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Roger Pirates

In General

The pirate crew of the late Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. They were the only known crew to ever successfully circumnavigate the globe and reach Laugh Tale, the end of the New World in the Grand Line. They encountered Vice Admiral Garp on several occasions and were strong rivals to the Whitebeard Pirates.

The crew traveled the Grand Line together and their exploits have become things of legends. They made it as far as Skypiea and the end of the Grand Line, Laugh Tale, on their ship the Oro Jackson. Roger was one of the most famous figures of his day, while the name of his first mate, Silvers Rayleigh, is widely known and famed as well.

However, only the captain and the first mate seem to have been remembered while the rest of the crew have yet to be mentioned, all save those still active like Shanks and Buggy, leaving the rest of the crew mostly Shrouded in Myth.

All There in the Script: The majority of the Roger Pirates' names and official designs were revealed in an SBS section.
Badass Crew: The strongest crew in the time following the Rocks Pirates' disbanding, with every member except Buggy being a supreme badass then or becoming one in the future. At one point, they fought off Shiki's entire armada by themselves with nothing but sheer strength and a lucky change in weather.
Egg MacGuffin: There is a mysterious giant egg aboard the Oro Jackson, but it has never even been talked about so far even at the point the Roger Pirates disband. It is just... there.
The Fellowship Has Ended: Roger disbanded the crew for good after they reached Laugh Tale and found the One Piece, half because there was nothing left to do, half because he was already doomed to die within a year's time from his illness.
Friendly Enemy: Their relationship with the Whitebeard Pirates as a whole. Best exemplified during Oden's flashback: They immediately fought for three days and three nights...and then had a party on the fourth.
Never Hurt an Innocent: Oden is told by the Roger Pirates during his time with them that they explicitly don't attack civilians.
Precursor Heroes: They are all but stated to be the precursors to the Straw Hat Pirates. Notice the Oddly Small Organization, numerous similarities between Luffy and Roger, the Oro Jackson and Thousand Sunny made from the same material, and crew's composition and attitude. They are a bit darker than the Straw Hats in that they are definitely not The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.
Rogues Gallery: They accumulated quite a few adversaries during their travel: the Rocks Pirates, the Golden Lion Pirates, the Marines and worthy opponents such as the Whitebeard Pirates and Garp.

Crew Members

Gol D. Roger

Gol D. Roger "The Pirate King"

Young Voice: Takeshi Kusao (JP), Marcus D. Stimac (EN, Funi)
Older Voice: Chikao Ohtsuka (JP, first voice), Masane Tsukayama (JP, second voice), Frederick B. Owens (EN, 4Kids), Sean Hennigan (EN, Funi), Arturo Casanova (LatAm Spanish, 4Kids), Gabriel Pingarrón (LatAm Spanish, Netflix)

Age: 53

Debut: Chapter 1 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)

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

"My treasure? Why, it's right where I left it. It's yours if you can find it ...but you'll have to search the whole world!"

—Chapter 1

"Gold" Roger, real name Gol D. Roger, is the captain of the Roger Pirates and the great legendary pirate that started the Great Age of Pirates on his execution scaffold twenty-two years ago. His legendary treasure, One Piece, is sought after by pirates the world over, and the one who reaches the hidden island Laugh Tale at the end of the Grand Line and finds it will inherit his title of Pirate King. He just happens to be Ace's dad.

