Tsuru

Personality

She is a veteran Marine who is not without wisdom for her age. She seems extremely knowledgeable; she knew Donquixote Doflamingo set the Marines to fight each other in the Marine and Warlord meeting when all others thought the two were simply messing around, and knew who Laffitte was on sight. She is not above telling off the younger marines that show concern for her well being when she steps up to fight the incoming pirates at Marine HQ. She then justifies herself being on the front line with the other vice admirals by stating there is no longer a safe place left in the world for her to run to anyway. According to Garp, she is an empathetic woman although she does not show this disposition very often.

Tsuru follows “Clean Justice”. This motto was first seen in the Adventure of Nebulandia special, and was confirmed to be canon in Vivre Card – One Piece Visual Dictionary.^[4]

Relationships

Friends

Gion

Tsuru and Gion have a close relationship due to Tsuru treating Gion as if she is her little sister.^[6]

Sengoku

Sengoku appears to be well-acquainted with Vice-Admiral Tsuru as well. 13 years ago, in the North Blue, she worked under Sengoku’s orders to stop the Donquixote Pirates. Despite being outranked by him, Tsuru still had no problem calling him a fool for providing her wrong intel.^[7]

Nowadays, Tsuru appears to be annoyed with Sengoku’s new cheerful disposition and lack of responsibility.

Monkey D. Garp

Tsuru is well acquainted with Garp, having known him for a long time. Before the Summit War of Marineford occurred, she told him that he had done nothing wrong about Ace, which Garp replied with laughter, saying that she was supposed to be sympathetic towards him during this situation.

Garp and Sengoku are the only ones that call her Tsuru-chan while the others call her either Vice Admiral Tsuru or Tsuru-san.

Enemies

Donquixote Doflamingo

Tsuru has a history with the Donquixote Pirates, having pursued them on numerous occasions before the crew’s captain, Donquixote Doflamingo, became a Warlord of the Sea. When Doflamingo causes a scene at a meeting of Warlords in Mary Geoise, she calmly tells Doflamingo to “be a good boy” and stand down, maintaining an authorative tone in his presence.^[8] After Doflamingo and his crew were defeated and arrested, Tsuru looked after Doflamingo until they arrived at Impel Down.^[9]

Doflamingo seems to hold some respect for her, as he addresses her as “O-Tsuru-san” (おつるさん^? ), and Tsuru’s retorts have twice caused Doflamingo to admit that he cannot get the best of her.^[8][9] Meanwhile, Tsuru sees some value in Doflamingo’s insight into the underworld and asked for his opinion on the future of the pirating world after his defeat.^[9] However, she denied Doflamingo’s request for access to newspapers in Impel Down.^[10]

Abilities and Powers

As a veteran Vice Admiral from the same generation of Marines as Garp and Sengoku,^[4] Tsuru is one of the most prominent Marines in the world. She is well-renowned and recognized as a legendary figure by the likes of Franky and Usopp.^[11] Even in her elderly age of 63, Tsuru was strong enough to strike intense fear into Doflamingo, who even becoming a Warlord of the Sea was an extremely powerful pirate, as he was quick to flee during her many pursuits of the Donquixote Pirates throughout the North Blue,^[12] and despite his initial plans to reclaim Law from the Marines’s custody to use his powers to immortalized himself, Doflamingo quickly changed this plan upon seeing her battleship off the coast of Minion Island.^[13] Several years later, when Doflamingo lost his title as a Warlord, he still showed respect for her, a stark contrast to his usual disrespect to other high ranking Marines.^[9]

Alongside Sengoku and Issho, she was part of Doflamingo’s Marine escort who fought against Jack, a right-hand man of Emperor Kaidou.^[14]

Tacticals Skills

Tsuru has vast knowledge of criminals from various parts of the world, being able to instantly recognize Laffitte and explain his history to Sengoku. She is present at important meetings concerning the Three Great Powers, such as the meeting to determine Crocodile’s successor in the Seven Warlords of the Sea.^[8] Tsuru is said to be second to none in experience and knowledge, and acted as a renowned staff officer for Fleet Admiral Sengoku before his retirement.^[15]

Devil Fruit

Further information: Woshu Woshu no Mi

Tsuru ate the Woshu Woshu no Mi,^[16] a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows her to literally “wash and hang out to dry” people and objects as if they were clothes, turning them into flat and malleable like fabric.^[17] This disables the opponents by rendering them unable to move. This power can also “clean” a limited amount of evil off the victims, which is considered a dangerous ability against pirates.^[16]

Weapon

In her youth, she is seen with a flintlock rifle. How proficient she is in using it is unknown.

