East Blue Pirates
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Roger Pirates
Gold Roger
Gold Roger
"You want to know where my treasure is? I'll tell you..."
Played by: Michael DormanForeign voice actors
Debut: "Romance Dawn"
"Wealth. Fame. Power. I found everything this world has to offer. Free yourselves! Take to the seas! My treasure is yours to find!"
The King of the Pirates, executed at Loguetown 22 years ago.
For tropes related to his other appearances, please see One Piece: Others.
- Adaptational Ugliness: Gold Roger in the manga and anime was ruggedly handsome. In live action, we can see that years of exposure to the sun and living off plunder has taken its toll on his appearance, with his skin burnt red and his teeth all rotten.
- Badass Boast: He says "Wealth. Fame. Power" himself.
- Dare to Be Badass: On the day of his execution, he foils the Marines' attempt to cow the people by inviting everyone to search for his treasure, One Piece, citing wealth, fame, and power as their reward. The idea of becoming a wealthy Living Legend sends everyone racing to the seas, starting the golden age of piracy.
- Dark Messiah: Gold Roger was publicly executed by the ruling establishment, with his words and deeds rousing the population to follow his lead. He'd come across as far more noble if he wasn't one of the most notorious pirates of his generation.
- Deadpan Snarker: Roger jokingly complains about his shackles being itchy just to show off how nonchalant he was towards his impending doom.
- Defiant to the End: He didn't resist his execution, but Roger did circumvent the Navy's plan to Make an Example of Them by starting a global hunt for his fortune.
- Go Out with a Smile: As Roger dies from his execution, he decides to Die Laughing while watching everyone race to the seas in search of the One Piece.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He was executed via being impaled in the back with polearms.
- Last Request: He invites everyone at his execution to search for One Piece, sending them racing right after he dies.
- My Death Is Only The Beginning: While presiding over his execution, Garp hisses to Roger how he brought his fate upon himself, to which Roger just answers that he's now going to "bring it to one and all". Indeed, when Roger's Dare to Be Badass speech towards the onlookers concerning his treasure, One Piece, Garp is seen being visibly shaken as he realizes the sheer scope of what Roger just started.
- Posthumous Character: Executed more than twenty years before the show starts.
- Small Role, Big Impact: As in canon, he spent his dying days inspiring everyone to go on a global treasure hunt, sparking the golden age of piracy. This led to the rise of heroic and villainous pirates, including Monkey D. Luffy, whose dream was to become the King of Pirates.
- Troll: When Garp asks for his Last Words, he says that his handcuffs are too itchy. And that's to say nothing of him using his last words to turn his execution into the exact opposite of what the Marines intended it to be.
- The Unreveal: Roger's wanted poster is shown, but unlike the other characters, the poster is framed to avoid showing his bounty.
Red Hair Pirates
For tropes related to the crew's other appearances, please see One Piece: Four Emperors. Shanks
"Red-Haired" Shanks
"You can spill a drink on me and I'll let it slide. But don't you ever threaten my friends."
Played by: Peter Gadiot, Matt Herrington (young)Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Romance Dawn"
"Scars don't make the man, Luffy. It's the lesson behind the scar, and you didn't earn this one."
A legendary pirate whom Luffy idolized as a young boy and got his straw hat from.
- An Arm and a Leg: As in the manga, Shanks loses an arm saving Luffy from a sea king.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Don't let his laid-back attitude fool you: this is the same man who can stare down a sea monster without flinching and won't hesitate to tear apart anybody who threatens his friends.
- Death Glare: Shanks manages to ward off a giant eel armed with only a defiant look despite the beast tearing off his arm.
- Friendly Pirate: They don't get much friendlier than Shanks. Luffy starts to imitate him upon coming of age. That said, he will protect his friends with lethal force.
- Gallows Humor: Shanks is not above cracking jokes about his missing arm. When Mihawk snidely tells Shanks that he's half the man he used to be and no longer an interesting opponent because of it, Shanks tells Mihawk that he's still capable of fighting him off, even with an "arm tied behind my back". He then instantly proceeds to burst into hysterical laughter at his own joke while the rest of his crew cackles along.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Shanks invites Mihawk to have a drink with his crew despite the latter being a pirate-hunter.
- Nice Guy: Despite being a pirate, he's one of the friendliest characters in the series, willing to risk life and literal limb to protect the young Luffy.
- Passing the Torch: Like in the manga, Shanks leaves his straw hat in the hands of the young Luffy shortly before he leaves Windmill Village.
- So Proud of You: When he gets Luffy's first Wanted Poster, Shanks beams with pride before calling his men to break out the reserve booze to celebrate.
Benn Beckman
Benn Beckman
Played by: Laudo Liebenberg Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Romance Dawn"
The first mate of the Red Hair Pirates.
- Number Two: Shanks' right-hand man among the Red Hair Pirates.
- Pistol-Whipping: He's an excellent shot, but his preferred method of combat appears to be clubbing his enemies with the butt of his gun, as several of Higuma's bandits found out the hard way.
Lucky Roux
Lucky Roux
Played by: Ntlanhla Morgan Kutu Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Romance Dawn"
The sea cook of the Red Hair Pirates.
- Big Eater: Always has a hunk of meat in his mouth.
- Big Fun: Roux is a heavyset guy with a smile just as big and the same love for drinking and partying like the rest of his friends.
- Deadpan Snarker: He's not above poking fun at his own Big Eater tendencies. When Shanks jokingly states that all the food the people of Windmill Village gave them should last them around three hours considering Roux is with them, Roux cheerfully snarks back "If you're lucky!"
- Edible Bludgeon: He's not against using the lamb shank he's chowing down on as a weapon, whacking one of Higuma's men in the face with it when they start grappling.
- Real Men Eat Meat: Roux eats it off the bone in the midst of a brawl.
- Slasher Smile: Roux beams maniacally when he pulls a pistol on Higuma.
Yasopp
Yasopp
Played by: Steven Marc Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Romance Dawn"
The sharpshooter of the Red Hair Pirates and Usopp's long-lost father.
- The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Being part of Shank's crew, he more or less helped to raise Luffy. He also left his flesh-and-blood son, Usopp, when the latter was still just an infant.
- Disappeared Dad: He is Usopp's father, who went off to sea one day and never returned.
- Friendly Sniper: Yasopp is just as friendly as the other Red Hair Pirates and is a master sharpshooter to boot.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Yasopp is able to pull off trick shots effortlessly, such as bouncing a bullet off a pipe to kill the bandit that had Lucky Roux in a headlock without harming Roux himself.
Alvida Pirates
Alvida
Alvida
"Who's the most powerful pirate on the seas?"
Played by: Ilia Isorelýs Paulino Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Romance Dawn"
"Take everything! But leave the crew to me. Let's show 'em what true terror looks like."
The cruel captain of the Alvida Pirates.
Bounty: 5,000,000
For tropes related to her other appearances, please see One Piece: Blue Seas.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the manga, she's initially a morbidly obese Gonk. Here, she's at worst slightly overweight and leans more towards being a Big Beautiful Woman.
- Adaptational Personality Change: Alvida's obsession with her looks has been replaced with being recognized as the mightiest pirate on the seas, to the point that her Berserk Button is anyone implying that she is weak. The closest thing to her original vanity is her checking herself in a mirror that one of her goons had stolen from the ship.
- Adaptational Wimp: In the manga, she's already eaten her Devil Fruit (which slims her down as a side effect) by the time she and Buggy first meet. Here, she still has the same appearance, which means that she either hasn't eaten it yet or Adaptational Ugliness is at play.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Her cowboy hat is colored white in the source material and black in this series initially (though she does switch to a white one later.)
