Jinbe

"Knight of the Sea" Jinbe is a whale shark fishman, the second captain of the Sun Pirates after Fisher Tiger, and a former Shichibukai, who attained the position eleven years ago. His name was first mentioned by Yosaku, when he was explaining about the Shichibukai. However, he is formally introduced much later, during the Impel Down Arc. He renounced his Shichibukai title at the Battle of Marineford, allying himself with the Whitebeard Pirates. During the war, he befriended Monkey D. Luffy, and later allied with him and his crew to prevent the New Fishman Pirates' coup d'état against the Neptune Royal Family and the Ryugu Kingdom. He was even invited to join the Straw Hat Pirates, but declined due to having unfinished business of still being affiliated with Big Mom; however, he promised that once he was ready, he would return to Luffy again and request to join his crew. During the Totto Land Arc, he rescues Luffy and Nami from Big Mom's prison by defeating one of her children, thus cutting ties with the Yonko completely.

Photo Credits by Evaison

Jinbe's first bounty was Beli76,000,000. Eventually, his bounty raised to Beli250,000,000. After he resigned from the Shichibukai, his bounty has been raised to over Beli400,000,000. Jinbe is a large blue whale shark fishman with a stocky build similar to a sumo wrestler and a face that is commonly associated with various Japanese demons such as the oni. His yellow eyebrows and sideburns are distinctly shaped like those found on such demons, in addition to a bulb-like nose and an angular lower lip pointing upwards. He has a lightning-shaped scar that can be seen from his left side burn and reaching over his left eye which he obtained sometime between Otohime's assassination and meeting Ace. He also possesses two tusk-like conical lower fangs associated with Oni as well; the rest of his teeth from the upper and lower rows are pretty much the same, albeit much smaller. He also has a severe underbite, which makes room for his huge fangs. He has long, two-toned black hair, with two long stripes, colored gold in the manga and white in the anime, coming from the roots over his forehead and trailing down the back, a topknot, and tuft of hair on his chin with a slight green hue. This topknot did not exist during his time as a member of the Sun Pirates, instead his shorter and flowing black hair trails off half way to a light color concentrated at the back of his head. He kept his chin clean-shaven before joining the Sun Pirates, after which it gradually grew out over time. His hands and feet are also webbed, typical for a fishman, and his limbs that are somewhat thin in comparison with his enormous girth. His gills (which are pale and pinkish in color) are in between his shoulders and neck.

Under his pale red coat (which he swaps for a black one two years later), he appears to be wearing a Coral colored traditional Japanese clothing covered all over with black and white square-shaped patterns with the black and white layers alternating each other (beginning with the black outline from the edge) and ending with a dark square at the middle of each and every one of them. He also ties this attire up with a purple obi like a ribbon around his waist.

Jinbe is often seen wearing different traditional kimono of varying patterns: he wore a karakusa and later a floral design during his time as a member of the Sun Pirates; he wore square designs during his debut and a plain one after the Battle of Marineford. Four years ago, when fighting against Ace, he wore a black gi instead with fish designs on either side of the chest, and a red sash with a tanto tied to it. Two years after the war, while waiting for Luffy at the Sea Forest, his kimono has leaf-patterns. During Caribou's cover story, he is seen in another one patterned with flowers. For footwear, he appears to wear simple geta on his webbed feet. His Sun Pirates tattoo is on the middle of his chest. During the Totto Land Arc, his kimono has a Jolly Roger design arranged like stripes.

He wore a Neptune Army uniform while he was serving as a soldier, and was often seen smoking a pipe back then. During Otohime's funeral, Jinbe wore a suit.

In Volume 63 SBS, Oda draws the Shichibukai as children. Jinbe as a child is seen with light hair wearing a tattered gi practicing his Fishman Karate. He already had a black belt at this age.

Jinbe is a fishman of great pride and honor. He is known to the World Government as a pirate-hating pirate, possibly due to the actions of the pirates in Fishman Island, kidnapping fishmen and merfolk to sell them as slaves. However, he has great respect for Whitebeard and his crew as he sees them as a completely different story. Because of what Whitebeard had done for his homeland, Fishman Island, he understands the damage a war between the World Government and Whitebeard would cause. He knows that places like his home, which are protected by simply being part of Whitebeard's territory, would suffer the most should Whitebeard lose the war. Also, despite originally hating pirates, he did not spare a second thought of becoming one in order to aid his brethren Fisher Tiger.
Despite his pride, Jinbe appears to put his priorities and principles over his honor, and is not above retreating from an otherwise unfinished battle (despite being shamed or openly mocked by an opponent) if it was for the sake of the greater good. He also does not seem to hesitate from encouraging others to do likewise for a similar cause, as seen when he pleaded and managed to convince Luffy to prioritize Ace's safety first over avenging his brother's loss against Blackbeard. Jinbe has also displayed great humility regarding his personal strength and status, a trait most unique among the Shichibukai. This was made apparent by his willingness to even lose his status for his refusal to fight against the Whitebeard Pirates.

Also, unlike his former crew mate Arlong, the fact that he is willing to aid a human (Whitebeard) as well as team up with others separates him from the other fishmen. Where as Arlong would never dream of such a thing (even Nami's recruitment into his crew was near slavery), Jinbe proves to be able to at least respect some humans and also acknowledge when he owes one a debt. While he is a fishman with great emotional control, he is empathetic and understanding of the pains of others, such as being brought to tears when Luffy broke down from losing his brother in front of him after he had awoken from the battle at Marineford. Jinbe is also capable of crying aloud when someone dear to him is lost, such as Ace and Tiger.

