is. Enough," Shanks enunciated slowly, filling every word with his will. On some level, he wanted Blackbeard to try something, the Emperor wanted the debatably human scum before him to give him an excuse, but for now, he'd settle for making him put off whatever madness he had planned. "This war is over, Teach. And if you try to fight, then the only one who'll die is you, because nobody is going to join you."
  • Less Embarrassing Term: What his crew calls a "party," the World Government calls a "rampage."
  • Oh, Crap!: During the aforementioned Awesomeness by Analysis when he realizes just who the Straw Hats' guest is:
    Shanks: BUT IT LOOKS LIKE THIS ISN'T ONE OF THOSE TIMES!...Damn it damn it damn i—!
    Yasopp: How bad, Shanks?!
    Shanks: 'Raging bastard who gave Roger and Garp the fights of their lives' bad! The only cigar-smoking asshole I remember to wield both an impressive Devil Fruit and a matched pair of Graded Swords—!
    Benn: Shiki the Golden Lion?! Luffy, how could you possibly be that unluck—?
  • Papa Wolf:
    • While he's usually content to leave Luffy alone on his journey, he won't hesitate to jump in every once in a while if he thinks his protégé needs it. Part of his motivation for his rampage/party during the Enies Lobby incident was to draw away some heat from the Straw Hats (which succeeded, as it sufficiently distracted every Marine that was on that side of the Red Line). And when Shiki appears on the SBS, the very moment Shanks realizes who he is and his probable intentions, he doesn't hesitate to punch in the Transponder Snail number as fast as he can so he can threaten the bastard.
      • When the SBS is starting up for Shiki's interview, Soundbite disguises his voice to make it sound like Cross is starting the SBS, which only happens when something serious is going to happen. Shanks snaps and declares that he is going to give Cross and Soundbite a piece of his mind when they finally cross into the second half of the Grand Line.
    • While he's close friends with his former rival Mihawk, that does not mean he won't hesitate to rip him a new one for attacking Luffy.
  • So Proud of You: Has high standards for Luffy and celebrates whenever Luffy exceeds them during his escapades on the SBS. Enies Lobby, in particular, made him so proud that in the subsequent party (which the WG called a "rampage") that the Red Hair Pirates had to both celebrate Luffy's newest accomplishment and to distract every Marine in the New World lasted two straight days, long after the Straw Hats had finished leveling the island.
  • Spit Take: Upon hearing that the Straw Hats are planning to invade an island and burn it to the ground, he is visibly stunned. At least, until it turns out that said island was Enies Lobby. Then, he decided it was time to rampage/throw a party due to them setting a "new threshold for insanity."
  • Tears of Joy: In the aftermath of Omatsuri Island, he is relieved that Luffy was able to stop the Baron and save his crew. He even calls into the SBS to recap the crew due to their amnesia of the event, albeit with his voice disguised.

    Whitebeard 

Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate — Bounty: ฿5,046,000,000

Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates and the strongest man in the world, he was once renowned as the only pirate equal to the late Pirate King. His old age and failing health do very little to reduce his threat level.


  • Actually Pretty Funny: He finds Cross mocking his alcohol tolerance, as well as the antics of the Straw Hats, quite amusing.
  • Badass Boast: While weakened, he fights Shiki, also a case of a legend who got worse with age. Shiki does some serious damage and taunts Whitebeard about him getting weaker. Whitebeard whispers to him something he won't forget before defeating him in one mighty blow.
Whitebeard: "I am saying... I still have my right!"
  • Berserk Button: Halvar — a Devil Dog Suomi sniper — tries to shoot through Whitebeard in order to target Squard (the true target was Whitebeard, but completely focusing on and targeting Squard wouldn't set off his Haki). This has the very unfortunate (for Halvar) side effect of getting Whitebeard's attention focused on him.
"H-how didn't you notice him sooner!?" Squard blustered.
"Because they were using an old sniper's trick: they weren't aiming for me, they were aiming for you. Trying to use you to kill me. Which…"
Whitebeard straightened, seemingly none the worse for wear and obviously furious.
"Was a mistake."
  • Brutal Honesty: He agrees with Squard when he says he's been an idiot. And then he hugs him and tells him that doesn't mean he doesn't still love him.
  • Cool Old Guy: Even in his old age, he holds the titles of Emperor and World's Strongest Man for a very good reason.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: Whitebeard, having weathered 402 sword wounds, 96 bullets, 23 cannonballs, a missing kidney, lots of scar tissue, failing vision, a bad lung and knee, defeats Shiki and Teach, then turns his Last Words into one hell of a "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards the latter while coming this close to punching his skull into pulp before dying. On his feet.
  • Gambit Roulette: Downplayed — the main plan for preventing Blackbeard from getting the Tremor-Tremor Fruit seems to have been just Whitebeard targeting him as soon as he showed up (and if it hadn't been for Blackbeard freeing and recruiting Shiki, which was a case of Didn't See That Coming, and who was the one who did the most damage to Whitebeard, that fight probably would have ended with Blackbeard dead considering Whitebeard was in far better condition than he was in canon). The plan that did work, using Whitebeard's blood and Basil Hawkins's voodoo/hoodoo abilities and Sympathetic Magic to burn his corpse, seems to have been a backup plan.
  • Genius Bruiser: Aside from being a match for Sengoku in the strategy department, Whitebeard figures out that Cross has knowledge of the future long before he gets any confirmation, and at Marineford, he slaps some blood he's coughed up onto Luffy's back while patting him. Ace later realizes that this was intentional on his Pops's part; he takes Whitebeard's blood, infuses it with one of Basil Hawkins's voodoo dolls, and then sets said doll aflame, incinerating Whitebeard's corpse just as Blackbeard is making a play to steal the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. The traitorous pirate realizes to his horror that they somehow knew what his plan had been, and that even in death Whitebeard was one step ahead of Blackbeard.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: While it was likely partially motivated by the fact that he was extremely sick and likely to die soon anyways, in a call-back to Bege's words about somebody always "holding the bag", Whitebeard decides even before his crew arrives at Marineford to stay behind and keep the Navy busy so they can escape safely.
  • It Has Been an Honor: Tells Cross that he will save him a seat on the other side. Notably, Whitebeard calls Cross by his name while doing so, not "brat" like otherwise.
  • Last-Second Chance: Right before the War truly begins, he says this.
    One chance, Sengoku. I'll give you one chance — give me back my idiot son, and I'll just cripple your island, not sink it.
  • Mr. Exposition: When Cross muses to himself at the absurdity of the Davy Back Fights, Whitebeard calls in to the SBS to explain the origin and purpose of the games and how even the Four Emperors use them to build up their crews without bloodshed.
  • No Place for Me There: A non-villainous example. He believes with all his heart that an age of great change is coming for the world — but between his age and his illness, even before he decided to give his life to ensure his crew could escape Marineford safely, he knew he likely wouldn't live to see that age.
    Ace: Pops? Pops, what are you doing?! C'mon, we need to get out of here!
    Whitebeard: You need to get out of here. You and all the rest of my sons and daughters. I am old, Ace. A relic of an era long past. A new era is dawning, and it's reckless youngsters like you that need to lead it. Not an old fossil like me.
  • Not Afraid to Die: Whitebeard knows he most probably won't be walking away from Marineford alive, but not once does he show a hint of fear for his life.
    Hearing his son running finally eased the last of the tension in Whitebeard's chest. He felt relaxed. Freer than he'd been in decades. There was no more consideration of politics, of responsibility. Those were all in the hands of his sons, his crew. All he needed to do was wreak the most havoc possible to aid in their escape.
    "Alright, everyone, let's hurry this up. I've got a date to keep with Roger... So let's make my final hours in this life as memorable as possible!"
  • Papa Wolf:
    • He calls his crew his sons and they call him "Pops" in return. His one ironclad rule is that nobody harms someone under his command. And if someone violates that rule? That someone just painted a bullseye on their back that the strongest man in the world and his massive crew are now relentlessly targeting.
    • After explaining about the Davy Back Fight on the SBS, he states that he would rather die than lose his sons to those games.
    • The Moby Dick is just as much a member of Whitebeard's crew, in fact, she was technically his first crewmate since leaving Rocks. In the past, Whitebeard got livid at Roger for letting the Oro Jackson scrape against the Moby's flank, and in the present, her death by Akainu's hand drives him into Tranquil Fury.
    • This extends to those who are not on his crew, such as Luffy due to One Degree of Separation as Ace's little brother. During the broadcast from Omatsuri Island he becomes tempted to try and sink the island from his place in the New World when the snipers start hunting down the Straw Hats.
  • Parental Substitute: To his crew and allies as a whole, who he refers to as his sons and daughters. They, in turn, call him "Pops", and there's never any indication that there's anything but good feelings on both sides — except for Blackbeard, who is immediately disowned for killing Thatch.
  • Passing the Torch: Because Ace survived Marineford this time around, Whitebeard is able to use his last moments to declare him his successor as captain of the Whitebeard Pirates.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: The shockwaves of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit rank frighteningly high on the Richter scale, and this old man can still do plenty of damage without them.
  • Signature Laugh: ''"Gurararara!"'
  • Sympathetic Magic: Used to ignite his corpse before Blackbeard can take his Devil Fruit. Basil Hawkins's Devil Fruit allows him to transfer damage to others like this, with Luffy having Whitebeard's blood on the back of his shirt (which is used to imbue the subsequent voodoo doll) and Ace supplying the fire to his Pops's cremation.
  • Token Good Teammate: To the other known former members of the Rocks Pirates - he and Elder Nyon are the only ones who can really be called good people, frankly. This is briefly noted at the end of the Marineford Misery arc, when he goes up against Shiki (who is arguably the worst of the entire group, even before he threw his lot in with Blackbeard).
  • Tranquil Fury: He's smart enough to know that throwing a temper tantrum with his strength and Devil Fruit powers would probably sink every island and ship in his vicinity, so Whitebeard keeps a frighteningly calm tone even when he's pissed. But it's still scary — especially if you're the source of his fury, as Doflamingo learned.
  • World's Strongest Man: And don't anyone forget it.
  • You Got Guts: When he talks with Luffy over the SBS, and the latter says that he's going to be Pirate King, not Whitebeard, Whitebeard laughs and admits that the fact he's willing to say that straight to him means he may indeed have what it takes.
  • You Owe Me: He basically makes Buggy fight in the Summit War by telling him that he still owes him for the scars his "damn firecrackers" left Whitebeard.
  • You Shall Not Pass!: Stated verbatim as he holds off the Marines so Ace and his family can escape.

    Kaido 

Kaido "of the Beasts" — Bounty: ฿4,611,100,000

Governor-General (not "Captain") of the Beast Pirates, one of the strongest, toughest, and most feared men in the New World. He rules over the region of Onigashima as his home base in Wano Country. His ultimate goal is finding the Ancient Weapons and One Piece in order to start the Final War with the World Government. He has consumed the Mythical Zoan Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, which allows him to turn into a blue-scaled Eastern Dragon.