In life, he had the highest bounty ever earned by any pirate in recorded history, clocking in with a record of 5,564,800,000 Berries.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He prostrates himself with his head on the floor and begged Whitebeard to lend him Oden for a year, because of the man's ability to read Poneglyphs being the key to his end goal. Allies and rivals alike are irritated by this behavior, but the whole thing is Played for Laughs.
Always Someone Better: By conquering the Grand Line and starting the first Golden Age of Piracy, Roger cemented himself as the greatest pirate to have ever lived. Even over twenty years after his death, all the pirates in the world, including his old rivals, are still living in his shadow — to the point that most seek out the treasure he left behind just to measure up. Only Whitebeard (who, ironically, is one of the few pirates to never care about finding the One Piece) ever manages to really stand on equal footing with Roger's legend, and even then it's by claiming One Piece is real to the world and starting a second great age of piracy, essentially bolstering Roger's claims with his own.
Ambiguously Evil: Several stories around him are about how he was a great man, but just as many claim that he was evil. The legitimacy of both interpretations is tenuous at best. According to Vice Admiral Garp, Roger was a short-tempered, violent, and selfish man when angry. His actions were pure and straight, like a child's, but completely merciless to an enemy.
Arch-Enemy: While Roger is known to have feuded with many Marines and fellow pirates alike, only one man has ever held the title of his greatest enemy even decades later, and it wasn't Whitebeard or Garp. It was the previous World's Strongest Man and captain of the Rocks Pirates, one Rocks D. Xebec.
Awesomeness Is a Force: Confirmed to have had Conqueror's Haki, and along with Whitebeard, Big Mom, Kaido, Garp and Luffy, he is one of a tiny handful of people in the series known to be capable of infusing his attacks with it to augment them to devastating levels.
Badass Normal: In a relative sense — in a world where you almost need a Devil Fruit to make any sort of mark, Roger achieved his legendary status without having ever consumed one. He made up for it with incredible mastery over Haki, enough to make him Whitebeard's one true rival.
Benevolent Boss: Despite being a pirate, Roger appears to treat his subordinates like true companions, not unlike Luffy. Silvers Rayleigh, his partner, described him as a "magnificent man". Shanks and Buggy also seem saddened when speaking of his death, and both cried a lot at his execution.
Better to Die than Be Killed: Inverted; he decided to be killed rather than die. Roger hated the idea of dying to disease and going out with a whimper, so he decided to turn himself in and face execution and go out with style in a way that nobody would ever forget.
Blood Knight: While standing among a large group of defeated Marine grunts, he told them to send someone like Garp or Sengoku next time, in order to make the fights more challenging.
Book Dumb: Double subverted. The Skypiea Arc hints that Roger could understand what is written on the Poneglyphs, but Rayleigh admits that the crew lacked the intelligence to fully understand and interpret what the Poneglyph actually meant. In truth, Roger could locate them through the ability to hear "the voice of all things", but he required Oden's knowledge to translate the Poneglyphs.
Cheshire Cat Grin: One of the more notable things about him to people that met him is that he was always smiling, even up to the point of his own death.
Charles Atlas Super Power: He could clash with Whitebeard, a giant of a man in the prime of his life, on equal footing. When he fights Oden, he sends the samurai flying through several trees with one swing of his sword.
Cool Sword: Roger wielded his cutlass Ace, which is one of the twelve Supreme Grade Swords, making it one of the strongest blades in the entire world.
Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Roger kept away from Rouge in his last days for several reasons. The major one was that he was Gold Roger, and any kid he had would've been killed immediately once the World Government found out about his existence. The other one was that he was dying anyway and chances are he wouldn't have been around for Ace's birth. Once the government found out his location, he wouldn't have been around to protect Rouge and Ace anyway. Ironically, Ace still resents him, but not because he died, it's because of all the grief his heritage caused him in life, to the point that he has questioned the worth of his own existence.
Disowned Parent: While most characters associated with Roger have a very high opinion on the man, Ace completely despises him. In his eyes, Roger is at fault both for Rouge's death and for Ace not being allowed to live a normal life.
Disproportionate Retribution: Garp states that he would wipe out the military forces of entire countries because they spoke ill of his crew.
Do Not Go Gentle: The World Government intended for his execution to be a warning to all pirates. However, Roger turned it into the moment that would start the Golden Age of Piracy. As Rayleigh revealed, that was his intention all along.
Dramatic Irony: A flashback in the Wano arc reveals that Roger hoped his then-hypothetical son would continue the work Roger couldn't finish and become the Pirate King by claiming the One Piece. The audience is well aware by this point that besides being killed during Summit War, Ace loathed Roger with every fiber of his being, disavowed their relation, and hoped to claim the One Piece so he could make Roger's rival Whitebeard the Pirate King as thanks for being his beloved replacement father. To add to the irony, Ace's adoptive younger brother Luffy, the grandson of Roger's Marine rival Garp, is also seeking out the One Piece to become the Pirate King, and there are numerous signs throughout the series that he's the heir Roger was waiting for.
Enemy Mine: His friendship with Garp started when they teamed up together to take down the Rocks Pirates.
Face Death with Dignity: He went to his death with a smile on his face and words to send one final middle finger to the World Government.
Fire-Forged Friends: Specifically invokes this with Garp, reasoning that they are as good as friends given how long they've known each other, and on this principle trusts Garp to protect his newborn son from the Marines. Despite Garp's initial disbelief, it works.
Friendly Enemy:
- With Whitebeard. There's a flashback moment after he became Pirate King, where he and Whitebeard share a drink, and he offers to tell Whitebeard the location of Laugh Tale, and tells him what The Will of D means.
- With Garp. He knew and trusted the man's character enough to trust him with protecting his lover and then-unborn child, despite both of them being sought by the Marines and World Government.
Generation Xerox:
- An odd example. Shanks and Rayleigh see a lot of Roger in Luffy's personality and ambitions, and flashbacks show that in his younger days, Roger really did look almost exactly like Luffy. Despite that, there are no indications that he and Luffy are blood-related in any way ('D' initial aside, of course).
- Ace, despite all the bitterness and resentment he had for his sire, ironically enough inherited many of his personality traits (and apparently behaves even more like Roger than Luffy does), including his inability to back down from a fight, unfortunately. Also, in his youth, Roger's design is just Ace with a mustache and fancier clothes.
Genius Bruiser: Subverted. In the Skypeia arc, it's discovered that Gol D. Roger was not only on Skypeia, but capable of reading and writing the language of the Poneglyphs that only those like Clover and the scholars of Ohara could do, making it appear he was this. However, it's later subverted by Rayleigh, who mentions that he couldn't really read or write the language, but still understood it very vaguely via "the voice of all things" (which is implied to have been the same factor that allowed Roger to understand what Sea Kings and the ancient elephant Zunisha, who carries Zou, were saying). He sought out Oden specifically in order to fully understand the Poneglyphs.
Go Out with a Smile: As expected of a "D.", he died with a huge grin on his face, not that he isn't usually shown smiling to begin with. When Luffy is almost beheaded by Buggy, he smiles and Smoker notices his similarity to Roger.
Greater-Scope Paragon: Roger was the Pirate King and the man who kickstarted the golden age of pirates with his own death. To achieve the title of Pirate King means to find his treasure and reach his own level of greatness.
The Greatest Story Never Told:
- He was essential to Garp's victory over Rocks by teaming up with the former during the God Valley Incident. Unsurprisingly, the World Government thinks a Marine teaming up with a pirate looks bad on them and covered up Roger's involvement.
- His overall journey. Roger and his crew figured out every mystery the Government has buried and the location of the final island, but Roger was unable to realize whatever it is Joy Boy left behind to be done due to his impending death and all his feats faded into myth. The crew disbanded to parts unknown, Oden only wrote a vague summary of the One Piece's discovery on his log and Luffy refused to let Rayleigh spill the beans to his crew.
Gun And Sword: Seen wielding both while facing off Shiki in Chapter Zero. Against a young Whitebeard, he only used his sword charged with Haki.
Hero of Another Story: He conquered the Grand Line.
Hidden Eyes: It wasn't until Sabaody Archipelago, over five hundred chapters into the story, that his eyes were shown to the reader.
Informed Flaw: During Luffy's flashback, Garp comments how Ace inherited Roger's bad temper. However, in all his brief appearances, besides some Blood Knight tendencies, Roger is pretty calm and composed and never gets easily angered or provoked.
Ki Manipulation: Flashbacks show that he knows Conqueror's and Armament Haki. Along with Whitebeard, Kaido, and Luffy, he is also one of a tiny handful of people in the series known to be capable of infusing their attacks with Conqueror's Haki to massively increase their power.
King of Thieves: He gained the title of "King of the Pirates" after conquering the Grand Line. That accomplishment is very rare considering what the New World is like; you have to be Pirate King to rule over a sea that dangerous.
Leeroy Jenkins: The man was apparently almost suicidally reckless and impulsive, and according to Garp, it's frankly a miracle that he even survived long enough to become Pirate King.
Like Father, Like Son: According to Garp, anyway, Ace inherited his impulsiveness and short temper from his father.
Living Legend: To Shrouded in Myth proportions, but consider that he was not only the "Pirate King" but also rivals with Whitebeard, Garp and Shiki, as well as every member of his crew being undeniably badass (except Buggy, though even he has the potential to become just as badass). Since he was the captain, it's implied that he was the strongest member of that crew... Yeah, badass all the way.
Long-Dead Badass: Gol D. Roger is the legendary pirate who reached Laugh Tale, the final island of the Grand Line, and was executed twenty-two years before the beginning of the story. After all this time, he's still considered a legend among pirates.
Malicious Misnaming: To most of the world he's known as Gold Roger, and few people alive know his real name is Gol D. Roger because the World Government is attempting to suppress knowledge of the Will of D. At the end of the Drum Arc, Kureha reveals his actual name to Dalton while the Straw Hats are leaving.
Master Swordsman: Roger is shown fighting solely with his sword, and he sends Oden flying with one strike and clashes with Whitebeard so fiercely that they nearly capsize the Moby Dick.
My Death Is Just the Beginning: Roger was aware that, by giving himself to the Marines and revealing the existence of his treasure before his death, he would start a new era of piracy, which is exactly what happened.
Mysterious Middle Initial: The D in his name is attributed to the mysterious "Will of D", which somehow connects Roger and Luffy and a few other notable individuals throughout the story to the World Government and the Celestial Dragons. Notably, Roger and his crew are some of the few people to have actually discovered the meaning of the D.
No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: His final words to a Marine Red Shirt he just defeated during the Oden flashback were that if the Marines ever want to capture him, they should send either Garp or Sengoku. Roger considers these two as Worthy Opponents and anybody else is simply not worth his time.
No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Roger resembles a number of real-life pirates:
- Olivier Levasseur. Upon his death, had tossed a cryptogram from the scaffolding into the crowd and told them if they could figure out the message, his treasure would be theirs, a treasure that to this day has never been found. Sound familiar?
- Henry Every, the real life Pirate King himself. In 1695, Every led what has been called the most profitable pirate raid of all time, capturing an enormous treasure estimated to be worth up to £600,000 (around $120 million in modern currency), becoming the richest pirate in the world and earning him the epithet "The King of Pirates". Despite being the target of a worldwide manhunt and getting the highest bounty in history placed on his head, Every vanished with his treasure in the Caribbean (then called New World). He is said to have influenced the next generation of pirates, including Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch/Teach, Bartholomew Roberts, Calico Jack, Samuel Bellamy and Edward Low, among others, who were children at the time. The same thing happened in the beginning of One Piece!
- Speaking of Bartholomew Roberts, Roger is partially based off him as well: both are highly successful pirates who were thought to be invincible by the military forces sent to apprehend them. Roger's red coat and facial hair also match up with several depictions and descriptions of Roberts.
Notorious Parent: He was the greatest pirate of his time, most-wanted by the entire World Government and the father of Portgas D. Ace. This trope is played with in that Roger was dead before Ace was born, but this fact still makes the Marines want to hunt and execute him (though it helps that Ace is also a pirate himself).
Offstage Villainy: Though he is largely a flashback character and thus we haven't seen much of him at all, every flashback always seems to present him positively. By contrast, pretty much every villainous act he's done (slaughtering Squad's crew, for example) is always presented via word of mouth of his victims. Garp painted what appears to be the most nuanced picture of him available: to his friends, allies, and the adversaries who he respected, he was endlessly loyal and would spare nothing to help them out or protect them, but he was also renowned for his cutthroat ruthlessness and his incredible cruelty and brutality towards anyone who had angered or offended him, or wronged one of his friends or allies, and was inordinately fond of scorched-earth revenge campaigns.
One Last Job: Roger knew he only had a short time to live because of an incurable disease, so he and his crew set out to find what lies at the end of the Grand Line as his last adventure. After succeeding in this endeavor, he dissolves his crew and willingly surrenders to the Marines.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Gol D. Roger, the strongest pirate in the world, someone who would never dream of allying with the Marines nevertheless teamed up with Garp during the God Valley incident. This speaks volumes about how terrifyingly strong Rocks must have been for him to side with the Marines over allying with a fellow pirate, though it doesn't help that Rocks' crew included Whitebeard, Kaido and Big Mom amongst its ranks, kept in line by his threats of violence, so the team-up was a good call regardless. It's also subsequently revealed that Roger involved himself in the conflict in order to have a chance to steal the "treasure" of Fullalead Island that had been stolen from Rocks, his comments implying that he held off attacking the heavily-defended Island for a whole year because of how suicidal it would have been, underscoring how valuable the treasure was that Roger was so focused on claiming it despite his fun-loving personality.
Papa Wolf:
- Was known to beat up anyone who spoke ill of his crew.
- He asked Garp to take care of Ace, since Roger was aware of how the Government would treat his son.
The Paragon: When he became the Pirate King, Gold Roger was the supreme name among pirates in the entire world, and still is even in death. Not even the Four Emperors could hold a candle to him.
Perpetual Smiler: The scenes in which he doesn't have a big toothy grin can be counted on one hand.
Person of Mass Destruction: His Conqueror's Haki was so strong that a clash with Whitebeard (who was also using his own and was not using his Devil Fruit that time) created a shockwave strong enough to potentially level an island, so it goes without saying that when Roger wanted to keep it real, wide-scale devastation was the usual result.
Plot-Triggering Death: Before he died, he revealed that he had hidden his treasure, the eponymous One Piece, somewhere on the Grand Line, triggering the new age of piracy from people going to search for it.
Present Absence: While his death triggered the events of the series, his absence initially has very little direct influence on the Straw Hats' overall journey until the Sabaody Arc, where they meet his first-mate Silvers Rayleigh (who becomes Luffy's mentor over the Time Skip), and the public learns that Ace is his biological son. After the Time Skip, the true impact of his death is felt full force as two of his old rivals, the Emperors Kaido and Big Mom, take center stage as the main antagonists of the narrative. Kaido respects Roger immensely and ultimately seeks to emulate him — either by seeking out and claiming the One Piece, or by dying awesomely like Roger did. Big Mom, meanwhile, hates Roger for allegedly tricking her and preventing her from reaching Laugh Tale, and for starting the Great Pirate Era and then dying, forcing her and the rest of their generation to deal with the mess it left behind. Whether either Emperor admits it or not, both of them are defined to some extent by their relationships with Roger, and those motives are what eventually drive them into conflict with Luffy and his crew.
Prophetic Name: With a name like Gol D. Roger, this guy was practically born to be a pirate.
Pure Is Not Good: According to Garp, he had a childlike purity to him, but more in the sense that his actions and motivations were clear and direct: he supported his friends and allies and respected sufficiently powerful and/or persistent enemies, but he was also renowned for his merciless cruelty and brutality towards anyone who had angered or offended him.
Real Men Don't Cry: According to Shanks, Roger never showed weakness and was never able to let things go. It's one of the few things he greatly disliked about his otherwise beloved captain. After the death of Ace, Shanks voices his approval of Luffy not being like Roger in this way.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He turns and runs like hell when he sees the shadows cast by the Skypieans, thinking of course that he's looking at mile-high winged giants standing in the sea.
Secret-Keeper: He found out the secrets of the Void Century including the locations of the Ancient Weapons, but refused to tell anyone save Whitebeard anything even under threat of death.
Secret Legacy: Not only was he part of the mysterious will of D. and he knew the meaning of the mysterious initial, but it's been said many times during the story that Luffy has inherited Gol D. Roger's will.
Shrouded in Myth: For over 900 chapters, precious little information was given about who Roger was and what his fighting skills were. Then finally, during Oden's backstory, we're shown a summary of Roger's final journey and his final meeting with Whitebeard. However, the flashback also raises more questions about Roger's past and his feud with his mysterious Arch-Enemy Rocks.
Sins of Our Fathers: He was perfectly aware of how the World Government would react to Ace's existence, and since he was dying, he had no choice but to stay away and ask Garp to care for Ace in his stead. His reasoning even rejects the notion of this, stating that "an unborn child bears no sin."
Soap Opera Disease: He suffered some sort of illness that would kill him in a few years but also allowed him to fight as if he was healthy.
Someone to Remember Him By: Before he was executed, he got his lover, Portgas D. Rouge, pregnant with their son, Ace.
Strong Family Resemblance: His appearance at the end of chapter 964 shows off just how similar he and his son actually looked. Ace's hairstyle, eye shape, browline, and mouth shape are all nearly identical to his father, with the only major differences between the two coming down to Ace's clean shave in contrast to his father's notorious Dastardly Whiplash.
Super-Senses: He's apparently able to sense "the voice of all things". With it, he can understand what nonhuman living beings such as Sea Kings or Zunisha said, and can even understand Poneglyphs to a degree.
Sword Beam: His signature move, Divine Departure, is a sword slash imbued with Conqueror's Haki that doesn't need to hit foes to injure them. When he uses it on Oden, Oden is sent flying through several trees.
Talk Like a Pirate: The most prominent example in the series. Very fitting given that Eiichiro Oda designed him as a very typical, traditional pirate. The Funimation dub gives a distinct Irish Pirate sounding accent unique to him.
Thanatos Gambit: His last words about the location of his treasure sparked the Great Age of Pirates.
To Be a Master: Roger sought to travel the entire world and be acknowledged as the Pirate King just for adventure's sake, and didn't care if he was called childish for it.
Victory Is Boring: This guy was never caught — he turned himself in. He had more wealth and fame than a hundred men would ever need, and seeing as he was dying of an incurable disease anyway, he figured he'd stick it to the World Government one more time.
Visual Pun: When Oden recounts in his tale about how he accompanied Roger to Laugh Tale and discovered the treasure left behind by Joy Boy, Roger is shown guffawing his head off at the sight. He's a Jolly Roger.
Where It All Began: He was born and executed in his hometown of Roguetown. Fittingly, it's for this very reason that Roguetown is known as "The Town of the Beginning and the End."
World's Strongest Man: At least shared this title with Whitebeard when he lived after the previous holder Rocks died 14 years before Roger's own death. Whether he was truly a little stronger than Whitebeard is unclear. He was the only one of the two to reach the end of the Grand Line and be called Pirate King, but it's implied Whitebeard could have done the same if he wanted to (and he never wanted to). It should be noted that Roger didn't have a Devil Fruit and was able to match Whitebeard, who possessed amazing power on his own in addition to one of the most powerful Devil Fruits. He also sent Oden — another Master Swordsman that managed to scar Kaido — flying with zero effort.
Worthy Opponent:
- His relationship with Whitebeard and Garp can be summed up as this. He was usually prone to scorched-earth revenge campaigns against his enemies (or anyone who had offended him), but he genuinely respected them and was generally rather cordial towards them.
- This also extended to Sengoku, but to a more muted level — he didn't have the friendly relationship that he had with Newgate or Garp, but he nonetheless respected him for his fighting ability, specifically telling a Red Shirt that the only two Marines that he would consider to be worth his time in a fight would be Sengoku or Garp.

"Dark King" Silvers Rayleigh

Voiced by: Keiichi Sonobe (JP), Bradford Hutson (episode 8), Bruce Carey (Sabaody arc onwards) (EN, Funi), David Wills (EN, 4Kids), José Luis Orozco (Young, Netflix) (Latin Spanish Dub)

Age: 76 (Pre-Timeskip), 78 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 19 (Manga), Episode 8 (Anime)

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

"Who'd want to buy me as a slave? I'm an old man!"

A ship-coating master in Sabaody Archipelago and former First Mate of Gold Roger. Given the Red Baron "The Dark King" during his days as a pirate. During this time as a pirate, he acted as a supervisor of the crew, having a disciplinary role to Shanks and Buggy, especially when they argued. Having long since retired from piracy after Roger disbanded his crew, he hid in the Sabaody Archipelago and became infamous for coating ships, gambling, drinking, and partying with women. He is married to his business partner of twenty years Shakuyaku, and is good friends with Hatchan, who saved his life when Hatchan was a kid.

