Curly Dadan

Curly Dadan is a friend of Monkey D. Garp's and the foster mother of Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy. Garp entrusted her to take care of Ace shortly after the boy's birth. Later, Garp also left Luffy in Dadan's care. Dadan lives on Mt. Corvo near Fuusha Village. She is the Mt. Corvo mountain bandit boss of the Dadan family and a wanted criminal.

Appearance
Dadan is a rather tall and overweight woman with long, curly hair and a big, masculine face. In her appearance in Luffy's flashback, she was seen smoking. She wears a collar shirt, a beaded necklace, chequered trousers held up with a large belt, and heeled boots.

Personality
As far as personality goes, Dadan's is that of a somewhat stereotypical petty criminal, a bit cowardly in regards to Garp blackmailing her, her freedom, and Garp himself. She also doesn't seem to be too patient as she was beginning to get sick and tired of raising Ace because of his antics and became even more aggravated when she was left with Luffy. The methods that she supposedly used to "discipline" both Luffy and Ace were rather questionable (though Luffy seemed to be able to easily put up with them on account that the treatment he received under his own grandfather, Garp, was hardly any better) since they included providing them with limited food, making them clean the house, hunting for them, and even resort to criminal activities (i.e. plundering people). However, judging from Luffy's and Ace's regard for her whenever she was mentioned, she may have been a better person than anyone might have thought of her. She has also been known to show brief signs of bravery, as seen when she and her family of bandits came to Ace and Luffy's rescue; only to scamper immediately afterwards upon securing the two boys' safety

Dadan Family
As the boss of the "family" of bandits, Dadan has command over them. Their relationship seems to be a good one, as she converses with them in a friendly manner, and they in turn worry about her when she did not return after the battle with Bluejam. Also, they were willing to share responsibility in taking care of Ace and Luffy.

Monkey D. Garp
Vice Admiral Garp claimed that Dadan is a good friend of his, and the reason why he left his grandchildren at her care. However, this friendship seems to stem from Garp blackmailing Dadan, threatening to throw her and her family into prison if they do not comply with his demands. Though cowed into his demands, Dadan sometimes wonder if prison is better compared to Garp's heavy orders. Regardless, they do seem to get along fine, as Garp would confide Dadan about Ace's heritage, and talk about his experience with Roger.

Monkey D. Luffy
Luffy's first encounter with Dadan occurred with the latter already on the verge of declining Garp's request to have her and her family of robbers look out for the boy's well-being as they already have their hands full with Ace alone. As for Luffy, this initial lack of affection was reciprocated due to his dislike of mountain-dwelling bandits, owing to the boy's past experience with Higuma, and even went as far as sticking his tongue out at her during the first mealtime together. However, overtime, they grew to care for each other, as Dadan went out of her way to find and defend Luffy and Ace from Bluejam, while Luffy grew worried about Dadan's safety.

Portgas D. Ace
...Oh, yeah...if you ever happen to come across Dadan...could you tell her goodbye for me...? It's weird...Now that I'm about to die...I feel like I miss that idiot... Having been entrusted with the young Ace by Garp, Dadan knew first-hand just how troublesome the future 2nd Whitebeard Division Commander was at his youth. So much that she became terrified at the thought of having another "brat" brought by Garp under her wing. She is apparently aware of Ace's connection to Roger, but seemed willing to honor her friendship with Garp and kept that shocking piece of information discreet. Though Dadan is shown to be angry when Ace nearly killed people who offended his heritage, Ace did seem to like her as he said that he would miss her.

Abilities and Powers
Dadan is the mountain bandit boss of the Dadan Family, and has command over the gang. Their reputation is quite notorious, as according to Garp, they committed more crimes than the stars. She, along with Ace, were powerful enough to defeat the infamous pirate Bluejam. Also, she was able to pin down and suppress an enraged Ace, despite her serious injuries and burns.

Weapons
Dadan's weapon appears to be a long handled axe, and she is fairly proficient with it, able to hold back a powerful captain such as Bluejam in one blow.

Taking Care for Garp's Grandchildren
As Dadan was a criminal noted to have performed countless crimes, Garp blackmailed her, threatening to arrest the Dadan Family if they refused to take care of Ace and Luffy. As the Dadan family accepted Garp's offer, the Vice Admiral kept the Government's eyes diverted from the bandits' actions.

