Seven Warlords of the Sea of One Piece

The Seven Warlords of the Sea (王下七武海, Ōka Shichibukai; Eng. roughly “Seven Royal Warlords of the Seas.”) was a grouping consisting of seven very strong ex-pirates who were in the service of the world government and also formed part of the Three Power.

Their title gave them many privileges, but also duties. For example, they had the task of hunting down other pirates in order to maintain the balance of the world. In return, they and their pirate bands were spared by the government. Normally, they were largely independent and had no obligation to cooperate with the Navy unless specifically ordered to do so by the Five Elders. The exception was in times of war, when samurai were required to heed the call of the government and answer to the Navy’s War Council. A samurai who refused to go to war for the government was stripped of his title.

After a vote of the kings at the last Levely, it was decided that The Seven Warlords of the Seas should no longer exist. After only a week, the navy specifically hunted down the pirates who were no longer pardoned.

Working for the World Government

General

Exactly when The Seven Warlords of the Seas were created is unknown, but it can be assumed that they were founded in the wake of the Great Pirate Age caused by Gol D. Roger. Although the samurai officially supported only the government’s goals since their appointment, and their bounties were therefore revoked, some of them seemed to continue to pursue their own agendas. Examples of this were Gecko Moria, who plotted his rise to pirate king in the Mysterious Triangle, and Trafalgar Law, who sought revenge against Donquixote Doflamingo. Unbeknownst to the World Government, the former samurai Crocodile was the head of a secret organization called the Baroque Company. When Luffy defeated him and his intentions became known, Crocodile was stripped of his position as Samurai of the Seas and arrested. For Blackbeard, the post as Samurai of the Seas was also just a stop in his plan, showing once again that he doesn’t care about the world government at all and only wanted the post to work for his own undisturbed goals.

It is also interesting to note that according to Gecko Moria, Bartholomew Kuma was the only samurai loyal to the world government. However, this was also put into perspective when Bartholomew Kuma appeared on the Sabaody Archipelago and dispersed the Straw Hat Pirates through his devil powers, which greatly angered Admiral Kizaru, who remarked that pirates could never be trusted for this very reason.

A great many naval members seem to dislike the samurai because of this, and proceed along the lines of “Once a pirate, always a pirate.” Other examples of this include Vice Admiral Smoker, who, while on Arabasta, remarked that he hated the Samurai, or Grand Admiral Sengoku, who referred to the Samurai as “scum of the sea.” That the Samurai were only trusted to a limited extent was also shown by the fact that they were not allowed to even approach the great deep-sea prison Impel Down in normal circumstances.

Admission requirements & motivations

To become a Samurai of the Seas, one had to have demonstrated skill, made a name for himself on the Grand Line, or won the trust of the world government by doing something in its favor. Aside from that, a vacant post had to be available. In addition, one had to prove loyal and faithful, though this didn’t really apply to the samurai, as the World Government tolerated their actions up to a point. Most of the members used to have high bounties, however, some of which are quite outdated and were frozen after joining the Samurai of the Seas. Therefore, they do not reflect their true strength and danger these days.

For example, Crocodile only had a former bounty of 81,000,000 Berry, but was extremely dangerous due to his strength and abilities through the Logia Fruit. Another good example is Blackbeard; after Crocodile’s defeat, the world government was looking for a successor, but since they only respect people whose names evoke some respect from the other pirates, Blackbeard had to prove his strength first. This he did by striking down Portgas D. Ace in a duel and delivering him to the government. Thus, he was named Samurai of the Seas. Ace had also been offered the position of Samurai of the Seas in the past, before joining Whitebeard with his gang. Although Blackbeard never had a bounty before his appointment, he has tremendous strength. This shows that samurai should by no means be judged by their old bounties. Trafalgar Law, one of the Supernovae, got his title by delivering the hearts of 100 pirates to naval headquarters. Donquixote Doflamingo, unlike the others, had gotten his post by blackmailing the World Government.

