Seven Warlords of the Sea

The Shichibukai (七武海, literally Seven Military Seas, Seven Warlords of the Sea in the English versions), sometimes known as the Ouka Shichibukai (王下七武海, literally Royal Shichibukai), are a set of fictional characters in the anime and manga series One Piece.

Who are the Shichibukai?
The Shichibukai is an organization of seven privateers that are in the service of the World Government. The Shichibukai do not care about or respect the Government (excluding Bartholomew Kuma) or even their group.

The Shichibukai seem to be a mixture of the more chaotic Yonkou and the more orderly Marines. There is an enormous range in the bounties between the members, with Donquixote Doflamingo, who has the highest known former bounty of the Shichibukai (or any other known person) at 340,000,000 Beli, Crocodile with a comparatively low bounty of 81,000,000 Beli, and Blackbeard, with no former bounty at all.

Only Jimbei has not made a physical appearance yet.

Becoming a Shichibukai
In order for one to become a Shichibukai, one must be able to show their strength against other pirates while choosing to pledge loyalty to the World Government. As expected, most members were already notorious pirates with high bounties, but even relative unknowns can be admitted if they accomplish some feat to prove their strength, such as defeating someone with a world-wide known strength.

Duties of the Shichibukai
They do not offer open opposition to the rule of the World Government, but are not guaranteed to follow its orders either. They are only allowed to attack other pirates and must also pay the Government a tenth of their loot. Each member of the Shichibukai must also have strong intimidation skills and a fearsome representation to put off others becoming a pirate and make them fear them. In addition, given the dialogue between Bartholomew Kuma and the Gorousei, it can assumed that a member of the Shichibukai must not be defeated, or have widespread knowledge of a said defeat (or at least by rookies who are gaining influence such as Luffy).

Some of the members do various tasks for the government, such as taking over new islands for the World Government (described as "liberating") and guarding nations, but their ultimate purpose is to keep other pirates in check. Most importantly, the Shichibukai serve to help keep the balance of The Three Great Powers.

Theoretically, the Shichibukai are allies of the government, and in war time would fight alongside the Marines. Still, many Marine officers (for example Commodore Smoker, Admiral Kizaru and Fleet Admiral Sengoku) dislike them and think of the Shichibukai just as pirates. Several high-ranking Marines expressed surprise that even two of the Shichibukai actually bothered to show up when summoned for the meeting about Crocodile's removal, and they were shocked when a third arrived. Tellingly, of the others besides Kuma that showed up, Doflamingo came out of sheer boredom (passing the time before the meeting by nearly forcing two marines to duel each other), and Mihawk came only to hear about the pirates being discussed in the meeting. When they are not under orders of the World Government, they have no commitment to aid the efforts of the Marines.

Benefits
In exchange for these services, the Shichibukai are pardoned for their former actions and any existing bounties are rescinded.

As the Shichibukai are no longer outlaws, they can make money through legitimate business, as well as bounty hunting. Some, however, are content to simply float around the sea on their ships. The government does not seem to mind, and the Shichibukai are granted a great deal of autonomy in how they operate, at least thus far.

Boa Hancock, in particular, has a treaty that acts as a restraining order for all ships that come near Amazon Lily.

Affiliations
Aside with the World Government, the Shichibukai are (or were) affiliated with another group(s).
 * Dracule Mihawk: Friendly contact with Red-Haired Shanks
 * Jimbei: Former Captain of the Sunny Pirates (given to Arlong)
 * Sir Crocodile: Former president of Baroque Works (disbanded upon arrest as well as stripped of his title and reinstated as a pirate)
 * Donquixote Doflamingo: Former leader of the Bellamy Pirates (abandoned), former owner of the Human Auctioning House (given to Disco)
 * Bartholomew Kuma: Unknown, but has some some sort of relationship with Revolutionary Monkey D. Dragon
 * Gecko Moria: Former Captain of an unnamed crew (presumed to be massacred by Kaidou), leader of Thriller Bark and the Mysterious Four
 * Boa Hancock: Former slave of Tenryuubito (freed by Fisher Tiger), Captain of the Kuja Pirates, Empress of Amazon Lily
 * Marshall D. Teach: Former subordinate of the Whitebeard Pirates (defected), Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates

Dismissal
Even if they break the law, the World Government and Marines may choose not to take any notice, as proven with Doflamingo and the human auctioning house. Crocodile and Moria seemed to have gone unsupervised for an extremely long period of time, as both created large, malevolent organizations and the government seemed to be completely unaware. Boa Hancock felt free to attack high-ranked Marine officers ships. Because of the risk involved with maintaining the three great powers, the Government tolerates the illegal activities of any Shichibukai and attempt to protect them if possible (or at least maintain their fame).