Awesomeness Is a Force: He knocks out an entire crowd of watchers with Conqueror's Haki when the Straw Hats cause a scene in the Auctioning House. Even a member of the Heart Pirates, which is a very strong crew considering their captain is Supernova Trafalgar Law, nearly faints from his awesomeness.
Badass Normal: Rayleigh doesn't have a Devil Fruit, but remains one of the strongest fighter of the world despite twenty years of inaction. He fights admiral Kizaru to a standstill and can swim the Calm Belt by himself, a stretch of sea filled with dangerous sea creatures, without any sort of special ship.
Batman Gambit: Rayleigh arrives just in time to save Hancock from getting killed by Blackbeard and uses his reputation and Haki to intimidate Blackbeard into leaving or he had to face him instead should he choose. Turns out Rayleigh was betting on Blackbeard leaving rather than fighting someone as notorous as him, as Rayleigh admits if not for using his reputation, he very well could have lost in an actual fight with Blackbeard.
Big Damn Heroes:
- In Sabaody, Rayleigh stops Kizaru just when he's about to finish off Zoro.
- Rayleigh arrives at Amazon Lily when Hancock is dealing with both the Marines and Blackbeard and drives both of the forces out of Amazon Lily with his presence alone.
Charles Atlas Superpower: He's capable of swimming through the Calm Belt, the most dangerous stretch of water in One Piece. It's so dangerous that only Marine battleships that are made of a special camouflage alloy, and the Kuja's ships, which are pulled by sea serpents strong enough to keep the monsters at bay, dare to cross it.
Chekhov's Gunman: Rayleigh makes his first appearance in Buggy's flashback, at the beginning of the story, as the unnamed ship's first mate who broke up the argument between Buggy and Shanks. In chapter 500, during the Sabaody Arc, it's revealed that said first mate was actually Silvers Rayleigh, Roger's first mate, and becomes a key player in the story by training Luffy over the two-year timeskip.
Chivalrous Pervert: He likes going out and looking for beautiful ladies around, but he's otherwise a well-meaning, wise-cracking old man. Rayleigh is also happily married with Shakky.
Clark Kent Outfit: He looks like a regular old man with his top on... but is one of the most muscular characters in the series with his top off◊.
Cool Old Guy: He is around Garp's age, able to still throw down with Admirals and scare an Emperor of the Sea into retreating, plays mentor to Luffy, and is an all around badass.
Death Glare: With his Conqueror's Haki, Rayleigh delivers a severe glare to the ringers when Camie is in trouble, leaving them knocked out and foaming in the mouth.
Dirty Old Man: Despite his age, Shakky suggests that he loves women, and this is implied to be the thing that actually motivates him to do anything to his captors after they force an explosive collar around Camie's neck. Although Rayleigh is still well-meaining.
The Dreaded: As the former first mate of the King of Pirates, Rayleigh has a fearsome reputation across the entire world. Garp (who took on Roger himself) outright tells his men to not engage him or tell Sengoku when he found out that he was on Sabaody, as he didn't want to risk the consequences of the Marines having to deal with both him and Whitebeard at the same time. Even after the Time Skip, when the Marines definitely know he resides there, they're evidently unwilling to make a concerted effort to arrest him. Rayleigh exploits his reputation to make Blackbeard leave Amazon Lily without a fight, as he later admits in private that if they had actually fought, Blackbeard would've won.
Feeling Their Age: Similar to Whitebeard, Rayleigh is an incredibly strong veteran, but he's still way past his prime physically, something he himself is aware of. While he does manage to save Zoro from being killed by Kizaru, Rayleigh is then tied down dueling the Admiral, unable to aid the Straw Hats against Sentomaru and the Pacifista. Two years later, Rayleigh scares off Blackbeard with just his reputation, but he confesses afterwards to the Kuja Pirates that he probably couldn't have actually defeated Blackbeard.
Happily Married: Supplemental material reveals that Rayliegh is married with Shakky. Even with his love for women in general, he appears to be very loyal to her and she never worries about his well-being even after having disappeared in 6 months on Shabody.
Ki Manipulation: Rayleigh, a skilled master of all three forms of Haki, takes on the role of Luffy's mentor during the Time Skip and imparts his knowledge to the young pirate, teaching him how to harness his abilities effectively.
Lap Pillow: Lets a scared and wounded Hancock rest her head on his leg as they ponder the situation after the ordeal with the Marines and Blackbeard.
Like a Daughter to Me: Rayleigh mentions he considers Hancock and her sisters like his daughters. Given that his wife is the former Empress of the Kuja, it makes sense that her love for her people would be shared by him. He's even willing to fight Blackbeard to protect them when he sees the latter about to snap Hancock's neck.
Living Legend: Usopp recognizes him as legendary due to being the First Mate of the legendary crew. He's still alive, and he's still badass enough to take on the likes of Kizaru. His reputation is also legendary enough for both the Marines and Blackbeard to stand down in their attack on Amazon Lily.
Meaningful Name: Along with Punny Name and Prophetic Name. Silvers Rayleigh is Gold Roger's First Mate. Also, "Rayleigh" refers to "Rayleigh scattering", an optical phenomenon characterized by the scattering of light. As the first and only character able to break up Kizaru's light beams (albeit done with Haki), it's fitting.
Mentor Archetype: Rayleigh, an experienced and seasoned pirate, plays the role of Luffy's mentor during the Time Skip. Under his guidance, Luffy masters the three types of Haki manipulation, resulting in significant and impressive progress.
Mr. Exposition: Zigzagged.
- Despite him knowing the answers to some of the series driving questions (the location/status of One Piece, what happened during the Void Century), Luffy insists that he not reveal anything, as it would defeat the purpose of the adventure. He explains to Robin that, once she learns about the Void Century, she might come to a different conclusion than the one he and his former crew did.
- While training Luffy, Rayleigh explains to him what the forms of Haki are and what each of them can do while demonstrating them on wild animals.
Nice Guy: He's a friendly and jovial Cool Old Guy who helps the Straw Hats at Sabaody Archipelago with many of their problems and who mentors Luffy during the Time Skip. He's even respectful and polite to the Marines. Speaks worlds that he pointedly tells Blackbeard that he really hates his guts, and even apologizes for it after.
No Historical Figures Were Harmed: His name is a nod to British explorer/entrepreneur Sir Walter Raleigh.
Number Two: He's Roger's first mate of the Roger Pirates and, as a flashback reveals, Roger invited him when he was beginning his journey.
Old Master: He is around Garp's age but a master of Haki and other fighting forms. He's able to fight a Navy Admiral to a standstill without even having a Devil Fruit of his own.
Papa Wolf: When the Marines and the Blackbeard Pirates raid Amazon Lily, Rayleigh arrives to rescue Boa Hancock and her sisters.
Parental Substitute: After their escape from slavery, the Gorgon Sisters are housed by Silvers Rayleigh, who becomes their paternal figure. When Amazon Lily is assaulted, Rayleigh rushes there and then challenges Blackbeard in a fight to save Hancock from certain death.
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: When the Straw Hats are making it back to the Thousand Sunny after the timeskip, he cuts off the Marines who are pursuing them, and then draws a line in the ground:
"It's my student's farewell. I want it to be proper. I advise you not to cross that line."
Chapter 602
Red Baron: He's also known as "The Dark King." The Swedish translation made him "Dödens Konung" — the King of Death.
Retired Badass: He has since quit piracy, but he's still strong enough to go toe-to-toe with an Admiral even in his old age and even cut him despite possessing a Logia Devil Fruit. He's also strong enough to swim the Calm Belt, the most dangerous stretch of sea in the world, by himself. And all this after twenty years of non-action. His reputation among those who know who he is such that even Blackbeard backs off when faced with dealing with him, though Rayleigh later admits to the Kuja Pirates that had Blackbeard called his bluff, Blackbeard probably would have won the fight.
Schmuck Bait: Rayleigh plays the role of an helpless old man when at auction just to be purchased, swindling whoever buys him of their money, while he's actually one of the strongest pirates in the world.
Silver Fox: Despite his age, he’s still quite a good looking man.
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Luffy calls him "Old man" at the start of his training under Rayleigh, and he weakly suggests in reply that Luffy should instead call him "Rayleigh-san," "Rayleigh-sensei" or "Master". But the best Luffy does is to just start calling him "Rayleigh", with no honorifics, and he decides to just roll with that.
Tranquil Fury: Rayleigh rarely loses his cool no matter the situation, but upon meeting Blackbeard about to choke the life out of Boa Hancock, Rayleigh is pissed off to the point he coldly tells Blackbeard he despises him and calls him a brat to his face.
The Trickster: He gambles his money away, and to pay off old debts, he allows himself to be captured and sold as a slave. Because he looks like an unassuming old man, no-one notices that capturing the Roger Pirates Number Two is playing with fire, so he would usually steal the money of whatever schmuck with more cash than brains once he's bought off, pay off his old debts, and start gambling again. He actually highlights that buying him is bona-fide Schmuck Bait as in his words:
"Who'd want to buy me as a slave? I'm an old man!"

Scopper Gaban

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (JP), Ian Sinclair (EN)

Debut: Chapter 19 (Manga), Episode 0 (Anime)

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

A prominent member of the Roger Pirates.

Dual Wielding: During Oden flashback, he wieldes two axes to fight the Whitebeard Pirates.
Perpetual Smiler: Always smiling, just like his captain.
Theme Naming: Scopper. Continuing the Metal theme of Roger Pirates.
What Happened to the Mouse?: He's implied to be the third most powerful member of the Roger Pirates and virtually nothing is known of him in the present.

Crocus

Voiced by: Gorō Naya (JP, first voice), Masuo Amada (JP, second voice), Jerry Russell (EN, Funi first voice), Burl Procter (EN, Funi second voice), Arturo Mercado (LatAm Spanish, Netflix)

Age: 71 (Pre-Timeskip), 73 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 102 (Manga), Episode 62 (Anime)

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

A lighthouse keeper as well as the caretaker of Laboon. He the first person the Straw Hats meet upon entering the Grand Line. After they help Laboon, he tells the crew how the Grand Line works and loans them a Log Pose to navigate the sea. It's later revealed he was on Roger's crew as its doctor. Mostly to help Roger stay alive for one final journey.

Anime Hair: His hair is Flower-shaped to go with his name.
Combat Medic: Crocus joined Roger because he was sick and needed a medic to stay alive, but was also a fighter worthy of, at the time, the world's strongest crew. During Oden's flashback, Crocus is shown in combat with the other crewmembers.
Cool Old Guy: Vivi and Mr. 9 shoot him several times with bazookas, but Crocus comes out okay. And if that isn't badass enough for you, he also used to be a member of Roger's crew.
Death Glare: Parodied. Crocus tends to give people threatening glares but most of the time he's actually totally harmless.
Exact Words: While giving the Straw Hats a Log Pose, he tells them that, by proceeding on the Grand Line, they would eventually reach the island where the One Piece is located, but doesn't say that said island is at the end of the Grand Line. It's actually somewhere in the New World, and to find it one needs to collect the four Road Poneglyphs.
Face of a Thug: Downplayed. Crocus's face is really grumpy and rough, giving the impression that he's threatening someone while, for the most part, he's a nice old man who's been taking care of a whale for almost fifty years. However, Crocus also used to be part of a pirate crew, even if one of the most benevolent ones.
Implied Death Threat: Don't dare try to shoot him with a cannon. Somebody might end up dead. Especially him. Crocus sounds like he's threatening to kill someone because of his Death Glare but in truth he doesn't mean it, although he did serve in the Oro Jackson so he's bound not to be your average old man.
Made of Iron: His age doesn't stop him from swimming in a lake of digestive juice or taking several bazooka bullets to the chest.
Retired Badass: He used to be the doctor of Roger's crew but after the crew disbanded he went back to his job as lighthouse keeper.
Running Gag: He lampshades his own running gag to stare people threateningly only to claim to be totally harmless in the next panel.
Younger Than They Look: When he was 21 years old, he already looked middle-aged. Even in the present, at 73, he looks quite a bit more elderly than Sengoku or Rayleigh — both of whom are actually a few years older than him.