- Adapted Out: Her Anime/Manga nickname of "Iron Mace" is left unused here.
- Bad Boss: While she's physically prettier than she is in the manga, her personality is just as ugly; she abuses Koby, refusing to let him eat or sleep except when she allows it and he's terrified of leaving because she might track him down. She's also none too careful about hurting her crew when trying to attack Luffy.
- Berserk Button: She does not take it well when it's pointed out she's not the more feared and famous pirate in the world.
- Big Bad Wannabe: For all of her posturing about being the strongest pirate, Alvida's dealt with rather quickly by Luffy before he'd assembled his crew and her bounty is quite modest compared to the next few captains who show up.
- Carry a Big Stick: This version of Alvida seems to have a collection of them. She's seen using a vicious morning star when boarding an enemy ship, a different morning star modelled after the figurehead of her ship to interrogate prisoners, and finally the manga-accurate iron club when she tries to attack Luffy and Koby.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: There's a good chance if she had attacked with the mace she used in battle previously, rather than her massive iron club, she wouldn't have caused the damage that set her ship on fire and broke the ship's wheel in trying to kill Luffy.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Alvida just smirks, flattered, when Luffy mentions that Koby called her 'mean' and 'cruel', but gets angry at being told he called her 'dumber than a sea cow'.
- Psycho Pink: Has a pink ship that fires pink cannonballs that release pink glitter, but is cruel and violent.
- Small Name, Big Ego: She acts like she's the most feared and powerful pirate in the world, while even bounty hunters consider her too small fry to hunt.
- Starter Villain: As in the original, Alvida's the first pirate Luffy and Koby had to fight on their respective adventures.
- Villainous Breakdown: Quickly goes into one when she can't land a hit on Luffy, which intensifies further when he tricks her into destroying her ship's wheel and setting the ship on fire.
- Villain Team-Up: She offers an alliance with Buggy and he seems open to the proposal.
- Xenafication: Alvida's motivation has been changed from being the fairest pirate to being the strongest, making her gender irrelevant to her character.
Buggy Pirates
For tropes related to the crew's other appearances, please see One Piece: Blue Seas. General
- Adaptational Diversity: In the manga and anime, before Alvida joined up, Buggy only had men among his crew. Here, women can be seen among the rank-and-file members of the crew.
- Adaptational Job Change: Of a sort; they're obviously pirates in either version, but while the manga's Buggy Pirates are just circus-themed, here they're actually performers—albeit one more for Buggy than their "audience".
- Circus of Fear: Buggy goes to the trouble of setting up his own personal big top in Orange Town, where the audience are forced to laugh and applaud and the main attractions involve (often fatal) torture.
- Knock Out Gas: They use sleeping gas to knock out and capture Luffy and his crew in the second episode.
Buggy
Buggy the Clown
"So you can slice me and you can dice me, but I'll always put myself back together again."
Played by: Jeff Ward Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Romance Dawn"
"My bounty poster graces the marquee of every Marine outpost for miles. And my menagerie of outcasts and freaks is the most dreaded pirate crew the East Blue has ever known. I am destined to find the One Piece. And when I do... I will be king."
The clownish pirate captain of the Buggy Pirates.
Bounty: 15,000,000
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Well... depending on who you ask. While Buggy isn't necessarily ugly in the manga or anime, in the live action he is played by Jeff Ward, who is a rather handsome guy despite his full face of clown makeup. Ward also brings a certain charisma and swagger to the character that differs from manga/anime Buggy, and this has not gone unnoticed by fans.
- Adaptational Hairstyle Change: The blue hair sticking out of Buggy's hat are, in the manga, the actual hair on his head. In the show, they are part of the hat, which means Buggy's hair is much shorter now.
- Adaptational Jerkass: In addition to completely destroying Orange Town, this version of Buggy also takes joy in holding the survivors hostage and forcing them to participate in his Circus of Fear. He's also all too happy torturing Luffy to find the map to the Grand Line.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: His Chop-Chop Fruit abilities have gotten two distinct upgrades:
- In the manga, his feet must always remain planted on the ground unless they're picked up by somebody else, while here, his feet are free to soar around alongside the rest of his body parts.
- In the manga, while the fruit makes the user invulnerable to slicing attacks, they are still vulnerable to bludgeoning attacks. Here, Luffy punching Buggy in the head or the stomach detaches the part he punched, allowing it to move with the attack, leaving Buggy virtually unharmed (Though Kuroobi is able to harm him with a Karate blow). However, if the body part is already detached and/or has no room to move with the attack, Buggy can still be hurt, as shown by Zoro stabbing Buggy's leg while it's detached and between his swords and the ground.
- In the manga, Buggy can only control his detached body parts within a limited range. Here, he's able to control them over much greater distances, as shown with the detached ear that he left in Luffy's straw hat.
- Adaptational Ugliness:
- His makeup is a lot more messy and disheveled than in the source material.
- Buggy's bulbous red nose in the manga was drawn simply enough to be indistinguishable from a typical "rubber ball" prop nose. This version's nose has visible pores and nostrils, making it rather grotesquely apparent that it's an actual body part.
- Adaptation Expansion: In the original manga, his sole role in the East Blue Saga is to serve as the Arc Villain of the Orange Town arc before coming back for the climax at Loguetown. In the series, after his defeat, he pops up again when he is used by the Arlong Pirates to keep track of the Straw Hats movements and is even dragged to Arlong Park along the crew to reassemble his body.
- Adaptation Personality Change: In the manga, despite his appearance, Buggy more often than not plays the straight man to other character's foibles, and is generally a boisterous but cowardly Schemer who adopted a Circus theme for his crew in order to lean into his natural clown resemblance. In this adaptation, Buggy is somewhere between a Monster Clown and Practically Joker, and is a full on Repulsive Ringmaster.
- Adapted Out: In the manga, Orange Town features a full-on flashback explaining Buggy's (hilariously petty and irrational) reasons for hating Shanks. Here, Buggy merely mentions that Shanks "betrayed" him in the past and no further details are mentioned or shown.
- Attention Whore: Buggy lives to be in the literal and figurative spotlight. He kidnapped the civilians of the town he destroyed to force them to be his audience and cheer for him on cue. His grudge against Shanks centers on how Shanks became a greater pirate and overshadowed him, he wants to find the One Piece so the world would adore him as King of the Pirates, and he swears to kill Luffy personally after he gets a bounty twice as big as Buggy's.
- Bad Boss: Yells at and demeans his crew members in his introduction, and later calls them "a sorry excuse for a supporting cast." However, they do at least seem to respect him and follow his orders, so how truly "bad" of a boss he is remains to be seen.
- Berserk Button: Twofold. The first being his nose, and the second being the notion of sharing the spotlight (both figuratively and literally) with anyone else. His comments regarding Shanks seems to imply that he's the major source for the latter button.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Buggy sees himself as king in the making, but he's thwarted in a single episode and later worfed by one of Arlong's men.
- Blessed with Suck: His chop-chop powers came from a Devil Fruit, so he's weak against seawater.
- Boring Insult: He yells "BORING!" at Luffy as he keeps saying that he's going to become the King of the Pirates in the second episode.
- Boss-Arena Idiocy: The only reason the Straw Hats manage to defeat him is thanks to convenient boxes to lock his body parts in.