  • Abusive Parents: Yamato figures out quickly from the thunder outside his hiding spot that dear old dad failed in his attempt to join the war at Marineford. And that it's gonna translate into him taking his frustrations out on his kid.
  • Antagonist in Mourning: Whitebeard, despite being a rival Emperor, was a respected opponent and old comrade. When he senses Whitebeard's death he creates a hurricane out of rage and grief.
  • The Ghost: Kaido held this status until the end of the Marineford Misery arc, as he never appeared in-story, even over the SBS. He was listening to the broadcast of Luffy punching Saint Charloss, as evidenced by Whitebeard talking to him during that time, but Kaido hangs up on him without appearing or saying anything.
  • The Juggernaut: He's this, and even Cross admits it when he, Conis, Soundbite, Robin, and Su are working to take out Oars's corpse before Moria can animate it, which had been reinforced heavily by Hogback.
    Cross: Other way around. He needed this to fight Kaido.
    • In the Denouement, he decides that, with Joy Boy's return looking more and more likely, he needs to train. How does he do this? He tells his entire crew to fight him. And while the conclusion isn't shown, he was fighting them all and winning.
  • Villain Respect:
    • According to Sheepshead, the Straw Hats and Barto Club impressed him enough to send Sheepshead and Ginrummy to Skelter Bite to offer them a position in his crew (which they promptly decline).
    • He feels nothing but grief when Whitebeard dies because he respects him.
  • We Have Become Complacent: Downplayed example. After he decides that Joy Boy might be coming with the new generation of piracy, he comes to the conclusion that with Joy Boy's return a genuine possibility, he needs to get stronger in order to face him.

    Big Mom 

Charlotte "Big Mom" Linlin — Bounty: ฿4,388,000,000

Captain of the Big Mom Pirates, wielder of the Soul-Soul Fruit, and the sole female Emperor. She rules over the Totland Archipelago with her countless children. Her dream is to build a paradise where all races can be happy...by any means necessary.


  • Abusive Parents: She has marked Lola for death for rejecting her Arranged Marriage. She also sent Prometheus to completely immolate her daughter Macaron when she tried to escape the Big Mom Pirates' influence.
  • Antagonist in Mourning: Despite not being on the best terms with her old crewmate, when Whitebeard passed away she flew into a eating frenzy even worse than usual and drank every single bit of sake (Whitebeard's favorite drink) on Whole Cake Island, screaming the entire time that it didn't taste the same as before.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Starts chugging sake until she passes out after Whitebeard's death.
  • From Bad to Worse: For the World Government, during the attack on Enies Lobby: "Pirate Prince" Cavendish hijacked a ship heading for Totland right as Big Mom got a craving for what was on said ship, goading her into a rampage.
  • Skyward Scream:
    • Upon hearing that Lola was inside the Florian Triangle, she unleashed a furious roar that immobilized the whole of Totland.
    • She does it again during Strong World when she sees that Luffy is Roger reincarnated.
  • Villain Respect: Like Kaido, she's impressed enough by the Straw Hats and Barto Club to send Pekoms and Baron Tamago to offer them a position in her crew. Ostensibly, anyway.

The Whitebeard Pirates

    General 

The Whitebeard Pirates

The most powerful pirate crew in the entire world, who first work under Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate, and later his successor Portgas D. "Fire Fist" Ace, and are referred to as his sons and daughters alongside the many other allied pirate crews who work alongside them.


  • Actually Pretty Funny: The Whitebeard Pirates share a laugh when Cross claims one of the only ways to earn their ire is to steal their booze.
  • Badass Crew: They literally provide the page image for the trope.
  • Berserk Button: The crew at first aren't happy with Cross for insulting their Pops's alcohol tolerance, but he quickly makes amends.
  • Combat Medic: Whitebeard's team of nurses (Tate, Iris, Hannah, Mila, Shion, Camellia, and Sayuri) are pirates themselves, and are seen fighting in the war after they snuck aboard.
  • Die Laughing: When Akainu tries to turn Whitebeard's allies against him by telling them that Whitebeard was planning to sell out his allied crews in exchange for his own, the pirate he chose as a target tells him that Cross warned them about this and the seawalls, and even as he's immolated, dies howling that the Marines never had a chance of winning.
  • Happily Adopted: They view themselves as this to Whitebeard, and the feeling is mutual.
  • Insistent Terminology: Ace tells them, at Whitebeard's funeral, to only address him as the acting captain. As far as he (and they) are concerned, the only man who's ever been their captain is Whitebeard himself.
  • It's Personal: Marco is... not that fond of Kizaru, after he learned about how he was planning to slap sea prism stone handcuffs on him.
    Marco: You know, any other day I'd love to make this a bit, but today, I'm more than a little pissed, in no small part at you specifically. So do me a favor by cutting the crap and dying, monkey.
  • Parting-Words Regret: Firmly defied. After the War of the Best is announced and the Division Commanders learn that Whitebeard himself was planning to die so that his crew and allies could escape, they decide as one that Cross is as good as a brother to them for letting them make sure that nothing was left unsaid with their father.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Whitebeard himself is somewhat like Sanji in this regard, but he won't stop the likes of Whitey Bay or his nurses from participating in battle (though he did try to keep the latter at Sphinx, he didn't stop them after learning they snuck aboard).
  • Undying Loyalty: To each other. And this counts whether they're directly part of the Whitebeard Pirates or just one of their allied crews.

    Portgas D. Ace 

Portgas D. "Fire Fist" Ace

Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, biological son of Gol D. Roger, and Luffy's adopted elder brother. He becomes the new leader of the Whitebeard Pirates after Whitebeard's death.


  • Badass in Distress: He and his allies still get captured by Teach courtesy of Aokiji's unplanned intervention, and they were kept drugged to the gills and imprisoned in a refrigerated cell by the Marines for four months, then transferred to Impel Down's Eternal Hell before the war. However, without Aokiji, Ace could get the upper hand against Teach because he had backup and was prepared.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Like in canon, Ace is protective of his sworn brothers.
    • When Cross lets him know that Sabo is alive, Ace almost roasts him, thinking that he is a lying conman trying to get his only surviving brother killed. He only believes him after Cross swears it while under the full overpowering weight of Ace's Conqueror's Haki.
    • Twice during the Omatsuri broadcast. He nearly kills the Transponder Snail and his two companions with a combination of his Haki and Devil Fruit abilities a hundred meters away from where they were listening to the broadcast... while wearing a sea prism stone bracelet to help damper his Devil Fruit. Ace has to then be stopped by his allies from hunting down Omatsuri Island and saving Luffy. Why? Because if he saved Luffy, it would be the same as losing faith in his little brother, something that even Luffy would never forgive him for. The pillar of flames he sends up to cheer Luffy on is described as biblical.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Upon waking out of his Marine-induced coma, and realizes what fate is in store for him. He recalls Cross's warnings and words about what his pride and pursuit would cost him and put Luffy through and breaks down crying.
  • The Dog Bites Back: While he doesn't manage to take down Blackbeard, he does eventually get back at him by destroying Whitebeard's corpse, preventing Blackbeard from stealing the powers of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit (and severely burning him). This namely hurts Blackbeard so badly he makes his hate of Ace personal.
  • Friendless Background: Until he met Sabo and later Luffy, then the Spade Pirates (and Isuka), and finally the Whitebeard Pirates, the only people he had watching out for him were Dadan's family of bandits and Garp, who even though they genuinely loved him, were not good parental figures.
    "If I'm going to die anyway, then I'll set the record straight: I grew up surrounded by people telling me that my existence was nothing but a crime, that I was better off dead. I never knew any sort of love until I was 10, when a boy that would become my idiot kid brother told me that he wanted me to live."
    Ace turned his head, staring melancholically at the horizon.
    "I turned to piracy to be free of a world that rejected me, not to follow in anyone's footsteps. I made a name for myself, not anyone else, and I went after Whitebeard himself to do that. I was just another rookie who thought he could take his head. He spared me and brought me onboard. I didn't need his pity. I tried for a year to take his head. But it eventually sunk in that… he knew my past, and he still called me his son. The Whitebeard Pirates gave me the family I always wanted, and even now, I don't know if I deserve it for being the son of a demon like Roger. Especially not now that going against Whitebeard's orders got me here. But whether anyone believes me or not, I never wanted to be the Pirate King. For everything Whitebeard has done for me, I wanted to make him the Pirate King."
  • Flat "What": Aside from a jaw drop, Ace has this reaction to seeing Luffy and the Impel Down escapees falling from the sky.
  • Insistent Terminology: While Whitebeard named Ace his successor before his death, Ace makes it clear to the surviving Whitebeard Pirates that they will always be the Whitebeard Pirates. Therefore, Ace will always hold the title of "Acting Captain" despite effectively being the captain in full.
  • Jaw Drop: Has an epic one when the SBS announces that Luffy has to beat DJ Octavio, the ruler of all octopi, in a surfing contest.
    • Has another one during Marineford when Luffy arrives on the battlefield.
  • Knight Templar Big Brother: He will burn anyone he thinks is trying to take advantage of Luffy. Punching Luffy in the face is fine, though; he knows how aggravating Luffy can be.
  • Locked Out of the Loop:
    • Because of the state of his imprisonment, Ace hasn't been keeping up with Luffy's adventures at all since Enies Lobby, necessitating Jinbe to fill him in. Hilariously, that means when Luffy does show up at Marineford, he's the only one who doesn't take his brother's crazy entrance in stride, as everyone else has long since gotten used to the Straw Hats' insanity.
    • He was the only one blind to the fact that Whitebeard considered him his heir apparent and successor as captain of their crew once the old man died. Even Luffy knew, and he barely knows Whitebeard.
  • Pipe Pain: Like Luffy, Ace goes back to using a pipe for melee at a little nudge from Cross. He enjoys shrouding it with flames to up the pain factor.
  • Playing with Fire: Courtesy of the Flame-Flame Fruit, he is fire itself.
  • Rank Up: He officially becomes (Acting) Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates after Whitebeard's death.
  • Regent for Life: A rare self-inflicted version - Despite being Whitebeard's chosen successor, Ace tells the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates that he's only their acting Captain, and that Whitebeard himself is the only Captain they will ever answer to.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: After Blackbeard's Villainous Breakdown begins, and he starts screaming that he'll destroy everything Whitebeard held dear, Ace's response is to tell him to "Go ahead and try."
  • Sins of Our Fathers: Deconstructed. On top of Ace's own distaste for his father (which he made adamantly clear on the SBS at the start of his execution), it's not illegal to be related to an outlaw, even one as infamous as Gold Roger. When Sengoku flat-out admits to the world that they don't care about any of the actual, legitimate crimes Ace committed and are instead executing him because he's Roger's son, it backfires massively. The staff at Impel Down are furious because on that basis, neither Ace's imprisonment nor his execution is legal, while Cross points out that the World Government is essentially throwing away thousands of lives and deliberately destabilizing the state of the world over a grudge against a man that has been dead for over twenty years. In light of that, everyone except the most fanatic of Marines can't help but admit that the idea of holding Roger's crimes against Ace seems ridiculous... which is also the excuse that Dragon needed to step in to help save Ace.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: He survives Marineford this time, and manages to officially reunite with Luffy and Sabo and renew their brotherly bond.
  • Spit Take: Does this when the Straw Hats begin their assault on Enies Lobby and announce it over the SBS.
  • Storyboard Body: In Part 2 of the Denouement, it's revealed that he's had another Jolly Roger tattoo added to the back of his neck - specifically, the symbol of the Roger Pirates, seemingly as a symbol of Ace making peace with Roger after his biological father called in to the SBS to ask Luffy to save Ace.
  • Taught by Experience: In the Denouement, even though he hates it, he decides to keep the Whitebeard Pirates from going after Blackbeard, remembering what Cross told him about the events of canon - and knowing bitterly all too well what happened the last time he went after Blackbeard to get revenge.
  • Tears of Joy: When Cross convinces him Sabo's alive. He pulls himself together quickly.
  • Then Let Me Be Evil: A downplayed example. Ace was told by people throughout his childhood that Roger, and any family he had, were devils, and that it was good he didn't have any children. Ace, as a result, decided to be a pirate so that he could be free of a world that, as far as he could see, would never accept him.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Isuka, after she saves him and reveals she's a deep-cover Mason.

