The Baroque Works was a secret organization headed by Crocodile, a former samurai of the seas.

Ranking

The head of the organization was Crocodile under the code name Mister 0. Like every senior agent, he also had his permanent partner, Miss All Sunday. She was the deputy head of the Baroque Company and together with Mister 0 formed the high command. Nevertheless, she was subordinate to Mister 0. What he ordered was carried out. As already addressed, the 13 highest ranking agents all have a steady partner. The exception is Mister 2. As a transvestite, he holds both ranks – male and female.

• For the men, the lower the number, the higher up in the rankings you are.
• For the ladies, the more popular the holiday, the higher the rank.

In total, the Baroque Works consists of about 2000 employees.

Officer Agents

The 6 highest ranking pairs of agents including the high command are called Officer Agents (jap. オフィサー・エージェント, Ofisā Ējento). So Mister 5 and Miss Valentine are the lowest ranked of them. They almost all have devil powers and are only used on particularly important missions. All other units of the Baroque Company are subordinate to them.

They are the only ones who receive direct orders from the boss and relay them to the Frontier Agents and the Billions and Millions. Due to their enormous importance, mistakes on their part are the worst case scenario for the entire complex, as when they miscalculate, entire missions often fail. At this, Mister 0 sends the next-ranking agent to take him out. So in the case of Mister 3, this was Mister 2.

Billions

Frontier agents

The Frontier Agents (jap. フロンティア・エージェント, Furontia Ējento) are directly subordinate to the Officer Agents. They in turn command the remaining Billions (jap. ビリオンズ, Birionzu) and the Millions. Their ranks are held by agents Mister 6 to Mister 12 including partners. If one of them dies, a Billion gets the chance to take his rank.

Thus Mr. 11 was killed by Billions when he was caught by the Navy as they wanted to take his rank. The Frontier Agents do not command devil powers, but have secured their rank through weapons and combat techniques or strategic success. Their Billions entourage consists of around 200 agents in total, who also go by aliases such as “Mister …” and “Miss …”.

Millions

A million smuggled into the royal army

The Millions (jap. ミリオンズ, Mirionzu) are about 1800 freelancers of the Baroque Works. They perform very menial work and are mostly just people who get money for supporting the Baroque Company. Their services are nevertheless very important as they back the entire complex. They additionally serve as informers. Since there are so many of them, practically nothing remains unknown to the Baroque Company, because they have some of them stationed everywhere.

Unluckies

A special rank among the agents is held by the so-called Unluckies (jap. 13日の金曜日, Anrakkīzu; Kanjis: “Friday the 13th”) Mr. 13 and Miss Friday. They serve as a punishment squad for Frontier Agents, Billions, and Millions. Additionally, they also act as a news service. Through the news chain via them, Frontier Agents eventually get the latest information from the Billions and Millions.

They then relay it through special mailboxes at each Baroque base. These are flown to by the Unluckies and then taken directly to the High Command. Mr. 13 also has the special talent of drawing phantom images of enemies at lightning speed, making it easier to identify them and ultimately render them harmless.

Code name	Appearance		Code name	Appearance
Mr. 13		&	Miss Friday

Targets

General objectives

Actually, the Baroque Company was created for one purpose only, to give power to Crocodile. That was also his desired goal. In doing so, he shamelessly exploited his position as a samurai and the associated protection from the world government. His greatest wish, however, is to become king of the pirates. In order to reach such a gigantic goal, he naturally needed many helping hands. For this purpose, the Baroque Company served. The members, of course, were told a lie. They thought they were working for an ideal state that only allowed the survival of the fittest. Whoever had a high position in the Baroque firm would also get a high position in the new state. Hence this struggle for ranks.

Most Baroque agents were Millions and Billions. They worked mainly as bounty hunters, funding their schemes. They had perfected organized crime to the point where they even took over entire islands. Whisky Peak, for example, which was a trap for all newcomers to the Grand Line disguised as a harmonious little town. Over a hundred bounty hunters were stationed here. The commander here was Mister 8. The pirates were invited to party and then attacked while drunk or asleep.

