Sasaki

Sasaki is one of the Tobiroppo, the strongest six Shinuchi of the Beasts Pirates, and leader of the crew's Armored Division. Prior to joining the Beasts Pirates, he was captain of his own crew.

Due to his actions and role, he is a supporting antagonist in the Wano Country Arc.

Appearance


Sasaki is a very tall man at just shy of 3.2 meters, with a portly build and light skin. He possesses sharp and slanted, blue eyes underlined by notable creases, a mildly hooked nose, and a fang-filled mouth with notably oversized bottom canines (jutting out even with his mouth closed), as well as a flat chin. His shaggy hair is colored yellowish-green and reaches down to his middle back, with a golden hoop earring visible on both his ears. A dark tattoo is located around his shoulder areas, including the upper arms, chest, and back, with many curved, vane-like shapes bringing on a resemblance to wings.

As for clothes, Sasaki's seem a distinct blend of traditional Japanese and attire associated with a soldier or dictator. On his head is a military-style cap with a black, low-set visor. Its white crown is extra-wide and puffy, dented breadthwise with the front raised, and split by a lengthwise seam. Above the black bottom edge (spaced from it) runs a black band lined with a row of gold studs, holding in the front a golden badge depicting a double-cross shape (eight-armed, the diagonals less prominent, with a small middle stud). Set below, front and center, is a pair of slender, golden horns that curve upward, lending Sasaki (together with his fangs) a rather demonic look. Otherwise, the man wears a cloak akin to a seaman's, slung on his shoulders with the sleeves hanging back, that has a folded standup collar bearing on each side a simpler version of the hat's badge. The coat has a solid-white coloration over its upper half, which ends around waist level with a downward-facing flame motif, contrasting against the dark-colored rest of the coat. Below, Sasaki's torso is bare, partly showing off the aforesaid tattoo. For lower wear, Sasaki dons a hakama-like article resembling the bottom half of a double-breasted trench coat, which is flame-patterned the same as the cloak, closed by eight buttons, and held up by a plain dark, buckled belt. Finally, Sasaki sports a pair of dark gloves and double-toothed geta sandals.

Personality
Sasaki is shown to be a relatively calm and easygoing man, yet also prone to derision, not above teasing even those of equal rank scoffingly. Still, he acts rather cordial toward those he considers friends, such as formerly "Kyoshiro", but will not tolerate any breach of fidelity; if betrayed, he will aim to ensure the traitor pays a steep price. It is also implied by Kyoshiro that Sasaki is fond of partying, since the former thought Sasaki's presence outside the Golden Kagura was uncharacteristic of him, and he conducted his search for Yamato with a sake bottle in hand, further seeming fond of drinking.

Rather ambitious, Sasaki seeks to become one of the Beasts Pirates' All-Stars by claiming a spot from the current ones, causing him to disregard their senior authority. This resolve, according to King, arises from Sasaki's past as a captain of his own crew, and also bears out on his part a high degree of confidence in his own strength, enough for him to look forward to gaining chance to directly challenge an All-Star.

Crew
Like the other Tobiroppo, Sasaki seems to heavily respect Kaido. When Ulti insulted their boss in his absence, Sasaki nonetheless grew shocked. He also seems to be on casual enough terms with Kaido to express his wish to drink with him during the Golden Kagura, stating to have no interest in fraternizing with mere underlings.

On the other hand, Sasaki (like Who's Who) looks at the current All-Stars foremostly as obstacles in his pursuit to take one of their spots, thus acting insubordinate toward them and ignoring any summons order without Kaido's name attached to it. Further, whilst friendly enough with his fellow Tobiroppo to sit and banter with them, Sasaki views them as competition, given that some of them too aspire to climb up a rank. He mockingly discouraged X Drake and Page One from pursuing such advancement, effectively calling the latter dead weight.

Denjiro
Sasaki claims to have seen a friend in Denjiro during the latter's time posing as Kyoshiro, though with Denjiro's backstabbing him during the latest Fire Festival, Sasaki took to swearing he would avenge himself on the samurai.

Abilities and Powers
As one of the Tobiroppo, Sasaki holds great authority in the Beasts Pirates, only Kaido himself and the All-Stars ranked above him. In particular, Sasaki seems to lead the crew's Armored Division. Also, as an ex-pirate captain, Sasaki used to have full command over his own crew at some point.

