Patron Nekomamushi (jap. ネコマムシの旦那, Nekomamushi no Dan’na) is a feline mink and lives in the kingdom of Mokomo on Zou, where he is the guardian of the Forest Wood. He rules over the land at night. Once upon a time, he and Inuarashi were good friends and they sailed the seas together as companions of Kozuki Oden as crewmembers of Gol D. Roger. For reasons as yet unknown, their friendship fell apart.
Contents
Appearance
Nekomamushi is a giant feline mink. As with all male Minks, his animalistic external features dominate over his human ones. Thus, he has a lion’s mane, sharp claws and teeth, pointed ears, whiskers, and a long striped tail. After his defeat by Jack, he lost his left forearm. Along the left side of his face runs a scar.
Personality
As it is known from dogs and cats, Nekomamushi and Inuarashi do not get along very well. However, this was different many years ago.
Nekomamushi reacts very aggressively towards intruders, especially if they threaten his home or have harmed a longtime friend. However, after some of the Straw Hats helped him and his people, he became very affectionate towards them, even those who entered the island later.
Inuarashi described him as very stubborn. In fact, he doesn’t like to let anyone tell him what to do, not even if it’s well-intentioned medical advice from Chopper. He justified this by saying that he loves freedom above all else. However, by his own admission, he never shirks his duties and promises.
Even though Nekomamushi seems very rough, he has many endearing qualities, some of which are reminiscent of a house cat. For example, he unexpectedly licked his paw after angrily yelling at Jack a few seconds before. He also loves to play with cat toys. While he is not afraid of water, as you would expect a cat to be, he is afraid of being splashed. He therefore asked Nico Robin to distract him with toys. This shows that he is still in his right mind when his animalistic traits come out. Just like all the Minks on Zou, he still wouldn’t betray a friend to one of his enemies even under the most extreme torture.
Skills and strengths
All Minks are born fighters and can recover quickly from injuries. Nekomamushi is no exception as the ruler of the night and guardian of the forest forest. He willingly let Jack’s men pierce him with spears so they would leave the other Minks alone. Sanji could also sense a very strong aura emanating from him. Caesar Clown’s poison gas had no discernible effect on him.
Due to his size and high physical strength, he was able to grab Jack by the trunk in his mammoth form and fling him away. He is as nimble as a cat and was immediately on hand to take Inuarashi’s place in the fight against Jack. He fights with a double-sided trident, and just like all Minks, can dish out electric shocks in the form of Electro when he attacks. He can also control his Su Long form during the full moon. Furthermore, like Inuarashi, he is also proficient in Armor and Observation Shaki.
He was a member of Gol D. Roger’s pirate gang and was also already on board the Moby Dick, the ship of Edward Newgate, alias Whitebeard. With it he already traveled together with two legendary pirate captains across the Grand Line.
Past
The vassals of Kozuki Oden
When they were young children, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi learned of the Minks’ pact with the Kozuki clan on Wano Country. Curious, they set out on a journey there, but were shipwrecked and found on the beach of Kuri by Kawamatsu. Shortly after, however, they were mistaken for demons by humans and were to be burned, at which point the daimyo Oden overheard this and freed the three. Though he simply left again, the three followed him to Kuri Castle and joined his samurai. However, when he was short of money, they tried to steal money from Shimotsuki Yasuie and were caught. Instead of punishing them, however, he gave it to them and added some more so that they would become decent supports for the later shogun. Following his advice, they formed a respectable retinue just three years later. However, that same year, the Whitebeard pirates beached themselves on Wano Country and Oden joined them in violation of Whitebeard and Kinemon’s agreement. While Izou tried to stop Oden and got aboard the Moby Dick himself, the two Minks sneaked aboard. The remaining vassals frantically searched the city for them.
pirate life
Over the next four years, they had many adventures together, including the birth of Oden’s two children, Momonosuke and Hiyori, and the division of the gang into five divisions. Eventually, they encountered the Roger Pirates on an unknown island in the New World. A three-day battle ensued, ending in a draw and a subsequent exchange of loot. Oden, however, after speaking with the two captains, decided to accompany Gol D. Roger on his final voyage. Once again, the two Minks followed him unobtrusively.
Continuing their journey, they then visited Skypiea and Water 7 together, where the Minks enlightened their new captain about the Road-Poneglyph on Zou. They then continued their journey towards the New World, passing through Fish-Man Island. However, during the voyage, Toki, Oden’s wife, fell ill and disembarked the Oro Jackson on Wano Country with the two Minks, while Oden continued his journey. Thus, they themselves never reached the final island of Laugh Tale. But before they bid Oden farewell, they presented him with a letter of introduction for Zou.