That is not to say they would not dismiss a Shichibukai for such actions. Crocodile is the only known example of such a dismissal from the Shichibukai. Crocodile's actions in Arabasta left the World Government with few options on dealing with him. Moria's later defeat was met with horror by the World Government as they had only just replaced Crocodile's loss. They feared what would happen if another fell. The defeats of both Crocodile and Moria were accompanied by cover-ups, and Moria's defeat would have remained essentially unknown if the survivors of Thriller Bark were killed before word got out. However, as Kuma (the one sent to deal with the problem) left the island alone (he spared everyone because of his belief in moral justice), it is unknown what effect Moria's defeat has had on the Shichibukai as of yet, or indeed, Moria's status as Shichibukai. Currently, Hancock's status as a Shichibukai is hanging by a thread, as she refused to comply with the summons of the government, and Momonga said she either comply or have her position revoked.

Dismissal from the Shichibukai holds not only one's loss of title, but in cases also the breakdown of possible politics linked to the Shichibukai. As Boa Hancock was warned, while she obeyed the World Government, her peoples' treaty with the World Government would be respected. However, if she did not heed the call of the World Government, then the treaty with her home island of Amazon Lily would be made void.

Strength
The Shichibukai are a group of seven of the strongest pirates in the world and are one of the 3 great powers, the others being the Yonkou and Marine Headquarters.

In terms of power, the exact relationship between the Shichibukai, Marine Headquarters and Yonkou is unknown. However, considering that these organizations are stated to be a balance and the fact that the loss of Crocodile threatened said balance, the most reasonable conclusion is that each organization is roughly equivalent in strength. At least two of the Shichibukai (Moria and Mihawk) are said to have been rivals of Yonkou members, Kaidou and Shanks respectively. Bartholomew Kuma has also allowed himself to become part of the Pacifista project.

Because of their deal with the World Government, the Shichibukai are considered "Government Dogs" by other pirates. At the same time, they are also feared by them because all of the Shichibukai are insanely strong, each capable of destroying an average pirate crew on their own with no effort as seen with Mihawk and Crocodile. They have such a fierce reputation that even other powerful and famous pirates (with the possible exception of the Yonkou) are unnerved by them as seen with the captain of the Kid Pirates, Eustass Kid, actually seemed heavily disturbed when he witnessed the arrival of a Pacifista cyborg (mistaking it for the real Kuma) on the Sabaody Archipelago, close to where his crew were, despite the fact that his bounty was higher than Kuma's former bounty.

Abilities and Powers

 * Dracule Mihawk: World's greatest swordsman
 * Jimbei: Fishman Super strength; Unknown
 * Sir Crocodile: Suna Suna no Mi, Logia; Scorpion-poison hook
 * Donquixote Doflamingo: Power that manipulates people like puppets, Unknown Paramecia
 * Bartholomew Kuma: Nikyu Nikyu no Mi, Paramecia; Pacifista armour and laser launcher
 * Gecko Moria: Kage Kage no Mi, Paramecia
 * Boa Hancock: Mero Mero no Mi Paramecia; Haoushoku Haki
 * Marshall D. Teach: Yami Yami no Mi, Logia; Super-Human Strength

Former Bounties
These bounties were the last given to the members before they joined the Shichibukai, so they may not represent the threat levels they would possess if they were still enemies of the World Government.
 * Dracule Mihawk: Unknown
 * Jimbei: Unknown
 * Sir Crocodile: [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]81,000,000
 * Donquixote Doflamingo: [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]340,000,000
 * Bartholomew Kuma: [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]296,000,000
 * Gecko Moria: [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]320,000,000
 * Boa Hancock: Unknown
 * Marshall D. Teach: None.

Previous Actions
For many years, Mihawk fought his rival swordsman Red-Haired Shanks in great battles that shook the Grand Line. Mihawk joined the ranks of the Shichibukai at a currently unknown point in time.

Moria and his rival, Kaidou, also fought at some point and while Moria escaped with his life, his crew were no more. Moria would also join the ranks of the Shichibukai. Ten years ago, he set up a organisation called Thriller Bark recruiting Dr. Hogback into his ranks. While the sat in the Florian Triangle they began to amass a army of zombies using Moria's powers. While fulfilling his duties of controlling pirates, they also took Marines and civilian ships. However the World Government, though appearing to know of his actions, allowed this to go on.

After the recruitment of Jimbei eight years ago, Jimbei allowed a group of his former pirates led by Arlong to attempt to conquer the East Blue.

Crocodile set up his Baroque Works organisation four years prior, recruiting the criminal Nico Robin into his ranks. For the next four years, Crocodile would work to make the kingdom of Arabasta view him as a hero while he secretly gained power to bring down the royal family of Arabasta and take control of a weapon known as Pluton.