Haki

Further information: Haki

As a Marine Vice Admiral, Tsuru holds proficiency in Haki,^[18] specifically both Busoshoku and Kenbunshoku Haki.^[4]

History

Past

Tsuru joined the Marines 56 years ago along with Sengoku and Monkey D. Garp.^[4] 27 years ago, Tsuru was walking with fellow vice admirals Garp, Jaguar D. Saul, Kuzan, and Sakazuki. Garp asked her if he could borrow a ship, but she refused because he always broke them.^[5]

Thirteen years ago, Tsuru was stationed in the North Blue, where she continuously pursued the Donquixote Pirates at the time.^[12] Donquixote Doflamingo noted that her chases stopped after Rosinante left the crew, which led Doflamingo to suspect that his younger brother was giving away his crew’s location to the Marines.^[19]

Three days before the scheduled exchange between the Marines and Diez Barrels for the Ope Ope no Mi, she was stationed at Swallow Island following Rosinante’s intel that Doflamingo and his crew would be there, unaware that they actually had gone to Minion Island instead. She was then contacted and informed by the Marines scouting Minion Island about the fire at Barrels’ hideout and ordered them to investigate the coast while avoiding being spotted.^[20] As Doflamingo and his crew were leaving the island, Tsuru’s ship fired at them, forcing them to flee.^[13]

Sky Island Saga

Jaya Arc

Tsuru was present for the meeting at Mary Geoise to choose a replacement for Crocodile among the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Before the meeting commenced, Doflamingo forced vice admirals Mozambia and Stainless to fight each other, but Tsuru recognized the use of his ability and told him to stop. When Laffitte intruded into the meeting, Tsuru identified him and explained his background to Sengoku.^[8]

Summit War Saga

Marineford Arc

Tsuru was present at Marineford in preparation for war against Whitebeard. Tsuru said some comforting words to Garp concerning the upcoming execution of Portgas D. Ace but he replied with laughter, stating that she should be shown sympathy rather than comforting him. Upon Whitebeard’s arrival, she commented on the illogicality of his position^[21] and joined the other vice admirals when his division commanders began their attack. Although Vice Admiral Yamakaji expressed concern for her safety, Tsuru stayed on the front lines, stating that there was no safe place to hide.^[22]

Tsuru observed that Little Oars Jr. was bigger than any giant.^[23] She then received Sengoku’s order to prepare for the next part of the Marines’ plan after having dealt with several pirates using her powers.^[17]

She later went to the plaza when Sengoku started to execute the final stage of his plan. After Shanks’ arrival and call for a ceasefire, she stood down along with the other Marines.

Dressrosa Saga

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

One Piece Film: Z

After the destruction of Firs Island, Tsuru attended a meeting with other Marine officers to discuss the threat of Z. After Borsalino acquainted Sakazuki of Z’s return, Tsuru reiterated the present about Z’s former rank and his strength.

Concludes non-canon section.

Dressrosa Arc

After the Donquixote Pirates were defeated, Tsuru sailed along with Sengoku. After a conversation concerning Doflamingo’s crew, Sengoku offered Tsuru some okaki.^[24]

Three days after Doflamingo’s downfall, Tsuru and Sengoku arrived at Dressrosa and met up with Admiral Fujitora. Tsuru asked Fujitora why he did not capture Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar Law. The admiral explained that he made his decision based on the roll of a dice and that the pirates had been lucky for two days in a row. Fujitora then gave Tsuru his dice and declared that if it rolled on any number other than one, he would go after the pirates himself.^[25]

After Luffy and his group escaped, the Marines left Dressrosa while escorting Doflamingo. While guarding Doflamingo’s cell, Tsuru reminded Doflamingo of the reality that he lost and then listened to his comment about how the war for the title of Pirate King will begin.^[9] Later, the Marine convoy came under attack by Jack of the Beasts Pirates, who sought to rescue Doflamingo. Two of the Marines’ four ships were sunk but they managed to defeat him.^[14]

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

One Piece: Stampede

Tsuru appears at the Marine Headquarters listening to Brannew’s talk about Douglas Bullet and the current situation on Delta Island.^[26]

Concludes non-canon section.

Anime and Manga Differences

In her first appearance in the anime, Tsuru’s dialogue with Donquixote Doflamingo, Laffitte and Sengoku is cut and she does not say anything. Instead, Mozambia, who was controlled by Doflamingo, is the one who tells Doflamingo to stop and the one who identifies Laffitte.^[27] Also, while appearing in a flashback thirteen years ago, her main crew was not seen in the manga, but in the anime, it was seen to be comprised entirely of female Marines.^[28]

Due to the fact that Tsuru’s full body was not visible in her early appearances in the manga, the anime misjudged her height and proportions, initially depicting her with much shorter legs than intended. This was fixed when she appeared in the Dressrosa Arc.

Tsuru’s initial proportions in the anime.

Tsuru’s proportions from the Dressrosa Arc.

Major Battles

• Tsuru’s crew vs. Donquixote Pirates (at least once)
• Marines and Seven Warlords of the Sea vs. Whitebeard Pirates and Allies.
• Doflamingo’s Marine escort vs. Jack (not shown)

Merchandise

Video Games

Playable Appearances

• One Piece Treasure Cruise
• One Piece Thousand Storm
• One Piece Bon! Bon! Journey!!

Non-Playable Appearances

• One Piece: Gigant Battle
• One Piece: Gigant Battle! 2 New World

Trivia

• Eiichiro Oda has stated that he tends to name female characters after birds. This tradition continues with Tsuru, whose name means “crane”. Her name can also be translated as “to hang”, depicting her ability.

• She is currently the highest ranked female Marine along with Gion.
• In the 4Kids dub, Tsuru’s rank of vice admiral (中将 Chūjō^? ) title has been translated as her surname.
• Interestingly, Tsuru commanded a crew that consisted entirely of female Marines.
• When Tsuru and Sengoku were mentioned by Bartolomeo, they were shown in the latter’s imagination, hardly resembling their real appearance at all.
• Her favorite food is Tea with tea cake.^[4]

References

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