The motives of some samurai to subordinate themselves to the world government are for the most part still not completely clear, even after the resolution. But the example of Crocodile showed that he didn’t give a damn about the world government and the Seven Samurai and only wanted to pursue his real goal, namely to find and reactivate the ancient weapon Pluton. Boa Hancock, on the other hand, had completely different motives, she only became a Samurai of the Seas to be able to offer her home island Amazon Lily sufficient protection. Jinbe, too, only accepted a place among the Seven Samurai so that his crewmates would be fully pardoned for their crimes and some of them would be stripped of their status as slaves.

It was learned from Ivankov that Bartholomew Kuma both hated the world government and worked for the Revolutionary Army, which finally topped his image as the most loyal samurai. It can therefore be assumed that he worked as a spy until his completion as a Pacifista.

Donquixote Doflamingo benefited greatly from his status. Thus he could pursue his dark machinations unmolested, without being troubled by the navy, as he had to fear at the time in the Northblue. Marshall D. Teach and Trafalgar D. Water Law, on the other hand, were interested in privileges which they could never have obtained as ordinary pirates.

The motivations of Dracule Mihawk and Edward Weevil, on the other hand, are still completely unknown.

Impeachment

The world government seemed to tolerate the samurai breaking the “law” up to a point, as long as they did their jobs. Thus, they ignored the illegal actions of the members, but upheld the Three Powers. A good example of this was Donquixote Doflamingo’s human trafficking, which the World Government trivialized as “Public Employment Security Bureau” and even supported in some cases. The World Nobles bought their slaves there. However, there was also a certain limit for this, so only pirates and civilians from “non-world government countries” were allowed to be enslaved and offered for sale.

However, there are extreme cases and exceptions, as with Crocodile. Because he not only belonged to the Baroque Company, but also wanted to resurrect the Ancient Weapon Pluton, the World Government had to remove him from office, which was simplified because Luffy had previously defeated him. He was stripped of all ranks and privileges, and eventually transferred to Impel Down to serve out the rest of his sentence.

Another reason for impeachment and imprisonment in Impel Down was if one ignores the call of the world government in wartime and refuses to fight on their side. Jinbe, for example, refused to fight Whitebeard in the nearby battle, after which Sengoku had him taken to Impel Down. Boa Hancock was also threatened with losing her title if she did not come to Mary Geoise for the Samurai War Conference as ordered. To keep her island, which is near Marine Ford anyway, from being attacked, Nyon advised her to go into battle, which she eventually did for Luffy’s sake.

History

Meeting in Mary Geoise

The first meeting of the Seven Samurai within the plot, called by the Five Elders, took place in Mary Geoise and was presided over by Grand Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Crane. The occasion for this meeting was to find a successor to Crocodile, who was removed from office because his secret agenda came to light and he was defeated by Luffy. Donquixote Doflamingo and Bartholomew Kuma arrived together, much to Sengoku’s surprise, as he had not expected two of the six to appear. They were later joined by Hawkeye, but he said he had only come as a spectator.

Laffitte also appeared unexpectedly and suddenly at the meeting, with the aim of proposing his captain Marshall D. Teach, also known as Blackbeard, as his successor. However, Sengoku initially declined, saying that he did not know Blackbeard and that someone without a “name” would not be respected either. To which Laffitte replied that they had factored this in and needed some more time. He also stressed that they should keep the name Blackbeard’s Pirates in mind.

Gecko Moria & Bartholomew Kuma on Thriller Bark

While the Straw Hat Pirates was fighting Moria’s zombie army on the Thriller Bark, Gecko Moria met Bartholomew Kuma, another samurai of the seas, in his dance hall. On behalf of the World Government, Bear was dispatched to tell him of Crocodile’s successor, Blackbeard, as well as the fact that he had been sent to Moria’s assistance on the Thriller Bark. Moria, however, refused his assistance. Telling Bartholomew Kuma to sit back and watch the spectacle, Moria left, confident in himself, saying he would succeed in making the Straw Hat Pirates part of his zombie army.

War Conference

After Ace’s public execution was announced, and the World Government expected that Whitebeard would probably make his move soon, they also had The Seven Warlords of the Seas gather for their own war conference in Mary Geoise. There were five in total in attendance. Not heeding the call cost the samurai their title. Jinbe, who refused to fight Whitebeard and raged at naval headquarters, was taken to Impel Down. However, the rest of the samurai also acted quite disrespectfully at the conference.