Kozuki Oden

See his page.

Apprentices

Shanks

See his entry on the Four Emperors page.

Buggy

See his page.

Affiliates

Kozuki Oden's Family and Retainers

Roger sought out Oden to help him translate the Poneglyphs and complete his goal of circumnavigating the world. Oden brought his family (and his retainers Dogstorm and Cat Viper as stowaways) on this journey.

See their entries here.

Portgas D. Rouge

Voiced by: Yuko Minaguchi (JP), Taylor Anne Ramsey (EN)

Debut: Chapter 550 (Manga), Episode 0 (Anime)

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

A mysterious young woman only seen in flashbacks. This is because she was Gold Roger's girlfriend/lover, as well as the mother of his child... Ace. Whom she also died for, holding him in her womb for twenty months to make sure the World Government wouldn't get at him. She ultimately passed away — but not before entrusting Vice-Admiral Garp with the task of taking care of her child, which he did by taking him in as his adoptive grandson. Her full name is Portgas D. Rouge, and she is the first known female carrier of the D initial.

Death by Childbirth: She died giving birth to Ace. Justified due to the strain of prolonging her pregnancy.
The Determinator: The only conceivable way she could've deliberately stayed pregnant for 20 months.
Go Out with a Smile: Dies smiling as she gives birth to Ace and entrusts him to Garp.
Longest Pregnancy Ever: She was able to hold Ace in her womb for twenty months.
Mama Bear: A pacifist example, but still. She held her son in her womb until she found a safe place to give birth to him.
Mysterious Middle Initial: The D in her name is attributed to the mysterious "Will of D", which somehow connects her and Roger and a few other notable individuals throughout the story to the World Government and the Celestial Dragons.
Plucky Girl: She wouldn't be able to hold Ace in her womb for that long if not for her pluck.
Strong Family Resemblance: Ace takes a lot from his mom, and not just her name.

Rocks Pirates

In General

Once the most powerful crew of their era, until Monkey D. Garp and Gol D. Roger defeated them in a battle that later came to be known as the God Valley Incident. Many of its former members eventually became big name pirates in their own right with their own powerful crews.

Badass Crew: Aptly described as "the strongest pirate crew in the world." One look at the crew's roster is enough to say that even 40 years later, that status was not an exaggeration by any stretch. His crew boasted three of the first generation of the Four Emperors, plus other names like Shiki, Silver Axe, and Captain John.
Decapitated Army: Once Rocks died, the crew disbanded and went their separate ways since they all hated each other and no longer had any reason to stick around.
Dream Team: All of its member were famous pirates who made names for themselves. Every time new crewmates were revealed, it was a previously known character. Rocks is the only one previously unknown to the readers and he somehow managed to gather all of those famous people together under his flag.
Hero's Evil Predecessor: One of the former members of the Rocks Pirates, Whitebeard, later formed his own crew and became one of the Four Emperors who rules over the New World.
I Work Alone: The moment the Rocks Pirates touched down at God Valley, each crewmember immediately split to plunder the place individually, leaving Rocks to face his two greatest rivals by himself.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: According to Sengoku, part of the reason why the younger generations are unaware of the crew is because members got along so terribly they would continuously fight with each other and members who survived the God's Valley incident would downplay their role. Sure enough, Chapter 1096 shows the Rocks Pirates' arrival to God Valley with all of the known members bickering with one another and/or pursuing their own agendas.

Crew Members

Rocks D. Xebec

Debut: Chapter 957 (Manga), Episode 958 (Anime)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rocks_7.PNG

The mysterious pirate captain who was a prominent figure 40 years ago, long before the rise of Pirate King Gold Roger. He led the Rocks Pirates, and they were the most powerful crew of their era, until Monkey D. Garp and Roger defeated them in a battle that later came to be known as the God Valley Incident, earning Garp the title "Hero of the Marines". However, many of Rocks' crew are still around and became big name pirates in their own right with their own powerful crews, and the Marines fear that the Rocks Pirates' return would be a disaster.

Due to his knowledge of the World Government's taboo subjects, much of the God Valley Incident and his life as a whole were erased from record, and as such, Rocks was never given a bounty — though if he had been, it could be assumed to be on par with or higher than Roger's.

Anime Hair: His hair looks like a porcupine.
Arch-Enemy: Rocks is described as Gol D. Roger's first and greatest rival, so much so that he teamed up with Garp to defeat Rocks.
Bad Boss: Rocks controlled a crew of psychopathic monsters itching to kill each other at every moment through threatening to kill any of them himself. As one might expect, any camaraderie was non-existent and avenging Rocks was the furthest thing from the minds of any of his former crew after he died.
Cryptic Background Reference: Even in the world of One Piece, knowledge of him is rather scant, having been out of mind for almost 40 years. Justified, as the World Government tried to scrub him from history, and the few people who do know about him and are untouchable by the WG are people who don't care to talk about him.
The Dreaded: Rocks is unique in the series in that the World Government does not speak of him. Of all the great and terrible pirates in the world, they at least are remembered by history but not Rocks. There's no mention of a bounty or any kind of historical record of his reign of terror, all that's known is that back in his era things were bad. Sengoku even telling other Marine officers about him is considered inappropriate, and he has to quickly hint that they shouldn't look into the matter any further.
Evil Versus Evil: He was a terrorist who wanted to take over the world and was the only known person to have killed Celestial Dragons, and many of them, to do so. On the other hand, considering how monstrous 99% of the Celestial Dragons have proven to be, this almost comes off as a case of Pay Evil unto Evil.
Greater-Scope Villain: Before the Pirate King and the Four Emperors, there was simply "Rocks". He gathered a crew full of incredibly powerful members including Kaido, Big Mom, Whitebeard, and Shiki, and then terrorized the world in his quest to become king of everything. In the wake of his death, many of his crew members would go their separate ways to become powerful, big name pirates and continue terrorizing the world, but even still, none of them have yet managed to achieve their captain's level of infamy.
Inconsistent Spelling: VIZ initially spelled his name as "Rox". However, it was revealed in Chapter 957 that Oda spells it as "ROCKS" in plain English on his flag and sail. VIZ went with the spelling of "Rocks" with its release of that chapter.
Last-Name Basis: Other characters refer to him by his family name Rocks. His full name is not well known in public and it's the older generation who remember his full name. Blackbeard calling his ship Saber of Xebec hints a connection he has with Rocks.
Meaningful Name: Xebec is the name of a type of ship, so appropriate for a pirate. Granted, a xebec was a Mediterranean sailing ship used primarily for trading, so not wholly fitting. However, the ship was used by Barbary corsairs in their raids and the word xebec may originate from the Arab word shabbak, which means a small warship.
Posthumous Character: He died some 38 years ago, but he still holds a tremendous influence over the world's current state through his crew members.
Predecessor Villain: In two ways. First, to two of his crewmates, Kaido and Big Mom, who became two of the most infamous pirates in the modern day as they are two of the more villainous Four Emperors. The second is to Blackbeard, being an evil D. carrier in conflict with a more moral D. carrier, and who wanted to take over the world. They both gathered a crew full of infamous pirates who all don't get along well, held together only by their captain's strength, and the Rocks Pirates formed on the Pirate Island Fullalead, where the Blackbeard Pirates are currently stationed. Interestingly enough, Blackbeard was born in the same year Rocks started his crew and campaign and his main ship is known as "Sabre of Xebec", further suggesting a connection between the two.
Punny Name: He's a guy called Rocks D. Xebec. A xebec is a type of ship and he's infamous for rocking the boat on an unprecedented scale.
Remember the New Guy?: Rocks and his pirate crew are first mentioned very, very late into the story despite their historical importance. Justified, since records of him and his crew were erased from history and the newer generations have no idea of their existence,
Take Over the World: His greatest ambition was to take over the world. This is significant because world domination isn't a very common goal in the One Piece world. Most pirates simply want to reign over a small island, have a horde of treasure, or simply have their name known and respected. Rocks' desire to supplant the Celestial Dragons and apparent ability to do so made him a serious threat to the World Government.
Unperson: He studied many taboo subjects in his quest for world domination, leading the World Government to hush up his existence after his defeat. Despite his influence on the current state of the world, very few of the new generations of Marines know of his existence, while the older generation, including Garp, refuse to talk about him, and former crew members downplay their appearance in his crew, because most of them hate each other and they don't like being reminded that they once worked together.
Villainous Legacy: His defeat rocketed Garp to become the Hero of the Marines, and made Gol D. Roger a threat to reckon with years before he became the Pirate King. His crew boasted three of the original Four Emperors (the sole exception is Shanks), while being indirectly responsible for the status of all the current Emperors. Then there's the fact that he appears to have a successor of his own in Marshall D. Teach...
Walking Spoiler: His existence is revealed very late into the storyline, but completely changes how the audience views the dynamics between each of the Four Emperors, Garp, and Roger himself, while hinting at many more mysteries.
World's Strongest Man: Undoubtedly the strongest man of his time, so much so that he was able to hold together a group of powerful pirates including three of the future Four Emperors who all hated each other with nothing more than his strength alone, and Garp and Roger had to team up with each other just to beat him, because there was no other chance of victory otherwise. Considering that each of the above mentioned individuals is a contender for the title of World's Strongest Man in the present day, it speaks volumes about his strength.

Edward Newgate

See his entry on the Four Emperors page.

Charlotte Linlin

See her page.

Kaido

See his page.

"Golden Lion" Shiki

Voiced by: Naoto Takenaka (JP), Scott McNeil (EN), Enrique Cervantes (LatAm SP)

Debut: Chapter 0: Strong World (Manga), One Piece Film: Strong World (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Float-Float Fruit

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

"I will rule over all the seas from the sky!"

Shiki the "Golden Lion, also known as the "Flying Pirate", is the captain of the Golden Lion Pirates and a legendary pirate known for clashing with Gold Roger himself and for being the very first pirate to ever escape from Impel Down. His base of operations is a collection of floating islands, which he himself made with his Devil Fruit powers, swarming with fierce animals called Merveille, from which he and his five-thousand strong crew plot their revenge on the world.

He ate the Float-Float Fruit (Fuwa Fuwa no Mi), a Paramecia-class fruit that grants him the ability to use telekinesis on anything he touches, including but not limited to levitating and moving objects.