The Nine Red Scabbards
Back on Wano Country, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi enlightened Kikunojo as to the whereabouts of his brother Izou. However, six months before Oden was finally to return, an attack on Oden’s family occurred. While the rest of the vassals themselves planned an attack on Orochi and left the castle, Inuarashi and Kawamatsu stayed behind and were able to rout the attackers. However, Toki was injured in the leg during the attack. When Oden finally returned and heard this, he gave orders to his men to watch out for his family and Kuri and charged towards Orochi. Oden failed in his attempt to kill the Shogun, and though he made himself a fool lord for the next five years, unbeknownst to them of his motives, his vassals remained loyal to him. However, 20 years ago, enough was enough for Oden, as a deal between him and Orochi was broken by the latter, and he and his vassals went to war against Kaidou.
On that day, his vassals gained the name “The Nine Men with the Red Sword Scabbards” from the populace. Although they received unexpected help from Shinobu, they ultimately lost the battle and were sentenced to death in the cooking pot. On the day of execution, Oden went to the pot first, grabbed a huge board, and ordered his men to stand on it. For according to an agreement, those who survived an hour in the cooking pot would be spared. During that long hour, Shinobu enlightened the populace, as well as Oden’s vassals, as to Oden’s true motives, so that the populace loved Oden again. As the hour drew to a close, Orochi again broke the bargain and ordered execution by firing squad, whereupon Oden threw his men away with orders to open Wano Country’s borders, and was subsequently shot by Kaidou himself. They ran towards Kuri, but Nekomamushi and Inuarashi got into an argument and were caught. When they arrived back at Zou, badly injured from their adventure, they were still arguing.
Nowadays they rule Mokomo together, but Inuarashi rules in the morning and afternoon and Nekomamushi in the evening and night.
Present
Jack’s Riot
While the Straw Hats were still on Dress Rosa, the Minks of Mokomo received several visits from different people in a short period of time. Apart from the ninja Raizo, the mink Bepo and his gang also reached Zou Island. Only Trafalgar Law, the captain, had other matters to attend to. Nekomamushi took the former resident of Mokomo into his care.
A far more unpleasant encounter were the pirates of Kaidou, led by Jack. They arrived on the island at a time of day when the diurnal Minks were awake. The Minks were supposed to hand over the ninja Raizo to them, however they pretended to know nothing about him. The situation began to escalate and the Minks defended their home. During the fight, the nocturnal and diurnal Minks swapped places. Nekomamushi was immediately on the scene and severely attacked Jack, who had eaten of a devil fruit. Since the battle lasted for several days, the Minks had to switch places frequently. The Heart Pirates also came to help.
The battle lasted five days, and the Minks slowly gained the upper hand. Jack realized that the Minks were too strong for hand-to-hand combat, so he used Caesar Clown’s poison gas weapon Koro in retaliation. Some Minks were able to escape to safety, those that couldn’t were massacred by Jack’s men. Still, the Minks pretended to know nothing of a warrior from Wano Country. The strongest Mink warriors, thus including Nekomamushi, were crucified and subjected to Jack’s torture. Nekomamushi was able to withstand the poison gas and pain relatively well, but he ended up losing his left forearm.
New friends
The next visitors to the island were some members of the Straw Hat Pirates who had fled from Big Mom’s men. Jack had left the island when he had learned of Donquixote Doflamingo’s arrest. The portion of his people who lingered on the island were unable to oppose the Straw Hats. Chopper afterwards attended to the medical care, and Caesar neutralized the poison gas.
After Nekomamushi had recovered somewhat, he discovered Pekoms, who had been shot in the back, on a foray. Enraged, he wanted to bring Capone Bege to justice for his outrage and beat him into flight. Subsequently, the straw hats who managed to escape Bege’s capture had their handcuffs removed. Nekomamushi asked Wanda and Carrot to keep quiet because of the incident, as their friends wanted them to.
The Straw Hats, who were still on Dress Rosa, eventually followed suit with their comrades-in-arms, who had to sail ahead by necessity. After visiting Inuarashi, Chopper wanted to make sure of Nekomamushi’s condition. Nekomamushi had ignored Chopper’s medical advice that he should take it easy and took a bath while eating lasagna. He was happy to see the rest of the gang now. Afterwards, the consequences for ignoring Chopper’s instructions showed as his wounds opened up. Robin then distracted him so that Chopper could give Nekomamushi a shot, which he was so afraid of. None of this, however, could keep him from his good humor. The Heart pirate gang joined them and the Minks quickly prepared a party for their new friends.
