SBS
I gotta do a question corner but this will just be a few trivia things.
The old giant I put in the Cross Guild, named Leifsson, came from Elbalf and used to be apart of the Giant Pirates. He then was rescued during Impel Down so he loves Buggy whole heartedly. He’s obviously named after Leif Eriksson. Brock is just a random guy.
Heyritten is obviously based off the most famous Mediterranean Pirate I know. He was a Greek converted to Islam who worked for the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Suleiman. After the death of his brother Oruc (which is where Oda got Urouge’s name), he became the ruler of Algiers. From there, his piracy would bring in slaves from as far as Iceland to the Ottoman Empire. He would be the first in a long line of corsairs feeding Christian slaves for the Janissary army which eventually tried to coup the stagnate Sultanate. Eventually, Piracy from North Africa was stopped by a tagteam of Sweden and the United States at the start of the Napoleonic Era. It was the first naval mission of the US but we only needed one.
So that’s why Urouge and Heyritten are brothers here although Heyritten had to start his piracy much sooner to be the Lurking Legend that Oda once hinted at. Or Idk, maybe that was a fan rumor. In my story, his company is world famous for training professional slaves. His plan though is to use them during the final war to assassinate all the nobles that they work for. The Janissary Army coup, 😉. He also has the black ship that’s drowning everyone but that will probably be revealed to be someone else. If I were to continue this story as Oda, the moon symbol he has is not a reference to Islam but rather a moon god Heyritten worships. The Sun and Moon God, according to his dream, are supposed to end the world.
I do long for the day Oda adapts Barbarossa to One Piece as such a famous pirate has not even been mentioned.
For Urouge, I removed whatever devil fruit he had. His powers just come from manipulating karma. Karma is an energy the monks study as a reference to real life Buddhism. But they use it to predict the future and stuff, Urouge using it for his own strength is heresy. The damage he takes can be reverted to damage he gives. So he won’t want to fight for a while since taking so much damage from Cracker will bring out his max buff in the final war. Unless he takes more damage. Now karma is technically a form of haki but a will of the universe while other Colors of haki are will of the self.
I hate Who’s Who’s name that’s so dogshit. And it is a codename but the CP0 didn’t even call him by a potential real name. So I looked up some pirates in the Pacific and found an interesting story in Abdulla al-Hadj. According to himself, he was born in England but his family moved to Arabia (which would’ve been ruled by the Saudi family at the time). He converted to Islam and then later found himself in the Indonesian land of Borneo. In an escapade, he captured a British trading ship and a bunch of loot. His boss didn’t want to get in trouble and handed Abdulla over to the Brits but still kept the loot for himself. Reminded me enough of Who’s Who was also got arrested for kind of just doing his job with a small mistake. Then to Japanize his name, I made the name Habdurra. The family name, Dare, is just the Japanese ‘who’ so the moniker is still there. I just hate the name.
I find it most funny the finger damage he took from Jinbe, that was sexy. Although I miss remembered when I wrote the nine fingered thing. The name Nine Clawed Pirates has a second meaning, referring to the nine lives of a cat.
Finzione is the Italian word for fiction as this is literally fan fiction. In universe, it also serves as the island is almost fantastical with the mushroom biome it in (Minecraft reference) and the residents that use masks for emoting. The island is supposed to be Italian but since it’s unrelated to Capone’s home, it’s actually Renaissance Italy which is when the Commedia dell’Arte grew popular as an art form. Theatre actors of that time had masks for emotions but it evolved to represent fully recognizable characters. It’s like David Tennent brandishing the screwdriver to play as the Doctor or a purple mask to play Killgrave but more archetypical. Those archetypes are what Heyritten dubs each of Buggy’s crew man as they do run a real circus with their various roles.
Pantalone- Crocodile. Supposed to be the old merchant character and since Croc is economically interested, this fit. He’s also the oldest on the crew at 46.
Dottore- Caesar. Literally meaning the doctor, according to the site I used, it does not have to be someone with a PHD but just a learned person. If this story continued, he would be the medical doctor on the crew.
Harlequinn– Perona. This archetype does have a different original name but it’s the same thing. This character is supposed to be a zany type but a faithful servant. I have Perona singing the Walt Whitman poem to show her faith. I think I make her more verbally malicious than she’s supposed to be but it does add a funny mean tongue to their crew. Like Nice Robin, she’s the Raven (Teen Titans) of the crew. One thing about writers, if they are gonna have a masculine team with two women, one’s gonna be sparkly girly and the other gothic, possibly a third being tomboyish. Those are the only female archetypes!