- Breakout Character: The Live Action Buggy has garnered a significant fanbase, arguably moreso than the Straw Hats themselves, thanks in no small part to Jeff Ward's charismatic and darkly humorous portrayal of him. The social media pages for the series have not missed this, as a significant amount of their posts after the show's release have centered around him and Ward.
- Butt-Monkey: Even with his more intimidating introduction, he can't escape his source material's fate as this. After his defeat, he spends most of the season being subjected to slapstick and various other misfortunes as a head, due to Arlong stringing up the rest his body as insurance.
- Calling Your Attacks: Like Luffy, he calls his attacks based on his Devil fruit."Chop-Chop Cannon!"
- Circus of Fear: He runs one on what remains of Orange Town, with the denizens as his literal captive audience.
- Combat Pragmatist: He will use his powers in sneaky and subdued ways. After revealing his power, he hides one hand behind his back. When he pulls the arms out, the hand is gone. He puts in it a knockout gas ball and flies it behind Luffy. When Luffy notices the hand, it squeezes the ball, releasing the gas and gives Luffy a suckerpunch for good measure.
- Detachment Combat: The Chop-Chop Fruit allows Buggy to disassemble himself, making him immune to being chopped to pieces and allowing him to pelt his targets with his own body parts.
- Devious Daggers: Uses long daggers as weapons in battle, carrying a blade between each of his fingers.
- Dirty Coward: Promises to help Sanji and Zoro fight Arlong's men if they let him get his body back; as soon as he does, however, he immediately goes back on the deal and runs away.
- Enemy Mine: He is forced twice into these:
- After his defeat by Kuroobi, he is forced to help Arlong track down the Straw Hats.
- After the events at Baratie, Buggy is forced to help guide the Straw Hat Pirates to the Conomi Islands, as Arlong's stolen away his entire body sans his head, making him akin to a compass with an attitude.
- Establishing Character Moment: Just like in the manga, Buggy is introduced at the end of episode 1 sitting lazily on his throne while a clearly intimidated Cabaji tells him they lost the map to the Grand Line. The darkness lifts to reveal Buggy's smiling face, and after casually shoving away his wanted poster, he declares that he will get "his" map back, no matter who he has to kill. He then starts laughing uncontrollably before the episode fades to black.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: When Nami appears to have double-crossed the Straw Hat Pirates, Buggy ridicules Luffy's decision to go after her by singing a sea shanty about how treacherous she is.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He thinks that enslaving a town and forcing them to be the audience for his show is positively hilarious. He even takes a kid from the audience, threatening to stretch him out like Luffy to make him "get tall fast," all while laughing hysterically.
- Evil Is Petty: He forces his hostages to sit in his audience and react with enthusiasm. He goes the extra mile when he demands the boy he's holding in a headlock to laugh on command. He also gets a kick out of trying to make Usopp lose his concentration while the latter is working.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: His bandana has asymmetrical red-and-white striped patterns.
- Flipping the Bird: As soon as he gets his body back in the final episode, Buggy flips off Zoro and Sanji with both hands before running away from Arlong Park.
- The Gadfly: Enjoys messing around with the Straw Hats while he's traveling to the Conomi Islands with them.
- Gag Nose: That big red nose he has isn't a prosthetic, and he does not like people pointing it out.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Just like the original Buggy, it takes very little to set him off.
- Hypocrite: Scoffs at Luffy's intention to become King of the Pirates, when Buggy himself wants the exact same thing.Buggy: What could you possibly need that map for anyway? You wouldn't last five minutes in the Grand Line.
Luffy: I already told you. I'm gonna be king of the—
Buggy: BORING! - I Have Many Names: While making himself known to the Straw Hats, Buggy lists of his other nicknames, such as "The Flashy Fool" and "The Genius Jester." Luffy responds, "Wow, you have a lot of names!"
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Implied. When explaining his plan to become King of the Pirates, he solemnly finishes with, "Then everyone will know my name, and they'll love me." It's likely that his obsessive need for attention stems from a desire to be loved and admired.
- It's All About Me: It's clear that Buggy cares about himself above all else, demanding attention and adoration from others at all times and exaggerating his importance. It's the main reason he's so bent on becoming King of the Pirates, because he just feels like he deserves it.
- It's Personal: In episode 8, when he sees that Luffy's bounty is now higher than his own, he vows to take him down, teaming up with Alvida in the process."I'll kill the little shit myself."
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Despite offering Sanji and Zoro some help against the Arlong Pirates, he promptly ditches them after recovering his missing body parts as part of his end of the bargain, revealing himself to have always been no less out for himself than before making the offer.
- Large Ham: While toned down considerably in this version, Buggy is still very bombastic, enjoying making everything into a spectacle as is fitting for a Repulsive Ringmaster.
- Laughably Evil: Though more overtly threatening than his mainline counterpart, he has a tendency to undercut his intentional attempts to be menacing in some hilariously embarrassing ways.
- Literal Metaphor: Buggy says he has "eyes and ears" everywhere. He tracked the Straw Hats by literally putting his ear in Luffy's straw hat.
- Logical Weakness: If his separated body parts are prevented from moving, he loses a lot of his menace.
- Losing Your Head: Luffy punches his head clean off his shoulders. Naturally, Buggy isn't phased by this in the slightest.
- Magic Pants: As per the manga and anime versions, all of his clothing detaches and reattaches with his limbs.
- Monster Clown: A ruthless pirate and killer clown all rolled into one, and unlike his bumbling counterpart from the manga and anime, the threat he poses to the average person is not glossed over.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: This version of Buggy is basically the Joker if he were played by John Malkovich.
- One-Man Army: He's able to hold his own against the three Straw Hats for several minutes thanks to his Chop Chop abilities, and might have actually won if not for their teamwork and figuring out how to trap his body parts.
- Practically Joker: Jeff Ward's performance evokes this, being a Monster Clown with a twisted sense of humor and a maniacal laugh, and he tries to get under Luffy's skin by bringing up his past with Shanks. Worth noting is that he switches from Soft-Spoken Sadist to Suddenly Shouting like recent incarnations of the Joker, while the original Buggy famously had No Indoor Voice.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "Wanna see what else I can do?"
- Psychological Projection: Projects his own feelings of being looked down on and abandoned by Shanks onto Luffy while trying to get the latter to hand over the map.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Behaves very much like a child, demanding that he be showered with attention and getting unreasonably and lethally angry when things don't go his way.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The moment Zoro and Sanji get him his body back in Arlong Park, he promptly flips the two off before scampering away.
- Shadow Archetype: To Luffy. Both have Devil Fruit powers and aspire to obtain the One Piece which will make them a living legend. Beyond that, Buggy is an all-round jerkass who terrorizes innocent people and sees his henchmen as little more than flunkies while Luffy is always kind to bystanders and treats his crew like family.
- Slouch of Villainy: Is introduced sitting damn near horizontal in a pirate throne.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: The most foul-mouthed character so far, and is very fond of saying "shit" and inserting it into his insults. He's also the first character to say "fuck.”
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Alternates between this and Suddenly Shouting. He spends much of episode 2 trying to calmly manipulate Luffy into giving him information about the map, but frequently loses his temper.
- Suddenly Shouting:Buggy: (about Luffy) Stretch him until he breaks.
Mayor Boodle: Please. Don't make me do this.
Buggy: *shouting* I INVITE YOU to take part in the SPLENDOR that is my show, and THIS is how you repay me?! - Torture Is Ineffective: He tries torturing Luffy by attempting to stretch him to his limit, but Luffy is unbothered and the only information he gets out of Luffy is from Luffy reacting when he mentions Shanks. He then tries a better method of torture, dousing Luffy with seawater, but that method is also ineffective.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Zoro and Sanji allow him to reconnect his head to his body, and he thanks them by giving them two one-finger victory salutes and immediately running off.
