Admiral AoKiji (青きじ)

• position: Marine HQ Admiral

• first appeared: Chapter 318

• skills: Ate the Hie Hie (Chill Chill) fruit which gives him the power of ice. Everything he touches becomes frozen. He can create and become ice, and shattering upon impact will only allow him to reform.

Admiral Aokiji is said to be the Marine HQ´s strongest officer. Seeing it that it appears that only the elite is at the Marine HQ it can be assumed that he´s the strongest Marine officer in the entire world. He is one three people who currently hold the rank of an Admiral in the Marine. The other two are Admiral Akainu and Admiral Kizaru. These Three Admirals are called the Greatest Powers of the World Government. And except for Chief Admiral Sengoku who ranks above them, those three stand on the absolute top of the entire Marine.

Aokiji also isn't the character's real name. It is a title that seems to be something you get when you are promoted to the rank of an Admiral. Aokiji literally means Blue Pheasant. As to why he has received this specific title remains yet to be seen. His real name however is Kuzan to which he seems to was refered before his promotion.

Aokiji seems to be having a very unique view on his job. He says for himself that his motto as a Marine officer is "Lazy-ass Justice". He often sleeps right on a mission which however doesn´t mean that he doesn´t take his job seriously. So far he has always finished what he came to do despite the fact that he keeps falling asleep in puplic. Another one of his gimmicks is that he often says "Ararara" while speaking.

What can be said about his strenght at appearance is that he's very tall. You can compare his size to the one of a professional basketball player. The full extend of his strenght hasn´t been shown so far but what has been exposed is that he does make the reference to the strongest of the Marine HQ justice. Back at Longring Longland where he met the Straw Hat Pirates for the first time he dealt with all of them pretty easily. He even managed to handle Luffy, Zoro and Sanji all together at once without gettin harmed. Also he seems to have incredible control over his Devil Fruit ability. The extend of his ability goes much further then just where he uses it. He´s not only able to freeze things in his close periphery but he can also freeze the ocean to create ice roads much further then the eye can see. How far however is still not clear though.

The thing that is most in the shadows about him is motivations. He seems to have a much more honorable take on things then many other characters at the side of the World Government and the Marine. He never striked as a bad guy so far but definitely as a serious threat. On the one hand he spared the Straw Hats life when he was opposing them on the other hand he gave the authority to use a Buster Call to a dangerous man like Spandam. Seeing what his own experiences with this attack force were in the past, the whole reasoning behind Aokiji's actions remains very mysterious to this point.

Though Aokiji only appeared once in the present time for a short amount of chapters, his introduction added some very significant facts and consequences to the story. Which are 1. that there is the mentioned Three Admirals on top of the Marine. 2. that he is the strongest person of the Marine HQ, 3. he has a important role in Robin's Past and 4. which is most importantly that his level is far above the one of the protagonists. This was the reason what make Luffy understand that he has to become much stronger if he wants to continue to protect his crewmates in the future. Because of that he developed the Gear abilities.

Aokiji's Past (Vice Admiral Kuzan)

As mentioned above Aokiji's real name is Kuzan. 20 years ago, he was one of the five Vice Admirals that lead the Buster Call against the island of Ohara in West Blue. Back then he was the one to stop the rampaging renegade Vice Admiral Jaguar D. Saul who was opposing the Buster Call task force in order to protect his friend, an 8 year old Nico Robin. If it wasn't for the help of Kuzan it is not clear whether or not Saul would have succeded in taking the entire fleet down or if the other Vice Admirals may have stopped him. Fact is, that Kuzan was able to defeat Saul pretty effortless. Saul himself even said that Kuzan's strenght is unreal that´s why he tried to avoid a confrontation. And if a person who singlehandadely was able to destroy six of the Marine's most powerful battleships then this can only give a glimpse of how strong Kuzan really is (and how strong Aokiji must be in the present day).

Despite the fact that Kuzan was a part of the devestating Buster Call attack he didn´t seem to share the same view about it as Vice Admiral Sakazuki (who´s the 20 years younger version of Admiral Akainu) who blasted the refugee ship thus killing everyone aboard it only to make sure that no one of the "criminals" may have snuck aboard. This move of Sakazuki seems to go completely against Kuzan´s view of things.

Despite beeing opponents Kuzan has respected Saul. That is also why he helped the young Robin to escape from the island which was about to be burned down entirely. He used his DF abilities to make sure Robin could cross the ocean safely. Before they seperated ways, he told her that he did that to see what "Saul's little seed will grow up to be". And he also warned her that if he does anything wrong he will be the first one to come chasing for her.

Attacks

Characters/AoKiji (last edited 2007-08-30 19:07:22 by Cinder)