Issho

Ahoy! This here is the 187th Featured Article. “Issho” has been featured, meaning it was chosen as an article of interest.

Issho, better known by his alias Fujitora, is an admiral in the Marines.^[3] He was conscripted through a World Military Draft during the two-year timeskip, being appointed to his rank (next to Ryokugyu) to fill the two admiral vacancies caused by Aokiji’s resignation and Sakazuki’s promotion.^[8] A proponent of “Moral Justice”, Fujitora notably spearheaded a campaign to abolish the Seven Warlords of the Sea system, which came to pass during the most recent Levely.^[9][10]

Fujitora was first mentioned by Sakazuki when the latter was discussing plans to deal with Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar Law on Dressrosa.^[2] His following mission and actions on Dressrosa made him the first admiral to physically appear post-timeskip and the secondary antagonist of the Dressrosa Arc.

Appearance

Fujitora is a blind man with only the whites of his eyes showing, though he usually keeps both eyes closed. He has an X-shaped scar centered on the left side of his forehead that stretches over both eyes, which was actually self-inflicted due to his decision to blind himself.^[11] He has short dark hair, a mustache, and a beard.^[1] He seems to be very tall, a trait shared with other admirals.^[3]

Like other admirals, Fujitora sports the standard marine coat with his personal clothes underneath, wearing the coat on his shoulders like a cape with his arms not in the sleeves. His sleeves cuffs are purple. While previous admirals and other high-ranked marines wear the conventional suit and tie underneath their marine coats, Fujitora opts for a light-purple yukata held up with a dark purple belt, all underneath a purple cloak, matching the color in his alias. Fujitora wields a Shimizu (a Japanese swordstick) that doubles as a cane for his blindness and also wears geta sandals. He has white bandages wrapped around both of his forearms, with handguards on both hands.^[3]

Gallery

Main Series

Fujitora’s color scheme in the manga, with his eyes open.

Fujitora’s full-body appearance.

Close-up of Fujitora’s face.

Video Games

Other

Personality

Fujitora is a virtuous man who cares greatly about doing the right thing and detests evil. His blindness is a result of him intentionally inflicting damage on his eyes out of sorrow for all the evil he had seen,^[11] with him stating in Dressrosa that not having sight is a blessing.^[12] His Justice motto as a Marine is “Moral Justice” (道徳的正義 Dōtoku-Teki Seigi^? ).^[6] His primary goal is to protect people, telling a subordinate that it is more important to take into account the number of lives to protect rather than the number of enemies against them.^[3] He takes care to never put innocent civilians in harm’s way during conflict and will try to avoid causing collateral damage with his attacks; when he does inflict such damage he makes sure to compensate the owner of the involved property. Fujitora will make the effort to keep civilians away from harm even when he himself is not involved in the proceedings, including doing things such as protecting them from the collateral damage of other fights and even proactively calling for extra medics to come to the Corrida Colosseum in the likely event that spectators were harmed by the combatants’ attacks. As a result of his desire to protect civilians, Fujitora is proactive about hunting down and capturing pirates and other criminals. He will not step outside his bounds to do so, as shown when he came to the Corrida Colosseum which was a safe zone for criminals, but he did plot with his subordinates to arrest the criminals competing there as soon as they exited the arena’s confines.^[3]

— Fujitora’s view on responsibility and Justice.^[13]

Fujitora’s desire to eliminate evil also extends to rooting out corruption within the Marines and World Government. Crocodile’s attempted takeover of Arabasta in particular drove him to question the government’s choices and judgment, especially regarding the use of the Seven Warlords of the Sea as a check against pirates and criminals, when it often resulted in brutal and tyrannical pirates terrorizing people and shipping arms illegally under the blanket of government immunity. He strongly believed that ending the system would result in better outcomes for eliminating piracy and evil, despite its perceived threat to the balance of the Three Great Powers.^[9] He is willing to accept blame for the shortcomings of the Marines and World Government, to the point of prostrating himself before King Riku Doldo III along with his troops to apologize for the harm Doflamingo had wreaked upon Dressrosa and having it broadcast to neighboring islands.^[14] This resulted in a very tense and explosive conversation with his superior, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki over Den Den Mushi. As their conversation progressed, Sakazuki grew incensed that Fujitora’s actions had caused the Marine’s reputation, and justice by extension to be shamed, since the admiral had publicly admitted the government had failed in its duty. Fujitora then lost his composure and shouted angrily at Sakazuki, disgusted at the idea that justice was dependent on looking right rather than being right, one of the few times he has not been seen acting in a calm and dispassionate manner.^[15]

As noted by himself, however, Fujitora is pragmatic and has had to align himself to some degree with parties he opposes for the sake of protecting innocent people. This dynamic drove many of his actions during his time in Dressrosa; at first, despite his opposition to the Seven Warlords system and suspicion over Doflamingo’s activities, Fujitora agreed to aid the Warlord in opposing the Straw Hat Pirates for the sake of protecting Dressrosa’s populace.^[9] However, he later changed his mind after Doflamingo trapped Dressrosa in his “Birdcage”, as he believed that the Straw Hats stood the best chance of saving Dressrosa as well as showing the failure of the Seven Warlords system.^[16][17][15] In both instances, he made clear that he would pursue the downfall of both the Donquixote and Straw Hat Pirates after the necessity of working with them came to an end.^[18] Additionally, Fujitora will uphold the letter of the law for the World Government even if he does not care for it, such as letting Caesar Clown go free due to being the subordinate of a Warlord.^[8] While he will obey his superiors’ command in most instances, Fujitora has been known to exploit loopholes as he sees fit, such as when he went to Mary Geoise while being banned from going to Marine bases and invoking the loophole when notified of Sakazuki’s disapproval.^[19]