- We Can Rule Together: Tries to sway Luffy to join his crew by appealing to him as a fellow "freak" with a Devil Fruit power, and claiming that Zoro and Nami have abandoned him.
- Worf Effect: As a demonstration of how inhumanly powerful the fishmen are, Kuroobi completely bypasses Buggy's ability to segment himself to dampen concussive damage, knocking him out with one swift punch to the face.
- Worthy Opponent: By the time he discovers Luffy's bounty, Buggy still doesn't like him, but he seems to respect Luffy a lot more now.
- Would Hurt a Child: At one point terrorizes a poor Orange Town kid and threatens to torture him like Luffy.
Cabaji
Cabaji
"You really don't fear death, do you?"
Played by: Sven Ruygrok Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Romance Dawn"
"My name is Cabaji, and a couple years ago you hunted us across the Goa Kingdom, followed us for weeks through the swamp lands, day and night, never relenting, like some kind of demon.
An acrobat serving the Buggy Pirates.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: He has far more personal reason to want Zoro dead, as he and his brother were chased down by the Pirate Hunter through the Goa Kingdom, with his brother ultimately being killed.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: In the manga, Cabaji didn't appear before the Orange Town arc, and even then he was the last named member of Buggy's crew to be introduced. In the series, he is first seen during the Shell Town arc.
- Adaptational Sympathy: In the manga, the only reason Cabaji wants to kill Roronoa Zoro is to boost his reputation. In the series, he has the more sympathetic motive of wanting to avenge the death of his brother, who was killed by Zoro.
- Adaptational Wimp: In the manga, Cabaji is defeated by Zoro in a full fledged fight, where he got in a few good hits (albeit by targeting the wounds Buggy had already given Zoro). Here he's just knocked out by Zoro after Nami distracts him.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Though he makes his introduction at the end of episode 1, he's briefly seen earlier at the Shells Town bar when Zoro enters the establishment and asks for a drink with Cabaji walking away from Zoro hinting he was there the whole time as a spy.
- Flechette Storm: He actually has a legit circus act — knife throwing.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His decision to use a captive Zoro for his knife throwing act gives Zoro the means to break free from his bindings when one of the knives cuts the rope binding his right hand, and join Nami in escaping to rescue Luffy.
Mohji
Mohji
Debut: "The Man in the Straw Hat"
Buggy's assistant.
- Adapted Out: Richie, Mohji's lion, doesn't make an appearance, only mentioned as Buggy's absent 'dancing lion'.
- Demoted to Extra: Mohji is reduced from one of Buggy's front-line officers to a mute holding up Cue Cards for Buggy's captive audience.
- The Voiceless: He doesn't say a single word in the series.
Black Cat Pirates
For tropes related to the crew's other appearances, please see One Piece: Blue Seas. General
- Adapted Out: With the exception of Kuro, Sham and Buchi, the rest of the crew is written out of the Syrup Village Arc and do not factor into Kuro's plan as they did in the original manga.
- Cats Are Mean: Kuro and his henchmen have a feline motif and as pirates, they're naturally quite nasty.
- Continuity Cameo: Jango the hypnotist was written out of the Syrup Village Arc, but makes a cameo appearance on a wanted poster in Shells Town.
- The Starscream: Not shown, but Kuro mentions that some members of his own crew have attempted to betray him in the past.
Kuro
Kuro of a Thousand Plans/"Klahadore"
"No-one interferes with my plans."
Played by: Alexander Maniatis Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Tell No Tales"
"Well, well, well. It appears we have some rats in our cellar."
The ruthless pirate captain of the Black Cat Pirates, thought to be long dead at the hands of Axe-Hand Morgan, but in reality masquerading as Kaya's butler Klahadore.
Bounty: 16,000,000
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The stresses he felt as a result of being a pirate captain - always feeling the need to watch his back, stay one step ahead - are greatly played up here. Not that it excuses what he did...
- Adaptational Badass: In the manga, Kuro's Super-Speed was so intense for him that he couldn't see what was around him while he was moving, attacking the walls, floor, and everything else indiscriminately with his Out of The Bag Attack. Here, he shows no such limitation as he Flash Steps all over the manor.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Manga Kuro's biggest flaw was that he never changed his plans even in the face of an obvious Spanner in the Works. This Kuro, by contrast, uses the fact that the Marines know the Straw Hats were at the mansion to change his plans from poisoning Kaya and blaming her death on illness (which Usopp and Nami might have been able to foil) to framing the Straw Hats for her murder. It doesn't quite work out, but points for effort.
- Adaptational Jerkass: This adaptation somehow manages to make him even worse than he was in the original. He doesn't just despise taking care of Kaya, he's been actively poisoning her since her parents died in a convoluted plot to steal her inheritance.
- His attack on Merry. In the original, while he leaves Merry slashed and bleeding, ultimately the Butler was still concious and survived the ordeal when Kuro had him dead to rights (while at the same time, it's stated by Jango he's a thorough killer who hadn't lost his edge). This version of Kuro plays with Merry first to terrify him before outright gutting him with all five of his blades on one glove, and specifically asks his henchmen to dump him in a deep well, which would definately finish the job if he weren't dead by that point.
- In the case of his Villainous Breakdown, he originally ranted about how his plans can't fail while flashing back to happy moments as Kaya's butler, implying he's in denial, and at least subconsciously realizes he was happy too and is regretful that his pride in his plans ruined it. None of that happens here, and as a result his breakdown is more focused on his shock that Luffy actually caught him and is about to bash him out a window. His Motive Rant is actually about how much he's always hated Kaya, which includes wanting to cut out her tongue for mourning her parents.
- Adaptational Karma: Just like in the manga, he survives and escapes after he regained consciousness. However, unlike the manga, he no longer has his crew and his only mode of transportation is a little dinghy.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- On the other hand, unlike his manga counterpart, this Kuro never had any intention of massacring the people of the island, though that's likely just because either he or Captain Morgan already killed most of his crew and it wouldn't really benefit him anyway. And while he makes implicit threats to Sham and Buchi, and states to Luffy that he's always considered his crew expendable, he gives no indication that he specifically plans to kill them even if they perform their roles in his plan properly the way he did in the manga.
- An additional yet odd example in that it's less that it's him who's nicer, but more "Klahadore". In the original, Klahadore made his contempt for Usopp very clear, confronting him when he visited Kaya and insulting his mother in his attempts to drive him off. Here however, he comes off as less antagonistic towards Usopp, with that applying more to Sham and Buchi, but more stern, simply reprimanding that he should send word whenever he comes over, but otherwise doesn't appear to mind his presence around Kaya. And while he does insult him under the guise later, that's after Usopp learned about his true nature and is trying to report him to the marines, giving him a justification to act even remotely hostile.
- Bad Boss: His interactions with Sham and Buchi make it clear that they only follow him out of fear, and he even proudly declares to Luffy that he's willfully murdered his own crewmembers without remorse when he was still active.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: He's a deadly pirate who attacks with large claws while wearing his butler outfit.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Just like in the source material, Kaya's soft-spoken and loyal butler turns out to actually be a cruel and conniving pirate captain in disguise. He's arguably even worse here, as he's been secretly poisoning her over the years as part of a convoluted plot to steal her inheritance.