    Squard and Whitey Bay 

"Ice Witch" Whitey Bay and "Whirlpool Spider" Squard

Two of Whitebeard's subordinate captains, who decide to help Ace after Cross convinces him to enlist aid in going after Blackbeard. They are captured alongside Ace when Aokiji freezes the battlefield and accidentally gives Teach an opening to bring them into the Darkness of the Dark-Dark Fruit.


  • Adaptational Badass: Whitey Bay ate the Cold-Cold Fruit in Impel Down, after killing Madame Hiruno to gain said Fruit.
  • Adaptational Intelligence: Due to a past conflict with Ace, and also having time to think, as well as not seeing the Admiral in person, Squard is not fooled by Akainu's lies this time and doesn't stab Whitebeard.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Downplayed — Squard gets one of his kneecaps shot out by Halvar, the top Suomi sniper, rendering him unable to help for the rest of the War.
  • An Ice Person: After she's freed from Level Six, Whitey Bay kills Madame Hiruno to gain the Cold-Cold Fruit, in order to ensure she won't be beaten by "her own element" a second time.
  • Badass in Distress: They're captured by Blackbeard and then thrown into Impel Down alongside Ace. Beforehand, though, they actually put up a fight against Teach's crew, enough for Ace to perform better than canon.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Squard attempts to kill Douglas Bullet, who took part of killing his comrades as a member of Roger's crew in the past, inside his cell in Level 6 but Whitey Bay quickly stops him and calls Squard an idiot for it.
  • Easily Forgiven: Completely and utterly defied by Squard. More than twenty years after Roger's death, he still hasn't moved past the Pirate King slaughtering most of his crewmates, and even Whitebeard, who was Roger's Friendly Enemy, says he has no need to ever forgive Roger or forget what he did to him.
    Whitebeard: (About Squard asking how he's supposed to forgive Roger) "Who said that you were? And more importantly, what the hell does that have to do with Ace?"
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Squard briefly has a case of this in Part 2 of Marineford Misery when he confronts Whitebeard. Considering Cross told the Whitebeards beforehand about the canon events of the war, it's not hard to guess why. It's subverted shortly after that when he decides against stabbing Whitebeard, however.
  • Identical Stranger: Luffy noted how Whitey Bay looks similar to Vivi in their first meeting.
  • Power Incontinence: Whitey has decent control over her new Cold-Cold Fruit powers for someone who has just eaten her fruit, but that's not saying much. She frequently sticks her hands on her face with impromptu freezing and tends to use her powers far more freely than she should during moments where she shouldn't need to use them at all. At one point, Crocodile even snaps at her being so wasteful with them.
  • Sins of the Father: Squard has this attitude, to which Ace takes great offense. Recalling as much in the Marineford Misery arc, he works through his grudge against Roger just enough to separate Ace from it.

    The Moby Dick 

Moby Dick

The flagship of the Whitebeard Pirates, and one of Whitebeard's oldest crewmates and companions, who he's sailed with since the days just after the destruction of the Rocks Pirates at God Valley.


  • It Has Been an Honor: She manifests her Klabautermann after Akainu deals her a fatal blow, to speak to Whitebeard directly for the first time and tell him this before she's killed.
  • Mythology Gag: Her Klabuterman manifesting to say her farewells to Whitebeard in her final moments while stating she enjoyed by the Whitebeard Pirates' vessel is remniscent to Going Merry's canon end.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: While the exact long-term implications of her death haven't been revealed yet, Akainu killing her and declaring that anything existing because of outlaws had to be destroyed, be it things or people, or even miracles, sent Whitebeard into a Tranquil Fury that led to the Vice Admirals being either getting blown back or knocked unconscious, Oars Jr. being thrown to safety, and Doflamingo getting crippled in one of his arms.
    • It was also noted to be "The worst possible thing he could have said and done" by the narrative itself.
  • Together in Death: A non-romantic example - she's likely the longest-standing member of the Whitebeard Pirates besides Whitebeard himself, and just before she's killed by Akainu, not long before her captain meets his own end at the hands of the Blackbeard Pirates, she tells him that she'll see him again on the other side.
  • True Companions: Like the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates, she is this to her crew, saying to Whitebeard that to die in battle to rescue one of them was the best death any ship could have ever asked for.
    • On another note, Whitebeard also noticeably doesn't refer to her as "brat", even in an affectionate manner, instead treating her as an equal and thanking her for all the years of service she's given him and his family.
  • Undying Loyalty: To the Whitebeard Pirates.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: She's only introduced shortly before her death. However, in the real world it's said that Klabautermann can only manifest on doomed ships.

    Isuka 

Ex-Commodore "Nailing" Isuka

A character from the Ace's Story light novel, one of the earliest Marine opponents that Ace faced when he was captain of the Spade Pirates. First appearing in this story as Ace's executioner at Marineford, she was a deep-cover agent for the Masons who was instrumental in saving his life. She demanded to be his first mate as they escaped.
  • Foreshadowing: It's established before Marineford Misery that the World Nobles have actually passed a law banning all Marines from talking to Cross. Despite this, Isuka actually speaks to him a few times even before she reveals her true colors — clearly, she wasn't too worried about being punished.
  • Heroic Willpower: She took a direct blast of Conqueror's Haki from Luffy, and explicitly took it the hardest — and while she was clearly unbalanced by it, she was able to stay conscious without any help.
  • Honorary True Companion: In a sense. She's the only person who isn't a Division Commander standing with them during Whitebeard's funeral.
  • Jerkass Façade: She was a deep-cover Mason for five months, and she did a good job acting the part. Vice-Admiral Doberman actually said she reminded him of Spandam. While that's a clear indication she did a good job selling the act, damn.
  • Made of Iron: She was spitting up blood for a few seconds after taking a hit from Sengoku in his Golden Buddha form, and still managed to grab Ace a few seconds after that so she could make a break for it.
  • Master Swordswoman: She's got Armament Haki, flying slashes, and can cut through steel (or at least sea king bone) without any real concern.
  • Take This Job and Shove It: While she didn't say it outright, there's no better way to announce you're quitting the Marines then saving the life of Whitebeard's Second Division Commander, and Gol D. Roger's son, directly after the Fleet Admiral personally orders you to kill him.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: After Ace's capture was announced, she handed the request to Fleet Admiral Sengoku to be his executioner. Except not really.
  • Took a Level in Badass: When Ace met her when he was starting out (three years before canon), she was a standard Ensign. She's a Commodore by the time she shows up, and demonstrates in her Establishing Character Moment the ability to perform both aerial slashes and to do them so well they cut through Sea King bone. And in Marineford Misery, Part 2, she's able to utilize Armament Haki.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: When she shows up, she has become considerably more jaded than she was when she was when she was going after Ace. Until the second chapter of Marineford Misery where it's revealed that in truth, this is Averted. She's actually a deep cover Mason and took the executioner position so that she could save Ace. Once he's free, she immediately starts lambasting him for believing she had taken said levels and bantering about joining him after they escape Marineford.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: She took the position of executioner so that she could save Ace — and she also takes the time mid-escape to chew him out for thinking she was actually going to kill him.

The Red-Haired Pirates

    Benn Beckman 
First mate of the Red-Haired Pirates who has been part of Shanks's crew since before he first came to Windmill Village and met Luffy.

  • Dope Slap: Benn dishes out dual goose eggs to his captain and Yasopp because their fighting's blocking out an SBS broadcast with Usopp.
  • Number Two: First mate to one of the Four Emperors, and even Akainu backs down when Benn's got his gun trained on him.
  • Only Sane Man: He's about the least quirky (named) member of his crew and sometimes has to rein in the others. Including his captain.

    Lucky Roo 
One of the highest-ranking members of the Red-Haired Pirates, who has sailed with Shanks since before he first came to Windmill Village and met Luffy all those years ago.

    Yasopp 
One of the other high-level members of Shanks' crew who was with him long enough to meet Luffy, and also Usopp's father, who left Syrup Village many years ago. Despite the long separation he's had from his son, he still loves him.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: It runs in the family — his brief appearance in the Summit War had him sniping out Shiliew's joints in his new limbs, and holding Kizaru at gunpoint.
  • Parental Neglect: He left Usopp behind to become a pirate more than a decade ago, and he hasn't returned home since.
  • Parents as People: He genuinely loves his son, and is very happy to learn that he's a pirate now — however, he's also pissed at Shanks for his protege (Luffy) dragging Usopp into the pirate life, and he's well aware that he's a bit of a deadbeat dad.
  • So Proud of You: He's clearly happy to learn Usopp has become a pirate, and sends him a Tone Dial via Lucky Roo when the latter goes to Skelter Bite.
  • Spit Take: When Cross introduces Usopp as one of the Straw Hats over the SBS.
  • Tempting Fate: He says that the voice he's hearing over the SBS can't be Usopp, because he's only seventeen, and the odds of Luffy passing by Syrup Village are a hundred to one. Guess who Cross introduces right after that?

The Big Mom Pirates

    General 
The crew of Charlotte "Big Mom" Linlin of the Four Emperors. In nearly a hundred cases, her crewmates are also her children.
  • Big, Screwed-Up Family: As Lola can attest to. But at the same time, despite - well, said very complicated relationship with her family, she does genuinely care for her siblings, still.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: During the Strong World broadcast, when Big Mom sees that Luffy is a near dead-ringer for Gol D. Roger, the wave of Haki she released knocked out every last person in the entire Totland Archipelago, except for the Sweet Commanders and the snail broadcasting the events (and said snail only stayed conscious thanks to Katakuri).

    Charlotte Pudding 
One of Big Mom's younger children, and also one of her "favorites" due to her Third Eye, which will allow Pudding to hear the Voice of All Things when it opens. When that may happen, nobody knows.
  • Villain Respect: She admits that while it's partly also because Crocodile and Moria were both weak (at least, by her standards as an Emperor's daughter), the Straw Hats are actually pretty strong, to have been able to defeat them.

Blackbeard Pirates

The crew of Marshall D. Teach, AKA Blackbeard, briefly a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the newest of the Four Emperors, or rather, the Five Emperors, with Fire Fist Ace also having ascended at the same time and another would-be candidate to be the next Pirate King.


    General 

  • Adaptation Expansion: While not as much as the Staw Hat Pirates, the crew gains three extra members from their raid on Impel Down. Byrnndi World was also a new recruit, until he made the mistake of trying to kill Blackbeard.
  • Adaptational Badass: They recruited Shiki, Caribou, Coribou, and Byrnndi World in addition to their canon recruits.
  • Badass Crew: For whatever else can be said about them, they're this. Every single member of Blackbeard's crew at the end of Marineford Misery (except Caribou and Coribou) was either recruited from Level Six or is considered a big enough threat to be there themselves.
  • The Dreaded: After Shiki and Byrnndi pull a Colony Drop on Marineford that was only stopped by the combined efforts of Whitebeard, Sengoku, and the Admirals, the Marines pretty much give up on pursuing the Whitebeard Pirates and the turncoat Marines. Even Akainu grudgingly gives up his pursuit of Luffy and Ace, deciding that Teach is presently the bigger threat.
  • Evil Counterpart: To the Straw Hats themselves. Both crews are far smaller than most other pirate crews and are a Badass Crew known across the world. Those are pretty much the only similarities they have.
  • Resignations Not Accepted: When most of the recruits from Impel Down try to desert the crew after their failure in stealing the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Shiki dissuades them by pointing out World's absence and, under his belief that Blackbeard is the successor to his captain Xebec, saying that once you become a member of the crew, one simply could not leave/try to mutiny without heavy consequences. Shiki's belief becomes validated when Blackbeard shows up fresh from killing World, stealing his More-More Fruit, and outright telling his crew that they will help him fulfill his dream, with the narration noting how "A deaf man could hear the 'or else' that those words carried".
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Most of the new recruits from Impel Down attempt to leave after their new captain's failure to acquire the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. However, Shiki makes no move to leave, instead pointing World's conspicuous absence. And then Blackbeard returns... with the More-More Fruit, World's helmet and a speech that cows any dissidents from trying anything.
  • Stupid Evil: When they arrive on the (later-renamed) World's End Island after Blackbeard fails to steal the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and start killing all the inhabitants, it turns out that when It Was a Dark and Stormy Night that night, they destroyed nearly every potential shelter they could take refuge from the storm in.