Just as he does not hesitate to pinpoint and work against evil deeds in the Marines and World Government, Fujitora also has no issue with acknowledging good deeds done by pirates. He has rather bluntly stated that the World Government was to blame for Doflamingo’s atrocities whereas Luffy, a pirate, was the hero of Dressrosa, and when the Dressrosa citizens got in the way of his pursuit of the Straw Hats, Fujitora recognized the honesty and good intentions of Luffy towards the civilians.^[15] In fact, it was Luffy’s attitude and actions that first caused Fujitora to regret blinding himself, as he wondered what Luffy might look like; he even thanked the pirate for saving Dressrosa.^[11] A few days earlier, when Luffy had exposed the Donquixote Pirates’ cheating at roulette against Fujitora, the admiral was greatly appreciative of his kind deed and declined to exchange introductions so that he might remain ignorant of who helped him should their positions result in conflict.^[20] Additionally, as shown during the war on Dressrosa, Fujitora may not relentlessly pursue people who are considered enemies of the Marines if they do not pose a threat to innocent people, if doing so would threaten innocents around them, or if there are more pressing matters at hand.^[17]

Despite his desire to prevent collateral damage, Fujitora has been shown to use tremendous displays of force against opponents, particularly at the very beginning of his battles. While confronting Trafalgar Law alongside Doflamingo, Fujitora immediately started the fight by summoning a large meteor to strike their location, saying it was only a “little test”.^[8] When Doflamingo’s thugs tried attacking him and Luffy after their swindling was exposed, Fujitora immediately chose to send them to “hell” and slam them deep into the ground with his gravity.^[12] However, Fujitora’s displays of force can at times be completely reckless, as best shown when he summoned another meteor during his fight with Sabo only to have it sliced apart by Doflamingo’s “Birdcage” and destroy more of the surrounding area than he intended.^[21] Additionally, his attempt to summon a meteor against the Straw Hats on the Thousand Sunny whilst also piloting a battleship through the air led to the meteor being redirected and striking his ship. However, even when he encounters a bad situation, Fujitora has been shown keeping his calm, at worst only getting flustered. In the aforementioned battleship attack, Fujitora was shown sitting calmly and eating noodles even when the crew’s counterattack put the rest of his subordinates in a panic,^[22] and he remained calm throughout Doflamingo’s Birdcage game despite the mass hysteria inflicted, even putting his trust in others to resolve the great problem without hesitation.^[17]

Fujitora loves to gamble and play casino games, having been shown playing roulette in his first appearance and making big wagers including going all-in in the last round he played.^[23] In fact, his obsession with gambling is at such a point that he has been shown to treat life the same way as a game of chance, having made allusions to betting and rolling dice when speaking of the conflict in Dressrosa and showing a great reverence for the forces of fate. Most notably, he treated his entrustment of the Straw Hat Pirates to take down Doflamingo as simply another one of his bets, though with the stakes now being life or death rather than monetary.^[17] Later, when faced with the choice of whether or not to follow his command to go after the Straw Hats and Law, a choice with merits on each side, Fujitora decided to make this decision by rolling a die and assigning an outcome based on where it landed. When the die’s outcome had him leave Luffy alone for two consecutive days despite the low odds, Fujitora stated that something was certainly on the pirate’s side.^[18]

Fujitora generally acts humble in conversation, as shown when he downplayed Doflamingo’s words of praise for his abilities when the two of them first met.^[8] Additionally, despite his great status, his casual mannerisms are no different than a normal older blind man, and many of the people who saw him at Dressrosa did not know who he was.^[20] However, during combat he is shown to take pride in his status as a Marine Admiral and his reputation as a “monster”, hating it when people take pity on him due to his blindness. When Luffy told him the attacks he would perform ahead of time during their battle and explained that it was out of respect for the admiral’s character, Fujitora briefly lost composure and started laughing, though also expressed disappointment at the pirate’s illogical behavior.^[11] Fujitora is also prideful when it comes to upholding his morals, as he refused to apologize to Sakazuki for his actions following the Dressrosa conflict even though Sengoku said such an action would likely be enough to get his punishment lifted.^[24]

Although aware of the great evil in the world, Fujitora has shown himself to be quite trusting and thus will typically accept anyone’s answer to events he is unsure of due to his blindness.^[8] This was best shown when he was willing to believe Doflamingo’s thugs when they told him where the roulette ball landed, allowing them to nearly swindle him of all his money. However, if tipped off that he is being tricked, he will not respond kindly to those who trick him.^[23] Fujitora’s willingness to give people the benefit of the doubt even extends to his interactions with pirates, as he gave Law the opportunity to inform him that the Straw Hats were his subordinates despite those around him clearly knowing that that was not the case. Additionally, although he brought up the suspicions he had over Doflamingo committing illegal activities in secret, Fujitora had no intention of pressing the Warlord over it before investigating further.^[8]

Relationships

Marines

As an admiral of the Marines, Fujitora is deeply respected within the organization. He has compassion for his subordinates, and many Marines, including Vice-Admirals Bastille and Maynard, held strong respect for Fujitora. When several Marines fell under the control of Doflamingo’s Parasite technique, Fujitora opted to use his gravity powers to restrain them, rather than using lethal force to stop them. Fujitora prostrating before King Riku to apologize for the World Government’s irresponsibility prompted his Marines to follow suit, which was a strong contrast to Sakazuki’s concern about the Marines’ dignity.