- Break Them by Talking: Part of his plan to flush Kaya out of hiding is to detail exactly how much he's despised her all those years of serving her. While she attacks him rather than breaking down, it has the same effect all the same. He attempts the same to Luffy by intimidating him with promises of what the future as a pirate holds for Luffy. Unfortunately for him, it goes much less well for him the second time around.
- Bullet Catch: Kuro managed to catch one of Usopp's ballistics even when it was on the edge of his periphery.
- The Butler Did It: One of the more tactical examples. Kuro charmed his way into Kaya's good graces and maintained her trust in him until she came of age. During that time he added a mild poison to her food and tea to make her fully reliant on him while convincing everyone else that Kaya was terminally ill.
- Character Tic: Tends to adjust his glasses with the palm of his hand, a holdover from wielding his clawed gloves so often.
- Dark Is Evil: His hair and wardrobe are pitch black. And of course his crew are called the Black Cat Pirates.
- Destination Defenestration: He is defeated by Luffy the same way as in the source material, but this time with the added bonus of knocking him out of a window of Kaya's mansion as well.
- Didn't See That Coming: He really didn't expect Luffy to catch him when he is using his Flash Step and using the various furniture in Kaya's mansion to hide himself. But thanks to hearing the squeaks of his leather shoes, Luffy does find and punch him while he's in his hiding place, knocking him on his back and mussing up his slicked-back hair. The shocked expression he wears in response to this is priceless.
- Did You Actually Believe...?: He makes this kind of speech to Luffy during their final confrontation in the fourth episode.Kuro: Did you really think you could get the best of me? I'm Kuro of the Thousand Plans!
- Evil Is Petty: He goes for Break Them by Talking while stalking Kaya, trying to make her feel weak and ashamed for never catching on to him during his years of pretending to be a good servant.
- Evil Wears Black: Unlike the brightly-dressed Alvida and Buggy, he's dressed up entirely in black. he is also a cruel, conniving sociopath who has no remorse over tormenting the household of a young, orphaned heiress or killing his own crewmates to get what he wants.
- Faking the Dead: Decided to plot his own demise at the hands of Morgan to escape the Marines hounding him for his bounty.
- Flash Step: His speed is shown with him vanishing from one location and popping up again in another.
- Forgot About His Powers: After Luffy manages to land a hit on him, he becomes so angry that he seems to completely forget about his ability to Flash Step, opting to mindlessly slash at Luffy with his base speed. This ultimately leads to his defeat.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Like his manga/anime counterpart, he's wearing a pair of glasses, which adds to his sophisticated image. He is also a monster who emotionally abused and poisoned Kaya as part of a plan to steal her inheritance, and killed even his own crewmembers without a shred of remorse.
- Hate Sink: Like his original counterpart, he is a snooty elitist who would attack a sickly young woman after tormenting her for his amusement.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: To scare Kaya out of hiding, Kuro bitches about how much he hated taking care of her over the years.
- I Control My Minions Through...: Fear. Kuro doesn't believe in trust, so he keeps Buchi and Sham in line by making them too terrified of him to disobey.
- Kick the Dog: While he's tormenting Kaya, Kuro slashes her family portrait. Keep in mind she's been an orphan for some years now.
- Knight of Cerebus: He's the first villain whom the Straw Hats are unable to thwart in the space of a single episode, as well as being the first villain to kill a civilian onscreen. Furthermore, he is the first villain to have no comical traits whatsoever.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Kuro's most heinous actions revolve around the breaking of trust. Despite dutifully serving as Kaya's butler for years, he secretly poisoned her so he could get to her inheritance, and killed her lawyer Merry to keep him from exposing his true character. Later, he tries to emotionally break Kaya by bitching about how much he resented serving her, and during his fight with Luffy, he gloats how Luffy's friends will inevitably betray him in the end, all to rattle the boy enough to being vulnerable to a killing blow. He ends up paying for his crimes when Luffy, who trusts his own crew despite barely knowing them, manages to outsmart him and set him up for a humiliating defeat to protect Kaya, a complete stranger to Luffy.
- Never My Fault: Everything Kuro complains about are what he only has himself to blame for. He tells Luffy about treacherous crewmen when it's extremely obvious he never did anything to earn their loyalty. His rant to Kaya attacks her for asking him to do things that are standard butler duties, a disguise he chose to take on, or are related to the "illness" he caused by poisoning her. He also complains about her lack of achievement and independence, something he very deliberately fostered as her relying on him is integral to his plan to get her fortune.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Kuro has none of the comedic or hammy quirks of the previous pirate captains the Straw Hats have faced, which makes him stand out as unsettlingly creepy by comparison. It's downplayed later on as it turns out he's only like this when he believes he's in full control. The moment he isn't, he opts to intimidate and demoralize his target first, and when he gets hit, he drops the self-control altogether and becomes an absolutely sloppy fighter.
- No True Scotsman: While still a pirate captain, his decision to give up on his dreams in favor of living a safer life, as well as his actions towards Kaya and Merry, earns him Luffy's disdain.Luffy: You gave up on your dream. No one who does that can ever call themselves a pirate.
- The Perfectionist: Kuro believes in executing his plans flawlessly, a reflection of how flawless he considers himself. This carries over into his butler facade, such as when he gives Sham a dressing down for a dirty wine glass.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: Likely because they would be grossly cumbersome to wield in real life due to their weight alone, Kuro fights with gloves tipped with tantō blades rather than full-length katanas.
- Psychological Projection: Kuro mocks Luffy for wanting to be a pirate by saying it's a life of constant paranoia because you can't trust anyone. The idea of pirate crewmembers trusting each other is just beyond Kuro.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: He allowed the world to think Axe-Hand Morgan had killed him so he could go into hiding.
- Retired Monster: Like in the source material, he's grown tired of the pirate lifestyle and wants to retire. However, he holds no regret for his past misdeeds, and his means of paying for his planned retirement involves killing an innocent girl to take her fortune.
- Sadist: Very much so. He openly revels in slowly hunting down Kaya, Nami and Ussop in her mansion, calling out for her in an unnervingly singsong tone while tearing her mansion apart with his Wolverine Claws. Earlier than that, he seems almost darkly giddy while messing with Merry with his Flash Steps before killing him. All in all, Kuro acts like a predator sadistically playing with his prey.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: As a butler, he wears sharp black suits and polished dress shoes. This serves to highlight his cruel, cunning, and sociopathic personality, making him a far more frightening villain compared to Alvida and Buggy.
- Slobs Versus Snobs: Kuro is posh and immaculately dressed but feels no compassion. This contrasts heavily against Luffy and Usopp, both of whom are scruffy and uncouth but otherwise kindly fellows.
- Smug Snake: Kuro is all too happy to flaunt his intelligence and lethality when he's going after victims who can't fight on his level, but the moment Luffy manages to land one punch on him, he loses his composure and gets sloppy, making him easy pickings for the Straw Hat captain.
- Strong and Skilled: He's got superhuman speed and is far more cunning than Alvida or Buggy.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: In keeping with the whodunnit plots Kuro's arc takes influence from, Kuro looks far less menacing than Buggy or Axe-Hand Morgan. If anything, this actually makes him even scarier than those Obviously Evil villains.
- This Cannot Be!: At first, he is supremely confident in his cunning and Flash Step, thinking Luffy is too dumb and Hot-Blooded to detect him, let alone strike him. Luffy succeeds in doing both by using his hearing to locate him and strike at his hiding place, knocking him to the ground.
- Villain Ball: Even with the unexpected arrival of the Straw Hats, he might have been able to pull his plan off if he'd just managed to control his need to be sadistically dramatic when hunting down Kaya, Nami, and Usopp and double-tapped Zoro and Luffy to make sure they were dead.