His personality in the past dramatically contrasts with the apparently tame temper in the present. In a flashback showing a battle between the Sun Pirates and Marines, Jinbe was shown to exhibit excessive brutality to enemies that even made Arlong ask him to stop. He seems to be a no-nonsense person and appears to be quite passive at times. Though he did not agree with Arlong's thinking that humans always looked down on fishmen, he noticed that they always seemed to be afraid of them. After asking a former human slave named Koala why that is, she said it was because they did not know much about them. Jinbe stated that the unknown was scary and remembered Otohime talking about how fishmen do not know anything about humans.

Originally, Jinbe was doubtful of Otohime's ideals, thinking that they did not mean anything. He even openly stated that he did not care about her petition. However, after listening to Fisher Tiger's speech about peace, Jinbe grew supportive of Otohime and even admitted about the trouble the Sun Pirates caused her and joined the Shichibukai to support her cause.

Jinbe shares the same perspective as Vivi on responsibilities. When Luffy asked Jinbe to join the Straw Hats, Jinbe refused saying that there are still things that he has to do. Jinbe's decision also resembles to Vivi's when he also asked Luffy to let him join his crew, if they meet again in the future. According to Neptune, Jinbe tends to take on too much responsibility and should learn not to.

Jinbe states that he does not really care who the boss is of his crew despite his leadership skills so long as they can protect the crew, as shown when he allowed the Sun Pirates to work under Big Mom for their protection.

While having a conversation with Ace in Impel Down, Jinbe says he doesn't lose hope even when a situation says otherwise believing a miracle will happen. This eventually became true when Luffy reached his cell to rescue Ace (although he arrived shortly after Ace was escorted to Marineford). Jinbe states he will not protect a stranger if they do not earn his respect.

As stated by his friend Hack, Jinbe's dream is for there to be friendship between humans and fishmen.

It is stated that Jinbe was able to battle Portgas D. Ace on equal terms, despite Ace possessing Logia powers. They both nearly killed each other in a five-day long fight just before Ace was taken in by Whitebeard, and in Impel Down, he and Ace shared a cell on Level 6. He was able to easily punch Gekko Moriah (a fellow Shichibukai) a few meters away, almost knocking him out.
Jinbe also has a knack for discerning military strategies after witnessing any subtle change in enemy formations, as seen when he quickly guessed that Magellan dispatched the order to the battleships outside Impel Down to flee during the mass breakout, and during the battle in Marineford where he surmises that the Marines were plotting something after Ivankov informs him that the enemy is retreating further into the plaza. He also has some penchant for strategy as he divulges a way to smuggle Luffy and his crew into Gyoncorde Plaza while deceiving Hody into believing he and Princess Shirahoshi were captured.

As a fishman who is so familiar with the sea, he is a capable helmsman, shown when he steered a stolen Marine battleship. The anime depicts his skill at this even greater, where despite steering a massive and unfamiliar ship, he was easily able to dodge cannon fire from over a dozen battleships, with the ship receiving hardly any damage.

Also, Jinbe is also aware of the existence of Haki, as he commented on Luffy's Haoshoku Haki he unleashed on the New Fishman Pirates.

Though strong, he admitted that he is of no use in land battles, implying he is much stronger at sea. Jinbe stands up to this claim when he lifted one of Impel Down's massive entrance doors with little effort and used it as a raft to provide passage over the sea for Crocodile, Mr. 1, and Buggy (all Devil Fruit users), with himself acting as the raft's propeller underneath. He not only managed to pursue the fleeing battleships, but even outmaneuvered the incoming cannonballs fired at them by the Marines with relative ease, all the while bypassing the Sea Kings that infested the surrounding waters of the Calm Belt.

From his demonstration of underwater activity, it is obvious that he does not have the powers of a Devil Fruit, even at one point cursing the weakness of Devil Fruit users as he saved them from drowning. His power over sea water may very well make Jinbe a natural enemy of all Devil Fruit users, as seen in his fight against Gekko Moriah in Marineford, where the fishman rendered Moriah's ability to summon his zombies useless by splashing them with sea water, thus purifying them with the salt from the seawater.

His power and influence are so great, departing from even a Yonko's organization would severely diminish their crew's strength.

Being a fishman, Jinbe possesses immense strength. He is the most powerful fishman seen thus far, shown when he threw away a giant fishman with just one kick. He also appears to be quite swift, even on dry land, despite his large size. He could intercept an enraged Luffy (in Gear Second mode) and prevent him from further assaulting Blackbeard, and later Akainu, when the latter was about to deal a second life-crippling blow upon the already-injured Ace (who was being held by Luffy) in the latter's last moments. In the anime, when struck by Arlong in the face, he wasn't fazed and easily defeated Arlong not long after fighting.

Jinbe has a huge tolerance for pain: not only was he one of the few people to be able to take a "baptizing" in boiling water in Impel Down without flinching (which is considered an impressive feat), he could also stop a direct magma punch from Akainu with his bare hand, unperturbed despite being badly burned, and took a direct hit from Akainu, which pierced his body completely, and his only reaction was to apologize to Luffy for allowing him further pain. Oddly enough, he exclaimed in pain when bitten by Luffy, though this is most likely due to the fact that he was prepared for Akainu's attack, but was caught off guard from Luffy's bite, and that it was more out of irritation than actual damage.