Combat-wise, Sasaki can be assumed to be formidable as one of the strongest six Shinuchi, potentially worth challenging the All-Stars for their post (something Sasaki seems confident in his ability to do).

Weapons
Sasaki carries on his left hip what appears to be a katana-style (albeit more broad-bladed) sword with a tsuka that has dark wrapping and a double set of tassels (tufted cords) tied to it, a rectangular tsuba, and a light-colored saya. Its blade is distinctly segmented (vertically at an angle), each section having its own temper line resembling a gunome style.

Past
Sasaki captained his own pirate crew before he joined the Beasts Pirates. After joining them, he developed the goal of becoming one of the All-Stars by replacing a current one.

Wano Country Arc
The Tobiroppo, including Sasaki, arrived on Onigashima following the beginning of the latest Fire Festival. Kaido had supposedly summoned them to his castle, and while waiting they started chatting about who of them would become the next All-Star if Queen died. As X Drake denied any interest in promotion, Sasaki welcomed his noncompetitive attitude, drawing Ulti's ire by suggesting Page One do the same. Sasaki then intimated what he thought Kaido's reason was for calling them, and consequently grew shocked with the other Tobiroppo when Ulti insulted their Governor-General. Kaido thereafter greeted the six in his castle, and they learned how King was the one who had summoned them, the latter mentioning to Sasaki and Who's Who their goal of becoming All-Stars and telling them to know their place. Kaido then gave the Tobiroppo the mission of finding his "son" Yamato, stating he would let them battle one of the All-Stars for their post if they succeeded.



Later on, letting his men search for Yamato near the gate located on the southwest of the island, Sasaki ran into Denjiro, whom he still thought to be his ally "Kyoshiro". Thus, with Sasaki's guard down, Denjiro managed to have him chained up to a sacred tree, with Sasaki bewildered at the apparent betrayal. Once the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance's raid on Onigashima was fully raging, a massive attack from Big Mom reached Sasaki all the way from the Skull Dome and knocked over the tree he was tied to, freeing him from his chains. Afterwards, he was found by his lackeys and, while being informed of the situation, swore revenge on Denjiro, whom he had considered his friend. He later received a call from King informing the Tobiroppo that the challenge for the right to fight the All-Stars was cancelled, and that they were to stop the enemy alliance from getting to the Skull Dome's roof where Kaido was fighting.

Soon after, King ordered the Tobiroppo to bring him the head of Kozuki Oden's son, Momonosuke, in order to break the enemy samurai's will to fight. Sasaki encountered the boy and Shinobu while they were fleeing the castle, in the Right-Brain Tower. He had his men, the Armored Division, fire bazooka and arrow shots at them, telling the kunoichi not to interfere. Just as Shinobu was about to be finished off by a Gifter, Yamato came in to block the attack, prompting Sasaki to question her motives.

Reiterating how killing Momonosuke would see their mission completed, Sasaki then looked on in surprise and consequent annoyance as Yamato used her body to shield Momonosuke and Shinobu from more explosive rounds, then knocked out another Gifter using her kanabo. As Yamato continued to engage his division, Sasaki commented on her declaration that she would not leave Shinobu behind, taking it as insult due to the implication that she could defeat him while protecting dead weight. As Sasaki began drawing his sword, Franky within the General Franky appeared being chased by the Number Hatcha, with the giant then blowing a hole into the floor trying to hit said robot. When Yamato took the chance to escape with Shinobi and Momonosuke through the hole into the lower floor (but not before knocking out Hatcha as she did so), Sasaki irately commanded his men to follow them.

Trivia

 * Sasaki is likely named after the card game, also known as Sasaki (ササキ), which is a popular card game in North Korea, following the card game-themed names of the Shinuchi.
 * Sasaki's favorite food is asparagus.
 * Sasaki has been seen with sake bottle labelled with 鬼守 ("Demon Protecting"). This may be a reference to the well-known Japanese Onikoroshi (鬼ころし) brand of sake, with the meaning reversed to evoke Sasaki's allegiance to his Onigashima-based crew.

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