Brighella- Daz and Cabaji. This character is supposed to be a shrewd servant along with being skilled and belligerent. By belligerent, I do mean a killer or ruffian. That describes both of them but Cabaji already has a descent epithet. They both learned haki (skill) and are the Zoro’s of their individual crew. Zoro would also fit the archetype. Zoro being a dependable player two to Luffy, inventor of his own sword style (skill) and bloodthirsty.
Capitano- Buggy, the captain. This character is supposed to be a braggart soldier who may even exaggerate their feats. Buggy was definitely a soldier for Roger but sometimes folks like Alvida won’t want to believe his stories. The two flashbacks I have to him both serve as a positive (bringing cheer to Finzione) and negative (burning Longarm Island) to his Roger journeys.
Scaramouche– Mihawk. This character had a Spanish design. He was supposed to be villainous, conceited, and narrowminded. He became popular in France during the Renaissance and like the Harlequinn, it’s survived the era to become a regular archetype. Now Mihawk better fits the visualization rather than the personality but his unwillingness to have fun at the games could be seen as evil in the perspective of the pirates. He’s also a bit of a tsundere, not wanting to do what Buggy says one second but then needing to do so the next because of his sense of honor which pirates may again find evil. He’s also just a be grouch.
Sandrone- Galdino. This character is a crude and clever peasant. It was kind of hard to place Galdino in any type but he is poor and smart. Uh nothing else to be said really. I could say his wax got denser (used to be as strong as steel) but it didn’t impact the story.
Pulcinella- Mohji. This character is a charlatan and lazy but can do stunts as a tumblr or acrobat. Mohji is a fucking fatass who I give some motivation to get temporarily stronger but considering he’s the only one to fatten up after the timeskip, he must be lazy. A charlatan is basically a trickster but he’s a more straightforward scoundrel.
Colombina- Alvida. This character is a mischievous maid whose beauty if usually focused on. An easy fit. She is a dogshit character fighting wise but at least her fruit should make her near untouchable.
Most of this crew is just untouchable. That’s hilarious. Heyritten dubbing each other them and being a skit writer is another thing that makes him relevant on this island. I wish he could have had more screentime to show off more one act plays as that is his character quirk but for another time. It is why he likes Buggy, because they are all so tropey and could probably perform in one of his acts.
The Kano Kingdom was introduced in Dressrosa as Don Chinajo and Sai come from there. It has already been attributed to China and King Ramen showed up in the few Reverie chapters. I like to think real life China is cut up into five zones; Han River Valley, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Uyghur tail, and Tibetan Plateau. China has also been historically involved in the Korean Peninsula, Vietnam, regular Mongolia, Taiwan, and Japan.
So these five vassals in OP would come from five different islands that the Kano Emperor rules over. Chinjao is from the main Kanokuni/Han land. If I estimated correctly, he would’ve received his Garp injury ten years before that Apoo flashback. Chinjao is a pirate for Kano (pirating other unprotected islands) as I feel like that would be the main way he got in trouble with Garp in the first place but I didn’t review his own flashback.
Mickey is a longarm man in a jungle island so I think Vietnam/Taiwan who both begrudgingly served the Chinese Emperors while remaining separate culturally. Mickey’s name comes from record producer William “Mickey” Stevenson. I don’t know anything about Stevenson but I did imagine the character has a similar design. Also why his family name is Reccoman. The rest of the Longarms then would have names detailing what part of the music industry they are even though Apoo’s music comes from his fruit.
Yi the Admirable would come from the Korean-esque island. He’s reference to Admiral Yi from Korea who was undefeated at sea battles with his turtle boats. Korea has also been always more favorable of a vassal to China.
Xingwu wears a Tibetan outfit so I wonder what he’s supposed to represent. Tibet is an incredibly empty region without any real power to defeat the Han.
For Xingwu, his name comes from a leader in the Boxer Rebellion, Dong Fuxiang. It means “to wake up to reality” making Fuxiang a woke warrior. The Boxer Rebellion was a martial arts army fighting against the Chinese Empress due to the weakness of the state. Eight Great Powers (Brit, Fr, Germ, Russ, Jap, USA, Ity, Aus-Hun) gathered to blast them with guns and protect their Chinese interest. It’s one of my favorite moments in history.