Sakazuki

He seems to be trusted by Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, who sent him to deal with the Straw Hat Pirates’ and Heart Pirates’ alliance, with the two captains of the groups being a notorious pirate and a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea respectively. Sakazuki even apologized to Fujitora when he informed him about Donquixote Doflamingo’s false resignation from the Seven Warlords of the Sea.^[25]

However, Sakazuki became furious when Fujitora admitted that the Straw Hat Pirates defeated Doflamingo and apologized on his knees on behalf of the marines in full view of the world. He demanded that Fujitora did his job to kill Luffy and Law, threatening to make sure no marine base would allow him in until the task was done. Fujitora, who was disgusted at the actions of the Marines until now – including but not limited to the World Government attempting to give credit to the Marines for Crocodile’s defeat and turning a blind eye to Doflamingo’s actions in Dressrosa – told Sakazuki that he was honored to fulfill his orders.^[15] Because of this, Fujitora refuses to apologize to Sakazuki for their heated argument, despite Sengoku suggesting that it would make Sakazuki forgive him.^[24]

In spite of their tense standing, Sakazuki kept Issho in the loop of recent events such as the dissolution of the Seven Warlords of the Sea system and the alliance between Kaidou and Big Mom. Issho even gave assurance that the new SSG will balance things out.^[10]

Smoker

Fujitora also seems to be close to Smoker, who also shares his belief that the Seven Warlords of the Sea system should be abolished. Smoker and Tashigi praised Fujitora for not allowing the incident with Doflamingo in Dressrosa to be covered up like it was with Crocodile in Arabasta.^[15]

Sengoku

Fujitora and Sengoku seem to be amicable towards each other. Sengoku reveals he knows Fujitora purposely allowed Luffy and Law to escape and defeated the pirates menacing them. He chooses not to report it and notes Sakazuki would forgive him if he apologized. He respects Fujitora’s refusal to heed his advice and seems to be amused when the Admiral goes to Mary Geoise despite Sakazuki’s outrage.

Ryokugyu

Fujitora and Ryokugyu appear to be on good terms as Ryokugyu disregarded Sakazuki’s orders to drive Fujitora out of Mary Geoise and instead had a friendly conversation with his fellow admiral.

World Government

— Fujitora’s disgust at the World Government’s irresponsibility^[16]

Despite technically being a servant of the government, Fujitora utterly despises the World Government and their actions. This was made apparent during Doflamingo’s Birdcage game, as Fujitora noted how the government continues to ignore the citizen’s cries when they are truly in trouble and that if he, a Marine admiral, arrests Doflamingo, then the government could cover the ordeal as they did in Arabasta.^[16] Not wanting them to cover it up like before, Fujitora purposely humiliated the government by bowing before Riku Doldo III and giving a heartfelt apology on behalf of the government. This action utterly infuriated the Five Elders and Fleet Admiral Sakazuki and put Fujitora’s title as admiral on the line.^[15]

Enemies

Seven Warlords of the Sea

Despite the fact that the Seven Warlords of the Sea were on the World Government’s side, Fujitora believed that the Seven Warlords of the Sea were nothing more than pirates who could not be trusted and aimed to abolish the Seven Warlords of the Sea’s system,^[9] which came into fruition after colluding with kings Riku Doldo III of Dressrosa and Nefertari Cobra of Arabasta.^[26]

After the dissolution of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Issho seemed pleased to learn this.^[10]

Pirates

As a marine, he views pirates as enemies, although he is more flexible than most marines and is able to look past them and see their good qualities. He was willing to acknowledge Luffy’s character for his help with the swindlers, and felt obligated to fight him because he considered it “biting the hand that feeds him”. However, he puts the civilians’ safety above the pirates’ arrest. When he realized that he was being cheated by some of Doflamingo’s underlings, he quickly took care of them.^[12]

Monkey D. Luffy

Despite being enemies, Luffy helped Fujitora when Doflamingo’s thugs were cheating due to his blindness and thanked Luffy for his kindness. However, during Doflamingo’s Birdcage game, Fujitora was going to hinder Luffy and his allies from reaching Doflamingo, but he was stopped by Sabo. He then allowed Luffy to defeat Doflamingo. During the Straw Hat Pirates and allies’ escape, Fujitora fought against Luffy until they escaped, to which he was taken aback by the latter admitting that he likes him. When Fujitora attempted to drop the rubble on Luffy, he was stopped by the cheering citizens of Dressrosa and decided to let Luffy go. Seeing how the citizens tried to help Luffy, Fujitora smiled and admitted that he should not have blinded himself because he wanted to see what Luffy’s face looks like. When Doflamingo’s business associates attempted to kill Luffy, Fujitora dropped the rubble on the enemy fleet as a farewell gift for Luffy and thanked him for cleaning up the World Government’s mess.