The next morning, however, the arrival of samurai was announced, so Nekomamushi stormed off to the capital, where he met Inuarashi and had more than a battle of words with him. But when the samurai made themselves known, they ended their quarrel and bowed to them together. As it turned out, the Minks have maintained a close relationship with the Kozuki clan for a long time, which was why the Minks were willing to die rather than reveal to Jack that the samurai Raizo was looking for was actually on Zou.
They were especially happy about Lord Momonosuke’s presence, as they revered his father as a hero. When the two started to argue again, he was also able to directly dissuade them by making it clear that it would make his father, Kozuki Oden, sad. Shortly after, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi led the Straw Hats as well as the samurai to the sacred whale tree, where Raizo and a Road Poneglyph were located. Nico Robin was given permission to decipher this, and the guardians of the Whale Forest explained that it was one of four Poneglyphs that revealed the way to Laugh Tale.
After a lengthy conversation in which the connection between Oden, the two of them, and Gol D. Roger became known, they revealed their will to open Wano Country to the world and fight alongside the samurai against Kaidou and the Shogun. They formed an alliance with the Straw Hats, the Samurai, and the Heart Pirates against Kaidou, the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance, but first up was saving Sanji in Big Mom’s territory. They also had their sights set on other allies, such as Marco, who they wanted to meet beforehand for the upcoming confrontation. However, just as they had left the whale tree again, the ground began to shake. Zunesha was in turmoil, as Jack returned to exterminate the Minks by forcing the giant elephant to fall. Nekomamushi was surprised to hear that Luffy was capable of hearing Zunesha’s voice, as was Momonosuke. However, a single blow from Zunesha was enough to sink Jack as well as his crew and ship to the bottom of the sea.
After the commotion, Nekomamushi decided that only Pedro should join Sanji’s rescue party, while Inuarashi and Lord Momonosuke stayed behind with the others to protect Zou in case enemies appeared again. Nekomamushi wanted to go in search of Marco the Phoenix himself, to recruit him for their alliance against Kaidou. So they all promised to meet again later on Wano Country.
Meeting with Marco the Phoenix
Nekomamushi and other guards of the Mink tribe finally located Marco in Whitebeard’s home village in the New World. At the meeting, Marco revealed to him the background of the village and some information from Whitebeard’s past that influenced his pirate life to the point of death. They also talked about Weevil and the possibility of him attacking the village, which is why Marco couldn’t leave it for now. However, he asked Nekomamushi to give Luffy a message from him, which said that he would be late, but still in time.
Raid on Onigashima
Nevertheless, Marco reached Wano Country at the same time as Nekomamushi and Izou, ultimately rendering the news moot. Nekomamushi then contacted his former comrades who were in Law’s submarine, promising to be there soon. Arriving at the back entrance on Onigashima, they then met up with the rest of the Akazaya, but they were confronted by the traitor Kanjuro with some beast pirates, after which they had to finish him off with heavy hearts, and then ran into Kinemon and Denjiro again.
They entered the building and attacked Kaidou with combined force and managed to wound him. Kaidou then shifted into his dragon form and while the red sword scabbards clung to him, he flew to the top of the skull dome. There, however, Jack also faced them, and after Nekomamushi and Inuarashi’s subjects outmatched him, they finished him off themselves in their Su Long form.
Jack apologized to Kaidou, but Kaidou replied that he could not have done more; his opponents were simply too strong. Kaidou then attacked himself. Initially, they were able to damage Kaidou and seemed to gain the upper hand, but back in his human form, Kaidou defeated the samurai all together. Big Mom also got to the roof, but Luffy, Zoro, Law, Kid, and Killer took over the fight and Law teleported the samurai off the battlefield. While they were unconscious, they were helped by a mysterious person.
They quickly recovered, but the person was no longer to be seen, instead Oden stood before them. However, he turned out to be merely Kanjuro’s drawing, which Ashura took care of, sacrificing himself in the process. Looking for Kanjuro himself, Jack confronted them, which Inuarashi in turn took over. Orochi, in his Yamato no Orochi form, was subsequently decapitated by the rest, before Raizo then faced Fukurokuju alone. Shortly after, they encountered Shishilian and Bariete, who informed Nekomamushi that Pedro was dead and the assassin, Perospero, was also on the island. Nekomamushi immediately rushed away. .
Miscellaneous
- Nekomamushi’s appearance is strongly reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from the novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
- Its size was apparently misstated in the Vivre Card as 3.18 m. In the SBS Volume 96 his size was corrected to 5.22 m.
- His favorite dishes are lasagna and fish paste.
- Least of all, Nekomamushi likes hot food.
- His hobby is swimming in night pools.
- If he were an animal, he would represent a wildcat.