Hawkeye had his feet up on the table and was taking a nap, Bartholomew Kuma and Gecko Moria had their arms folded and were showing disinterest, Blackbeard was not showing any table manners, and Donquixote Doflamingo was sitting on the back of his chair, amusing himself with a note he was holding.

With about five hours remaining before Ace’s execution and his transport from Impel Down to Marine Ford completed, a naval officer delivered word to Sengoku that the samurai Blackbeard was nowhere to be found and that a ship had entered Impel Down harbor without authorization, whereupon Sengoku stared at him in shock. Blackbeard forcibly gained entry into Impel Down at the same time and finished off a large number of guards…. Shortly after, Shiryu arrived, who was supposed to stop Blackbeard, but the two parted ways without a fight. After a brief clash with Luffy and an unsuccessful fight with Magellan, Shiryu reappeared and administered an antidote to Blackbeard’s gang. This allowed them to survive Magellan’s attack. After that, Blackbeard gratefully accepted him into his gang. Meanwhile, Boa Hancock took a ship to the naval headquarters and waited there ready to fight with her four fellow samurai on Marine Ford’s front line.

The Battle of Marine Ford

The five samurai – Dracule Mihawk, Donquixote Doflamingo, Boa Hancock, Gecko Moria, and Bartholomew Kuma – who had agreed to go to war against the Whitebeard gang were set up by Grand Admiral Sengoku as the first line of defense along Marine Ford Bay. It was said that they might be the factor that could decisively influence the battle.

When the Moby Dick appeared, together with Whitebeard, Hawkeye turned his sword and fired a cutting wave at the latter, to test, according to himself, how great the differences of strength were between them. He was thus the first samurai to go on the offensive. However, this attack was thwarted by Jozu’s diamond body.

Later, when the giant Little Oars Jr. attacked and the first line of defense threatened to collapse, Bartholomew Kuma stopped him with an Ursus Shock, whereupon Oars collapsed and tried to take Doflamingo with him as he went down, but he dodged and cut off Oars’s leg. Lastly, Gecko Moria pierced Oars with a Shadow Lance.

Hancock fought off sporadic attacking pirates in between, but since she was actually on Luffy’s side, she also more or less obviously opposed the Navy in between, stopping Smoker’s attack and some Pacifista, which Sentomaru took note of and confronted her about.

During the war, the samurai acted completely different, but most of them didn’t seem particularly motivated. Hawkeye fought Vista briefly in between and attacked Luffy several times. Flamingo changed his location several times. For example, he controlled the commander of the 13th Division, Atmos, and had him slaughter his own subordinates, later he stopped Jozu who was attacking Crocodile and also gave a cocky speech about true justice. He seemed to view the war more as a pleasure, and as a pioneer of the New Era. Through him, it was also eventually revealed that Bartholomew Kuma had already been completed by Dr. Vegapunk and was now nothing more than an inanimate walking body carrying out the orders of the government. Shortly thereafter, an army of over two dozen Pacifista appeared at the entrance to the harbor bay, which, according to the marginal note, was one of the main factors that helped the Navy win the war.

All in all, all former as well as active samurai appeared in Marine Ford one by one. First Crocodile and Jinbe, who had escaped from the Impel Down with Luffy and Co. Then later Blackbeard, who had broken into the Impel Down in the meantime to strengthen his gang. The Blackbeard gang finally gave the already half-dead Whitebeard the coup de grace, and Blackbeard imbibed his devil powers and declared war on the entire world. After the war was finally ended by the intervention of the Redshirt Pirates, all parties present parted ways.

Donquixote Doflamingo then wanted to execute Gecko Moria in the back alleys of Marine Ford to make it look like he had fallen during the war. According to Doflamingo, he had become too weak for the office of samurai, and thus useless. In this, Doflamingo was supported by at least four Pacifista. When Moria asked if he was doing this on Sengoku’s orders, Doflamingo replied with, “No, from even higher up.” and pointed his finger toward the sky. Accordingly, in the course of the war, Jinbe, Blackbeard, as well as Gecko Moria lost their offices as samurai of the seas.