Donquixote Doflamingo

Despite having been sent to help him, Fujitora was very mistrustful of Doflamingo, having heard rumors of Doflamingo’s illegal activities which contributed to his desire to end the Seven Warlords of the Sea system. He made it clear to Doflamingo that he was helping him in order to protect Dressrosa, namely its citizens, from Luffy and Law rather than out of a desire to help the Warlord of the Sea himself. When he and Doflamingo confronted Law, Fujitora showed little regard for Doflamingo when he called down a meteor onto the scene, and he openly talked about Doflamingo’s suspicious activities and his own desire to end the Seven Warlords of the Sea system, which annoyed the Warlord of the Sea and even caused him to attack the admiral once. Although Fujitora is an admiral, Doflamingo was cocky around him, expecting Fujitora to help him against Luffy and Law no matter the situation and even believing that he could dispose of the admiral once he trapped everyone in the Birdcage. When Doflamingo’s illegal activities were eventually put on full display, Fujitora did not go after the Warlord of the Sea, as he did not want the World Government to fix a problem that they themselves had created. He went after Doflamingo’s enemies for a brief period of time during this, but later stopped going after Luffy and Law and bet on them to stop Doflamingo. Once Doflamingo was defeated, Fujitora had the Warlord of the Sea arrested immediately.

Revolutionaries

Due to being an officer in the Marines, he is an enemy of the Revolutionary Army. As such, he and his battalion engaged Sabo when he impeded their capture of Luffy. He personally clashed with Dragon’s second-in-command. Despite this opposition, he confesses to Sabo it is not possible for the Marines to stop Doflamingo, and leaves the Heavenly Demon’s defeat to the pirates. However, they later have another confrontation at the Levely when Sabo and his comrades attempted to rescue Bartholomew Kuma from his enslavement by the World Nobles.^[27]

Other

Riku Doldo III

Fujitora has great respect for King Riku and made the same bet as him. After Doflamingo’s defeat, Fujitora told him not to take responsibility and bowed down towards him to apologized for the World Government allowing a vicious pirate to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea and take over Dressrosa. Riku asked Fujitora to raise his head until he found out the reason Fujitora couldn’t attack Doflamingo at the palace. Fujitora claimed this is not the Marines’ victory. They apparently have maintained cordial relations as Issho requested to have a private conversation with him before the Levely commences.

Nefertari Cobra

Fujitora has great respect for King Cobra due to him sending a secret letter requesting a private conversation between him, Riku Doldo III of Dressrosa and the admiral himself.

Abilities and Powers

Overview

As an admiral, Fujitora has command over the thousands of Marines ranked beneath him, his status being just below the fleet admiral’s. Among other things, he holds the authority to call out battleships however he sees fit and to initiate a Buster Call on any island he deems to be a threat, as well as pass on to lower-ranking government agents the same privilege.^[28][29][30]

In terms of combat strength, Fujitora is thought with his fellow admirals to constitute the World Government’s “Greatest Military Force”,^[28] making him one of the world’s most powerful people. As noted by Doflamingo and himself, Fujitora and Ryokugyu are known as “powerful monsters” in the Marines.^[8][31] Fleet admiral Sakazuki had confidence in Fujitora’s ability to deal with Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar Law, both members of the Worst Generation and the latter (at the time) a Warlord of the Sea.^[2][32] From just a brief display of his powers, Fujitora earned the prompt admiration of Luffy, who could easily tell his strength.^[20] Yet another such display sufficed to intimidate Law and even Doflamingo.^[8]

Greatly attesting to his power, Fujitora was able to fight Sabo—the Revolutionary Army’s chief of staff and “No. 2” in strength, who had not long beforehand acquired a powerful Logia ability—to more or less a standstill, emerging from such fight without a scratch. By Sabo’s own reckoning, Fujitora had not gone all out but merely stalled for time, due to not seeing his then-foe as a true enemy.^[21][33][17] Additionally, Fujitora was capable of soundly defeating Jack, a top commander of one of the Four Emperors with a bounty of 1 billion, in a naval battle (albeit with the presumed assistance of other powerful Marine figures).^[34] During the latest Levely alongside Ryokugyu, Fujitora once again did battle with Sabo, plus three Revolutionary commanders, to an as-of-yet unknown result.^[27] Days afterward, Fujitora appeared in good condition, apart from being slightly bandaged up.^[10]

Despite being blind, due to his other acute senses and Kenbunshoku Haki, Fujitora can handle himself perfectly well in combat, even against extremely strong adversaries,^{[35][21][33][17][36]} with Law noting that his blindness seems to not hinder him much at all.^[8] He has excellent hearing, having heard Nami’s lightning from kilometers away when neither Doflamingo nor Law next to him did. He also stated that he is able to sense the movement of clouds.^[37]

Physical Abilities

Fujitora’s physical strength and fortitude are immense, as befitting an admiral. He was able to defend against and repel powerful attacks from the likes of Roronoa Zoro, Sabo, and Luffy as well as clash with them (including the latter when using Gear Second and Third) with little to no visible effort.^[35][33][36] He could also withstand a kick from Doflamingo without issue using his sword.^[9] Incredibly resilient, Fujitora could guard against a Haki-imbued Gear Third punch from Luffy without using his own Haki while remaining unhurt by the blow.^[38]

Fujitora has great reflexes and, coupled with his skill in Kenbunshoku Haki, can casually and precisely counter very swift and unexpected physical threats.^{[35][9][21][33][17]} For example, he perfectly timed his defense against an extremely fast-falling meteorite that he had summoned on his very location, deflecting a piece of it with casual ease,^[8] and calmly warded off an unexpected “flying slash” from Zoro.^[35] When Doflamingo surprise-attacked him with a kick, the admiral showed no concern whilst easily blocking it.^[9] His own movement speed is also impressive, as he could lunge forward to strike Luffy in their fight while too quick for the pirate to react.^[39]