- Villainous Breakdown: Once Luffy manages to detect his presence via hearing and successfully land a hit on him, he flies into a rage, dispensing with the Flash Step in favor of simply slashing away with his clawed gloves. This turns out to be a huge mistake, as Luffy exploits his rage-fueled recklessness to restrain his arms and set him up for a final hit, Gum-Gum Bell.
- Wolverine Claws: As in canon, his weapons are gloves with long blades on the fingertips, though here, the blades are tantō blades instead of full-length katanas.
Sham & Buchi
Sham & Buchi
Played by: Bianca Oosthuizen (Sham), Albert Pretorius (Buchi) Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Tell No Tales"
A pair of Kuro's enforcers masquerading as mansion staff. Sham is the maid and Buchi is the cook.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Sham in the source material was a hunchback with lanky limbs, as opposed to this Sham, who is just a short modest-looking woman.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: Sham has blue hair instead of green.
- Adaptational Expansion: In the manga and anime, Buchi and Sham were just a pair of fighters that came to assist Kuro at the end of the arc. Here, they joined Kuro in pretending to be servants at Kaya's estate.
- Adaptational Job Change: The pair in the manga stayed active pirates while Kuro's scheme unfolded. These two join his infiltration as a cook and maid.
- Adaptational Wimp: Though still a fairly capable fighter when joined with Sham, Buchi lacks the blatant Super-Strength of his manga counterpart, who was strong enough to leave cracks in the earth and could Hulk Out even further. That said, he is easily able turn the cranks of a security shutter for Kaya's mansion that neither Kaya, Nami, nor Usopp combined can budge.
- Ambiguously Related: The show does not make it explicitly clear if they are siblings as in the manga and anime. Kuro calls them "inbred" but that doesn't clarify if they have that relationship to each other or their own unique circumstances.
- Ascended Extra: Both of them have an upgrade in terms of prescense in this version. They're not only Kuro's Co-Dragons, they are also able to go toe to toe with Zoro in a very effective tagteam.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: The two of them almost constantly bicker and squabble, but Buchi shows genuine concern for Sham after finding her knocked out by Nami, even helping her up.
- Becoming the Mask: Even though they were only posing as mansion staff, they appeared to take pride in their respective roles as a chef and maid. Buchi wonders what Luffy thought of a dish he made, while Sham warns Buchi against tracking mud onto the floors. When Sham makes her remark Buchi replies, "So says the maid." Sham is insulted by this.
- Dark Action Girl: Sham is more than capable of fighting both physically and tactically.
- Deadpan Snarker: Both of them to an extent, but moreso Sham.
- Dual Boss: Zoro fights both of them at the same time. Possibly doubles as a Sibling Team.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Although a pair of bloodthirsty pirates, Buchi and Sham are shown to care about each other and their antagonism is implied to be no more than average brother-sister teasing.
- Fat and Skinny: Buchi is fat and Sham is skinny.
- Gender Flip: Sham was male in the manga and anime; here, Sham is female.
- Girly Bruiser: Sham wears make-up, makes sure not to break her nails while disposing of dead bodies, and sports a feminine outfit even as a pirate. She's also an aggressive Action Girl who took on Zoro in a fight.
- Orange/Blue Contrast: Buchi has orange hair and Sham has blue-green hair.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Fun-loving, laid-back, spontaneous Buchi and prickly, obedient, snobbish Sham.
- Stout Strength: Buchi is rotund and strong enough to pull a cart with a full-grown man lying on it as well as turn the crank of the mansion's security shutter, which Nami, Usopp, and Kaya failed to budge with their combined strength.
- Sword Cane: Sham hides her sword in the handle of her broom.
- Too Dumb to Live: Buchi almost tastes his poisoned soup by reflex. Sham calls him out on that.
Krieg Pirates
For tropes related to the crew's other appearances, please see One Piece: Blue Seas. General
- Curb-Stomp Battle: All of Krieg's crew get entirely wiped out by the warlord Mihawk all by himself without even landing a single hit on him. Additionally, Mihawk manages to utterly decimate a ship in half with just a slash of his sword from faraway.
- Satellite Character: They all effectively serve as Mihawk's Establishing Character Moment as a One-Man Army able to destroy an entire squadron of pirates firmly establishing as one of the world's greatest warriors.
- Wilhelm Scream: Mihawk coaxes one out of a random crewman when he bifurcates their ship.
Don Krieg
Don Krieg
"Then allow me to make it permanent!"
Played by: Milton Schorr Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Eat at Baratie!"
"You've killed my men, destroyed my fleet. Why are you after me?"
The ambitious pirate captain of the Krieg Pirates.
Bounty: 17,000,000
- Adaptational Wimp: Due to the brevity of his appearance, he doesn't get to show off as much of his arsenal of powerful weapons as in the manga.
- Death by Adaptation: He's killed by Mihawk alongside all but one of his crewmates, compared to Luffy and Gin just knocking him out in the original.
- Defiant to the End: He grits his teeth and chuckles even in the face of Mihawk approaching him for the kill.
- Demoted to Extra: In the original, he's the Arc Villain of the Baratie arc, and his attack on the Baratie inspires Sanji to join the Straw Hats. Here, he doesn't make it past his introduction scene.
- Guns Akimbo: Fitting for his source counterpart's penchant for weaponry, his final attack against Mihawk involves twin pistols alongside his Shoulder Cannon.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Besides Arlong, he carried the largest active bounty in the East Blue, commanding an armada of 50 ships and 5000 men to sail into the Grand Line with. He, along with all but one of his crewmembers, are singlehandedly annihilated by Dracule Mihawk after disturbing his nap.
- Mauve Shirt: He's little more than fodder for Mihawk, but nevertheless he's still one of the most wanted pirates in the East Blue and was dangerous enough to warrant a one-on-one fight with Hawkeye Mihawk.
- Shoulder Cannon: His armor carries a lone cannon he can hoist up from his left shoulder to blast his opposition.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He ends up enjoying all of one scene alive, going up against Dracule Mihawk and losing his entire armada to the Warlord before being cut down.
Pearl
Pearl
Played by: Unknown
Debut: "Eat at Baratie!"
One of Don Krieg's crewmen.
- The Cameo: All we see of him is a brief shot of his body lying dead on the beach.
- Death by Adaptation: In the manga, Pearl survives Mihawk's attack on Krieg's armada. In the series, he isn't so lucky...
- Demoted to Extra: While not exactly a major character in the manga, Peart still at least gets a memorable fight against Sanji. In the series, he's reduced to a Blink-and-You-Miss-It cameo.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Like in the manga, his body is totally covered in shields. Not that it helped against Mihawk...
Gin
Gin
"I was drifting out there for a week. You saved my life tonight."
Played by: Litha Bam Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Eat at Baratie!"
"I was part of a mighty pirate armada. Our captain was hell-bent on finding Gold Roger's treasure, but the Grand Line was his undoing. We lost 50 ships and 5,000 men. I was the only survivor. Save yourself. Forget you ever heard of the One Piece."
One of Don Krieg's crewmen and the sole survivor of Mihawk's onslaught.
- Adaptational Heroism: Due to Don Krieg's death, he never reluctantly betrays Sanji out of loyalty to his captain, and disappears after his request is granted. He also never threatens the chefs at Baratie to give him food.
- Adaptational Wimp: Due to his severely reduced role, we only ever see the "on the brink of starvation and riddled with PTSD" version of Gin, and so you'd never know that he was Krieg's right hand man, and actually even stronger than him.