This ensures the salaries of the agents. The higher the rank, the more you earn, and that’s exactly what spurs them on to get a higher position. The really important steps for the seizure of Crocodile are taken by the Officer Agents. They eliminate traitors, informers or other people who could be dangerous for the Baroque Works. They also go after really strong pirates with high bounties on their heads. For example, for the two giants Brogy and Dorry, who each had a bounty of 100 million berries, Mister 3 and Miss Goldenweek came into action and were still supported by Mister 5 and Miss Valentine. One of Crocodile’s goals was to possess the ancient weapon Pluton. Its secret is said to be on a poneglyph in Arabasta, which is why he wants to take control of this land.

Operation Utopia

Operation Utopia was to be the final step in Crocodile’s seizure of power over Arabasta. In doing so, he wanted to become the new ruler of the country and thus obtain the Poneglyph, which contained the secret of the ancient weapon Pluton. Nico Robin was to translate it for him, which was why she was so immensely important that he raised her to be his right hand.

Without her, his entire quest would have no meaning, for what good would the Poneglyph do him if no one in the world could read the ancient characters on it anymore. Even before the operation he had partially conquered Arabasta. Through appearances among the people, protecting them from pirates, he garnered immense sympathy. Through numerous incidents with the Nebelin, which he pinned on King Nefertari Kobra, he lowered the latter’s popularity. This already faced such an army of rebels who wanted to fight him. He used them very cleverly for himself, to subconsciously go to war against the king for his own purposes.

But now, step by step, to the plan itself. The plan was of such immense importance that all officer agents were supposed to participate in the operation. However, the pairs of Mister 5 and Miss Valentine and Mister 3 and Miss Goldenweek were taken out of circulation early by the Straw Hat Pirates, so the plan had to be changed. All the remaining Officer Agents gathered at the Spiders Café one evening and drove together to Rainbase, where the Boss had ordered them to meet to discuss the operation. The meeting was held at the Baroque Company’s headquarters, the Gold Rain Casino.

Planning/procedure

First of all, Mister 4 and Miss Merry Christmas kidnapped the king in his palace in Arbana. At the same time, Mister 2 transformed into the king with his devil power and now took his place. Of course, he only had the goals of the mission in mind. He traveled to Nanohana with a squad of Billions disguised as royal guards under his command and terrorized the people there. Mister 1 and Miss Doublefinger were helping him.

When the rebel leader Koza arrived for a peaceful debate, he was shot at. This was the rebels’ declaration of war. Enraged, they rushed to the capital of Arbana for the decisive battle. Up to this point the plan had gone smoothly, but now a formidable troublemaker came into play, Vivi.

She had been spying on the organization for years and knew Crocodile’s goals. The boss had underestimated her and the Straw Hat Pirates, not considering that they might escape Rainbase. She wanted to stop Koza and the rebels and was the only one with the power to do so. This move would have ruined the entire plan. To that end, the Officer Agents traveled to Arbana to stop Vivi.

The failure

Vivi and the Straw Hat Pirates foiled the plan. The agents managed to foil Vivi and Koza’s meeting, but the Straw Hat Pirates managed to crush the organization. In bloody fights the Officer Agents were defeated by them. Finally, in front of the palace, the showdown took place. Here Crocodile, Vivi, Kobra and Koza met each other. Crocodile was revealed to be the mastermind, but that didn’t do much good now. Koza managed to get the rebels to call a truce until he was shot again by a Baroque agent. The gruesome battle continued.

In the end, Crocodile seemed to reach his goal, but once again a turn of events occurred, caused by none other than Luffy. After his first fight against Crocodile, he had to accept defeat, but then he saw his chance to free the country from this criminal. In fact, he suffered another defeat and again narrowly escaped death.

The finale followed in the Mausoleum of Kings. Here Nico Robin had dragged King Cobra to show her the Poneglyph. Now Crocodile seemed to have reached his goal. The rebel army was doggedly fighting the royal army and he now faced the key to the Ancient Weapon. And again, an eventuality occurred that Crocodile had not considered. Nico Robin stood up to him. She refused to translate the Poneglyph for him and ended up paying bloody for it. Crocodile’s plan had failed at the last step. To make matters worse, Luffy, who he already thought was dead twice, showed up. Now he was completely finished and was finally defeated by Luffy after a very long fight. However, he had taken precautions and wanted to kill all warriors on the square in front of the palace with the help of a time bomb. But Pell made it harmless. He sacrificed himself and flew the bomb out of the danger circle.