Boa Hancock also at some point in the past visited the World Government. She apparently made a treaty with the World Government that spared her people from attacks with them. In return she was also made a Shichibukai.

Present Actions
The first Shichibukai to appear was Mihawk, having hunted down Don Krieg and his men from the Grand Line. While there he sliced up Krieg's last remaining ship and battled with Zoro of the Straw Hat Pirates over his title of "World's Greatest Swordsman". After Zoro's failed attempt, Mihawk left the young swordsman injured but alive so the pair can fight again some day.

In Arabasta, Crocodile began his plan Operation Utopia. Under the alliance between Vivi and the Straw Hat Pirates, Crocodile's plan failed. Since he abused of his Shichibukai privileges so much that the government could not ignore, he was stripped of his rank and arrested by Smoker and Tashigi of the Marines.

Having now become one member short, the World Government insisted that another Shichibukai take Crocodile's place. A meeting between Shichibukai and Marines was held in which out of the remaining six Shichibukai only Doflamingo, Kuma and Mihawk actually attended. A intruder to the meeting, Lafitte, put forward the name of Marshall D. Teach as a candidate for the position. Teach was given time to acquire fame and build up a reputation.

After Bellamy of the Bellamy Pirates lost a battle miserably to the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy, Doflamingo returned to his old crew to punish him for his actions.

While Luffy, Teach's intended target was being tracking down, his former Division Commander on the Whitebeard Pirates Fire Fist Ace caught up with him. The two fought and Teach came out the victor, handing over the 2nd division commander to officials and he was awarded the title of Shichibukai.

At Thriller Bark some time later, the same problematic captain and his crew arrived. Moria's army of the undead was beaten. Bartholomew Kuma was sent in to help, but Moria had refused his aid. Now with Moria beaten, Kuma asked the World Government for further instructions, his reply was to kill all witnesses so Moria could maintain his position. Kuma attempted to wipe out the crews of the Straw Hats and another crew, the Rolling Pirates, however he made a deal with Zoro; his own life in exchange Kuma would spare his captain's head. Kuma left Thriller Bark, reporting later that the Straw Hat Crew, his primary targets, had escaped.

After the Straw Hats raided the Human Auction House, Doflamingo told Disco, a worker there, that he could have the organisation as the future was becoming much clearer; the Shichibukai were to fight against the Whitebeard Pirates. Kuma arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago while an attempt to bring the Straw Hats to justice for their actions was being made. He interfered with Kizaru's battle with them as they were about to be defeated and instead of Kizaru bringing them in, Kuma "wiped" out the crew one by one by sending them away to other islands, scattering the crew.

Luffy arrived at Amazon Lily a few days later. Boa Hancock arrived home from her raids. During her bathing session, Luffy, having given the Kuja warriors on the island the slip while they attempted to kill him, fell into her bath. He witnessed something familiar on her back and she attempted to turn him into stone. Luffy not phased by her a bit, he attempted to run away and got caught.

Epithet (Nicknames) and Theme

 * Dracule Mihawk: Nicknamed "Hawk-Eyes". Hawk themed
 * Jimbei: Unknown nickname. Fish themed
 * Sir Crocodile: Epithet "Mr. 0". Crocodile themed
 * Donquixote Doflamingo: No nickname. Flamingo themed
 * Bartholomew Kuma: Nicknamed "Tyrant". Bear themed
 * Gecko Moria: Nicknamed "King of the Depths". Gecko themed
 * Boa Hancock: Nicknamed "The Pirate Empress". Snake themed
 * Marshall D. Teach: Nicknamed "Blackbeard". No animal theme

Manga Influences
They are loosely based on the privateers of old Europe. The privateers were approved pirates, considered heroes in their homeland and pillagers in others. Their main goal was to plunder the villages and towns of Spain.

Trivia

 * In Yosaku's explanation of chapter 69 (and anime episode 31), there is an early image of the Shichibukai group, showing shadowy figures which all are designed from Mihawk and all are holding swords. With the exception of Mihawk, none of these silhouette match the current members, least of all Kuma, Moria and Hancock.
 * The known Shichibukai bounties total up to over [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]956,000,000 Beli, including the former Shichibukai Crocodile it would have been [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]1,037,000,000 Beli.
 * Jimbei is the only non-human Shichibukai and Boa Hancock is the only known female Shichibukai.
 * Two Shichibukai own animals that even Sea Kings do not dare attack: Sir Crocodile owns Bananawani and Boa Hancock owns Yuda.
 * Assuming that Donquixote Doflamingo possess Paramecia Devil Fruit powers, there have been four Paramecia and one Logia Devil Fruit users so far when the group has been fully recruited.