- Demoted to Extra: He only gets a single scene where Sanji feeds him, and he urges Luffy to abandon his prospects for the Grand Line.
- Sole Survivor: He's the only surviving member of the Krieg Pirates to escape his run-in with Mihawk.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Unlike Gin's Uncertain Doom in canon, where it's never been clarified if Krieg's toxin killed him, here he's explicitly the only one of his crew who survived the Grand Line, and presumably abandons piracy after the horrors he's witnessed.
Arlong Pirates
For tropes related to the crew's other appearances, please see One Piece: Sun Pirates. General
- Adaptational Sympathy: In the original series, the fact that the fishmen suffered Fantastic Racism at the hands of humans isn't revealed until long after Arlong's part in the story is over, with Arlong's motives during his time onscreen only ever suggested to be him holding Fantastic Racism against humans. Here, Arlong places the oppression against fishmen front and center as a key part of his motives.
- Adaptational Ugliness: In the original series the fish-men mostly looked like humans with different skin colors and fish parts (Hatchi being an exception). In this adaptation their facial features are far more grotesque.
- Adapted Out: Mohmoo — the giant sea-cow that serves as Arlong's attack-dog — doesn't make an appearance in this adaptation, though a drawing of a sea cow does appear on the map in the prologue.
- Band of Brothers: Being outcasts, the fishmen are loyal to each other. Seeing one working for a human is treated as shameful, but not met with any particular wrath.
- Demoted to Extra: Hatchan, the Token Good Teammate octopus fishman that fought Zoro in the manga and anime doesn't get much to do here aside from playing cards with Nami.
- Fantastic Racism: Were on the receiving end of this by the humans for being fishmen before proceeding to turn it back around, oppressing the humans under them and constantly extoling their own physical superiority.
- He Who Fights Monsters: They went from enduring oppression and racism to becoming the oppressors of the East Blue.
- Immune to Bullets: Arlong shrugs off Zeff's attempt to shoot him in the back. Chew later boasts similar durability during his fight with Usopp.
- Made of Iron: Zig-zagged. They can get cut apart without much issue, as Zoro chopping through several fishmen can attest, but they can take a lot of concussive damage without flinching. They're also Immune to Bullets.
- Super-Strength: A trait shared by all fish-men is their superior natural strength, as all of them are capable of tossing a normal human across the room.
- You Don't Look Like You: Hachi, in addition to his reduced role, is barely recognizable, as he uses a different fishman design from the manga, not looking at all like an octopus.
Arlong
Arlong
"I'll do you the kindness of killing you all together."
Played by: McKinley Belcher III Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Tell No Tales"
"You see, most fishmen would be happy to sit at the same table as a human. They want to be treated as equals. But you dare stoop so low. We all know there's nothing equal about us. Fishmen are superior to humans in every single way. Stronger, faster, hungrier. Wouldn't you agree?"
A Sawshark fish-man and leader of the fish-man pirates that rule over Nami's home village.
Bounty: 20,000,000
- Adaptational Badass: Going along with him being upgraded to an Arc Villain for Season 1, he holds influence over the entirety of East Blue, rather than just being a thug content with hanging around Arlong Park.
- Adaptational Intelligence: This Arlong is just as sharp with his words as he is with his teeth, while his manga and anime counterpart basically relied on his superior physical strength to intimidate people into subservience.
- Adaptational Jerkass: He's explicitly being coy with Nami in regards to their deal, whereas his sincerity is left ambiguous in the original manga. His intention to use and dispose of her as a tool is also a more villainous version of his original's intention to keep her on his crew forever.
- Arch-Enemy: Arlong killed Nami's foster mother and destroyed her life, making him her most hated foe.
- Arc Villain: Arlong's tenure as the main antagonist is greatly expanded, going from just his eponymous arc in the manga to all of season one. Though he's only prominent in the last three episodes, it's his tyrannical rule over Coco Village that drives Nami's actions (she became a thief in order to buy back her hometown's freedom, her search for the Grand Line map is on his orders, and her tension with the Straw Hats—whether it be her early mistrust of pirates or her later plans to abandon them—stems from Arlong's abuse), and his plans to conquer the world make him the biggest threat the Straw Hats face. He also begins actively hunting Luffy for the map, appearing much earlier than in the original story during the Kuro arc before becoming the main threat for the second half of the Baratie arc. Saving Coco Village and subsequently eclipsing him as the biggest pirate in the East Blue goes on to become the climax of the season.
- Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Downplayed compared to the original, but still present. While it's clear he doesn't approve of a fish-man willingly working as the maître d' at Baratie, he still ends up being the person Arlong menaces the least in the series.
- Bad Boss: It's telling that Arlong's "gift" for Nami's 12th birthday was to remove her shackles. This is, however, averted with his fellow fishmen, who he's loyal to.
- Barbarian Longhair: Arlong has long dark dreadlocks, and he is the most powerful foe Luffy and his crew has ever faced thus far.
- BFS: Like in the source material, he wields a serrated Shark Saw sword (kiribachi) that is about as long as he is, specifically during his second round with Luffy. Unlike in the original, Luffy wrecks it almost immediately, royally pissing Arlong off.
- Big "NO!": Arlong shouts this when he realizes that Luffy intends to destroy his main headquarters, Arlong Park, by destroying the pillars holding it up.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Nami first approached him with her maps, Arlong had no idea who she was, despite having personally murdered her mother in front of her. When Nami makes mention of her mother being a Marine, Arlong finally recalls her.
- Combat Pragmatist: During his first fight against Luffy in Baratie, he found himself on the back foot before realizing they were fighting near the ocean. He then splashed Luffy with sea water; being a Devil Fruit user, this severely weakens Luffy, allowing Arlong to beat him down.
- Composite Character: In a sense, he's combined with a aspect of Don Krieg; the fact that he sees himself as the "Ruler of the East Blue," which was what Krieg boasted in the manga and anime. Of course it's shown a lot more effectively here as he's been trying to get control of every aspect of the East Blue and showing it.
- The Don: To a much greater extent than his original incarnation. Not only does Arlong directly run his own crew and rule the Conomi Islands, but he also claims dominion over the East Blue, demanding tribute from every pirate crew in reach.
- Empty Promise: Even more than in the source material, Arlong never intended to keep his deal with Nami to sell her Coco Village for 100,000,000 Berry. When told she has the money, he gives her until dawn to bring it to him. Not only did he send Nezumi to steal her cash, but he and his crew burn down Coco Village well before the dawn deadline, proving that he never had any intention of honoring the deal even if she did bring him the money.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: When Luffy responds to Arlong's Motive Rant with his personal ideology that every person deserves the freedom to follow their dreams, the fishman angrily tells him to not bother patronizing him.
- Evil Laugh: Notably, actor McKinley Belcher III does an excellent job replicating Arlong's "Shahahaha" laugh from the original manga, a tic that went unused even in the official translation.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Arlong's got the deepest voice out of all the characters shown so far and he's as cruel as it gets.
- Furry Reminder: Being a Sawshark fish-man like his manga counterpart, he can discard broken shark teeth replace them with new ones. During his second fight with Luffy in Arlong Park, there's a close-up shot where the teeth-growing process happens graphically while Arlong laughs threateningly.
- Freudian Excuse: Arlong's Fantastic Racism towards humans stems from a lifetime of being ostracised by the politically dominant race, which was implied to have driven his kind towards a life of crime.