    Blackbeard 

"Blackbeard" Marshall D. Teach

Wielder of the Dark-Dark Fruit and traitor of the Whitebeard Pirates. He briefly became a Warlord before betraying the Government as well in a plot to become King of the Pirates.
  • Adaptational Badass: It's still unclear whether he has Conqueror's Haki or not in canon — even the sourcebooks haven't confirmed it. Here, he explicitly does.
  • Adaptational Superpower Change: He fails to steal Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, so he opts to take Byrnndi World's More-More Fruit instead after World tries to mutiny.
  • Adaptational Villainy: He was never a good guy, but he wasn't as flat-out malevolent in canon as he is in This Bites. For example, when he reaches the Eternal Hell to find potential members for his crew, he kills Byojack and his allies for little reason other than that they were a nuisance despite Byojack having done nothing to Blackbeard other than suffer a Freak Out at his presence.
  • Adaptational Wimp: Thanks to some foresight from Whitebeard, voodoo from Hawkins, and fire from Ace, he doesn't get his hands on the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, making him significantly weaker than he is in canon, and substantially crazier. Then, this gets subverted hard after Byrnndi decides to mutiny...
  • And Your Little Dog, Too!: He swears after Ace ruins his chance at stealing the Tremor-Tremor Fruit that he'll destroy everything Whitebeard ever held dear in revenge. Ace's response is to tell him to Bring It.
  • Arch-Enemy: To Ace and the Whitebeard Pirates, though it doesn't become mutual until Ace screws him out of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
  • Catch and Return: Played with. His "Darkness" allows him to trap anything near him and be able to send it back out when he wants to (or as long as his concentration isn't interrupted). He used this to capture everyone during the Banaro Island fight with Ace when Aokiji used his Ice Age and to hold Magellan's deadly toxic attacks after beating him to kill the World Pirates with them.
  • Conflict Killer: The very moment his crew and he show up, they essentially end the conflict between the Marines and the Whitebeard Pirates, with only dregs bothering to attack the latter anymore. He even manages to unite both factions when he tries to destroy the island, with everyone teaming up together to throw all the power they have at him to parry his attack.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Teach explains to Aokiji that he's no stranger to pain. He compares the pain of nearly freezing to death with being burned alive, flayed by razor wire, and shot with a Colt .96 sniper rifle.
  • Determinator: No matter how much pain Teach has to go through, he swears he can and will take it all for the sake of his dream. He proves it after surviving Aokiji's ice, keeping his frozen crew and prisoners in his darkness which aggravated the cold in him.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: After he's denied the Tremor-Tremor Fruit by Ace, he decides to kill everyone at Marineford in retaliation during his Villainous Breakdown.
  • The Dreaded:
    • Of all the foes Cross knows the Straw Hats will end up fighting, he's openly terrified of Blackbeard and all that he can do. Everyone else joins Cross after Blackbeard shows up at Marineford and they get front row seats to how evil he really is.
    • Even Shiki is point-blank terrified of him, because it's strongly implied he sees Blackbeard as the next incarnation of his last captain, Rocks D. Xebec.
  • "Eureka!" Moment: After Ace burns Whitebeard's body.
    And then, it all snapped into crystal-clear focus.
    His hopes had just gone up in flames.
    In flames.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Blackbeard is a serious contender for the ultimate villain of the setting. Yet during the Omatsuri Island special, when the Lily Carnation reveals its true form, he gets murderously pissed and snarls out "Straw Hat... slaughter that monster" to his transponder snail.
  • Evil Laugh: "Zehahahaha!"
  • Fingore: According to Aokiji, his ship's doctor had to reattach twelve of Teach's digits due to severe frostbite.
  • Give Me a Reason: When World attempted to mutiny against Blackbeard after Marineford and failing to steal the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Teach responded by thanking World. He had already decided to kill World and steal his More-More Fruit, but the mutiny attempt means he doesn't have to come up with a justification now.
  • I Control My Minions Through...: Fear, in this case — when several of his Impel Down recruits decide to try deserting, Blackbeard uses his newly stolen More-More powers to make himself larger than Sanjuan Wolf, nearly drown him, and make it very clear that they will help him fulfill his dream, or else.
  • I Owe You My Life: Teach would have lost and died to Ace and his alliance had Aokiji's Ice Age not intervened. He considers the admiral his friend for life now, despite Aokiji's blatant disgust at the idea.
  • It's Personal: After Ace burns Whitebeard's body to prevent him from gaining the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's powers, Teach swears undying hatred on his new Arch-Enemy.
Something snapped in the back of Blackbeard's mind, and the fury of the abyss was set loose on the world. From that moment onward, there was one thing that was more important to Blackbeard than the Pirate King's throne: hate. Hate unyielding. Hate everlasting. Hate blacker than the darkest night, and deeper than the lowest abyss.
A hate that would not, could not, would never die before the death of one very dead man.
  • Kick the Dog: He had no pragmatic reason to have Van Auger shoot Luffy in the leg with a seastone bullet, giving Akainu the opportunity to attack him. He did that just because he thought watching either Luffy or Ace die would be funny, and possibly to bump off a future rival or two in advance. Neither of those happened, but Teach admits that watching Akainu be maimed was hilarious, so he didn't mind.
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: When Byrnndi approached Teach in the aftermath of the War of the Best, he was preparing to kill Teach and take over the crew. Teach thanked him for giving him a justifiable reason to kill him before cutting off all visible light with a black velvet tarp.
    Teach: It was always my plan to make the world tremble before me, and I'm still gonna do it... One way or another...
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When he's denied the opportunity to steal Whitebeard's Devil Fruit, he undergoes a shrieking Villainous Breakdown, swears everlasting hatred for Ace, and tries to destroy Marineford itself to get to the retreating Whitebeard Pirates. He's only stopped briefly by Coby's pleas, and only stops entirely when Shanks threatens to kill him if he doesn't.
  • Sanity Slippage: He goes completely and utterly insane after he loses out on the Tremor-Tremor Fruit thanks to Ace.
  • Scare 'Em Straight: A villainous example. After he failed to steal the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, several of his crewmates were about to leave — up until he stole the More-More Fruit from Byrrndi World, made himself bigger than Sanjuan Wolf, and made a very heavily Implied Death Threat.
  • Sizeshifter: After stealing the More-More Fruit, he's able to use its powers to increase his own strength and stature. To the point he becomes big enough that he can casually grab Sanjuan Wolf, one of the largest living beings in the world, by the head and hold him underwater until he's on the verge of drowning, with one hand.
  • Stealth Insult: When he tells his crew that he respects Byrnndi like hell for choosing to follow through with his decision to mutiny even when Blackbeard had managed to "cut the lights" - well, all of the Impel Down recruits save Shiki, up until that point, were considering mutiny themselves. Essentially, he was saying he didn't respect them.
  • The Unfettered: His driving goal in life is that he's going to be the Pirate King — and he has zero qualms about going through anything and anyone else on his way to that goal.
    Through hell or high water, I have had only one driving force in all my life, and I intend to see it through. No matter what I have to do, where I have to destroy, or who I have to kill."
  • Unluckily Lucky: He's this, just like Luffy - he tends to get into life-threatening situations on an alarming basis, and out of them just as consistently. But in his case, it isn't even remotely Played for Laughs.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Upon losing the opportunity to gain Whitebeard's power, he completely loses his shit, going from his usual cocky demeanor to ranting, hurling out death threats, culminating in him essentially deciding to kill everything by nuking the entire battlefield with darkness, while screaming "destroy" over and over.
  • Villain Respect: While he did kill him regardless, he respects the hell out of Byrnndi World for making a decision (to mutiny) and going through with it to the bitter end, even though it killed him.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: A variant in which the heroes do it to the villain. He's within seconds of extracting Whitebeard's powers... only for Ace to immolate the corpse, literally sending his plans up in flames.
  • You Remind Me of X: Byojack mistakes Teach for Rocks D. Xebec, and it's likely not a coincidence as Shiki, Buggy, and Bullet believe that Teach is the inheritor of Xebec's will, much like how Luffy has inherited Roger's.

    Shiki 

Shiki "The Golden Lion" — Bounty: Unknown

Captain of the Golden Lion Pirates and one of Gol D. Roger's contemporaries/rivals. He once amassed a large navy with the purpose of world domination. His dreams were dashed as he ended up defeated by Roger, captured by Sengoku and Garp, and sent to Impel Down. Two years after the Great Pirate Era began, he cut off his legs to escape the jail and spent the next 20 years planning his ultimate revenge.