“Demon King” Humbaba comes from one island of oni (there would be more around the world ofc) that is under Kano. Humbaba is an ogre that Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeat in the Epic of Gilgamesh . One of the themes of the Epic is barbarianism of which Enkidu and Humbaba both kind of represent. Here, Humbaba is a hedonist as all oni naturally love partying but the others think him barbaric for it. Japan and China HATE each other. His island would be Japanese-esque but no Kaido would not come from there. Kaido and Humbaba do know each other. It seems oni might be a real race in OP but the Numbers are also some kind of Vegapunk mutant already. Yamato also has oni horns despite not being an experiment so it must be a real race.
They also mention Shiki the Lion, a character that’s basically canon without actually being in a manga page. I mean Chapter 0 counts I guess. According to this little fanfiction, Shiki would spent a period of his pirate career protecting Kano but now left, probably to conquer the world.
Powers of this arc are a little interesting. First, easiest thing, I gave Cabaji sword techniques that he named from real world rivers. That’s the whole scheme. Mihawk’s techniques actually come from military leaders from the 15th Century when the Ottoman Empire was just getting started for real. They are all bastardizations of their names. Janos Hunyadi from Transylvania to Junyadi, Wladyslaw Jagiellon (westernized to Vladislav) from Poland, Gjergj “Skanderbeg” Kastrioti from Albania to Skander’s Beg, Mehmed II of Ottomans to Mehmedi Rum (since he called himself Caesar’s successor to Rome), and finally Vlad Tepes Draculesti from Wallachia to Tempest. Tempest impales his enemies like Vlad famously did to the Turks. I picked them because they are closely related to each other and are all badasses.
Crocodile displays two new moves. First is “Nimbo” which is the creation of floating sand clouds he can hide in. Then there’s “Terico” which was a unit type in the Spanish army. The terico unit was made up of a number of pikemen and gunmen in tandem. They had professional regimenting that modernized European warfare. For Crocodile, it’s where he just shoots out a spike of sand like a sniper. You can see in this battle, Crocodile’s also a much better logia fighter, like the control of his element is tantamount to Garaa.
I did this because of a theory I’ve had about logias. I think when a user eats that fruit, their physical body becomes the element down to the atom. Then it’s just their soul possessing sand, lava, gas. So in that case, when a haki user punches them, it’s because the haki user is touching the soul and so no actual physical damage takes place like losing a leg. That could only happen if they didn’t activate their fruit or they meet an opposite like Luffy and Enel. Also, they wouldn’t be able to control their element separated from their soul. But in this battle, Crocodile spreads his sand everywhere and also creates his own mini-desert so that he could spread his soul so thinly that he’s controlling the sand all over the place. For Habdurra too, he’s only able to locate Croc by sniffing out his soul with Observation Haki which he fails to do in the last moment.
Then there’s the Logia Personification. We’ve already seen this from Enel, Magellan’s Hydra, and Caesar’s Shinokuni. It’s just making the logia body into some different, larger shape but not an actual awakening or useful tactic. So of course, Habdurra quotes Jasper. The crocodile head on a man is a bit of a reference to how many Egyptian god are just humans with animal heads.
I’ll be real honest, Apoo has been using an awakened devil fruit for the entire arc, I just did not fully realize at first. I remembered he had a sound devil fruit but I was halfway through his Buggy fight when I read on the wikia that it just let’s him turn his body parts into sound. He doesn’t command sound. But if he was awakened, he could command sound like this, making things happen with just a word like Inumaki Toge. But it’s different I swear! Apoo’s sound can only change the physical status of things and there’s three levels of it. At Gear 1, he makes a guitar out of his arm and the sound just does shockwave damage. At Gear 2, he makes the sound of metal to make himself metal. At Gear 3, he just simply says burn to burn something. It’s different! Cacophony is a Gear 3 move. Gear 4 is using sound to augment his body specifically although he does not have to make a sound to do it. Rather just borrowing energy from air vibrations (which is sound). That’s how he does Roaring Wukong. Roaring comes from his epithet while Wukong is part of Sun Wukong’s name, the little monkey trapped under a mountain. Apoo has been attributed to an orangutan so he is a little dirty monkey. Wukong literally means “awakened to emptiness” meaning the og character Sun Wukong woke up to nothing or moreso that he spawned out of no where. Apoo’s final move is an oxymoron. Emptiness implies nothing and if there’s no medium, sound can’t travel. Roaring emptiness…
Like Oda with Kaido, I found it impossible that Buggy could possibly beat Apoo. He showed incredible durability in Onigashima (so he totally eat multiple muggy balls), has haki (Buggy has NO haki, how could he hurt him on guard), and I made his fruit objectively better than Buggy’s. jeez louise, that’s why it’s so long. Buggy would have to chip at him so slowly. He did take a hit from Mihawk but that wasn’t anymore harmful than Lion’s Song. Why did Buggy survive so much? Cause he’s Roger’s crew! But anyway, I did find my answer in jokes. Out of all the Yonko, Buggy has jokes. It would simply be funny if he won so he did win. That’s how he got here. And it’s because Longarm men biologically can’t land a good hook punch so they always shoot straight. Also, I did not plan the Rayleigh flashback. I was literally stumped there wondering, “what could he possibly kill him with if the man can just eat bombs?” So I wrote the pie and balloon scene and then Rayleigh literally popped into my head. And meta-humor can be funny too.