Swordsmanship

Fujitora wields a shikomizue (a sword blade in a cane-like mounting) in tandem with his Devil Fruit ability, channeling his gravity power through the sword.^[8][40] Usually, Fujitora wields his weapon in a reverse-grip style, the blade pointing in the direction opposite to his thumb. Despite his blindness, the admiral has shown to be rather potent and skillful in his bladework, able to deflect or block incoming attacks, even extremely strong ones or surprise attacks, with little issue using simple parrying maneuvers, demonstrating lightning-fast dexterity all the while. Fujitora’s swordsmanship, combined with his Devil Fruit powers, allowed him to repeatedly evenly clash with Sabo wielding his flame-shrouded staff and exhibit no trouble in so doing.^{[8][35][9][21][33][36]}

Devil Fruit

Further information: Zushi Zushi no Mi

Fujitora ate the Zushi Zushi no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit whose power allows him to manipulate gravity. The power’s range of effect can potentially span wide areas, even entire islands,^[41] and is primarily channeled through his sword.

Fujitora can drastically increase the gravity around others, keeping them on the ground and making it difficult for them to move,^[40][42] including extremely strong adversaries. He can increase the gravity acting on opponents to where they are slammed into the ground under immense pressure, even going as far as to deeply crater the ground beneath them.^[1][35] Fujitora can also control the direction of his gravity, allowing him to generate horizontal gravity to attack with a tremendous pushing force.^[33][36] Moreover, Fujitora is able to employ his power defensively by making attack-repelling fields of seemingly reversed gravity.^[8] He can also use the gravity to pull objects directly toward himself, with the field of gravity being capable of reaching even into outer space, which he has used multiple times to summon meteors to strike his opponents.^{[8][43][22][21]}

By negating gravity entirely, Issho can enact the controlled levitation of nonliving objects around him. He has been shown levitating a battleship to move himself and his men more quickly over the sea^[22] and floating a small rock to use as a mobile platform to fly on individually.^[44]

Haki

Further information: Haki

Being a Marine Admiral, Fujitora is a proficient Haki user.^[45]

Busoshoku Haki

Fujitora has demonstrated high skill in Busoshoku Haki, being able to clash head-on with Sabo, a Logia user who himself is proficient with this Haki.^[46] Fujitora can focus a strong concentration of Haki into his sword, rendering it obsidian-black and strong enough to defend against the razor-sharp string bars of Doflamingo’s Torikago, which can easily slice up cannonballs and stone-made buildings.^[47]

Kenbunshoku Haki

Fujitora is masterful in Kenbunshoku Haki, which he uses to compensate for his blindness in battle, his incredible skill giving him a strong sense of danger. He can accurately predict fast (and surprise) attacks from enemies, like an unexpected kick from Doflamingo, and generally handle combat against extremely strong, fast, and agile enemies without any seeming difficulty.^{[8][35][9][21][33][17][36]} Most notably, Fujitora is capable of “seeing” living beings around him as images in his “mind’s eye”, represented as collections of colored auras on a dark background, in a way unimpaired by his blindness. Additionally, Fujitora has demonstrated the ability to read and hear the true thoughts and emotions of other people, making him aware, for example, that the Dressrosa citizenry bore no ill will towards Luffy while “chasing” him out of the country.^[48]

History

Past

Issho was born in the Grand Line 54 years ago.^[6] At some point in his life, he blinded himself after seeing too many evil atrocities.^[11]

Sometime within the past two years, Issho joined the Marines during the “World Military Draft”. He was immediately promoted to fill one of the two vacant admiral positions shortly after joining, alongside fellow newcomer Ryokugyu, and given the alias “Fujitora”.^[8] Fujitora promptly decided to use his new position to campaign for the abolishment of the Seven Warlords of the Sea system,^[9] at one point talking with Smoker and learning how if it were not for the Straw Hat Pirates, the Arabasta Kingdom would have been taken over by the Warlord Crocodile.^[15]

Dressrosa Arc

Following news breaking out of the Warlord Trafalgar Law and pirate Monkey D. Luffy forming an alliance and Donquixote Doflamingo resigning from the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Fujitora was dispatched to Doflamingo’s kingdom of Dressrosa by Fleet Admiral Sakazuki to investigate the affair.^[2] Upon arriving at Dressrosa, Fujitora went to a restaurant and played roulette with some men who worked under Doflamingo. The pirates took advantage of the admiral’s blindness and lied that the ball was not landing on the colors that he bet on each round, even though Fujitora was right every time. Fujitora was about to go all-in when Luffy intervened and informed him of the Donquixote Family’s deception. The goons tried attacking Luffy, and in response Fujitora used his Devil Fruit powers to slam them into the ground and send them plummeting into a giant crater.^[23] Fujitora then gave the proprietor a note telling him where he could send a bill for repairs as he headed out, and when Luffy asked him who he was, the admiral replied that it was best for both of them that he not reveal it.^[20] Later, Fujitora attended the gladiator matches at the Corrida Colosseum. At the end of the Block A battle he decided to head off to Green Bit, and ordered for three battleships to arrive to deal with the numerous criminals competing in the Colosseum as well as extra medics to help treat any spectators injured by the fighting.^[3]

Fujitora flew a battleship to Green Bit and was heading to the southeast coast on foot when he received a call from Sakazuki revealing that Doflamingo had actually never quit the Seven Warlords, a development that even he was unaware of.^[25] Fujitora and his troops arrived at the coast at the same time as Doflamingo and confronted Trafalgar Law, who had Caesar Clown in his possession. Fujitora said that Caesar was exonerated due to being Doflamingo’s subordinate, but noted he had heard rumors of suspicious activities being committed by the Warlord. He then asked Law if the Straw Hats were his subordinates; Law replied that he had in fact entered in an alliance with the crew, causing Fujitora to revoke his Warlord status and attack the pirate by summoning a giant meteor from space. Law, Doflamingo, and Fujitora himself were caught in the meteor’s path, and each of them used their abilities to repel part of it, ultimately ending up standing on small ground formations surrounded by a giant crater.^[8]