  • Adaptational Badass: Downplayed, but whereas his film counterpart was defeated in a one-on-one battle with Luffy, this time around, Luffy and Bartolomeo had to tag team against him for a bit until Luffy delivered the finishing blow. Furthermore, despite the Staw Hat crew being nearly three times bigger than in canon, Shiki was still able to whoop them singlehandedly.
  • An Arm and a Leg:
  • Arch-Enemy:
    • Gold Roger. All of Shiki's actions during Strong World, including the very plan he had been crafting together for the last twenty years, is driven by his lingering grudge against the Pirate King. During his final battle with Luffy, he even starts ranting about how he can't lose to Roger again.
    • The Straw Hat Pirates, especially Luffy and Nami. The latter for her constant betrayals and outwitting him time and again, and the former for his many, many similarities to Roger (Shiki even started hallucinating Luffy as Roger towards the end of their final fight, helped by the actual Roger's voice taunting him through Soundbite). When he wakes up after his defeat, he even starts planning his revenge on Luffy before getting knocked out by Hancock. Later on, the very fact that Luffy is about to outdo the last remaining achievement to Shiki's name on a far grander scale is enough to make him scream in incoherent rage. It's safe to say he might actually hate Luffy more than he does Roger.
  • Ascended Extra: He becomes a member of Blackbeard's crew, due to being re-imprisoned back into Impel Down just before Luffy's break-in to save Ace. As Luffy (obviously) didn't release him, he was present when Blackbeard arrives to Level Six and conducts his game to find the new members of his crew. That means he will clash with the Straw Hats again, some time in the future.
  • Beyond the Impossible: However the hell he managed to get a box containing a Visual Transponder Snail delivered to Level 6 of Impel Down and bolted to the floor so it couldn't be removed.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: Shiki is very powerful, make no mistake. He was able to fight Luffy and Bartolomeo all by himself without using Haki, and could stalemate Whitebeard when he was going all out - but in the end, he lost both fights, even though Whitebeard was heavily injured already in the latter. And while his crew was likely the most powerful in Paradise, they were beaten just by four of the Supernovas and their crews, meaning they likely would have stood no chance against the full power of the Navy or even one of the Emperors.
  • Bookends: His story began with his defeat at the hands of Gold Roger, which eventually led to him being captured by the Marines and incarcerated into Impel Down. Fittingly, Strong World ends with him being defeated by Roger's successor, Monkey D. Luffy, and then captured by Hancock and re-incarcerated back into Impel Down.
  • Break the Haughty: Between losing to Roger and Luffy, men from the weakest of the four Blue seas, he's come to the opinion that his pride ultimately meant jack all in the grand scheme of things. This is not for the better, however, as he takes his loss to mean he was never meant to succeed whatsoever and proof that he could never strike out on his own without his captain. This is implied to be why he threw his lot in with Blackbeard, who he considers as much a successor to Rocks D. Xebec as Luffy is to Roger.
  • The Cameo: He's one of the prisoners in Impel down that Luffy ignores, much to the man's frustration.
  • Cigar Chomper: Always seen with one in his mouth.
  • Companion Cube: His two swords, Oto and Kogarashi, are this to him. He's genuinely saddened — and then enraged — when Luffy and Bartolomeo manage to get him to lose them.
  • Dehumanizing Insult: When he appears at the end of Chapter 56, he calls both Nami and Billy his property and demands the Straw Hats give them back. Naturally, their reaction is murderous rage.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: His Lion's Threat attacks involve breaking pieces of the ground, suspending them in the air, and lobbing them at his targets. His Earth's Bind variation involves crushing the pieces to rain debris on the target, sucking in said debris and targets in a vortex, and finally compacting the crushed ground into a single pillar that traps and suffocates the enemy.
  • Dissonant Serenity: His new state of mind, after joining Blackbeard. He's firmly attached at the hip and loyal to him (mostly out of fear), sees the man as the successor of Rocks, does everything he asks without hesitation, and barely bats an eye when Teach murders World and steals the More-More Fruit even while the rest of the Blackbeard Pirates are terrified beyond words.
  • Evil Gloating:
    • First shows up at Marineford to grandstand before Sengoku and Garp before going after the Straw Hats.
    • Later on, he delivers Visual Transponder Snails to nearly every island in the world (or at least a great deal of them) so that he can make everyone watch him destroying the East Blue and defeating the Straw Hat Pirates. It backfires.
    • Shiki wounds Whitebeard pretty badly with a thrown mast and takes the opportunity to mock his ex-crewmate's health. It backfires. Painfully. Especially since he got within range of Whitebeard's bisento.
  • Fantastic Racism: Hates everything about the East Blue, from being Roger's birthplace (as he stopped his plans of world domination) to his place of execution (Shiki considers it an insult for Roger to executed in a peaceful area like Loguetown), hence why he wants to annihilate it before he conquers the world. It's also a big reason why he deliberately targeted the Straw Hats — he can't stand the fact that the most famous pirate crew in the world originated from the object of his hatred.
  • Fatal Flaw: His pride - Shiki's inability to move past his defeat at Roger's hands led to his assault on Marineford that sent him to Impel Down the first time, and during the events of Strong World, he refused to just use his Haki in conjunction with his physical skills and Fruit to overwhelm Luffy and Bartolomeo, who he was nearly able to defeat even without it because it would go against everything he believed in.
    • Tellingly, he seems to have discarded his pride entirely after he was recruited by Blackbeard, and while he lost (and his old crewmate was already tired and wounded), he was briefly able to go toe to toe with Whitebeard when he was going all out.
  • History Repeats: Over twenty years ago, his plans for world domination were ruined at the hands of a man from East Blue: the Pirate King Gold Roger. Strong World sees it happen again, with Roger's fated successor, Monkey D. Luffy, and this time, the entire world gets to see it.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: He utterly defeats the Straw Hats with his Lion's Threat: Earth's Bind when he recaptures Nami.
  • Honor Before Reason: The only reason why he doesn't use Haki against Luffy and Barto in their final battle. He missed his chance to use it against them when he first met them and then again during the Hopeless Boss Fight above. To end up using it in the middle of the battle when he's losing is conceding, in his mind, that the two Rookies from "the weakest sea" are too strong for him to defeat without his full power, which goes against everything he stands for.
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen:
    • Tellingly, Luffy completely and summarily ignores him when they briefly meet again in Level Six.
    • Gairam also mocks him by pointing out that Shiki's sole remaining achievement, breaking out of Impel Down, is about to be outdone by Luffy a thousand times over. Shiki is reduced to screaming in rage.
    • In Part 4 of Marineford Misery, he reappears as one of Blackbeard's new subordinates - becoming, in the end, a lackey again to the man he sees as the successor to Rocks, his last captain.
  • In-Universe Factoid Failure: He recruited Bartolomeo as the 51st division commander in his army, ostensibly on reputation alone. (Un)fortunately, Bartolomeo is also from the East Blue, still has friends, family, and territory there, and is thus completely unwilling to aid Shiki in his plan. Instead, he uses the invitation as an opportunity to infiltrate Shiki's operation to both aid the Straw Hats and feed information back to the New World Masons. When Bartolomeo inevitably reveals himself to Shiki in the climax of the arc, he makes sure to rub that little tidbit into the bastard's face.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: A very dark variation. He says he recognized who Blackbeard really was from the moment he first saw the man, and that has no intention whatsoever of betraying him exactly for that reason.
  • Laughably Evil: Despite all the despicable things he does, he sometimes comes off as eccentric, ranging from his dance routines to random moments of senility (shown with Perona and Scarlet).
  • Man Behind the Man: He was responsible for giving the Amigo Pirates Booster IQ and was the reason why Largo risked everything to fight the Straw Hats in Little East Blue.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Shows up on the Sunny and befriends the crew, only to later kidnap Nami for her navigational skills and steal the Snail Transceiver to get better use of it.
  • Mask of Sanity: According to Silvers Rayleigh, Shiki went insane when Roger died by a hand that wasn't his. He's just been able to hide it over the last twenty years, aided by him going completely underground during that time. Going Laughing Mad while the entire world is watching isn't Shiki snapping so much as his mask coming off for everyone to see.
  • Mass "Oh, Crap!": He's the cause of it when anyone realizes that he's the guest the Straw Hats are with and from no less than one of the Emperors (Shanks), two Legendary Marines (Tsuru and Garp), and the Fleet Admiral himself (Sengoku).
  • Might Makes Right: Deconstructed in the opinion of Eustass Kid while listening to his publicized Motive Rant. While he agrees that the strong survive and have the right to rule, that does not mean that the weak should just roll over and serve the strong like Shiki does; allies and enemies are earned, not given.
  • Noodle Incident: He mentions the last time he used his Lion's Threat: Earth Bind attack was against one of Big Mom's children, though he didn't give a name.
  • Power Floats: His Float-Float Fruit gives him the power to make any non-living object float in the air, no matter how large or heavy it is.
  • Playing with Syringes: With Dr. Indigo's assistance, he builds an army of genetically enhanced mutant animals to be used as superweapons against the World Government and the world itself at large.
  • Professional Butt-Kisser: What he seems to have become to Blackbeard - after getting his pride shattered and seeing the successor to Rocks "rescue" him, he's seemingly decided that he was never meant to succeed without him, and resigns himself to serving him without complaint.
    "It's true, you have very little reason to listen to me. I've lost a lot of respect. It's all my fault, really, for letting my pride take control," Shiki declared, his zen demeanor unshaken. "Before Straw Hat, before even Roger… my biggest mistake was that I thought I could go independent. Thought I could go my own way, start my own empire."
    The Blackbeards had quieted down at this point, unease stirring in their hearts, and they outright froze when Shiki chuckled darkly.
    "But now… now I know better. Know that that was folly, idiocy to ever dream otherwise. That man's crew… once you join it, you can never leave. I never knew Teach before he came to Impel Down, but 'Blackbeard'? Oh, I knew him the moment I saw his face. The others, they'll pay for their treachery, they'll pay. Hell, Edward already has… but not me. No, not me. I know my place, and I'll live in it for as long as he'll let me."
    Four members of the crew, the ones who'd sailed with Blackbeard the longest, could genuinely say later that they were merely unnerved and not scared spitless by that little speech. The newcomers could not, and some did better than others at hiding it in that moment.
    But no matter how scared they were, they all paid very close attention as Shiki, one of the proudest pirates in the word, shamelessly bootlicked with a contented smile.
  • Rage Breaking Point: Played with as he is the source for the Straw Hat Pirates after kidnapping Nami twice, forcing them to fight against mutant beasts for a straight week and wiping the floor with them. By then, they are not only wishing for his defeat but also his death. Played straight when Shiki sees his twenty-year plan crumble by the hands of two Rookie crews from the East Blue and goes all out to destroy them.
  • Red Right Hand: Aside from his twin sword Artificial Limbs, he has a steering wheel lodged in his head which came from his fight with Roger.
  • Sadistic Choice: During the final half of the battle, Shiki forms four lions of different elements from the floating islands and lobs them directly at the Thousand Sunny, forcing Luffy to decide whether to continue fighting Shiki or save his crew. Fortunately for him, the crew is strong enough to stop the lions, freeing Luffy to continue the fight.
  • Seppuku: In an author's note at the end of the first chapter after the Strong World arc, the Cross-Brain states that they believe Shiki hasn't reappeared in the anime since his movie because he finally lost all will to live after being beaten by yet another East Blue denizen and so he killed himself with his own swords off-screen. In the This Bites! universe, however, Luffy knocked Shiki's swords away with his sea prism stone-infused pipe before defeating him, so this Shiki is still alive and has been imprisoned in Impel Down. With notes that he not only can but will return in the future... And as of the end of the Marineford War, he's back, this time as a member of Blackbeard's crew.
  • Spanner in the Works: His unexpected release and return to Marineford means that there's a Rocks level pirate capable of taking on Whitebeard, wearing down the man so the Blackbeards can kill him. Its implied that Whitebeard otherwise might have been able to end them then and there, being in far better shape than canon.
  • Take Over the World: His goal twenty-two years ago until he fought and lost to Roger. In the present, he still intends to do this, only after wiping the East Blue clean of everything first. He still plans to do it, even after joining Blackbeard, but under his new captain, this time.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: To Roger. Shiki has never gotten over his defeat at Roger's hands, or even the fact that Roger was killed by someone that wasn't him; all of which is the driving force of Strong World.
  • Token Evil Teammate: With the exception of Whitebeard and Gloriosa, AKA Elder Nyon, every known member of the Rocks Pirates who's still alive is definitely evil, or at the very least amoral. But even compared to the likes of Buckingham Stussy, Kaido, and Charlotte Linlin, Shiki's plan to destroy the entirety of the East Blue because of a twenty-year old grudge against Roger stands out. Noticeably, unlike Kaido and Linlin, he shows no signs of being an Antagonist in Mourning after Whitebeard dies.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Rocks D. Xebec, his last captain, and the man he views as his successor, Marshall D. Teach. It's explicit that this is mostly because of fear (and seemingly resignation), though.
  • Villainous Breakdown: During the climax of Strong World, after the Straw Hats and Barto Club destroy his palace and defeat his army, rendering everything he's worked towards for the last twenty years pointless. It reaches its absolute apex, however, when Luffy is about to attack him with Giant Thor Axe and he realizes that he's about to lose to a man from the East Blue again.
  • Willfully Weak: He abstains from using Haki against Luffy and Bartolomeo, because, as Sengoku notices, admitting that he can't beat two East Blue rookies without using something they don't have goes against everything he believes in.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: His reason for freeing the captured villagers and allowing them to return home? So he can kill everyone in the village in one single strike with his animal bioweapons to serve as a public demonstration of force to the world.