Buggy’s new moves are all very self explanatory but I guess Artillery Rifle may be a questionable name choice. I don’t know, I wanted to give him a gun Luffy hasn’t or won’t use. It could’ve been M16 or BB, it didn’t matter. I hope he brought you laughter.
Lastly is Yonji’s Winch Green Bastile which is just a reference to the prison that was obliterated by French Revolutionaries. That’s it no other reference. Now about the Vinsmokes, I forgot Caesar was with them and originally wrote his chapter without them. Then I glanced at the Cover Story and decided it’s fine Caesar’s here and I can work with Judge. Idc for Reiju in the slightest. Judge’s goal here is to have Queen and Caesar so he can collab scientifically but he really doesn’t want to be associated with pirates anymore. That’s not very royal or sustainable. Out of the brothers, I like Yonji, Ichiji, and then Niji (I hate) but they have good chemistry with each other. Despite not needing to have emotions, the three do have different personalities from Oda. Yonji is maybe a bit ambitious and not actually that rude, he can be cordial. Ichiji is a fucking brat, thinks himself way too cool and superior, and a lone wolf tbh. Like you read WCI and despite pairing with Niji, he never cares what that nigga says. Niji is also a bit haughty but from an aristocratic attitude, he’s more negative than the others, and has moments of realism. I expanded more on these traits for the comedy tone and I wanna do more weirdly. I wish I could extend their screen time during the Buggy party and its almost a shame Oda introduced them just for us to hate them with their bullying of precious Sanji. If I continued this, they simply left Finzione and are going back to the North Blue to chill out.
Yoho, yes it’s the song from Pirates of the Caribbean. Um, I think it just speaks to the theme of this mini-arc, that people such as Buggy, Apoo, others, and even Luffy became pirates for the fun of it. For the fun of adventure, treasure hunting, and silly games with your friends. It’s a decent reaction to folks like Mihawk, Kaido, and Big Mom that only want to use piracy to project power or terrifying conquest. A third way, piracy is a freer form of hedonism which comes from Heyritten and even the Numbers. It doesn’t really matter which one’s right, we’re just exploring different forms.
Only thing I made a mistake on was not letting Buggy really lay in how unfun Apoo’s lifestyle is. Yeah their both hedonists but the dangerous people Apoo latches himself to tossed him in this desperation where he really isn’t even fighting over the gold or the island but because he found a hatred over Buggy (kind of because he thought he told Crocodile to basically ruin the game by stealing the treasure). But also Apoo’s painted as a foil for Buggy here (even though otherwise they should like each other) because Apoo’s on a down spiral and was a part of a warfaring crew. Sure, Kaido had his yearly festival but everything else was training for a world war. The fact that Jack, Queen, Habdurra, and Apoo find it so easy to return to conquest is another shade of difference between them and the Clowns.
Even Crocodile just likes the commercial style of piracy and so after this, he would be the accountant of the crew. That’s something Luffy doesn’t need as only Nami is concerned with money (and technically anything they couldn’t buy, they could just steal being pirates) but Crocodile’s running the mercenary company and now the Corsair slavery. He also needs to budget things for Caesar’s projects and parties so they don’t run desperate again.
For Mihawk, he’s barely even a pirate and that seems more of an accident (like Zoro getting called Pirate Hunter when the best people to test his swordsmanship are also pirates). So he’s never done a Davy Back game and all he can do at the parties is drink. He would also never feel part of the crew if he didn’t lose a silly broken dodgeball game. Also he is the only one to not get his bounty changed.
Speaking of bounties, most of them didn’t even have bounties, so to be able to suddenly compete with SHs after fighting leftovers does feel a bit crazy. At 13 trillion, they have the largest combined bounty in history bro. Even the combined SH Grand Fleet only stands at 10 trillion.
I should have reviewed their appearances in the manga rather than watching the Pirates Trilogy and Guardians Trilogy. Maybe, but that was more fun.
tdwriter 