Fujitora and Doflamingo then worked in tandem to attack Law and they eventually defeated him.^[43][40] Fujitora held his sword over Law to bind him with gravity, but when Doflamingo tried squeezing the disembodied heart he took from Law that he thought was Caesar’s, one of Fujitora’s men cried out in pain instead. Law then used his Devil Fruit ability to create a “Room” and switch himself with a rock, allowing him to run away. While Doflamingo chased after Law, Fujitora returned to the battleship he had used to get to Green Bit and piloted it through the air to attack the Straw Hat Pirates that had just arrived on the Thousand Sunny. However, when he summoned a meteor to attack the ship, Law redirected it to damage his battleship instead. Fujitora then decided to head back to Dressrosa, having a feeling that the battle would soon take a turn.^[22]

Upon arriving at Dressrosa, Fujitora was informed of a big fight going on in the town, and arrived there to find Doflamingo shooting Law and rendering him unconscious.^[49] Roronoa Zoro and Kin’emon then tried to attack Doflamingo, but Fujitora swooped in and blocked Zoro’s sword strike. He proceeded to force Zoro down a hole, but still had to counter a flying slash unleashed by the swordsman from there. Fujitora then lifted a piece of the ground he was standing on and rose into the air alongside Doflamingo as the Warlord prepared to leave the area, and Doflamingo told the admiral to talk with him at his palace.^[35] The duo went to Doflamingo’s throne room, and the Warlord received an alert that Franky of the Straw Hats was attacking the Toy House.^[50] Fujitora had Vice Admiral Bastille take his troops to confront the pirate, telling Doflamingo that he did this to protect his subjects rather than him. He then revealed to Doflamingo his intention of abolishing the Seven Warlords, causing the two of them to briefly clash. However, the tension then cooled as the admiral said he would turn a blind eye to the Warlord’s suspicious behavior for the time being.^[9]

Fujitora then went down to the Toy House after Bastille’s troops had helped defeat Franky. Right then, however, the toys that had populated Dressrosa were suddenly turned into humans, exposing Doflamingo’s tyrannical control over Dressrosa’s citizens. Doflamingo then surrounded the whole island in a “Birdcage” made out of strings, which rendered everyone within unable to escape and also cut off communication to the outside world. He then used his “Parasite” technique to take control of random people in Dressrosa and force them to commit uncontrolled violence, and Fujitora used his gravity to subdue the Marines impacted by this attack. Bastille asked if they would be going after Doflamingo, but Fujitora said they would remain pursuing Luffy and Law while working to subdue those under Doflamingo’s control.^[42] When Vice Admiral Maynard emerged from underneath the Colosseum he too asked why Fujitora was against arresting Doflamingo, and the admiral replied that the World Government should not play god and put an end to suffering that they had created. Luffy, Zoro, and Law then came crashing down from the King’s Plateau, and Fujitora stepped up to confront the pirates himself, proceeding to clash again with Zoro.^[16] However, Doflamingo’s executive officer Pica then formed and inhabited a giant stone golem which he used to attack Luffy, and Fujitora was forced to move away from Pica’s powerful attack and became separated from the three pirates.^[51]

Fujitora and his troops tried heading after Luffy and Law, but were quickly stopped by Sabo, the chief of staff of the Revolutionary Army.^[52] As Sabo attacked the grunt soldiers and Bastille, Fujitora brought a meteor down. However, the meteor was cut into pieces by the Birdcage, causing it to destroy more of the town than intended, and a sheepish Fujitora was left hoping that no one was harmed. Sabo then confronted him after having beaten Bastille, revealing he was standing in the Marines’ way of Luffy because the two of them were sworn brothers. The two of them then clashed, with their powerful attacks resulting in heavy collateral damage.^[21] At one point in the fight, Fujitora attacked Sabo with a blast of sideways gravity while brushing off the Revolutionary’s questioning of his motives.^[33] However, Fujitora later put an end to the fighting, revealing that his and Sabo’s goals were aligned but that it was not the Marines’ place to be the hero of this country. Fujitora then went to the old King’s Plateau, where a crowd of Dressrosa citizens laid prostrate before the country’s previous king Riku Doldo III as he expressed confidence in Luffy being able to save them from Doflamingo. Fujitora told the former king that he had placed the same bet, leaving it up to the Straw Hats and their allies to be the country’s heroes.^[17]

Later, Fujitora left the plateau and reunited with his troops, telling them to gather up the civilians in one place so they could be kept safe.^[53] When Zoro cut apart Pica’s stone golem above the plateau, Fujitora used his ability to keep the pieces from crashing onto the citizens and move them to a safe area.^[54] Later, Doflamingo began constricting the Birdcage, and the pirates and civilians began an attempt to stop it in order to give Luffy enough time to defeat the Warlord. Fujitora approached part of the Birdcage near where Zoro, Kin’emon, and Kanjuro were and joined in their effort, using his Haki-imbued sword to clash against the strings.^[47] Fujitora’s bet would come to fruition as Luffy successfully defeated Doflamingo before the Birdcage fully closed, causing the contraption to disappear.^[55]