- Hope Crusher: He waits until Nami obtains the 100,000,000 Berry he requested to buy Coco Village from him, all so he could reveal that his offer was completely empty, as he had planned to burn down her village from the start.
- Hypocrite: Complains at the "dishonesty" of humans and brags about how he always keeps his word. But when it's pointed out how he lied to Nami and the others, Arlong simply states he was "playing by human rules."
- Laser-Guided Karma: Arlong enslaved Nami when she was a little girl, murdered her foster mother in cold blood, and forced her to draw maps for him until her fingers bled. He also promised to leave Nami's town alone permanently if she collected a certain amount of money, only to go back on his word by having a corrupt Marine officer confiscate Nami's hard-earned savings just to destroy her even further. As in canon, he gets his ass handed to him by the Straw Hats, who didn't take kindly to one of their own being treated so cruelly. Luffy in particular swore to destroy everything Arlong had built and fulfilled it by kicking him several floors down, destroying his tower in the process.
- Leitmotif: An ominous hip-hop beat follows him and his crew, giving off the vibes of a seafaring kingpin.
- Make an Example of Them: He outright states this is the reason he has to kill Luffy at Baratie.Arlong: Oh, big mistake. Now I'm gonna have to make an example out of you.
- Man of Kryptonite: Arlong's a superhuman swimmer that can breathe underwater and he's strong enough to knock back opponents just by flinging water at them. This makes him Luffy's most dangerous opponent so far.
- Moral Myopia: Arlong detests humanity for treating fishmen as slaves, yet he has no qualms enslaving Nami back when she was a child with plans to keep her under his thumb for life.
- Not Bad: Despite his low opinion of humans, he admits that Luffy's punches aren't so bad during their first fight.Arlong: Not bad for a human.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Even though he boasts of fishman superiority, he recognizes the need to pay Nezumi to keep his activities obfuscated from the Marines, as his pirates are massively outnumbered by them, and despite Arlong's bluster that he's stronger than any human, he knows that's not actually the case, especially with Vice-Admiral Garp in the East Blue.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Arlong is immensely proud of his race's physical superiority over humans.
- Punch Catch: During the fight at Baratie, Arlong manages to catch both of Luffy's fists when he tries to punch him.
- Scary Teeth: Just like a shark, Arlong's teeth can regenerate quickly and infinitely. There's a close-up shot where the process happens rather graphically, all while Arlong lets out an Evil Laugh.
- Sinister Schnoz: He's got the nose of a saw-shark.
- Super-Strength: He's exceptionally strong even by Fish-Men standards, being able to lift an entire house with ease.
- Super-Toughness: Arlong is incredibly durable, even for a fishman. He takes a lot of hits from Luffy, but he's always ready to keep going just as hard afterward. He needs to get slammed through multiple floors of his own base and have the building collapse on him before he stops fighting.
- Take Over the World: His claimed goal is to conquer first the East Blue, then go through the Grand Line to every other sea in the world.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Arlong barely tolerates Nezumi's presence, going on a Fantastic Racism tirade when Nezumi gets cocky.
- The Tooth Hurts: He gets all his teeth broken by a blow from Luffy in the final episode. Being a shark, he quickly regenerates some new ones, though.
- Thin Chin of Sin: His chin is almost as sharp as his nose.
- Threatening Shark: He's a sawshark-based fishman and an intimidating villain unafraid to put his Super-Strength and teeth to use.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: As whimsical as One Piece can be, Arlong's brand of villainy is a stark contrast. It doesn't get much darker than murdering Nami's adoptive mother before her eyes when she was only a child after bankrupting their household.
- Villainous Breakdown: He loses it when Luffy begins destroying the pillars holding up his HQ. He gets furious enough to blindly run into Luffy's Gum Gum Battle Axe.Arlong: No! Puny! Human! CAN BRING DOWN ARLONG PARK!'
- Villain Respect: Even though him killing Belle-Mère in front of her two children was a major act of cruelty, when Nami confronts him afterwards, he commends Belle-Mère's bravery. Considering his usual disdain for humans, it is noteworthy.
- Visionary Villain: He desires the map of the Grand Line so that the fishmen can take over the world that has oppressed their kind for so long.
- We Can Rule Together: When finally meeting Luffy at the Baratie in addition to wanting half of whatever treasure Luffy has as tribute, he briefly tells him that he can be apart of his soon to be empire. Luffy being Luffy naturally turns this down without hesitation. Later, when Luffy and Nami confront him at Arlong Park, he chastises them for throwing away the opportunity of being a part of his empire, though this time he's blatantly lying as he's already reneged on his deal with Nami and everyone knows it.
- Would Hit a Girl: He didn't hesitate for a second to shoot Belle-Mère to death.
- Wrecked Weapon: Much like in the manga, Luffy manages to break Arlong's saw sword with his bare hands during their fight at Arlong Park.
- You Killed My Mother: He has earned Nami's undying hatred for having killed her adoptive mother Belle-Mère.
Kuroobi
Kuroobi
Played by: Jandre le Roux Foreign voice actors
Debut: "Tell No Tales"
A manta-fishman.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: In the manga, Kuroobi makes his first appearance in the Arlong Park arc. In the show, he shows up as early as the third episode and is even the very first Fish-Man to appear.
- Adaptational Wimp: Zigzagged. While his fight against Sanji doesn't take nearly as long as in the original story, this is largely because the underwater portion of it was excised for this version. In addition, he's able to briefly hold off both Zoro and Sanji simultaneously. He was also introduced defeating Buggy with one blow, when Luffy, Zoro and Nami had to creatively work together to defeat him.
- Co-Dragons: With Chew.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: He quickly ends up on the receiving end of one when he pisses Sanji off by insulting Nami.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Much like Arlong, he considers his fellow Fish-Men his brothers and is absolutely furious when they're slain by Zoro and Sanji.
- I Know Karate: He straight up warns Zoro and Sanji about his training and follows through with beating the tar out of the both of them.
- Super-Toughness: His skin is physically tougher than even his fellow fishmen's, as he can use his arm fins to block Zoro's swords, which had previously cut through his compatriots without issue.
- Would Harm a Senior: He breaks Zeff's peg leg before punching him away, much to Sanji's horror.
Chew
Chew
Played by: Len-Barry Simons Foreign voice actors
Debut: "The Chef and the Chore Boy"
A kissing-fishman.
- Adaptational Ugliness: Chew was originally one of the most human-looking of the fishmen outside of his gigantic lips. Here his facial features are gruesomely deformed.
- Adaptational Wimp: A minor example, but even after being burned by Usopp's exploding alcohol bottle in the manga, Chew still tried to get back on his feet and Usopp had to hit him several times with a hammer (and a rubber band) to defeat him for good. In the series, getting burned by the alcohol bottle is enough to put him down.
- The Alcoholic: Is rarely seen without his bottle of rum, which he can use to shoot fireballs with. Usopp blows him up by shooting said bottle of rum with an exploding bullet from his slingshot.
- Berserk Button: Chew singles out Usopp to kill because he shot a smoke bomb into Chew's face. No one touches the face.
- Bullet Seed: He attacks by spitting globs of alcohol with bullet-like velocity.
- Character Tics: Making kissing sounds.
- Co-Dragons: With Kuroobi.
- Evil Is Petty: Chew ignores Buggy's request to scratch his ears while he's a disembodied head for no other reason than to be a dick.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Usopp lights him on fire by shooting the rum Chew's drinking with an exploding bullet from his slingshot.
- Mundane Utility: During a party in Arlong Park, he uses his alcohol-spitting alongside a torch to create a roman candle-like display for entertainment.