    Shiliew of the Rain 

Shiliew of the Rain

The former Head Jailor of Impel Down who, alongside Magellan, was the deadliest man in the gaol's walls. He became a death row prisoner for excessive murder of inmates.
  • Ailment-Induced Cruelty: Downplayed. He was never that nice in the first place, but Crocodile's failed Cruel and Unusual Death and the following We Can Rebuild Him does not seem to have helped his mindset at all.
  • An Arm and a Leg: He gets his arms and legs cut off by Crocodile, to ensure he doesn't somehow escape. It doesn't work.
  • Ax-Crazy: He was already pretty unstable, but his maiming at the hands of Crocodile seemingly made him even more psycho than before, with his post-rebuild Establishing Character Moment featuring him expressing a desire to "make [the Marines and Pirates] all bleed" while flashing them a psychotic, murderous Death Glare.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Crocodile cuts his arms and legs off, drains his body of all its moisture, and leaves him to die in agony. Later subverted, as it's revealed he survived long enough for the Blackbeard Pirates to reconstruct his body with BioMEGA parts.
  • Cyborg: When he shows up at Marineford it's revealed that he's now mostly metal, with his arms and legs replaced by salvaged BioMEGA limbs, his chest covered in pulsing tubes and cables, and something resembling a metal mask welded onto the lower half of his face.
  • Death by Adaptation: Luffy orders Crocodile to kill him on Cross's advice, in exchange for the ex-Warlord getting to join the breakout. Later subverted, despite Crocodile's attempt at a Cruel and Unusual Death, because Shiliew was somehow able to survive until Blackbeard made it to the bottom floor.
  • It's the Only Way to Be Sure: Says this flat-out after Crocodile comes to kill him, and that he knew they should have embedded seastone spikes into the Logia's spines to be certain they couldn't use their powers. Crocodile subjects him to a Cruel and Unusual Death for that little revelation.
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: What separates him from the rest of the jailors, in the end, is that he's this. Magellan, Hannyabal, Domino, Sadi, and Saldeath are all genuine believers in their job, and seek to punish criminals inside Impel Down to dissuade the criminals outside from doing any crimes that might land them there, to keep the prisoners from being able to escape, and to Pay Evil unto Evil for all the crimes that said criminals who are there have committed - if somebody can prove they are innocent, they'll let them go free without any trouble. Shiliew doesn't seem to care whether somebody is innocent or guilty, and was only ever out to satisfy his own bloodlust, just like the BioMEGAs.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He's the first of Blackbeard's new recruits to suggest that they abandon Blackbeard after the latter fails to take Whitebeard's Devil Fruit. Shiki tells him he won't survive the attempt, and points out that Byrnndi World is currently trying to metaphorically jump ship himself. When Blackbeard comes back without even a scratch on him and reveals he killed World, Shiliew changes his mind immediately.
  • We Can Rebuild Him: He gets subjected to this after Blackbeard gets to Level Six.

    Byrnndi World 

Byrnndi World

The former captain of the World Pirates, who his brother Byojack and crew invaded Impel Down to rescue - and who, after they died, joined Blackbeard. Briefly.
  • Adaptational Badass: While he was hardly a pushover in canon, considering he was able to take down Luffy without using his Devil Fruit after Luffy had already been training on Rusukaina for some time - here, he's seen going toe to toe with Garp in direct combat.
  • Ax-Crazy: Even compared to the other Blackbeard Pirates! While the rest of them at least have some semblance of self-preservation, Byrnndi doesn't even care about preserving his own life as long as he dies atop a mountain of fresh corpses. That said, when he's suddenly rendered unable to fight, the fear finally sets in...
  • The Dreaded: The entire "old guard", both in the Navy and the Whitebeard Pirates, are scared when they realize that Byrnndi is free. The staff of Impel Down feared him more than Douglas Bullet, who at least stayed in his cell for 20 years, to the point they had him frozen than risk the chance of Byrnndi breaking free and causing havoc.
  • Human Popsicle: He was in this state at Level 6 of Impel Down before he was freed and joined Blackbeard's crew. Byojack, who came to try rescuing him, realizes that Byrnndi would have caused too much havoc and brought the entirety of Impel Down - well, down - with him out of sheer spite if he had any chance of escaping.
  • Make an Example of Them: While Blackbeard intended to kill him for his Devil Fruit either way, his mutiny comes at the perfect time for Blackbeard to demonstrate the price of disloyalty to the thirteen other members of his crew, just as several of them were considering mutiny (or at least desertion) themselves.note  Once Blackbeard returns to their camp with World’s powers added to his own, the would-be deserters instantly realize they will never get out of the Blackbeard Pirates alive.
  • Motive Decay: He originally wanted to sail around the world for the sake of adventure with his brother Byojack and their crew together. But along the way, he eventually became a monster who just wanted to destroy everything in his way.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: He's capable of multiplying the size, speed, and force of anything by up to a hundred just by touching it. Including, say, the six Marine battleships that Shiki is levitating over Marineford...
  • The Starscream: He tries to kill Blackbeard after he fails to steal the Tremor-Tremor Fruit from Whitebeard. It doesn't work.
  • Underestimating Badassery: He thinks that because Whitebeard got the better of Blackbeard, he’ll be able to do the same. Blackbeard immediately proves his assessment very, very wrong.
  • Unintentional Backup Plan: He becomes this to Blackbeard, after Ace ruins his plan to steal the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Blackbeard admits that he was actually always going to kill him, just before doing that - World deciding to mutiny just means he didn't have to come up with an excuse.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: In this story, at least - while he was the Big Bad of the "3D2Y" special in the anime, here he only shows up as a Human Popsicle in Impel Down, and then in the last chapter of Marineford Misery and the Denouement.

    Caribou 

"Wet-Haired" Caribou

The user of the Swamp-Swamp Fruit, and a temporary ally of the World Pirates when they raided Impel Down, who kidnapped large numbers of the prisoners inside.
  • Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: As the manga had not revealed Caribou to be a Hero-Worshipper who became a pirate because he was inspired by Blackbeard yet when the Denouement was written, here he’s terrified of Blackbeard and would prefer if he could have nothing to do with him for the rest of his life, but he knows that ship has long since sailed.
  • Karmic Butt-Monkey: Just like in canon - he's a horrible person, and the world loves paying him back for it.
    Caribou's heart rate didn't slow for the rest of the night. He wasn't fool enough to say that things couldn't get any worse, but when his idea of improvement was having one boss who punished failure with death instead of two, things had definitely never been worse.
  • Nervous Wreck: He knows he and his brother will never be able to leave Blackbeard's crew alive, and he lives in fear that they might discover that when he saved their lives, it was completely unintentional.
  • Spanner in the Works: He was directly responsible for Blackbeard and his crew surviving their fight with Magellan - apparently, Magellan was able to defeat Blackbeard, and with Shiliew crippled and dying in his cell beforehand due to Cross warning Luffy that Shiliew would give the Blackbeards the antidotes to Magellan's poisons, his original way of surviving was not a possibility. Instead, Caribou "absorbed them" into his swamp, and later released them when the poisons Magellan hit them with started making him sick - right by the antidotes they needed to survive.

The Seven Warlords of the Sea

    General 
A select group of outlaws granted diplomatic immunity in exchange for a measure of service to the World Government. Though other pirates belittle them as 'Government dogs,' they are collectively a viable counterbalance to the World Government and the Four Emperors.
  • Badass Crew: Even Perona, who's arguably (at the moment) the weakest known Warlord, is still a top-level combatant (for Paradise), and has a literal army of mutant hellbeasts at her beck and call after the conclusion of the Strong World incident. The rest of the Warlords are even more powerful.


    Crocodile 

Sir Crocodile

The former leader of Baroque Works, and Arch-Enemy of Nefertari Vivi. Following his defeat in Alabasta, he was stripped of his rank and ultimately replaced by Marshall D. Teach, AKA "Blackbeard."


  • Ancestral Weapon:
    • His Sand-Sand Fruit isn't one for him specifically, but it is one of the Devil Fruits traditionally held by the six Alabastan Royal Guardians. Heck, it's how he gained his "Sir" title before his true colors became known.
    • He was also pursuing knowledge of Pluton, which is also one of these.
  • Arch-Enemy: To Vivi. Besides his actions in canon, Vivi has even more reason to hate him since the Sand-Sand Fruit, also known as the Desert, was once part of Alabasta's treasury. After accepting his offer of mentorship, Vivi outright swears she will kill him one day.
  • Evil Mentor: To Vivi, which she is well aware of. Unfortunately, the skills he's offering to teach her are too vital for her to refuse his offer of tutelage.
  • How Dare You Die on Me!: He was genuinely angry in part 3 of Marineford Misery, when he realized that Whitebeard was planning to perform a Heroic Sacrifice so his allies and crew could safely escape.
  • I Need You Stronger: Why he offers Vivi the chance to be trained by him - he needs chaos and cracks in the World Government's control to build his new powerbase, and making that sort of opening is what the Straw Hats are best at. So the stronger the Straw Hats are, the more chaos and diversion they'll make for Crocodile to exploit.
  • Keystone Army: As Cross explains to Nami and Zoro, Crocodile's arrogance led him to build Baroque Works around himself. By defeating him, the entire operation would grind to a halt.
  • Kick the Dog: With hints of yanking it as well. Vivi states Crocodile's Devil Fruit was originally used by Alabasta's royal guards alongside five others, including the Zoan fruits used by Chaka and Pell. When Crocodile first arrived, Vivi and the others were overjoyed to learn the Desert returned to their ranks, only for Crocodile to use it against them once he revealed his true colors to them.
  • Make Sure He's Dead: Seems to have become his new modus operandi, for particularly troublesome or dangerous enemies, as of the Denouement. After impaling a Government assassin, he looked him in the eyes until he was satisfied he was really dead.
  • Pet the Dog: During the Holiday Special, not only did Crocodile let the Christmas Truce between the royals and rebels go unhindered, but he also got Robin a present. A book from Ohara he had to pay a small fortune to Joker for, all for the sake of the season.
  • Sand Blaster: His Sand-Sand Fruit grants him this as his primary power. Secondary powers include a Touch of Death.
  • So Proud of You: When Mr. 5, Ms. Valentine, and Ms. Goldenweek help defeat the Golden Lion Pirates, he’s proud of them, even calling them “his men” even though they’re now part of the Barto Club.
  • Taking You with Me: When the Government found out that Vivi had been working with the Straw Hats and questioned Crocodile, he gave up everything that he knew of her illegal activities as Miss Wednesday, intent on dragging Vivi down with him. This information directly led to Vivi getting a bounty, forcing her to flee Alabasta with the Straw Hats.
  • Villain Has a Point: He might be a vile, greedy Manipulative Bastard, but he's absolutely correct when he says that the only way Vivi is going to get strong enough to survive the New World by the end of the Time Skip is by learning from a fellow Logia who has already experienced and thrived on that sea, such as Crocodile. Which is why Vivi ultimately chooses to accept his offer to be her teacher and becomes his student.
  • Villainous Rescue: He saves the royal family and royal guards of Alabasta from a World Government assassin. Granted, he does it for his own reasons — he wants Vivi and the Straw Hats to sow chaos.
  • Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: His inability to do this has come back to bite him multiple times, both in One Piece itself and here. He lost to Luffy, in the end, because he decided to leave him for dead and suffering, twice, instead of finishing him off and making sure he was dead. And his decision to not just cut off Shiliew's head in Level Six and instead subject him to an attempted Cruel and Unusual Death led to Shiliew surviving, thanks to Blackbeard.
  • Why Won't You Die?: A persistent problem for him — what he subjected Luffy and Shiliew would have killed nearly anyone else. He's very pleased when the World Government assassin he kills dies after he stabs them.
  • Worthy Opponent: After hearing about all the things Luffy has pulled off over the SBS, he's pleased by this, admitting that he didn't lose to some "nobody" after all.

    Boa Hancock 

"Pirate Empress" Boa Hancock

See "Snake" here

    Dracule Mihawk 

Dracule "Hawk-Eye" Mihawk

The greatest swordsman in the world, an ominous and no-nonsense man who often wanders in search of alleviating his constant boredom. Zoro's dream is to defeat him in a duel and claim his title.