Fujitora had his subordinates arrest Doflamingo and his crew, but told them not to report to Marine Headquarters yet. He had one of his men film him with a Den Den Mushi as he approached King Riku, and upon reaching the former king, he declared that the World Government was responsible for allowing Doflamingo to reign in tyranny. He then apologized on behalf of the World Government as he and his men prostrated themselves before Doldo, which was broadcast through the Den Den Mushi to neighboring islands as Fujitora intended.^[14] He later received a call from Sakazuki reprimanding him for not contacting Headquarters before doing such a thing, and responded that they would have had the news tell a different story. Sakazuki tried to argue for the benefit of covering things up in order to maintain the Marines’ reputation, but Fujitora retorted that their reputation should not be based on lies, not giving ground to Sakazuki despite his status as fleet admiral. Sakazuki then told Fujitora that he would not be allowed on any Marine base until he had captured Luffy and Law, and the admiral accepted this.^[15]

When night fell, Fujitora rolled a die to see if he should go after Luffy and Law or not. The die came up showing 1, the lone number that would leave the pirates safe for that day.^[56] Fujitora rolled a 1 on the next day as well, and the day after, he was greeted by Inspector General Sengoku and Vice Admiral Tsuru who had arrived at Dressrosa. Fujitora told them what he was doing and gave Tsuru the opportunity to roll the die for that day. Tsuru rolled a 6, causing Fujitora to immediately send his forces after the pirates.^[18] Fujitora flew toward the entrance to the eastern port to confront the pirates, and Bartolomeo created a barrier to try and stop him. Fujitora responded by lifting all of the rubble in the country into the sky to use it against the pirates; however, when Luffy came running toward the eastern port, he attacked Fujitora with a desire to fight and defeat the admiral head-on.^[57]

The two of them furiously traded blows, but Luffy strangely called out what attacks he would perform in advance. Fujitora confronted him over this, feeling insulted at being treated with pity. Luffy responded that he wanted to give the admiral a fair shot due to not viewing him as a bad person, and this briefly caused Fujitora to break out into laughter. However, he still expressed disappointment and used his fruit power to blast the pirate into the cliff. Luffy was then taken to the port to escape with his comrades, and Fujitora prepared to annihilate them with the floating rubble. However, the Dressrosa citizens then came running toward the port, claiming to the admiral that they wanted to stop the pirates themselves. However, Fujitora could tell from their emotions and whispers that the citizens actually supported the pirates and wanted to save them. He was left impressed by how Luffy had gained the people’s respect, and lamented his blindness preventing him from seeing what Luffy looked like.^[11] Soon afterwards, the Straw Hats’ group came under attack by another pirate alliance, but Fujitora then dropped the rubble on their ships while intentionally missing the ships of the Straw Hats’ group. Being at peace with this turn of events but hoping to keep it under wraps, Fujitora vocally thanked the Straw Hats for what they had done, but was left aghast after Sengoku revealed that he heard him.^[58]

Soon afterward, Fujitora, Sengoku, Tsuru, and their forces set sail on a convoy of battleships to escort Doflamingo to Impel Down. Fujitora said he would wander after finishing the escort and Sengoku said he could likely get out of his punishment by just apologizing to Sakazuki, but Fujitora replied that his pride would not allow it.^[24] Not long afterwards, Fujitora’s Marine fleet came under attack by Jack of the Beasts Pirates in an attempt to rescue Doflamingo; they eventually defeated the pirate and held onto Doflamingo, though lost two ships in the process.^[59]

Levely Arc

After completing the journey to Impel Down, Fujitora went on a long journey and saw Vegapunk’s new invention, which the admiral believed could render the Seven Warlords of the Sea system obsolete.^[19]

As royals gathered for the Levely, Fujitora went to Mary Geoise. When confronted about this by T Bone, Fujitora argued that this was not a Marine base. Later, Ryokugyu came to meet Fujitora with orders from Sakazuki to remove him, but had no real intention of doing so. Fujitora talked with Ryokugyu while eating, mentioning Vegapunk’s new invention.^[19] Just prior to the Levely, Fujitora sent a letter to King Nefertari Cobra of the Arabasta Kingdom and had a meeting with him and Riku Doldo III.^[60]

The following events are Non-Canon and therefore not considered part of the Canon story.

One Piece: Stampede

Fujitora was part of a Buster Call fleet sent by Marine Headquarters on Delta Island, where the Pirates Festival was being hosted. Upon arriving, Fujitora went to the shore of the island, where he clashed with Zoro. He fought Zoro for some time until the pirate Douglas Bullet came to confront the Buster Call fleet. When this happened, Fujitora departed from the island and summoned a meteorite to leave Zoro and the pirates with.

Concludes non-canon section.

Wano Country Arc

On the fourth day of the Levely, Fujitora and Ryokugyu fought Sabo and his group.^[61]

After the Seven Warlords of the Sea system was abolished, a wounded Fujitora talked with Sakazuki in the midst of a battle, and voiced his hope that the power balance of the world would tilt to the Marines’ favor. However, Sakazuki said the timing was bad due to the formation of a Pirate Alliance between the Big Mom and Beasts Pirates.^[10]

Anime and Manga Differences

• In the anime, before he went to the restaurant, he had a brief conversation with Zoro. Zoro seemed intimidated by him and was about to unsheathe his sword, but then calmed down after Fujitora walked past him.
• In the anime, Fujitora wins 15 times in the game of roulette before he eventually “loses” to Doflamingo’s thugs, with others betting on his calls to also make money. In the manga, it only shows him “losing” to the thugs.
• In the anime, Fujitora slashed Doflamingo’s thugs with his sword before creating the hole. He slashed all of them, though it appeared to have no effect, but after he sheathed his sword, the gravity started to take effect. In the manga, Fujitora did not slash them with his sword, but merely sheathed his sword to make the hole.
• In the anime, after leaving Corrida Colosseum, Fujitora uses his Devil Fruit ability to retrieve a lost balloon for a young girl.^[62]
• When confronting Luffy and Zoro during Doflamingo’s Birdcage game, the manga only showed him clashing swords with Zoro. In the anime, Luffy tries to attack Fujitora first.

