Chadros Higelyges aka “Brownbeard” (jap. 茶ひげ, Chahige) was a former pirate captain of the New World. After being defeated by Basil Hawkins, he landed badly injured on Punk Hazard, where he was given new legs by Trafalgar Law and entered the service of the scientist Caesar Clown.
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Appearance
Brownbeard is a superhumanly large and fat man. He has a long brown beard, which he has tied into three braids. On his head he wears a tricorn, which is open on the top, so that his long hair peeks out. He also wears a long light coat and a much too small shirt with a spotted pattern. On his belly, he has a bellyplate on which his Jolly Roger can be seen. All in all, Brownbeard makes a very wild impression.
Personality
The pirate captain Brownbeard seems very confident of his strength. Thus, he spared no confrontation with Basil Hawkins, despite the latter’s bounty being more than three times his own. Whether this was due to his great self-confidence or the fact that he had not known Basil is not clear. He told the Straw Hats that he hated the generation of Supernovas that included Luffy and Zoro. He was especially pained by the thought of Basil Hawkins, who broke up his gang. Brownbeard also tended to have hero worship regarding Caesar and Law, as he could walk through them again. It shocked him all the more, then, to hear that Caesar did not hold him and the rest of his men in the least esteem.
Skills and strength
Not much is known about Brownbeard’s strength, however, as the captain of a New World pirate crew, he must have some level of fighting ability. However, the fact that his bounty is only 80,060,000 berries and that he was only in the initial area of the New World, again testified to a low level of combat strength – relative to other known New World captains.
Present
Tyrant Brownbeard
Brownbeard and his band of pirates, after the Whitebeard band of pirates lost to the Navy in Marine Ford and their captain died, attacked an island Whitebeard had put under protection, in the front part of the New World. The inhabitants had not even heard the news of Whitebeard’s death, so they threatened the pirates with the Emperor. However, Brownbeard’s pirates simply destroyed Whitebeard’s Jolly Roger and began their attack on the weaker inhabitants. Brownbeard now declared himself ruler of the island.
Fight Basil Hawkins
A few weeks later, the pirate Basil Hawkins appeared on the island with his band of pirates. Hawkins began to take out the men from Brownbeard’s pirate gang until Brownbeard himself confronted the rookie. He told the mage his name and bounty and declared that this was his territory.
Hawkins, remaining calmly seated on a defeated pirate, read his cards and asked Brownbeard to repeat himself, as he had not understood him. After Brownbeard did so, Hawkins told his opponent how ridiculous he found the title Brownbeard. He also said that he hated jokes and that the shadow of death had crept over Brownbeard.
Hawkins then drew his sword and began to transform into his monster form to fight Brownbeard and his men.
Fresh start
It was later learned that Brownbeard and his gang were devastated by Hawkins. According to Brownbeard, he owed Hawkins the loss of his legs and the destruction of his pirate band. He then fled to Punk Hazard. There were still remnants of poison gas there, which Brownbeard contracted. Brownbeard and the former prisoners on the island became friends, whereupon they brought their “master” Caesar Clown to Brownbeard. The latter helped the former pirate captain with his apparatuses. Brownbeard was very moved by Caesar’s kindness and became his new captain of the guard. A year later, Law showed up on the island, using his devil powers to give everyone a new abdomen so they could move again without technical assistance. Brownbeard then saw both Caesar and Law as his saviors.
Punk Hazard – Meet the Straw Hat Piratesbang
Two years after Brownbeard’s defeat by Basil Hawkins, the Straw Hat Pirates arrived at Punk Hazard. Brownbeard, who now called himself “Boss,” and his men were now working there as patrols for Caesar Clown. The entire force now performed with animal underbellies, Brownbeard himself possessing the underbelly of a crocodile. After the Straw Hat Pirates triumphed over the patrol hostile to them, they used Brownbeard as transportation to get to Punk Hazard’s research lab. Upon arrival there, he was unceremoniously chained to a pillar. While Brownbeard was initially adamant about remaining silent, he nevertheless struck up a conversation with Luffy a short time later and told the gang his own view of the events of the past two years. In doing so, he also mentioned that “Brownbeard” was merely his old nickname, even though Luffy testified that he had never heard it before. He then talked about his hatred for the Supernova generation, which included Luffy and Zoro, how he came to the island, that the dragon that lived on Punk Hazard was a genetic experiment, and how much he idolized his master Caesar for saving his life.
Ultimately, he warned the Straw Hat Pirates at the end of his explanation that they would all become Caesar Clown’s guinea pigs and all die for the benefit of all mankind for the experiments of his benefactor and messiah. It was all the more shocking to Brownbeard when the Yeti Cool Brothers, Rock and Scotch, showed up, not to save him, but to kill him. Brownbeard could not believe that his beloved master would order such a thing, but Scotch played him a tape that echoed the order. Thus, in tears, Brownbeard had to realize that his master was not a nice and kind-hearted man after all, as he had always thought. Shortly afterwards Scotch shot him.
Together against Caesar
Later, when Caesar Clown himself showed up to retrieve the children, he managed to get them on his side due to hallucinations. The children then attacked Nami and Usopp. Brownbeard awoke from his unconsciousness and tried to stop the children and go back to Caesar. He felt nothing but contempt for his former master and tried to attack him, but was no match for him and was quickly defeated. After Caesar retrieved all of the children, he blew up the cave where Brownbeard, Nami, and Usopp were, burying them under some debris. Brownbeard, Nami, and Usopp survived the collapse and were able to free themselves some time later. With the Shinokuni gas threatening to engulf the entire island, they made their way to the lab, with Brownbeard intent on saving his men from Caesar. During their escape from the gas, they encountered Zoro, Sanji, Brook, and Kinemon. Together they managed to get to the lab, but they couldn’t afford to take much of a break. Caesar had let the gas flow into the lab as well. The Straw Hats and Kinemon once again used Brownbeard as transportation, which he wasn’t too thrilled about.
Later, however, they parted ways again. Brownbeard ran to Room R on the first floor, where he shouted to Caesar, who was on the second floor, to release his men. Caesar was thus lured out of his hiding place and pretended to the other guards that he had no idea what Brownbeard was talking about. However, when the latter tried to reveal Caesar’s true character to the guards, Caesar injected him with a muscle relaxant, leaving Brownbeard unable to speak properly. Caesar whispered to Brownbeard that it was he who had caused the chemical disaster four years ago, whereupon Brownbeard, enraged, tried to attack him. The unsuspecting guards thought Brownbeard had gone mad and opened fire on him on Caesar’s orders. Caesar was about to end it when Luffy intervened and protected Brownbeard.
It was not until after Caesar’s defeat that Brownbeard was seen again. Brownbeard explained to Luffy that he and his comrades would voluntarily turn themselves in to the Navy to be treated by the Navy doctors, as Caesar was also performing various experiments on some of them with poisons. Luffy regretted this as they had just become friends, however Brownbeard felt that he would rather be a prisoner of the Navy than a guinea pig of Caesar…. After the Straw Hat Pirates left, Brownbeard and his men helped Smoker free the Shinokuni-affected people from their rigidity. However, Brownbeard promised not to attempt an escape in the process and was grateful to Smoker for his trust.
Miscellaneous
- In his real name is the Japanese original for Brownbeard, “Chahige”: Chadros Higelyges.
- Besides Whitebeard and Blackbeard, Brownbeard is now the third pirate captain who received his nickname from the color of his beard. With Peachbeard, a fourth pirate captain followed later.
- His favorite food is horse meat.