However, as it later turns out, Gecko Moria was able to escape Doflamingo.

After the war

After the war, the Samurai vacancies were filled by Buggy, Trafalgar Law, and Edward Weevil. Buggy was given the title because of his past and his role in the Battle of Marine Ford. Law, on the other hand, sent the hearts of 100 pirates to the World Government to show that he was worthy of the post. Doflamingo had left the grouping in mockery after being given an ultimatum by Law.

Dressrosa

When Trafalgar Law, Doflamingo and Admiral Fujitora met, it was revealed that the report of Doflamingo’s resignation was false. The latter had falsified the newspaper article to trap Law. In turn, Law was removed from office when he referred to Luffy as an ally rather than a subordinate, which was a violation of the rules. In the end, Doflamingo still lost his title after his defeat of Monkey D. Luffy brought to light the effects of his reign of terror and nearly destroyed the Kingdom of Dress Rosa.

A few days later, the samurai Edward Weevil also made headlines. He had single-handedly smashed A.O’s pirate gang. Before that, he had already defeated 15 other captains who were once allied with Whitebeard.

The End of the Samurai of the Seas

Just before the Levely began, an article about Edward Weevil was published with the headline “Warning”. Also, during a conversation between Issho and Admiral Aramaki, it was revealed that Vegapunk’s latest invention could render the continued existence of The Seven Warlords of the Seas obsolete. Mary Geoise featured Bartholomew Kuma, who was now reprogrammed to be a will-less slave to the world’s aristocrats. Sabo wanted to free him in cooperation with other revolutionaries. When the conference had already started for a few days, Mihawk mentioned an interesting topic of reverie and that it was a good time for Perona to leave Kuraigana Island. Sabo and his allies engaged in a battle with Admirals Fujitora and Aramaki.

In fact, during the conference, a vote was taken to end cooperation with the pirates once and for all. The reason given was Crocodile’s and Donquixote Doflamingo’s criminal activities and the damage they had caused in Arabasta and Dress Rosa. The majority voted to disband The Seven Warlords of the Seas. The very next week, four naval fleets sailed to the bases of the former samurai, Bartholomew Kuma excepted. Koby’s fleet sailed to Amazon Lily to capture Boa Hancock. Stainless’s fleet, meanwhile, prepared for battle against Buggy and against his subordinates. Another fleet surrounded Kuraigana, where Mihawk was already waiting anxiously for them. Weevil, along with Bakkin, was on an uncharted island in the New World, but was also tracked down by the navy and surrounded on land.

Skills & Strength

Individual strength

Almost all members of the Seven Samurai possessed enormous individual strength, which made them among the strongest pirates ever and justified their position as part of the Three Power.

Hawkeye, the best swordsman in the world, used to fight great battles with the Emperor Shanks. Which of the two won and is thus the stronger, however, is unknown. However, his skill with the sword and his enormous strength are beyond question, as he only sank Don Krieg’s pirate armada, which consisted of over 50 ships, out of boredom. Only the flagship escaped him thanks to a change in the weather, but he chased it all the way to East Blue and dismembered it with ease. Zoro, who was considered a “pirate hunter” in the East Blue and a master in fighting with the three swords, he also defeated only with a small dagger.

Other examples of the extraordinary strength of the samurai are Crocodile, who was virtually invulnerable due to his logia fruit and could dehydrate living beings, but was ultimately defeated by Luffy. Or Donquixote Doflamingo, who can manipulate and control people’s bodies, among other things. Boa Hancock, the ruler of the Kuja is described by Grand Admiral Sengoku as an extremely strong woman, which is quite something and says a lot about her strength, because for Sengoku and the other high-ranking naval officers, the Supernovae, of which Luffy is also one, are only considered weak rookies. Hancock also possesses the power of the Love Fruit.

The same goes for Bartholomew Kuma, who, as it turned out, became a Pacifista and also possesses the power of the Paw Fruit. He scattered the defenseless Straw Hat Pirates in all directions, which emphasized his extreme strength. However, these are just a few examples, the strength of the other samurai is equally unquestionable. The exception here was Buggy, who was elevated to samurai more by his past, his involvement in the events of Impel Down and Marine Ford, by fortunate circumstances, and by his deliberate actions.