Accent Adaptation: He has a thick Jamaican accent in the English dub.
Animal Motifs: The lion, of course. Not only does he have long, mane-like hair, Merveille is littered with Mix-and-Match Critters (as the lion is the king of beasts). But to really drive the point home, he uses his powers to create roaring lions out of the surrounding environment.
Artificial Limbs: After cutting his own legs to escape from Impel Down, he replaced them with his two swords. He can use his Float-Float Fruit on them, allowing himself to fly.
Atop a Mountain of Corpses: Pulls this in Chapter 0.
Big Bad: He's the main antagonist of One Piece Film: Strong World, and one of only two canon movie villains so far (though his involvement with the Straw Hats isn't).
Bond Villain Stupidity: When he kidnapped Nami, all it would have taken would have been for Shiki to throw the Thousand Sunny down into the Blue Sea, since he already has control of it. If he did, it would have completely eliminated even the slightest possibility of the Straw Hats opposing him. Shiki almost avoided Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? by opting for the incredibly simple, but overwhelmingly overpowered choice to drown Luffy in a lake's worth of water he telekinetically controlled. But for no adequately explained reason, he breaks the water prison to attack Luffy again, thus putting himself in danger.
Bullying a Dragon: In Chapter/Episode 0, he tries to rescue Gold Roger from execution by storming into Marineford alone and picking a fight with (then) Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp in the process. He lost, but they wrecked half of Marineford in the process. And the fact that it took two Admiral level fighters to defeat him (without his massive armada to back him) is a testament to his threat level.
The Bus Came Back: Well, sort of. A full decade in real time after the release of the movie that was his first and only appearance, Chapter 957 unexpectedly revealed him to have been a member of the crew of Rocks D. Xebec. Shiki is then depicted for the first time in Chapter 1096 of the canon manga alongside the other Rocks Pirates.
Chunky Updraft: A pretty basic application of his powers is to weaponize this, levitating the earth or large objects around him and using them to hit and crush his adversaries.
Connected All Along: Turns out that Golden Lion Shiki was actually a member of The Rocks Pirates alongside Whitebeard, Big Mom, Kaido, Captain John and their own captain Rocks among others and took part in the fight at God's Valley against Roger and Garp. It goes a long way to explains why he seemed so insistent in offering a We Can Rule Together speech towards Roger despite considering the other man The Rival and later on spoke to Garp with surprising casualness when he attacked Marineford after Roger was "captured" — Shiki would have seen firsthand the sheer power and abilities of both men and gain a incredible respect for both.
Dented Iron: He's a tough fighter but he did wait a long while to put his plan into motion and was likewise in hiding to boot. The fact that he mostly uses his powers in confrontations implied he let himself get rusty. This is helped along that he cringes from any direct hit he receives (notably when Luffy went Gear 2nd in their second confrontation and hit him in the stomach, to which Shiki is seen holding his stomach and wiping his mouth).
Despotism Justifies the Means: His ultimate goal is to Take Over the World, using his evolved beasts to do so.
Didn't See That Coming: Thinking Luffy will kill himself in the lightning storm and finding it has no effect on Luffy (y'know, being made of rubber and all). It just super-charged Luffy's attack, who then brings it right down on Shiki.
Disney Villain Death: After being knocked out by Luffy's Gigant Thor Ax, he's last seen unconscious and falling from the descending floating island alongside an equally knocked-out Dr. Indigo and Scarlet. It's implied the Marines eventually found their bodies in the ocean and quickly captured them.
Dual Wielding: In the past he used his twin swords normally. He still does, though they're his new legs.
Evil Is Petty: Severely. He targets East Blue just because Roger was born and died there and decides to try and kill the Straw Hats because some of the members are from there. And this was after they had helped him avoid a typhoon of their own volition.
Evil Plan: Known for making these. His latest one spanned two decades in its formation.
Evil Laugh: Jihahahaha.
Faux Affably Evil: He comes off as jovial and fun-loving but that's just at face value. At his core, he's a sadistic and downright insane warmonger who wants to slaughter people just to prove he can and eventually rule the world.
Fantastic Racism: Has an irrational hatred of the East Blue, as it's where Roger died, and Shiki found it a disgrace that such a great pirate would meet his end in the weakest of the seas. Which ultimately is the reason he antagonizes the Straw Hats when they mention most of their members are from there. Also worth noting that the only two people to ever beat him were both born in the East Blue.
Gravity Master: Shiki's Float-Float Fruit allows him to manipulate the gravitational field of any inorganic matter he's touched. What makes him truly scary isn't his range, but his dexterity; he can manipulate gravity so precisely that he can mentally mold earth and even water into any shape he wants by tweaking the direction and amount. 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.
Great Escape: Was the only person in history to have broken out of Impel Down before Luffy did so to rescue Ace. Unlike Luffy, he did the whole thing himself.
Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: He's seen chomping on an over-sized cigar fairly often, even while fighting.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: While being able to levitate things doesn't sound very impressive, the way he uses his power is very scary.
Large Ham: He loves to flamboyantly brag when he has the upper hand, though he calms down when he's serious.
Laughably Evil: When he's not shooting his own men out of anger, oppressing villagers, Sadistic Choicing people, or shoving their faces into poisonous substances, he comes off as quite eccentric, performing dance routines to '70s espionage music, nicknaming people, and joking that Dumb Muscle Scarlet reminds him of his mother.
Life-or-Limb Decision: He cut off his own legs in order to break free of his shackles and escape from Impel Down. He later replaced them with his own swords.
Load-Bearing Boss: The way his powers work is that once he levitates something, it stays in the air until either he decides to let it down himself, or he somehow loses control (ie losing consciousness). Once Luffy defeats him, the Floating Continent ceases to float.
Made of Iron: He can take an obscene amount of damage and survived having a steering wheel permanently lodged into his skull and cutting off his own legs to escape Impel Down before jamming swords into the wounds to use as new legs. He wouldn't even be able to live at all if not for this trope.
Manipulative Bastard: After seeing Nami's navigation skills, he'd already decided he wants her as his navigator, so he acted friendly around the Straw Hats before kidnapping her, and separating the crew across his island, and on the occasion that Nami escaped from his fortress and found the crew, he has visual Transponder Snails around, so he could just go back for her and kick the asses of the Straw Hats, and threaten to finish them off as well as her home-town, to bring her to his side. It's too bad Nami's a better schemer... and that she'd already been through similar crap with Arlong.
Mind over Matter: His devil fruit allows him to float and move any non-living object he touches, including entire islands. He can also make his swords, which he uses as legs, to make himself fly as well.
Oh, Crap!: His reaction when the lightning he thought would kill Luffy only enhances his Gear 3 Gigant Leg and Luffy bringing it down his way.
One-Man Army: The Chapter 0 flashback shows him storming Marineford by himself, demanding that Roger be released from prison. He battled Sengoku and Garp, both in their prime, and an army of Marine mooks, levelling half of the Marineford in the process and accumulating a small mountain of bodies before he was defeated.
The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He fancied himself Roger's rival, and couldn't possibly believe that the Marines had captured him. Since then, he's become highly jaded with the Great Pirate Era, believing that all of the pirates that came since Roger are mere treasure mongers.
Person of Mass Destruction: Seeing as how he can throw islands at you...
Playing with Syringes: The source of his monstrous animals is a special chemical called SIQ, which speeds up the evolutionary process.
Power Floats: Literally. His Devil Fruit allows him to fly and levitate other objects, up to and including battleships and even islands.
Powers Do the Fighting: While he's somewhat shown to be a close-range fighter, he relies very heavily on his Devil Fruit power and prefers to keep his distance while swamping his opponents with the surrounding elements. It's very likely that old age caught up to him (he does hail from the era when Roger was alive after all) and can't fight on par like he used to.
Razor Wind: Thanks to his sword-legs, he's capable of launching a flurry of air slashes while airborne.
Red Right Hand: The steering wheel lodged into his head and the two swords he uses for prosthetic legs.
The Rival: He considers himself this to Gold Roger, often clashing with him.
Say My Name: Just before Luffy beats him, he screams out Roger's name.
Shaping Your Attacks: Usually gargantuan lion heads.
Slasher Smile: Variations. He sports a beaming grin as he drops Marine battleships out of the sky, has a smarmy smirk as he coerces Nami into committing a Face–Heel Turn, and finally goes on to a full-blown Slasher Smile while fighting Luffy.
Superpower Lottery: His Float-Float Fruit power allows him to levitate any object he touches, no matter how large or small. Once levitated, he can freely manipulate them in a manner similar to telekinesis. Including himself, which negates the biggest weakness Devil Fruit eaters have. He uses this to levitate an entire ''archipelago'' of islands!
- Along with this he can reshape and manipulate the environment, meaning any island itself can potentially become his weapon to use as he wishes.
- And possibly most scary of all, Shiki can also control huge amounts of water, which only a small handful of Devil Fruit users can defend against.
Take Over the World: His ultimate goal. He may or may not have gotten this from his time over with the Rocks Pirates and his captain, Rocks.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The Rocks Pirates were a notoriously rowdy bunch, but Shiki appeared to be at particular odds with Whitebeard, yelling at the latter for giving orders during the God Valley incident.
Terrible Trio: Forms a far more competent although no less humorous version of this trope with Dr. Indigo and Scarlet.
Underestimating Badassery: Shiki constantly thinks Luffy and the Straw Hats are beneath him and doesn't take them at all seriously. Even when the crew comes bursting into his throne room just as the final phase of his plan is about to take off to rescue their crewmate he's taken. Followed shortly by them decimating a good chunk of his army and allowing the animals of the island to run roughshod in his palace. This arrogance ultimately leads to his downfall when he doesn't bother attacking Luffy as he's charging up his final attack thinking either the lighting will kill Luffy or he can take it. By the time he realizes the threat of Luffy's Gigant Thor Ax, Shiki's left feebly throwing rocks at him while making a futile attempt to defend himself.
Ungrateful Bastard: His idea of "thanking" Nami for saving him and his fleet by warning them about a typhoon, is to kidnap her, scatter her crew, smack her around, and threaten her homeland.
Villain Ball: During his climactic battle with Luffy, he traps Luffy in a mass of levitating water. Rather than keep him there and let him drown, Shiki takes the time to monologue a little and then attacks with his Razor Wind, destroying the water and freeing Luffy.
Villain Protagonist: Was this in Chapter/Episode 0.
Visual Pun: Overlaps with Stealth Pun — he has the helm of a ship stuck in his head.
We Can Rule Together: To Roger. Apparently, he thought that Roger knew the location of a weapon of mass destruction, and wanted Roger to join with his massive armada so they could Take Over the World. Roger, of course, declined, on the grounds that he had no desire to conquer anything, and fearlessly goes into a battle where he is hopelessly outnumbered. A random storm however randomly sank half of Shiki's fleet.
Worf Had the Flu: It's strongly implied his strength vastly weakened with age and despite his great power he's not as strong as he used to be which is why he planned on using a bunch of monsters to take over the world. He went from once being strong enough to apparently roll with the future Yonkou as a crewmate of the Rocks Pirates, take on Roger one-on-one and live to tell about it, and eventually storm Marineford and combat both a younger Garp and Sengoku to barely keeping up in a fight with Luffy and resorting to Powers Do the Fighting tactics instead.
Would Hit a Girl: Strangles Nami, slams her head to the tree and pins her down with batons when she had a breakdown about her village being destroyed.

John

See his entry on the Thriller Bark Pirates page.

Buckingham Stussy

Voiced by: Reiko Suzuki (JP), Erica Schroeder (EN)

Age: 76

Debut: Chapter 802 (Manga), Episode 752 (Anime)

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

"Silly boy... What's the use in revenge?! It won’t get you a single belly! Money's what matters!"

A former pirate and the mother of Edward Weevil who is after Whitebeard's supposed fortune.

Ambiguous Situation: In-universe, most people don't believe her claims of association with Whitebeard and his paternity of Weevil and assume that she's a nobody making up ridiculous claims for attention, but Marco notes that she really was in the same crew as Whitebeard some forty years ago. Buckin explains that the one who can vouch for her claims is Dr. Vegapunk.
Connected All Along: Her claim that she's connected to Whitebeard isn't a total lie, as Buckin is a former Rocks Pirate like him. She was also a member of MADS, although she was lazily coasting on her credentials as a Rocks Pirate instead of doing any sort of actual science.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She's greedy and selfish to the core and, while her claim about being Whitebeard's lover and Weevil's mother questionable at best, she does seem to genuinely love Weevil as her son. When he's captured by Admiral Ryokugyu, Bakin cries out for her son and even demands Marco go to rescue him.
Fur and Loathing: She's a greedy, manipulative woman who wears a leopard fur Coat Cape.
Gonk: Even among older characters in the series she stands out due to her very wrinkled, almost skeletal face.
Greed: Despite claiming to have been Whitebeard's lover she's entirely focused on finding his apparent fortune instead of avenging his death, making her son hunt down Whitebeard's former crew and allies to do so. She chides her son for wanting to get revenge and states that money is what's important. That being said, she does at the very least care more about Weevil than she does money, seeing as she tearfully calls out to him after he was captured by Ryokugyu. While she does tell Marco to fork over Weevil's "inheritance" when discussing the ordeal with him, it's only after demanding that he rescue her son as repayment for him defending Whitebeard's hometown while Marco was in Wano.
I Was Quite the Looker: While in the present she's a very wrinkled and ugly woman, she was very beautiful in her youth.
Known Only by Their Nickname: "Buckin" is in truth an abbreviation of her full name: Buckingham Stussy.
Mad Scientist: Subverted. Despite being a former member of MADS, her introduction card states that she's merely a self-proclaimed scientist and that in reality, she was just a lazy freeloader.
Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: It's rather heavily implied that she's lying about Weevil being Whitebeard's kid to ride the late Emperor's coattails. The real twist is that she might've actually been telling the truth, as she and Whitebeard were former crewmates.
Meaningful Name: Her Japanese name "Bakkin" can mean "fine" or "penalty", which fits her greedy nature.
Miniature Senior Citizens: She's a contemporary of Whitebeard and a very short old woman.
My Beloved Smother: Extremely controlling of her son, with Weevil following her every order.
Retired Badass: She's a former Rocks Pirate, making her a contemporary to the likes of Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom.
The Reveal: In the Egghead Arc, it's revealed that not only is her full name Buckingham Stussy but that she's a former member of both the Rocks Pirates and MADS, and that CP0's Stussy is a clone of her.
Shoulder Teammate: She was hanging onto Whitebeard's shoulder when the Rocks Pirates arrived at God Valley.
Villains Never Lie: Zigzagged. Her claim of being Whitebeard's lover and Weevil's mother is very questionable. However, as vouched for by Marco, she at least knew Whitebeard. Chapter 1072 reveals she was a member of the Rocks Pirates, and if Stussy is a clone of her, then possibly her claim of being his lover may not be entirely impossible, and she herself claims the Dr. Vegapunk can vouch for the truthfulness of her story.