  • Big Damn Heroes: It's implied in Strong World that he, Shanks, and Rayleigh were going to fight Shiki and his forces together if the Straw Hats lost.
  • Blood Knight: Mihawk appreciates a good battle, and it doesn't necessarily have to be with a swordsman. When Buggy has his Let's Get Dangerous! moment, he breaks into a Slasher Smile.
  • The Comically Serious: Very stoic, but it doesn't stop him from getting caught up or surprised at the craziness of the Straw Hats and others.
    • During the Omatsuri saga, he uses the pommel of his prized sword to Dope Slap Shanks, to help him jog his memory.
    • He's completely taken aback when it's revealed that Buggy is revealed to be affiliated with Shanks.
    • During the Whitebeard War, even he apparently couldn't resist the urge to see if Buggy's nose was real or fake... by slicing it with his sword.
  • Master Swordsman: Mihawk's title of "greatest swordsman in the world" isn't something he won in a raffle. He can cut down objects both massive and miniscule with lightning-fast swings of his sword.
  • Nerves of Steel: He remains utterly calm no matter who's standing in front of him (granted, there are only a handful of people in the world who can go toe-to-toe with him in a fight). When Cross warns him that attacking Luffy could put him in the crosshairs of the whole crew, Mihawk states with zero change in his posture his interest to see why Shanks sacrificed his arm for Luffy.
  • Not So Above It All: He had every intention of avoiding Shanks after Marineford, due to having both attacked Luffy and wasted good alcohol while doing so, two of Shanks' major Berserk Buttons. He's left fuming when Shanks shows up anyway at the end of the Marineford, making avoidance impossible.
    • Upon his return home following the war, and finding that Zoro has wreaked havoc in his castle, his facial expression is described as being similar to Eneru's infamous Oh, Crap! face.
  • Odd Friendship:
    • During the events of Enies Lobby, he goes to find Whitebeard to ensure he doesn't also go on a rampage, thus necessitating him having to get involved. He not only succeeds but finds a new drinking partner.
    • Likewise, the one he has with Shanks as in canon.
  • Rage Breaking Point: After the events of Marineford nearly push him over the edge, he finally hits his limit when he returns home to find Zoro lounging in his castle, having made his way through a good portion of Mihawk's wine cellar (and not even having the decency to look buzzed), moved every piece of furniture two inches to the left, and allowed the Humandrills inside the castle for good measure. What causes him to truly snap, however, is learning from Zoro that the Humandrills soiled his rugs, causing him to try and kill his prospective student.
  • Sink or Swim Mentor: He hasn't even officially become Zoro's mentor yet and already shows shades of this. After Zoro manages to (partially) cut in half a marine battleship during the Enies Lobby arc, he's disappointed to learn that Zoro cut something he wasn't supposed to (the sea and the sky) and only praises him once he hears Zoro's own disappointment over it.
  • Slasher Smile: He sports an absolutely savage one after Buggy decides to cut loose. The resulting clash causes the battlefield around them to explode.
  • Villain Respect:
    • On top of his canonical respect for Zoro and Luffy, it seems he has come to respect all of the Straw Hats and their combat abilities. When Zoro lands on Kuraigana Island, he sees that Mihawk has deliberately set up Visual Transponder Snails all around the island so the Humandrills can learn and imitate the crew's fighting techniques.
    • When Buggy finally gets enraged and fights ferociously, Mihawk is delighted to see he found a Worthy Opponent, which naturally means he respects Buggy.
  • You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Whereas most would be relieved at Shanks's arrival at Marineford, Mihawk's reaction is exasperation. He did, after all, attack Luffy a little while ago. And spilled good booze in the process.
    Mihawk: Of course he's here. Why wouldn't he show up as soon as I need to avoid him?

    Donquixote Doflamingo 

"Heavenly Demon" Donquixote Doflamingo

The king of Dressrosa and captain of the Donquixote Pirates, a perpetually grinning man with a bottomless thirst for power, glory, cruelty, and destruction.


  • Arch-Enemy: To Trafalgar Law. Law hates him with every fiber of his being, while the mere sight of his old subordinate sends Doflamingo into a seething, murderous rage, especially after Law deflects his Overheat, preventing him from killing Luffy and Ace.
  • Bring It:
    • He essentially does the same thing Mihawk did to Zoro, although in a much crueler and sadistic fashion. After sparing the Straw Hats after the attack on the Human Auction House, he leaves behind a message: "Don't leave me hanging", which Luffy realizes is a challenge for them to get strong enough to challenge him, since he could have easily killed the crew, and has now made painfully aware just how much more difficult the New World is going to be.
    • Law, after foiling his attack on Luffy, Sabo, and Ace, invokes this in him at Marineford. He loudly declares to all the Supernovas that if they manage to survive long enough to make it to the New World, they're all welcome to come to Dressrosa and take their own shot at him.
  • Evil Laugh: "Fufufufufu!"
  • Fate Worse than Death: He tells the members of his famiglia currently with him in Chapter 69 that with the slave market all but finished, he will need to focus on SMILEs and fill the void of slaves with Dressrosa's Toys, dooming god-knows how many innocent people to Sugar's power and having their lives and memories wiped from everyone in the world.
  • For the Evulz: His only reason for doing anything. He spreads chaos and carnage because he finds it funny, and he occasionally stays his hand only because it would be boring if he did everything he was capable of.
  • Heads or Tails?: In the same conversation, he mentions his decision over what to do with the Straw Hats in the Auction House practically amounted to this. Heads, he would have ordered the attack on them. Tails, he leaves them alone. It came up tails. His crew members who are present are shocked at this.
  • The Hyena: The SBS amuses him greatly, even after Cross publicly disrespects him during one broadcast. When Saint Charloss does a live interview during the Sabaody Archipelago arc, Doflamingo is driven to literal tears because he's laughing so hard.
  • Jerkass: The nice thing he does for Christmas? Slightly better gruel for the Colosseum gladiators.
  • Kick the Dog: Once he decides to try and take a shot at Luffy, he gleefully says to his face that he wants to break the Straw Hat captain the same way he broke Cross's will to live. It takes all of Luffy's willpower to avoid taking the bait and attacking him in fury; it's only after noticing Cross himself is suffering a panic attack just by proximity that Luffy calms down and settles for driving him off with a specialized plastique bomb with one of Billy's supercharged feathers in it. Furious, Doflamingo tries to retaliate by readying an attack that would have cut off one of Luffy's legs, only to be stopped by Boa Hancock.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He’s not that serious about it, but he hopes that Gecko Moria survived his nine rounds with the Straw Hats and doesn’t get killed by anyone else in the meantime because he wants to kill him himself. He doesn’t have a grudge against Moria or anything; he just wants to tear him apart to figure out what he is.
  • People Puppets:
    • His String-String fruit allows him to control others like marionettes. He showed it, despite not being anywhere near the Auction House, by controlling the Auction's guards to fight beyond the point of exhaustion, and even the assembled Straw Hats and Supernovas until Rayleigh intervened.
    • He even does this to Cross at one point, sending him into a Heroic BSoD by pumping Cross with Conqueror's Haki and causing a vision of being little more than a puppet for him to play with, traumatizing Cross badly enough that he can't even think until Rayleigh snaps him out of it.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: On the receiving end when he tries calling into the SBS, on account of Cross hanging up on him. Cross makes a point of never letting the guy get a word in edgewise because of his tendency to twist whatever he gets involved with.
  • The Dreaded: He has slowly become this to Cross after the latter was temporarily turned into his puppet. Just hearing his voice is enough to send Cross into a panic attack.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: One of his strings finds its way into Whitebeard's hands. Mistakes have been made indeed.
  • Villain Respect:
    • He greatly enjoys the SBS, stating that even though they're upstarts, the Straw Hats are keeping the world too amusing for him to dislike them.
    Upon hearing that Soundbite has awakened his Devil Fruit: FORGET THE ERA OF ROGER, AND FORGET THE ERA OF SMILES ITSELF! THE ONLY THING I WANT TO SEE IN THIS WORLD IS THE SHEER MADNESS THAT WILL ARISE FROM THE ERA OF THE STRAW HAT PIRATES! FUFFUFFUFFUFFUFFUUU!
    • He owes Cross a debt for letting him finally speak on the SBS during Marineford Misery.
  • Xanatos Gambit: He set up a trap for the Straw Hats at Sabaody first by baiting the World Noble Charloss into a confrontation with some of their allies, forcing Cross to bail them out by guest-starring him on the SBS, which fortunately Charloss turns out to be a fan of. Unfortunately, the worldwide broadcast of the World Noble's complete disregard for anyone below them serves to be the final straw for the Five Elder Stars, who now fully expect a direct attack against a World Noble is not far off and dispatch a practical Buster Call's worth of Marines and Admiral Kizaru on standby to demolish them the moment it happens. Doflamingo then has his band kidnap Keimi at the same time the rest of the gang is tied up dealing with the World Noble, and leaving one of his crew members to deal with them at the Human Auction House once they take the bait, setting up the possibility of Luffy punching Charloss like in canon. Whatever he has planned, he sees two possible outcomes: Either the Straw Hats end up completely slaughtered, and the world falls to pieces at losing some of their greatest heroes, or the Straw Hats survive by the skin of their teeth and go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, tearing the world apart just to get to him. Either way, the world will be turned completely upside-down, just the way he wants it.
  • Worthy Opponent: His former subordinate Law, who promises to one day take him down. Doflamingo is impressed enough from his threat and ability to back it up that he decides it's enough for him to spare both Law and the rest of the Supernovas for the rest of the battle.

    Bartholomew Kuma 

"The Tyrant" Bartholomew Kuma

A high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Army. In the past, he built a reputation of cruelty beyond measure. In the present, he is a powerful cyborg that serves the Government with ostensible loyalty. As of the Marineford Misery arc, he has lost all sapience to the cybernetics.


  • Armor-Piercing Question: After he gives Cross a For Your Own Good speech in Chapter 70, he gives one of these that leaves Cross speechless.
    Kuma: Do you believe, fully and completely, that all of you as you are can survive a war between the most powerful forces in the world, and then proceed to the Emperors' domain and successfully claim Roger's throne?
  • Awesome, but Impractical: While doing so ensured that he was the one to send all the Straw Hats away, he sent the Dugongs... to their own ship. It took them three days to land, and ultimately they could have swam there in only a few minutes. None of the Dugongs are impressed with Kuma about this.
  • Blow You Away: Kuma's powers allow him to push the air at incredible speeds to attack (or to send himself flying) and compress it into a bomb for his Ursa Shock attack.
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: By the time he arrives in Thriller Bark, his conversion into the first Pacifista is already well underway, but he still keeps his conscience until after the Sabaody Revolution arc.
  • For Your Own Good: He appears before Cross alone in Chapter 70, tells him extremely bluntly that the Straw Hats will get scattered across the world by lampshading this trope, that they lucked out at Enies simply due to its lax security and only having CP9 as a challenger, whereas the other two main Marine strongholds are far better guarded and that Marineford itself is preparing itself for the inevitable arrival of the Whitebeard Pirates, surmises that whatever plan Cross will have in a misguided attempt to save Ace will result in at least one fatality and that it would all be on Cross's head for even suggesting such a plan of action. He ends it with the Armor-Piercing Question above, leaving Cross speechless and finishes with telling him to prepare the crew for their separation at sunset.
  • Implacable Man: As per canon, Cross fears the guy due to his skills and toughness. His only strategy against him? "Put our heads between our legs and kiss our asses goodbye."
  • Power Palms: The Paw-Paw Fruit gives him the power to repel, deflect, or otherwise 'push' anything that they touch. In this story, they allowed him to push out the sedative that was applied to Moria and into both Luffy and Cross to capture them. He then transfers both their combined pain into Zoro and Nami to test their resolve in sacrificing themselves for their crewmates. Cross also informs the crew that he can push himself or others any distance he wants with them.
  • Spanner in the Works: He was responsible for waking up Moria despite the heavy sedative, causing him to go ballistic and Awaken his Devil Fruit.
  • Xanatos Gambit: Kuma's choice of training ground for Cross is different from the other Straw Hats to give Luffy an advantage no matter the outcome. Cross paints a massive bullseye on Luffy's back and Kuma isn't certain they can survive that much attention in the New World. So Kuma sent Cross to the Seventh Hell, Serpent, a training ground he wasn't sure Cross could survive filled to the brim with monsters, psychopaths, and people who have challenged the Government the way Cross has and lost. Either Cross exceeds his expectations and proves he can survive the chaos he's bred in the world, or he would die and Luffy would have far less of a burden on his road to the One Piece without the SBS to draw the world's ire.