Organizations & Crews

Although The Seven Warlords of the Seas were officially no longer pirates at all at the time of their existence and acted more as privateers, some of them still had their own gangs and henchmen who supported them in their actual goals.

Also, the usefulness to the world government and the strength of some samurai did not seem to be based solely on their individual skill, but also on their gangs, some of which were large and strong, as well as their locations.

An example of this is Gecko Moria, who with his pirate gang and his ship, the Thriller Bark, made the Mysterious Triangle unsafe and also wanted to expand his gang further and further in order to eventually take revenge on Kaidou, who had devastatingly beaten him in the New World some time ago and completely wiped out his gang. However, Moria is not an isolated case, ex-samurai Crocodile also had a secret organization called the Baroque Company that supported him.

Blackbeard, the successor to Crocodile, led a small band of pirates in his time as a samurai, but they are extremely powerful. As it later turned out, Hancock is also still active with her Kuja pirate gang. Her gang consists entirely of strong Amazons who are proficient in the Haki. Jinbe’s Sun Pirates is also still active, though Jinbe relinquished the captaincy after joining the Straw Hats. Only Dracule Mihawk, Bartholomew Kuma, and Edward Weevil do not appear to have gangs.

List of all known samurai

The last samurai until the decision of the last Levely
Appearance	Name	Animal motif	Ex-bounty	Devil Fruit	Note
	Buggy “Clown Star” “1000 Coin Clown”	Unknown	15.000.000	Separate Separate Fruit	Former member of the Roger Pirates General Commander of Buggy’s Pirate Delegation Company
	Dracule Mihawk “Hawkeye”	Falcon	Unknown	Unknown	Best swordsman in the world
	Bartholomew Kuma “The Tyrant”	Bear	296.000.000	Paw paw fruit	A cyborg of the Pacifista series a slave of the World Nobles
	Boa Hancock “Pirate Empress”	Boas	80.000.000	Love Fruit	Empress of the Kuja
	Edward Weevil	Curculionidae (Weevil)	480.000.000	Unknown	Thinks he’s the biological son of Whitebeard…
Former samurai who lost their title prematurely
Appearance	Name	Animal motif	Ex-bounty	Devil Fruit	Note
	Donquixote Doflamingo “Sky Demon”	Flamingo	340.000.000	Thread Fruit	Defeated by Luffy. Currently imprisoned in the Impel Down
	Jinbe “Knight of the Sea”	Whale shark	250.000.000	none	Helmsman of the Straw Hat Pirates. Former captain of the Sun Pirates
	Gecko Moria	Microbat	320.000.000	Shadow Fruit	Defeated by Luffy, currently on the run
	Trafalgar D. Water Law “Surgeon of Death”	Spotted seal	440.000.000	Operations Fruit	Removed from office by Fujitora
	Marshall D. Teach “Blackbeard”	Hippopotamus	0	Darkness fruit/earthquake fruit	Successor to Crocodile resigned from office again Meanwhile one of the Four Emperors
	Crocodile “Mister 0”	Crocodilia	81.000.000	Sand Fruit	Defeated by Luffy

Miscellaneous

• The name “Seven Samurai” comes from the film of the same name Seven Samurai” (1954; jp. Shichinin No Samurai) by Akira Kurosawa.
  More information about the naming
• In the real world, the Seven Samurai could best be compared to Letter of marquewho were seafarers (often officers) who were equipped with a so-called Letter of marque que and plundered on the high seas on behalf of a government. Officially they did not commit a crime, because they did not harm their government and shared the booty with it.
• As Oda announced in SBS Volume 58, the members of the Samurai are all exceptionally large, with Bartholomew Kuma and Gecko Moria already towering over a giraffe. (see image)
• In Movie Z, we learn that a pirate who cut off the right arm of the Zephyr and slaughtered almost all of its crew was made a samurai of the seas within the two-year time jump. However, it is still unknown which samurai this is.