After Crocodile’s defeat, the whole truth about the secret underground organization finally came to light. The Samurai of the Seas was relieved of his duties by the Navy through Tashigi and was also arrested, as were the other agents. With that, the Baroque Works was broken up.

Meet Baroque

After their demise, the Baroque firm experienced another brief flourish, as the agents who remained behind on Little Garden escaped the Navy. Former agents Miss Goldenweek, Mister 5, and Miss Valentine tried to reunite with their comrades and had some adventures.

The final part of Operation Meet Baroque was to free the former officer agents from prison and start a new life. They managed to break out of prison. The former agents Mister 4, Miss Merry Christmas, Miss Doublefinger, Mister 5, Miss Valentine, Miss Goldenweek and Lassoo escaped and opened the “New Spiders Café”. However, Crocodile, Daz Bonez, Bon Kurei and former Mister 3 remained in captivity and were sent to Impel Down.

Reunion of the ex-agents in Impel Down

Riot in the big prison

As it eventually turned out, the captured former officer agents had all ended up in different levels. The lowest ranking was Galdino, formerly known as Mister 3, in Level 2, where he had to fear being eaten by cruel beasts every day until Luffy freed him with Buggy. The trio reached Level 3, where Bentham, formerly known as Mister 2, was imprisoned. The latter joined the Savior Alliance and promised to help Luffy free Ace. Together, they fought their way to Level 4, where Daz Bonez, the former Mister 1, was serving his sentence. However, Luffy’s squad had not encountered him. After more hardships, they even reached level 5 together, the last official level.

However, Galdino and Buggy pursued their own plans from here on and broke away from the troupe to escape on their own. Luffy and Bentham were defeated by Magellan in level 5 after all. However, they were taken in by Emporio Ivankov and his trannies. Bentham, however, was wounded so badly that he had to continue curing his injuries in the prison’s “secret garden”. Meanwhile, Luffy, who had fully recovered, accompanied by Ivankov and Inazuma, made his way to Level 6, where Ace was imprisoned. When they arrived, however, they found that Ace had already been taken away to Marine Ford for execution. To make matters worse, they were now stuck in the lowest level. This is also where the former boss of the Baroque Works, Crocodile aka Mister 0, was being held. Through Ivankov, he decided to join Luffy’s squad and break out. They gained another powerful comrade-in-arms in Jinbe, and now the five of them were going to free Ace. After Luffy had his revenge against Magellan, they were eventually able to break out and escape with a captured navy ship and the help of Bentham, who stayed behind and opened the gates for them as Magellan transformed. The target was now Marine Ford. Bentham, however, was exposed and had to face Magellan.

Battle of Marine Ford

While the battle was already raging, the alliance of escapees arrived brilliantly at Marine Ford. Crocodile, Daz Bonez, and Galdino were among them, however Crocodile intended to go for Whitebeard’s head himself. It wasn’t until Luffy unknowingly unleashed his King Shaki that he also got the support of Crocodile and thus Daz Bonez.

Galdino, on the other hand, was already intent on actually freeing Ace at the beginning and fulfilling the will of his surviving comrade Bentham. Thus, he used his devil powers to protect Ace and Luffy and created the key for Ace’s handcuffs. Further, he freed Marco from the latter’s sea stone handcuffs, yet ultimately Ace and Whitebeard died and the battle was ended by the appearance of Shanks and the Redshirt Pirates.

After the battle, Gal joined Dino Buggy, while Crocodile and Daz Bonez plan to head to the New World once again.

Two years later, Galdino had risen to become one of the top members of Buggy’s pirate delegation society, and Crocodile was plotting his next moves. Bentham, on the other hand, managed to escape to Newcomer Land and is now the new queen there.

Miscellaneous

• As already mentioned, rank and position in the organization is also reflected in the name of the agents.

• The word Baroque cannot be pinpointed, but is often described with words like “complex,” “convoluted,” or “sophisticated. This can undoubtedly be applied to the organization, its plans and its goals.
• Paul Thomas, the bass player of the rock band Good Charlotte wears a T-shirt with the logo of the Baroque Works in the video for the song “Hold On”.
• Some of the well-known Officer and Frontier Agents have a symbol associated with their aliases.
• When an agent moves up a rank, he changes his entire outfit to match the alias. Oda explained this with the example of Mr. 7. Someone asked what he would look like as Mister 6.