Wang Zhi

Debut (Mention): Chapter 957 (Manga), Episode 958 (Anime)

A former member of the Rocks Pirates.

The Ghost: Unlike the rest of their named crew members, Wang Zhi is not shown on screen and is only mentioned in passing.
Named After Someone Famous: Wang Zhi is named after the Chinese pirate of the same name.
Noodle Incident: Blackbeard reveals that some time after the God Valley Incident, Wang Zhi ended up ruling Fullalead and was somehow involved in the Rocky Port Incident. The Emperor even credits Koby in giving the former and his crew the opportunity to oust them and take over the island as their territory and main center.

Gloriosa

See her entry on the Kuja page.

Streusen

See his entry on the Big Mom Pirates page.

Void Century

Joy Boy

Debut (Mention): Chapter 628 (Manga), Episode 548 (Anime)

A man who lived in the Void Century. He promised Poseidon and the people of Fish-Man Island that he'd lift Noah up to the surface, but failed in this commitment for unknown reasons. He is also the one who left behind a certain item of unimaginable value on Laughtale, thus becoming a legendary and much well-known figure in the world.

Chekhov's Gunman: His name is first mentioned along with the promise he made to Fish-Man Island. He becomes prominent again during the Wano arc when it's revealed that he left behind the treasure on Laugh Tale (One Piece?) and the Rio Poneglyph is basically the story he left behind. And again when it's confirmed that he's the Sun God Nika mentioned by Who's-Who during his fight with Jimbei.
Connected All Along: Perhaps the ultimate example in One Piece. Joy Boy is connected to all the important Myth Arcs and related characters in the series: the map to the final island Laugh Tale is his, the Rio Poneglyph is his story and the One Piece may be the treasure he left behind. Additionally, Zunesha, the giant elephant carrying Zou on his back, was once Joy Boy's comrade 800 years ago. It all comes to a head in Chapter 1044, where it's revealed Joy Boy is a title for an awakened user of the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika, also known as the Gum-Gum Fruit eaten by Monkey D. Luffy. He is also the Sun God Nika mentioned by Who's-Who, tying everything together.
Crystal Dragon Jesus: The way some people refer to him gives him an aura of being a holy saviour, especially since he left prophecies of his return 800 years later which would ring true when Luffy awakens Joy Boy's Devil Fruit and inherits the name. It's also revealed he's the Sun God Nika, and thus was legit worshiped as a god.
Folk Hero: Joy Boy is a hero to the Buccaneer race, who have been passing down the legend of Sun God Nika for generations. The last Buccaneer, Bartholomew Kuma, was so inspired by the tales his father told him as a child slave in Mariejois that his greatest dream was to become a hero like Nika, something that is strongly implied to have been what motivated him to join the Revolutionary Army. Later on, it's revealed that Luffy's similarities to Nika are what convinced Kuma to save the Straw Hat Pirates during the Sabaody Archipelago arc, as he believed that Luffy would be the one to continue Nika's will and save the world. As the readers know by that point, he was more correct than he realized.
Fun Personified: Since he's the Sun God Nika, he brings joy to those around him. This is implied by Luffy's devil fruit making him the "next Joy Boy".
Greater-Scope Paragon: He's been gone for close to a thousand years, but he's the one who put the mythical One Piece on Laugh Tale, the final island. On a lesser scale, there's a promise he made to Fish-Man Island which, while he failed to fulfill, continues to be held by the Fish-Men for someone else to complete. Finally, being someone from the Void Century who left the Poneglyphs, which the World Government has been censoring, puts him in direct opposition to their tyranny. The revelation that he is the Sun God Nika furthers his status as the main force of good of the Myth Arc, as it confirms that he was some kind of liberator of slaves.
King in the Mountain: He left messages stating he would return in 800 years, which the Fish-Men awaited. It turns out this was more metaphorical than literal, as Luffy would become the second Joy Boy 800 years later.
Legend Fades to Myth: It's implied that his memory mostly became a myth. People know he existed during the Void Century thanks to the Poneglyphs and other sources and seek to inherit his title, but very few of them know what he was actually like or what his exact goals were. The World Government did everything they could to cover up the specifics, and did such a good job that next to no one except their highest echelons know that he was also the Sun God Nika, who is regarded as a mythical figure only spoken about in whispers in the present day.
Meaningful Name: It's implicit in his name that he always had a happy-go-lucky attitude no matter what was going on. Chapter 1044 reveals that this is inherently linked to the awakening the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika. When Luffy does it, he is in the middle of the climactic, brutal battle with Kaido; even with the high stakes and the tragedies of all of Kaido's victims bearing down on him, Luffy is loving life and literally bouncing off the walls even as they beat each other to death.
Messianic Archetype: The way he's talked about and how he's a very beloved historical figure to the unfortunates, he can be regarded as a messianic figure. The legends passed down throughout the centuries say that slaves would pray to him in hopes he would free them their bonds and bring joy and happiness to their lives again, and it's been stated multiple times that people throughout the world have been waiting for his return for centuries, much like the Second Coming of Christ.
Only Known by Their Nickname: He is only known as "Joy Boy", which is suggested in Oden's backstory that is a title to be inherited. He's also known as the Sun God Nika, but whether Nika is his real name or just another title is unknown.
Posthumous Character: As his Devil Fruit entered circulation again, it's presumed he's dead by modern day.
The Promise: He promised to bring the people of Fish-Man Island to the surface using the great ark Noah but failed to do so, and left an apology message to them on a Poneglyph in the Sea Forest. The Fish-Men have kept the Noah in working condition over the centuries until someone else can fulfill Joy Boy's will. Fish-Man Island nearly breaks their half of the promise when Vander Decken uses his powers to throw the ship at the island after being scorned by Shirahoshi, and Luffy is almost forced to destroy the ship to prevent it from crashing and killing the island's inhabitants. Thankfully, the Sea Kings stop the ark under Shirahoshi's order.
Shrouded in Myth: When he's first mentioned, very little nothing about Joy Boy, and yet it was he who left something on the final island that Roger eventually found. The revelation that he is the Sun God Nika gives us more of an idea of what he was like, but still no concrete details.
Slave Liberation: With the reveal that he is the Sun God Nika spoken of by Who's-Who, it means he was some kind of legendary liberator of slaves. It explains why Fish-Man Island was willing to keep their promise to him for eight hundred years — there is no one that has suffered more from slavery than Fish-Men, and thus no one Fish-Men would've held in higher regard than a man who freed slaves.
Two Aliases, One Character: Chapter 1044 confirms that he's the Sun God Nika, as a former Awakened user of the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika.
Unperson: While there's too much evidence about him to outright deny his existence, the World Government did everything they could to cover up any details of his life. This includes renaming and reclassifying his devil fruit to make sure no one would ever figure out the true power it held.
"X" Marks the Spot: It's implied that he wrote the four red Road Poneglyphs which show the coordinates of a specific island each. By drawing a X between those islands, the location of Laugh Tale is revealed.

Miscellaneous Characters

Pandaman

Voiced by: Mahito Oba (JP), Jimmy Zoppi (EN, 4Kids)

Age: Even he does not know

Debut: Chapter 44 (Manga), Episode 16 (Anime)

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

A joke character and something of a Running Gag in the series. Shows up in backgrounds of the series for the audience to spot. Word of God stated he created him a long time ago as a fan character for Kinnikuman. He has a bounty of 3,333,333 Berries.

A Day in the Limelight: One of the anime's Feudal Japan specials made him a central part of the plot — though he's still off-screen for most of it, as his identity is meant to be a climactic twist for long-time viewers.
Distaff Counterpart: There is a Pandawoman.
He Who Must Not Be Heard: Never speaks in the manga or anime, or even gets acknowledged by any other characters. Not the case in the early video-games, however, where he's not only voiced (by anime narrator Mahito Oba) but actually playable in several instances.
Joke Character: He's not had any actual role in the series, just randomly inserted into the background at certain points.
Mix-and-Match Critter: With the arrival at Fishman Island, Pandafishman got spotted several times.
Something Person: Pandaman.

"Crescent-Moon" Gally

Voiced by: Yasuhiko Kawazu (JP, Ep. 48), Rikiya Koyama (JP, Romance Dawn Story), Takahiro Fujiwara (JP, Ep. 877), R. Bruce Elliott (EN)

Debut: Chapter 902 (Manga), Episode 48 (Anime, Filler), Episode 877 (Anime, Non-Filler)

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

The main antagonist from both the first One Piece pilot and the Romance Dawn Story OVA special. Just a typical bad pirate who was terrorizing Silk's home and had the misfortune to run into Luffy who was passing by. He makes an appearance in the manga as a cameo at the end of the Whole Cake Island arc.

The Cameo: He makes his first and so far only canon appearance as a cameo at the end of the Whole Cake Island arc, where he impatiently demands a meal from Zeff at the Baratie.
Defeat Means Friendship: According to the manga pilot's Distant Finale, he joins up with Luffy at some point.
Development Gag: A somewhat older version of him appears in a filler of the Loguetown arc where he's quickly taken down by Smoker.
Dirty Coward: He's only threatening if he has the advantage (like having Luffy tied up which was due more to the townspeople mistaking Luffy for him). In a real fight, he's pretty pathetic.
Oh, Crap!: In the OVA when he's handed Luffy's bounty and compares it with his own, finding it's not even close to his rank (Luffy's, at the time: 300,000,000 Berri — Gally's: 5,000,000 Berri). Likewise his crew quickly begged for their lives once they realized who Luffy was.
Smug Snake: He thinks he is a credible threat while having a pathetically small bounty.
Would Hit a Girl: Doesn't hesitate in fighting Silk, and then beating her up.

Indigo

Voiced by: Ryūsei Nakao (JP), Sean Schemmel (EN), Edson Matus (LatAm SP)

Debut: Chapter 0: Strong World (Manga), One Piece Film: Strong World (Anime)

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

A genius member of the Golden Lion Pirates and the one who creates the monstrous animals under Shiki.

Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Shiki and Indigo do this from time to time. Shiki is the dumb one and Indigo is the straight man.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Indigo is a quirky soul even by One Piece standards. He dresses up like a clown, complete with whoopie cushion-soled shoes, likes to speak in charades, and loves to dance and do Boke And Tsukkomi Routines with his boss.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Indigo looks like a clown and goes around with fart-shoes and speaks in charades, but is still Shiki's best man nevertheless.
The Dragon: For Shiki. Because he's the one behind the monstrous animals he's his closest underling.
Evil Genius: He's the one maintaining the berserk animals in Shiki's islands.
Evil Laugh: Piropiropiro!
Mad Scientist: The one who develops the SIQ serum that turns animals into monstrosities.
Playing with Fire: Indigo uses an ability he calls "Chemical Juggling" allows him to create and throw wisp-like chemical-based fireballs. Exactly where he has this ability from is unknown, since he's never confirmed to be a Devil Fruit user.
Running Gag:
- When he has something to say, he'll try to pantomime it first. After the message fails to get across, he'll just say what he wants, causing Shiki to act astonished that he can talk.
- His shoes make an odd squeaking noise that sounds like flatulence whenever he walks.
Tempting Fate: He claims all people in East Blue are worthless. Then he fights Zoro, a man from East Blue, and finds out how wrong he is.
Villainous Harlequin: Dressed like a clown, acts like a mime, and even uses juggling in battle.

Uta

Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (JP), Ado (singing voice) (JP), Amanda Lee (EN), Azul Valadez (LatAm SP), Aitza Terán (singing voice)(LatAm SP)

Age: 21

Debut: Chapter 1055 (Manga), One Piece Film: Red (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Sing-Sing Fruit

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

"Hey Luffy. Quit being a pirate."

The adoptive daughter of Shanks and the main focus and antagonist of One Piece Film: Red. She's a popular singer referred to as "the world's greatest diva", and is Luffy's childhood friend, but a clash of ideals put them in conflict.

She wields the power of the Sing-Sing Fruit (Uta Uta no Mi), a Devil Fruit that allows her to send her and other people's consciousnesses into a Dream Land, which she can bend to her will.

Anti-Villain: Despite being the movie's main antagonist, she really did mean well and genuinely wanted people to live in a world without suffering. Only problem was her plan to accomplish this was to put humanity into a blissful Dream Land with no way out.
Apocalypse Maiden: As the current bearer of the Sing-Sing Fruit, she is the only person alive who can release the powerful demonic entity known as Tot Musica into the real world. She did so once by accident as a child, and she unleashes it again during the climax of the film. The entity is so powerful, it takes the combined efforts of several of the most powerful pirates in the world, including one of the Four Emperors, in order to stop it.
The Atoner: A really twisted example. Her idea of atoning for Elegia's destruction is to drag the souls of the entire world's population into her Dream Land so they can forever live there in happy bliss after she kills herself to cut them off from the real world.
Awful Truth: The Red-Haired Pirates didn't destroy Elegia. Uta herself accidentally did, by reading the musical score for the Tot Musica song, unwittingly releasing the Demon King. Uta learning this particular truth led to the events of Red and her decision to start a new age by trapping everyone she could in Uta World forever, so that she could save people from the evils of the world — and fulfill her aim as a Death Seeker.
Ax-Crazy: While Uta seemed to be completely of sound mind in the beginning, she secretly had an incredibly suicidal plan in order to rid the world of pain and suffering, while slowly growing even more unstable due to dying of poison.
Big Bad: The main antagonist of Film: Red, though her attitude and means take a long departure from that of previous film villains. Rather than a vast conquest, yearning for revenge, tyrannical rule, chaotic rebellion or violent revolution, Uta's goals lie firmly within delivering innocents from the evils of the world.
Breaking Old Trends: As a deliberate contrast to the previous films' major new characters, who were older men, Uta is a young woman.
Breakout Character: Only a few months post the original Japanese theatrical release was needed to solidify Uta as the most popular One Piece movie character ever made; Toei, Bandai and Shueshia's immense aggressive marketing surrounding Uta actually worked with Japanese audiences, she was carefully prepped up as a virtual idol, coupled with the increasingly popular singer Ado providing all of Uta's songs, earned Uta a fandom easily surpassing any other movie character in One Piece's portfolio, she became a product of her own in which Toei is happily marketing for.
Calling Parents by Their Name: Luffy makes note of how Uta calls Shanks by name despite seeing him as her Parental Substitute. Uta justifies it as her seeing him as a fellow pirate.
The Cameo: She makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance as a silhouette in Chapter 1055 during Shanks' flashback, indicating that she's similar to Shiki in the sense that her existence is canon even if the events of Film: Red are not.
Childhood Friend: She and Luffy were close friends as children, enough so that they very quickly pick back up together as soon as they meet again.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To "Black Arm" Z from Film: Z. Both are tragic villains who, because of a traumatic incident in the past and their life experiences afterwards, harbor a deep grudge against both pirates and the Marines, end up concocting a widely catastrophic plan on a global scale because of said grudge — a plan that concludes with their deaths should it succeed, both start off in a friendly manner with the Straw Hats only to quickly become hostile once they learn that they're pirates, both wind up stealing Luffy's hat partway into their respective movies and treat it as a symbol of Luffy's dream and ambition, both end up making one last redemptive action on the verge of death in order to save everyone they care about, and both of their respective movies end with a shot of their final resting places. However, they greatly contrast in many ways:
- Z is a rugged, battle-hardened old man while Uta is a sprightly young woman who was sheltered most of her life.
- Z was a former Marine Admiral and a close comrade of Garp while Uta was an aspiring pirate in Shanks' crew, as well as being Shanks' daughter and a childhood friend of Luffy.
- Z is noted to have been one of the strongest Marines to have ever lived despite having no Devil Fruit powers while Uta has no fight experience and relies entirely on her Devil Fruit abilities to protect herself.
- Z commands an entire private military force, the Neo-Marines, and is flanked by two of his most capable and loyal subordinates and students, while Uta is primarily a solo act with only Gordon backing her; when it comes time to use fighting force, she uses her Sing-Sing Fruit abilities to conjure infinitely spawning musical soldiers in Uta World while she puppeteers the unconscious bodies of her audience to protect her in the real world.
- Z's plan centers around wiping out pirates altogether by physically reshaping the world through blowing up the Endpoints with the Dynastones, engulfing the entirety of the Grand Line in volcanic eruptions, while Uta plans to save ordinary people from their sufferings by taking all of humanity into Uta World via her global concert broadcast, and then dying from Wake Shroom-induced insomnia, locking all of them into her eternal dream world. As an extension of that, Z has no issues killing people to achieve his goal, while Uta can't stand the idea of anyone dying for real.
- Z directly suffered personal tragedies at the hands of pirates, while Uta's descent to villainy began when she learns the incident that had been blamed on pirates her entire life turned out to be her fault.
- The final battle with Z ends up devolving into a brutal drag-out fistfight between Luffy and Z that ends with Z acknowledging Luffy's character and conceding defeat, while Luffy refuses to throw a single punch at Uta no matter what she throws at him, and her acknowledgment of what she really feels towards Shanks and Luffy occurs shortly before she's fully consumed by the Tot Musica, starting the final battle of the film.
- Z spends his final moments facing off against a massive battalion of Marine soldiers who all mourn having to take down their teacher and father figure, in order to buy time for his subordinates and the Straw Hats to escape, and ultimately goes down in a blaze of glory fighting to the last, while Uta's final act is to save everyone stuck in Uta World by singing one more song to awaken them all despite being on the verge of death from exhaustion and Wake Shroom poisoning, and dies peacefully in the arms of her father Shanks surrounded by the Red Hair Pirates after Shanks fends off the Marines' attempts to capture her in her weakened state.
- And to add to that last one, Z's final stand is accompanied by a non-diegetic chorus of Ocean Guide, framed as though his fellow Marines are singing for his funeral rites, while Uta herself sings Where the Wind Blows in her final moments before passing away.
Cute and Psycho: She has better intentions than most other examples, but a lonely upbringing, severe Wakeshroom poisoning, and the trauma of finding out the Awful Truth about the destruction of Elegia have left her violently insane and unwilling to listen to reason.
Death Seeker: The Reveal towards the end of the movie points her to being this. After Gordon reveals that Uta was really one to destroy Elegia using Tot Musica, followed by Uta revealing that she already knew, the events of the film retroactively become her elaborate suicide attempt as penance for what she did. Either she dies by the poison of the Wake Shrooms or one of the people who haven't been caught by her devil fruit power kills her to stop her from stealing more souls. Either way, she gets what she wants, and ultimately does at the end of the movie when she refuses the medicine Shanks offers her and allows the Wake Shroom poison to take her life.
Didn't Think This Through: She intends to create a new era of peace by trapping everyone who listens to her broadcast inside Uta World, where they can live free of the evils of the world such as pirates. However, her broadcast affects everyone who hears it, including World Nobles and the Big Mom pirates, who are the source of much of the evils of the world. So in the end, she'd have just been bringing all the evils to Uta World along with everyone else.
Doorstep Baby: Shanks and the Red-Haired Pirates found her in a treasure chest they took from an enemy ship when she was a baby, and Shanks, remembering that Roger found him the same way, took her in.
Dream Land: The main function of her ability is this, referred to as a "virtual space" called Uta World. As usually goes, whatever occurs within Uta World has no bearing on reality, but Uta herself possesses limitless power within it, and simultaneously has her consciousness between the two worlds seemlessly. When she begins the invocation of Tot Musica, however, Uta World begins to seep over into and subsume physical reality.
Everyone's Baby Sister: She's this to the Red-Haired Pirates (at least, the members of the crew who knew her in Fuschia Village), and they are all protective of her.
Evil Diva: While she's not malevolent, Uta's still the Big Bad of the film when you don't count Tot Musica, the Greater-Scope Villain.
Expressive Hair: The hair loops on the back of her head raise and lower with her mood.
Forced Transformation: One of the more common applications of her Magic Music powers is that she can do this to people.
Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: While Uta was always a very pretty and feminine girl who loved music, eventually becoming an Idol Singer, flashbacks to their childhood show that her friendship with the very rowdy Luffy included a lot of challenges like arm-wrestling and eating contests which she would happily engage in (and win). She happily challenges him to the latter soon after they meet again.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Despite Gordon and Shanks's efforts to keep Uta in the dark about her role in the fall of Elegia, it turns out a Transponder Snail recording she uncovered in her adolescence had ended up cluing her in anyways. She takes this exceptionally badly, and arguably is what begins her spiraling into obsessively taking measures to try and "fix" the world in an attempt to force herself to keep believing the lie that'd been protecting her for so long, while also doubling as an elaborate way to fulfill her death wish.
Idol Singer: Called a diva in the teaser trailer and we see a few characters wearing merchandise sporting her name.
Implied Love Interest: To Luffy. She has all the hallmarks: she's Luffy's Childhood Friend, they have a lot of Ship Tease during the film, and her relationship with Luffy forms the main core of the plot. Even the fact that she's the Big Bad doesn't detract from this. While Luffy is intent on stopping her plan, the one thing he can't bring himself to do is actually hit her, and he's absolutely horrified and enraged when he realizes that the real purpose of her actions is to kill herself in order to atone for Elegia's destruction. Ultimately, however, despite implied feelings from both sides of the equation, nothing comes of it due to Uta's death at the end of the film.
I Reject Your Reality: Even though she knows that she was the Unwitting Instigator of Doom for Elegia's destruction, and that Shanks was Taking the Heat so she wouldn't be hunted down, either for the slaughter itself or her Devil Fruit, Uta refers to Shanks as "The World's Most Evil Pirate" when he shows up just in time to stop her from stabbing herself. Granted, he did leave her with a lot of emotional scars even though Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You, and Uta herself was not exactly in a healthy or sane mindset when this happened.
Leitmotif: While Uta has an entire album's worth of songs to her name, "Where the Wind Blows" is the closest she has to a personal character theme, accompanying most scenes with her personal moments (mostly of her childhood). Uta even sings the song as she dies in Shanks' arms.
Like Parent, Like Child: Despite her anger with her adoptive father, Uta is noticeably like Shanks in one respect — both of them hate unnecessary bloodshed, and will go to great lengths to prevent it.
Locked Out of the Loop: After Elegia's destruction, she was raised by Gordon on the remnants of the island and isolated from the outside world. When she meets up with Luffy again, it's clear that she has not been caught up on any current events at all, as she's unable to recognize her childhood friend as one of the most powerful and feared pirates in the world.
Logical Weakness: Uta's powers and ability to pull people into her world require her singing to be heard. If that is taken off the table, she quickly becomes much more helpless against opposition. And as shown with Bartolomeo's sound-cancelling Barrier Ball, keeping her voice from being projected works equally well.
Magic Idol Singer: Her powers even center around music! Unusually, though, she's also an Evil Diva due to being a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
Mask of Sanity: It becomes clear after her reunion with Luffy begins to sour that she's not all there. And as the film goes on, the Sanity Slippage she's undergoing only gets worse as her fans begin to turn on her, with Luffy's continued defiance only adding to it. It's only after she reveals she already knew she destroyed Elegia during the climax, however, that everyone realizes she had gone insane long before the events of the movie, and that her mask was only in place to ensure nobody realized how messed up she actually was.
Meaningful Name: Her name means "song" in Japanese. Small wonder she's an Idol Singer with a power related to music.
Mind-Control Music:
- Uta's Devil Fruit, the Paramecia Sing-Sing Fruit, gives her Siren-like singing prowess that enable her to seize the consciousness of anyone who hears her song and drag them into a Dream Land of her own making, where her songs become reality-warping Magic Music. Most notably, one doesn't actually need to be in Uta's presence to be affected, as just listening to her broadcast from anywhere in the world is enough.
- This goes one step even further, as the bodies left behind of those Uta pulls into her world are hers to freely control, and will even act without her direct puppeteering to protect her and subdue opposition towards her. What makes this especially dangerous is that the controlled individuals are shown to still be fully possessed of all their abilities in addition to their physical prowess, such as Blueno's door powers.
Morality Pet: Both her fans and Luffy act as one for her, as her personal lines she's willing to cross to achieve her goals stumble whenever either are being caught in the middle. The Marines gunning down her audience's consciousness-deprived bodies to get at her and Luffy's continued rebelling against her in concert with one another directly lead to her Jumping Off the Slippery Slope in the third act.
Mysterious Past: Before she was adopted by Shanks she was left in a treasure chest that the Red-haired Pirates retrieved from an enemy without realizing there as a baby inside. It's revealed in the Chronicle of Uta that she was kidnapped by other pirates when she was a baby when her homeland was destroyed, and that the Red-Haired Pirates found her after defeating the pirates who kidnapped her — however, why she was kidnapped at the age of two, and also when she ate the Sing-Sing Fruit, remain unclear.
Person of Mass Destruction: Not as a standard, as Uta in the real world isn't shown to be possessed of any particular offensive capability. However, as the bearer of the Sing-Sing Fruit, she is able to manifest the utterly colossal abomination that is Tot Musica, an immensely powerful and destructive entity that it once took a united front of the Red Hair Pirates to put down when she was a child — and requiring a coordinated effort between them and the Straw Hats to stop it when she intentionally wrought it again as an adult.
Plot Hole: Her entire existence in the canon seems to create a massive plot hole at the basis of the story. In the first chapter, Shanks refuses Luffy's offer to join because he doesn't want kids on his crew (as it would be too dangerous), but then turns out there was his own daughter on board. However, it's mitigated somewhat when young Luffy points this out, and Shanks says that Uta knows to stay below-decks when a fight is going on, while Luffy would insist on being in on the action.
Powers Do the Fighting: Uta herself has absolutely no fighting training. What makes her dangerous is her Reality Warper powers in the Uta World, her army of unconscious people in the real world, and her summoning of Tot Musica in the final act.
Psychopathic Womanchild: A nuanced, sympathetic example. Uta is a young, well-meaning woman who wants to help the world and bring about a new age of peace, but was driven insane by being abandoned by her father, isolated on a destroyed island with only another Parental Substitute for comfort, and learning that defining tragedy of her life was her fault. As a result, her idea of helping the world is to trap everyone in a Dream Land where there is no conflict or strife, not understanding that overcoming and moving on from such things is what makes living truly meaningful. When she's confronted with this truth, she's completely unable to understand it or accept it, which causes her to lash out in hopes of forcing everyone to accept her Dream Land as their new world and stay with her.
Reality Warper: Uta's powers enable her to create a "Virtual World" through the power and influence of her songs, whereupon she has total control and can ostensibly do literally anything she desires, only limited by her imagination and scope of her awareness as, for all her control, she doesn't have an omnipresent sense for what goes on within it. Like many passive Devil Fruit affects, it also can only remain active for as long as she is conscious, dissipating should she go to sleep.
Redemption Equals Death: When Tot Musica's defeat doesn't awaken her audience from their slumber, she forgoes drinking an antidote to the poisonous mushrooms she consumed in order to sing one last song to awaken them all, and eventually dies peacefully among the Red Haired Pirates.
Sanity Slippage: Her dependence on mushrooms that can keep her awake, her desperate need to control her dream world at the same time, and her tragic abandonment by Shanks, not to mention learning the Awful Truth on the island she was raised in, all hit her mental state pretty hard throughout the movie, and her songs reflect that. It's only learning about the truth behind Shanks leaving her behind which saves her from complete insanity, and properly reuniting with Shanks and seeing how much he still loves her is what finally brings her back from the brink.
The Sleepless: In order to counteract the drawback of her body giving out from fatigue which would cancel the power of her Devil Fruit, she consumes poisonous mushrooms that negates her need to sleep, so she can act autonomously both in the real world and the world of her songs.
Superpower Lottery: The Sing-Sing Fruit is a serious contender for being the most powerful Paramecia in all of One Piece (after the Tremor-Tremor Fruit), even making Law's and Sugar's fruits look fair and balanced by comparison. Anyone who hears her voice, whether in person or in a broadcast, is sent to her Dream Land in which she has complete and total control, and can only leave if she lets them or if she falls asleep herself. It's even mentioned by the Five Elders that, had her plan succeeded, 70 percent of the world's population would have been cut off from the real world forever.
Tragic Mistake: The destruction of Elegia, caused by her accidentally releasing Tot Musica for the first time, which forced Shanks to abandon her and take the blame for the incident for her own safety. When Uta found out the truth a year prior to the events of the film, she was consumed with so much guilt that she concocted her Uta World plan as both a twisted attempt at atonement and as an elaborate way to commit suicide. Even being convinced that her plan is wrong and being reunited with the people she loves most (Luffy, Shanks, the Red-Haired Pirates) isn't enough to assuage her guilt, which is why she chooses to let herself die at the end of the movie rather than let Shanks save her.
Tragic Villain: The only reason she even becomes a villain is due to circumstances outside her control, including severe childhood trauma, and when she tries to wrestle control away from the world and back into her hands, it's with a power she got by happenstance that she couldn't control.
Uncertain Doom: A particular odd variation of this trope. While Uta is definitively dead after the events of Film: Red, her fate in the main canon is currently unknown.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The near-absolute destruction of Elegia happened because a nine-years-old Uta, who had no idea Tot Musica existed (or at least, how to free Tot Musica) at the time, found the sheet music for the Tot Musica song after the demon in question was able to manipulate events so she found them. She decided to sing the verses, not knowing that doing so would release the Demon King.
Villain Protagonist: While Luffy is still a major character and his relationship with Uta forms the core of the story, Uta herself is the true main character of the film. Her backstory, her motivations, and her overall Character Development drive most of the plot and make up the bulk of the story.
Villain Song: Downplayed as although she's not evil or malicious, she's still the movie's antagonist so all of the songs do qualify as this to an extent. A more clear-cut example though is Tot Musica where she summons the eponymous demon king.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Listening to the cries of the people all of her life, Uta wants nothing more than to end the age of pirates and bring about a new era of peace. Unfortunately, she is willing to trap everyone into her dream world, crush her friend Luffy's dream, and even unleashing a deadly monster that can invade the dream world and waking world, to accomplish this.
Winged Humanoid: Zigzagged. She likes to don a pair of them for the stage, but she doesn't actually possess wings physically. Within Uta World, however, she sports them as though they were a part of her being.