    Jinbe 

"Knight of the Sea" Jinbe

A whale shark fishman and captain of the Sun Pirates, a crew of fishman partially composed of former slaves of the World Nobles. Stern and ruthlessly powerful, but ultimately kind and just.


  • The Dreaded: All former Sun Pirates fear his wrath. Cases in point:
    • Arlong tolerated Nezumi since he could contact Jinbe at any time and his Empire would cease to exist.
    • Chew and Kuroobi must remain loyal employees in Takoyaki 8 or else he will re-incarcerate them.
    • The Macro Pirates prefer death over facing him.
    • The Sun Pirates are not the only ones Jinbe absolutely terrifies. Cross's reaction to Jinbe pulling his Right Behind Me moment? Sheer raw hot white terror at the notion of angering the Fishman due to the fact that even with all the levels of badass the Straw Hats have taken in advance, Cross is absolutely sure Jinbe is still powerful enough to casually beat the whole crew in a Curb-Stomp Battle.note 
    • And later on while on Level 6 in Impel Down itself the implied threat that he could free himself from his bonds at any moment proceeds to not only silence Shiki's Smug Snake bravado real quick but every other prisoner in Level 6 shuts their mouth and heckling out of sheer fear in record time. It only lasts a few seconds, but still.
  • Implied Death Threat: After hearing Cross's claim that Hody Jones was responsible for Queen Otohime's death, Jinbe demands to hear Cross's evidence while he considers just how high Cross's bounty is.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: While trying to meditate in Impel Down, Jinbe demands that Shiki be quiet before he goes over and shuts him up. When he boasts that Jinbe can't do anything for being chained as well, Jinbe jerks enough to wrench part of his restraints free and repeats himself.
    Jinbe: Be. Quiet. I'm trying to meditate.
  • Right Behind Me: Was in the water beside the Sunny listening in on Cross while he was berating Chew and Kuroobi and only reacted and came aboard once Cross inadvertently reveals Hody Jones was Queen Otohime's murderer.
  • Tears of Joy: After hearing a fishman girl, after listening to the SBS, ask if "hate for hate's sake" was stupid. He agrees with her with these in his eyes.
  • This Cannot Be!: Reacts this way to the "Hody Jones killed Otohime" revelation. It takes a careful explanation from Cross and his friends, along with Megalo's confession as a witness to the crime, to finally make him realize that what happened was true.

    Gecko Moria 

"Umbral Allfather" Gecko Moria

Master of Thriller Bark and the wielder of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, a New World veteran who fled the sea after losing his crew to the Emperor Kaido. Following his defeat in Thriller Bark, he was stripped of his rank and ultimately replaced by his former subordinate, "Hellbeast Princess" Perona.


  • Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In canon, Moria and Perona have a very close relationship, with Oda even stating in an SBS that Moria is essentially Perona's father. In This Bites! their relationship is far more transactional, and neither is shown to particularly care about the other. Moria's canonical loyalty to Absalom is also absent in this fic as well.
  • Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In canon, Gecko Moria's losing a previous crew to Kaido is mentioned only in passing and with very few details, especially from the perspective of the Straw Hats. Here, the impact of that horrible fate is given much more emphasis on how it shaped and continues to shape Moria's psychology, and the crew get a much clearer understanding of what happened to Moria.
  • Adaptational Badass: Moria was a pretty powerful fighter in canon, even after having gotten fat and lazy, but this Moria is far worse. For starters, he Awakens his Devil Fruit, and basically makes his canon self look weak as a kitten.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Similar to how canon!Moria was able to use Shadow's Asgard to grow into a gargantuan, bloated version of himself, Moria uses his post-Awakening Shadow-Shadow Fruit powers to transform into a giant version of himself easily the same size as Oars.
  • Casting a Shadow: His Shadow-Shadow Fruit allows him to shape and manipulate shadows, including creating zombie slaves by implanting human shadows into corpses, and creating a shadowy doppelganger ("Doppelman") as an indestructible, super-fast, shapeshifting minion, with whom he can also trade places in an instant. After Awakening it, he gains even more manipulatory abilities, including creating illusions, producing multiple Doppelmen, and creating draugr, which are zombies that use the shadows of inanimate objects and so, whilst more Dumb Muscle than "ordinary" zombies, are also far more savage and destructive.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: His beloved crew were brutally killed by Kaido, a rival pirate who outclassed Moria and his friends so vastly that they never stood a chance — Moria only survived because Kaido decided to maim him and then let him live For the Lulz. For years, he's festered on the memories of that terrible day, sanity slowly degrading until all he's been left with is the memory of the sheer horror of that day; he doesn't even remember who his crew were anymore, only that they all died horribly.
  • Enlightenment Superpowers: After he wakes up, he finds out that while he was asleep, the Straw Hats snuck onto Thriller Bark, decimated his army and subordinates, and ruined all of his work from the last decade. He promptly Awakens his Devil Fruit. Cue Mass "Oh, Crap!".
  • Evil Laugh: "Kishishishi!"
  • Freudian Excuse: Invoked and Deconstructed. Whilst the Straw Hats are horrified and even kind of sympathetic when they learn that not only was Moria the only survivor of his crew when Kaido massacred them, but his mind has so warped by the horror of what he underwent that he can no longer even remember his crew by anything other than their last words and how they looked when he found them dead, they also call Moria out that his reaction to his trauma is far beyond the excuse he uses to justify it.
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen: Noted by the crew and lampshaded by Luffy during the end of their fight. It isn't just his strength that has degraded over the years — Moria himself has completely lost sight of why he's even sailing anymore. Losing his beloved crew to Kaido and failing for years to mourn them and move on from their deaths properly have left him little more than a husk whose mind has warped the worst memory of his life into a nightmare straight out of hell, and driven towards achieving one aim (revenge on Kaido), as if it will end the emotional torture he's been enduring for so long, not unlike what happened to Baron Omatsuri. Even the Straw Hats come to pity him when they realize what's happened to him over the years. When Luffy calls him a "shadow" of his former self, what defeats the Incredibly Lame Pun is the fact that it is painfully true.
  • Named by the Adaptation: A variant, rather: Nicknamed by the Adaptation. Canon!Moria is the only Warlord whose epithet has yet to be revealed. Here, he's given the title of "Umbral Allfather", referencing Odin the Allfather; fitting into his Norse mythology theming Post-Awakening.
  • Never Found the Body: In the aftermath of Thriller Bark, despite being beaten within an inch of his life, there's not a trace of Moria left on the island. There has been no indication yet of whether He's Just Hiding or it's a case of Death by Adaptation.
  • One-Winged Angel: As in the canon, Moria uses his Shadow-Shadow Fruit to try and manipulate himself into a more powerful form. Whereas canon!Moria took on the form of a gargantuan, green-skinned and bloated version of himself called Shadow's Asgard, here Moria attempts to warp himself into the shape of a monstrous dragon named Nidhogg, in imitation of Kaido's own draconic alternate form. Emphasis on attempts.
  • Power Born of Madness: Two-fold:
    • Firstly, it's Moria's Sanity Slippage that causes him to Awaken his Devil Fruit, gaining access to its increased arsenal of abilities.
    • Secondly, as Soundbite points out, Moria is actually using way more power than somebody newly Awakened to their Devil Fruit's full potential should be able to, eventually deducing that Moria has gone so crazy he's able to temporarily push himself past his limits... though that state won't last for long.
  • Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: After his Devil Fruit Awakens, Moria's attacks are named and/or shaped after figures in Norse Mythology. His new zombies, filled with the shadows of inert objects, are draugr, the Draugr!Oars is called a Jotun, and Moria himself transforms into Nidhogg towards the end of the battle.
  • Sole Survivor: Moria's traumatic backstory involves being this after Kaido massacred his crew for laughs.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Invoked in-universe; Moria's Sanity Slippage was able to help him push past the strain and fatigue of using his newly Awakened Devil Fruit to a high level initially, but the body can only be pushed so far for so long. Sure enough, even Moria's craziness-induced obliviousness to pain and fatigue ultimately fails to keep him fighting.
    • Additionally, the fact Moria is absolutely out of his mind with rage, despair and terror means he wastes a lot of his new power acting in a crazy manner, instead of using precisely controlled force to annihilate the Straw Hats.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Moria manages to Awaken his Devil Fruit through sheer mental trauma, which results in a drastic in-universe upgrade to his powers.
  • Transformation Horror: Moria tries to turn himself into a dragon with "Nidhogg," feeding his shadow other shadows and then reshaping itself, thus him, with Shadow Revolution. The emphasis is on "tried." The sounds Moria's body makes when undergoing the transformation are nauseating. When Cross gets a peek at Moria, he nearly vomits on the spot noting that the result can't be called human or dragon. Chopper himself is horrified at the amount of physical trauma the Warlord put himself through.
  • Trauma Button: In-universe, awakening to find his entire "crew" of zombie slaves and his few loyal living henchmen have been all wiped out is so much like when Kaido massacred his original crew that it forcibly draws Moria's memories back to that original massacre, causing him to snap.
  • Traumatic Superpower Awakening: The reason why Moria Awakens his Devil Fruit here when he didn't in canon; canon!Moria was awake and aware all throughout the Straw Hats' initial attack on Thriller Bark, so he (wrongfully) felt in-control during the whole situation. Here, Moria wakes up from an ordinary sleep to find his crew essentially annihilated, which is not only a huge shock in its own right, but also extremely reminiscent of Moria's greatest tragedy. This pushes him over the edge in a single massive rush of fear, despair and rage, and the resultant madness allows him to Awaken.
  • Villainous Breakdown: At first, it looks like he's going down this route when he wakes up. Then he Awakens his Devil Fruit and goes Laughing Mad. The following fight shows that Moria has gone genuinely insane and too overcome with rage to fight properly, which is about the only thing allowing the crew any leeway in the battle.
  • Villainous BSoD: He wakes up from an artificially enhanced slumber (courtesy of Kuma) to find that the zombie army he has spent years building has been decimated, and the "Ultimate Zombie" superweapon he had pinned all of his hopes and dreams on for finally avenging himself against Kaido has been completely destroyed, to the point that not even Dr. Hogback has a hope of reconstructing it. These would be traumatic enough, but Moria also instinctively likens this situation to when he lost his original crew, with the two traumas correlating enough that he completely and utterly loses his mind!
  • Weak, but Skilled: While he's stated to be the weakest of the Seven Warlords in a direct battle, and has lost a lot of his former strength from his prime (he was once capable of fighting Kaido), he's stated to have tactical skills rivaling those of Crocodile. But after his Devil Fruit Awakens, he's suddenly a lot more dangerous.

    Perona 

"Hellbeast Princess" Perona

See "Puppy" here.

    Buggy the Clown 

Buggy "The Clown"

See his folder here.

    Douglas Bullet 

"Demon Heir" Douglas Bullet

See his folder here.

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