Nelson Royale

Commodore Nelson Royale is a Marine Officer from East Blue who commands the 8th Branch. He holds the unofficial rank of Teitoku (提督). He appears in the Warship Island Arc as the secondary antagonist.

Appearance


Nelson is extremely obese, to the point where he is unable to walk on his own and must be carried on a large chair by at least six men. He wears a marine coat with green epaulettes and a purple collar and cuffs, which can only cover his arms and back. He also wears striped pants that are the same color as his epaulettes and a pair of white shoes. On his huge stomach he has a large blue tattoo of the Marine emblem. He has a long, thin, curved mustache, red spiral marks on his huge cheeks and eyebrows that are small and round—which is considered a symbol of nobility. He also wears a rather expensive looking gold necklace with a red gemstone embedded in it. On his head he wears a tall blue marine hat that is unique to him.

Personality
Nelson is a selfish, corrupt, and gluttonous man who only cares about his own needs. When someone opposes him, he is unwilling to see their point of view.

He also shows very little concern for the lives of his men, fully willing to put them at risk for his selfishness. When his men are being defeated by Luffy, Zoro and Sanji, he is alarmed only because the Thousand Year Dragon which he was pursuing was getting away. When he realized Eric betrayed him, he ordered all his warships to open fire on the rowboat he is in, disregarding the fact that three of his own men were also on the boat at the time.



He is prone to scream at his soldiers, and when he is in his normal residence, he is waited on hand and foot. A group of soldiers are always standing alert and nearby, sweaty and afraid of the Commodore. Along with his spoiled attitude, he is also very gluttonous, as he is seen constantly eating, even if the portions he takes are so big that he chokes himself. He has shown very poor manners, as he was not the least troubled or embarrassed after spitting out his food all over Eric's face.

He constantly fans his forehead with a paper fan with the Marine emblem on it, perhaps due to excessive sweating caused by his obesity.

Though he has had the Marine seagull emblem seemingly tattooed on his huge stomach, and though the Marine symbol adorns nearly everything around him (his top hat, his fan, the back of the chair he is carried in), he has shown no scruples and no heed of Justice. Rather, he abuses his authority to follow his own personal goal, such as kidnapping a little girl and having her transported by a Marine ship.

Nelson has a habit of ending his sentences with "de o-jaru", "jaru" being an old form of "da".

Abilities and Powers
As a Marine officer and leader of the 8th division, he can use all of its resources as he pleases, including the special cannon; he abused this privilege for his own self-serving purposes.

Battle Capabilities
He has some strategic aptitude in naval warfare, as during the battle against the Straw Hats, he ordered his ships to use the Crane Wing's Formation (鶴翼の陣), which consisted of trapping the Going Merry in a half-circle of marine ships chained together. However, due to his morbid obesity, he cannot so much as move without his soldiers carrying him, making him incapable of personally engaging in physical combat.

Warship Island Arc
Nelson sought the Sennenryu, Ryu, for his own selfish purposes. To that end, he hired a man named Eric to do his dirty work.

He at first managed to capture Apis, the only person who knew where the dragon was, but she fled during a storm. Nelson was outraged and summoned Eric to accompany a battleship and retrieve her.

However, Nelson became suspicious when Eric did not respond and therefore decided to interfere.



His battleships encircled the Straw Hats and chained them in. When the attack proved fruitless, he ordered the deployment of a gigantic cannon. However, just as he gave the order to shoot, Usopp fired a cannonball into it, making it explode and knocking Nelson to the floor.

His soldiers proved unable to stop the Straw Hats from invading their ships and cutting their steel chains. Nelson was extremely frustrated with this and threatened to exile all of his soldiers if they fail, and the Straw Hats almost got through an opening when their ship was almost hit by a wind strike from Eric. Eric took over the raft on which the dragon was located, much to Nelson's pleasure. However, Eric revealed that he had only used Nelson to find the dragon and that he had wished to use the dragon bone elixir to become invincible. Nelson became so angered that he ordered his ships to open fire on Eric.

When the dragon began to fly towards his ship, he panicked and ordered it to be shot down. When Luffy came to aid the dragon, Nelson ordered a harpoon shot into Ryu to pull him in. It is, however, caught by Luffy, who asked what he was doing. Nelson began laughing at him for seeing a friend in a sack of dragon bone and began bragging how he would gain eternal youth.

Luffy, enraged, threw the harpoon and narrowly missed Nelson. He demanded that Luffy be killed as well. However, before they could fire, a swarm of Sennenryu arrived at Warship Island. Nelson was at first very pleased with how much dragon bone he had at his disposal, but he was soon knocked down by the huge dragons, which flew so high to the point they could not be targeted by the Marine cannons.

As this happened, however, Ryu died. When Nelson saw this, he became extremely happy and started laughing mockingly at Luffy. This angered him so much that he used his ability to reach a high flying dragon, and from there he delivered an extremely powerful kick to Nelson's ship, breaking it in half as a result.

However, when the Dragon's Nest rose from the ocean, Nelson was seen still alive. He was confronted by Eric, who told him to move, while Nelson began talking him into making another deal, seeing how many dragons there were to claim. Eric had no patience for Nelson and struck him with one of his wind attacks. It is unknown whether this attack killed him or simply knocked him out.

Translations and Dub Issues
His rank is roughly equivalent to "Commodore" (准将), yet the rank he holds (提督 teitoku, "admiral" or "fleet commander") does not exist within the Marine's rank system, according to the author. This is probably an oversight by the writing staff of the anime, since Nelson does not appear in the manga, outside the adaptation into the form of a manga novel not drawn by Oda. However, his "rank" may just be reflective of his status as the head of a fleet, rather than an oversight, due to it being possible for a Marine to hold a rank, as well as another position, such as Monkey D. Garp holding the rank of Vice Admiral, but also the position of General Inspector, or another anime-only character Shepherd holding the rank of Commander, as well as the position of Major Inspector. Whatever the reasoning, the top brass of the Marines must know the meaning of "teitoku", because in Chapter 96 (and Episode 45), Don Krieg's nickname is worded by Lieutenant Commander Brannew as "Kaizoku Kantai Teitoku Krieg". Nelson's rank is often translated in fansubs and even in official dubs as "Admiral".

Enemy Appearances

 * Grand Line Dream Adventure Log

Trivia

 * He is possibly named after Horatio Nelson, a British admiral, best known for his leadership in the Battle of Trafalgar (and is sometimes referred to as "Commodore Nelson").

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