Major Battles

• Issho vs. Doflamingo’s thugs^[12][20]
• Issho and Donquixote Doflamingo vs. Trafalgar D. Water Law^[8]
• Issho vs. Roronoa Zoro
• Issho vs. Sabo
• Issho vs. Monkey D. Luffy (Dressrosa Eastern Port)
• Doflamingo’s Marine escort vs. Jack (not shown)
• Issho and Ryokugyu vs. Sabo, Morley, Lindbergh, and Karasu

Filler Battles

• Issho vs. Monkey D. Luffy (Birdcage)
• Issho vs. Roronoa Zoro

Merchandise

Video Games

Playable Appearances

• One Piece: Unlimited World Red
• One Piece: Super Grand Battle! X
• One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3
• One Piece: Burning Blood
• One Piece: Great Pirate Colosseum
• One Piece Thousand Storm
• One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4
• One Piece: Burning Will
• One Piece Bounty Rush
• One Piece: Burning Will
• Jumputi Heroes
• One Piece Bon! Bon! Journey!!

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In One Piece Premier Show 2014, Issho traveled to Madatascar Island to pursue the Straw Hat Pirates. He crossed paths and clashed with Smash but agreed to let the former Marine continue enforcing justice as long as the island’s people were not hurt in the process. In One Piece Premier Show 2016, Issho assisted Wilder in capturing the Straw Hat Pirates, but he failed to keep them imprisoned after a group of Newkama came to Sanji’s rescue.
• Issho appeared in The Great Treasure of Tongari Island and clashed with Zoro.
• An image of Issho appears in the first One Piece Water Spectacle show.
• Issho appears in the Nami and Vivi versions of Hungry Days.

Trivia

• In the 6th fan poll, Fujitora ranked 53rd, making him the most popular current admiral of the Marines after his predecessor Kuzan.
• On the frontal flag of what appears to be Fujitora’s personal battleship is lettering reading “Isshō” (一生^? ), which is Japanese for “whole life/lifetime” or “age/era.” This matches the exact pronunciation of Fujitora’s real name, which is always written in katakana.
• In the anime, a common animation error is for the scars over one or both of Fujitora’s eyelids to be drawn too long or too short from time to time.
• In the video game One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, Fujitora is one of the few characters that Boa Hancock cannot turn into stone with her Devil Fruit abilities (both when controlled by the player or encountered as an enemy), which is a reference to his blindness and not knowing what she looks like. However, this immunity has yet to be confirmed or denied in the manga, as the two of them have not met or interacted in the series thus far.
• Fujitora is the only known admiral, former or current, to have eaten a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit.
• He is also the only known current or former admiral to use a weapon unrelated to his Devil Fruit.
• Fujitora’s favorite foods are udon and soba.^[6]

SBS-Based Trivia

• Fujitora’s birthday, August 10, comes from his epithet since 8-10 can be derived from Fuji-tora.^[4]
• Fujitora’s appearance is based on the late actor Shintaro Katsu, more specifically his role as Zatoichi, the blind swordsman.^[4] The similarities are as follows:
  • They carry a shikomizue (cane-sword) for both walking and battle.
  • Both have a love for gambling (although Zatoichi is able to recognize whether or not he is being taken advantage of). Interestingly, they were also targets of gambling cheats right in their maiden appearances, Fujitora in the restaurant and Zatoichi in The Tale of Zatoichi. While Fujitora was successfully duped, Zatoichi saw through the deception. (Actually, in The Tale of Zatoichi, Ichi was actually the one duping the other Yakuza. He set them up to make it look like they could take advantage of his blindness, then swindeled them out of a big pot when they took the bait. It is a tactic he uses throughout the series of films.)
  • They wield their swords in identical styles, and both utilize iaijutsu (quick draw techniques).
  • Both seem to put the best interests of the people first. In fact, they help out citizens when they are in crisis.
  • Both are quite humble.
  • They are able to strike fear in their opponents during combat, and have succesfully dealt justice to leaders of antagonist groups.
  • Both are also interested in going on trips. In the movies, Zatoichi is depicted as a wanderer and Fujitora has decided that he would be going on a trip after Sakazuki barred him from entering any Marine base.
  • Many of his named techniques originate from his movies. Jigoku Tabi originates from Zatoichi and the Chess Expert, and Abare Himatsuri is derived from Zatoichi at the Fire Festival.
• Fujitora and Ryokugyu’s animal aliases (Tiger and Bull, respectively) are the representation of the northeastern quarter where the ogre that Momotarō must kill lives.^[63]
• A fan asked Oda why Fujitora (Wisteria Tiger) was not just named “Purple Tiger” (紫虎 Murasakitora^? ), with a simple color like the other admirals, and Oda responded that he did not like the feel or pronunciation of Murasakitora or Shitora (both meaning purple), and decided on Fujitora because it sounded cooler.^[64]

References

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