Characters / One Piece: Others aka: One Piece Roger Pirates

Edit Locked

All spoilers regarding the Super Rookies era are unmarked. New World spoilers are unmarked in character descriptions, and examples relating to the New World era can be spoiler-tagged if deemed necessary.

Roger Pirates

Crew Members

Gol D. Roger "The Pirate King"

Young Voice: Takeshi Kusao (JP), Marcus D. Stimac (EN, Funi)Older Voice: Chikao Ohtsuka (JP, first voice), Masane Tsukayama (JP, second voice), Frederick B. Owens (EN, 4Kids), Sean Hennigan (EN, Funi), Arturo Casanova (LatAm Spanish, 4Kids), Gabriel Pingarrón (LatAm Spanish, Netflix)

Age: 53

Debut: Chapter 1 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)

"Dark King" Silvers Rayleigh

Voiced by: Keiichi Sonobe (JP), Bradford Hutson (episode 8), Bruce Carey (Sabaody arc onwards) (EN, Funi), David Wills (EN, 4Kids), José Luis Orozco (Young, Netflix) (Latin Spanish Dub)

Age: 76 (Pre-Timeskip), 78 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 19 (Manga), Episode 8 (Anime)

Scopper Gaban

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (JP), Ian Sinclair (EN)

Debut: Chapter 19 (Manga), Episode 0 (Anime)

Crocus

Voiced by: Gorō Naya (JP, first voice), Masuo Amada (JP, second voice), Jerry Russell (EN, Funi first voice), Burl Procter (EN, Funi second voice), Arturo Mercado (LatAm Spanish, Netflix)

Age: 71 (Pre-Timeskip), 73 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 102 (Manga), Episode 62 (Anime)

Apprentices

Affiliates

Portgas D. Rouge

Voiced by: Yuko Minaguchi (JP), Taylor Anne Ramsey (EN)

Debut: Chapter 550 (Manga), Episode 0 (Anime)

Rocks Pirates

Crew Members

Rocks D. Xebec

Debut: Chapter 957 (Manga), Episode 958 (Anime)

"Golden Lion" Shiki

Voiced by: Naoto Takenaka (JP), Scott McNeil (EN), Enrique Cervantes (LatAm SP)

Debut: Chapter 0: Strong World (Manga), One Piece Film: Strong World (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Float-Float Fruit

Buckingham Stussy

Voiced by: Reiko Suzuki (JP), Erica Schroeder (EN)

Age: 76

Debut: Chapter 802 (Manga), Episode 752 (Anime)

Wang Zhi

Debut (Mention): Chapter 957 (Manga), Episode 958 (Anime)

Void Century

Joy Boy

Debut (Mention): Chapter 628 (Manga), Episode 548 (Anime)

Miscellaneous Characters

Pandaman

Voiced by: Mahito Oba (JP), Jimmy Zoppi (EN, 4Kids)

Age: Even he does not know

Debut: Chapter 44 (Manga), Episode 16 (Anime)

"Crescent-Moon" Gally

Voiced by: Yasuhiko Kawazu (JP, Ep. 48), Rikiya Koyama (JP, Romance Dawn Story), Takahiro Fujiwara (JP, Ep. 877), R. Bruce Elliott (EN)

Debut: Chapter 902 (Manga), Episode 48 (Anime, Filler), Episode 877 (Anime, Non-Filler)

Indigo

Voiced by: Ryūsei Nakao (JP), Sean Schemmel (EN), Edson Matus (LatAm SP)

Debut: Chapter 0: Strong World (Manga), One Piece Film: Strong World (Anime)

Uta

Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (JP), Ado (singing voice) (JP), Amanda Lee (EN), Azul Valadez (LatAm SP), Aitza Terán (singing voice)(LatAm SP)

Age: 21

Debut: Chapter 1055 (Manga), One Piece Film: Red (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Sing-Sing Fruit

Alternative Title(s): One Piece Film Strong World, One Piece Roger Pirates

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Characters / One Piece: Others
aka: One Piece Roger Pirates

Young Voice: Takeshi Kusao (JP), Marcus D. Stimac (EN, Funi)
Older Voice: Chikao Ohtsuka (JP, first voice), Masane Tsukayama (JP, second voice), Frederick B. Owens (EN, 4Kids), Sean Hennigan (EN, Funi), Arturo Casanova (LatAm Spanish, 4Kids), Gabriel Pingarrón (LatAm Spanish, Netflix)