When the bandits, Ace and Luffy are eating dinner, Luffy states he hates mountain bandits, remembering himself about Higuma. Dadan gets angry yelling at Luffy, saying he could just as well leave and starve to death. One of her fellow bandits tells her to calm down. Luffy angers her even more when he tells them he didn't eat enough. She says to him he should be glad that he can even eat at their place and that he'll start the next day working around the house. She tells Luffy he can have one bowl of rice and one glass of water, telling him that he should fetch his own food if he wants more. Luffy says that's all right, leaving Dadan comically offended. He then tells Dadan he is strong enough, as strong as a pirate, which he'll become. Dadan is then in shock seeing Ace and Luffy leave. She states that the two grandsons of Garp are way too strong for them to handle.

One of the bandits reports to her that Luffy is missing and she tells him that she couldn't care less. If he died, it wouldn't be her fault. While taking a sip of beer, she also says they already gave up on Ace. She states she is not able to handle the son of the devil.

One week later, Luffy returns injured and with shredded pieces of clothing. She freaks out at seeing him and sends him to bed. The next day Luffy follows Ace, again. She then angrily yells at Luffy for leaving his errands behind.

One day, Ace and Luffy bring Sabo to Dadan's house much to Dadan's annoyance and she does show her frustration whenever the trio goes on their little adventures. Dadan reads a newspaper that states the World Nobles are visiting the Goa Kingdom.



Later, she is seen coming outside to witness the immense flames coming from Gray Terminal. She and her bandits rush down to save Luffy and Ace, arriving just in the nick of time before Bluejam can murder Ace. She tries to run with Luffy and Ace, but Ace refuses to run from Bluejam. Dadan decides to stay with Ace and fight Bluejam, commanding that the bandits take Luffy and run back home. Still, even after the flames stopped, Dadan and Ace didn't return home until after Sabo's pirate ship was shot down by Saint Jalmack. Dadan remembered her talk with Garp about Gol D. Roger not giving up on his friends, even if it meant death, and compares this with Ace's similar, if not identical, attitude. When Dogura reported that Sabo was killed by Jalmack, Ace attempted to kill in revenge, but Dadan had him tied up for his own safety. She released him when a letter from Sabo arrived (the one that he mailed before setting off).

She is then seen reading the note that Luffy and Ace sent to her saying they had formed their owned "countries" and looking confused when she saw them in the forts they had built outside.

Seven years later, Ace leaves to become a pirate. Dadan does not see him off and instead remains inside the house, remembering the day Garp first brought Ace to her as a baby. She was sulking, saying how Ace always complained and was ungrateful to her. After being read the note Ace left for her, she starts to cry, trying to dry her eyes with a handkerchief.

Three years after Ace's departure, she reacts to Luffy leaving in much the same way. She was irritated when Luffy said he hated mountain bandits one last time. But when he said that Dadan and the other bandits were alright, she starts to cry the same way she did when Ace left, uncontrollably and with a handkerchief. While crying, she told Luffy to stop talking and to "get out of here already."

As Ace mentioned thanking her before his death in Marineford, as well as Woop Slap asking if Dadan knew about Luffy's bounty, it can be assumed she lived to this day but what she looks like in the present is not revealed.

Major Battles

 * Curly Dadan and Portgas D. Ace vs. Bluejam

Translation and Dub Issues
Dadan's full name has yet to be officially romanized by any source. Neither the official English editions, (FUNimation, Viz) nor anyone on the Japanese side of production (Oda, Shueisha, Toei) have given any official spelling of the name. Thus, "Curly Dadan" is only a fan transliteration, with other possibles being "Kaari" "Carly", "Karly", "Kurly", etc. Until an official spelling is written, nothing is technically "Correct" much in the same way Oars' name was similarly misspelled early on (as Oz, Odz, Odr, etc). The katakana of her name is the same for the mother Goddess from Hinduism, Kali.

Trivia

 * The mayor of Luffy's hometown, Woop Slap, knows about her, as he states "Does Dadan know!?"

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Curly Dadan