Hody Jones

Hody Jones is a great white shark fishman, the captain of the New Fishman Pirates, and a former soldier of the Neptune Army. He is an admirer of Arlong and believes strongly in his ideals.

Appearance
Hody is a great white shark fishman. He has a large belly, with a tattoo of the New Fishman Pirates design on the right side as well as a long scar on the left, and muscular arms and legs. His facial features include glaring eyes, with long and distinctive eyelashes, a mouth full of sharp, triangular teeth, and a stub nose. He has long curly hair, with a long tuft hanging on the left part of his face. His left arm is intricately tattooed, with the Arlong Pirates' Jolly Roger near the wrist and several circular designs above it ending with two skulls on the upper arm; he also has some spikes protruding from his bare wrist and circling it all, possibly decorative piercings. His brief fight with Zoro left him with a new scar that appears to start below his left shoulder and goes down his chest diagonally to the right, similar to the one Dracule Mihawk gave Zoro.

He sports a newsboy cap, with a little trident represented on the left side, bearing a resemblance to the same weapon he's sometimes seen carrying around, and a massive scarf seemingly made from a dog-like animal around his neck, with the animal’s head hanging on the left side of his chest. Hody is seen wearing a dark open shirt with short sleeves, a wide collar and lighter-colored spots on the lower part, short trousers with a similar pattern but with dark spots on a lighter color, with a dark sash tied around the waist, and sandals.

After overdosing himself on Energy Steroids, Hody has undergone a drastic change in appearance: his muscles bulge in size with thick veins appearing, particularly on his arms, and his size greatly increased, being in equal in size to Ikaros Much, the largest of the New Fishman Pirates, while sitting down. His dark hair has lightened. He no longer wears any headgear and now wears a shirt with the colors reversed from one he originally wore, with the dark background turning light and the light spots along the bottom turning dark.

As a teenager, he had less sharp facial features, shorter hair, and a leaner build. He wore a newsboy cap with the word "CHECK" imprinted on it and a simple scarf paired with an open dark vest decorated by two sword-like motifs on the front.

Personality
Hody is a brutal and vicious fishman who, like many of his kind, hates humans for leaving Fisher Tiger to die when he could have been saved (which was not true, as Tiger refused human blood due to being betrayed). He proves this by attacking humans within his reach. He, like Arlong, believes that fishmen are the supreme race, showing his arrogance by attacking Gyro's crew with his hands cuffed, showing them that they could easily be destroyed even with the handicap. He then deliberately released the crew, injured but alive, setting them as examples, telling them to spread the word of the New Fishman Pirates.

Despite the fact that they both looked down on humans, his treatment of humans is even more brutal than Arlong's. Hody basically grew up basking in hatred of fishman towards human. He considers his human captives to be expendable and sees them as nothing more than pawns, while Arlong had left humans alone so long as they gave Arlong and his "tribute" money periodically. Arlong mainly killed humans to make examples of them when they did not pay up and was content with leaving them be, aside from odd acts to make sure the humans knew who was boss, but Hody will use them as part of his plan that will almost ensure their deaths, and threatening to kill them outright if they refuse, giving them very little chance to live altogether.

Despite Hody seeing Arlong as a role model, there are several factors that greatly distinguish the two, besides the difference in their levels of cruelty. While Arlong was tight with his wallet and could not pay for Hyouzou for his services as well as failing to get Vander Decken IX as his subordinate, Hody managed to make accommodations for these two by being more open with financial and was willing to treat powerful allies as equals instead of being a dominating leader. While Arlong considered his crew as his brothers and was extremely angry when one of his crewmen was used as a shield by Luffy, Hody, on the other hand, doesn't take comradeship in any regard even though he has been close to his officers since they were kids. Hody had no problem using one of his own subordinates as a shield to protect himself and also mocked Neptune for using himself as a shield to protect his own soldiers from harm, deeming him unworthy to be king because of that. Furthermore, according to Hatchan, while Arlong wouldn't harm his fellow fishmen. Hody will kill any fishman who shows sympathy towards humans, even referring to the people who gave their signatures to support the migration as a list of traitors.

Hody is also completely fearless, using Energy Steroids, a potent drug that increases his strength, knowing the effect also shortens his life. Hody considers King Neptune to be a coward and shows a desire of taking Fishman Island from him. He will do whatever is needed to achieve his goals as he joined Neptune's army solely for sheer military knowledge and experience, and has no qualms about betraying his former comrades.

When Hody sees that his plan to take over the Ryugu Palace is going smoothly, he has grown so arrogant that he willingly admits that he was the one who truly assassinated Otohime.

Like many other characters, he has a distinctive laugh: "Jahahahaha!"

Crew
Hody seems to be someone who would rather handle things himself, evident when he instructed Ikaros Much to stay back after the latter volunteered to go after Crab-Hand Gyro's crew and opted to hunt them down himself. He also seems devoted to their cause to the point where he was willing to resort to the use of the Energy Steroids without any fear of the side effects. Even though Hody has been close to his officers since they were kids, Hody does not have any care for his crew mates as shown when he used one of them as a shield. Dosun even admits that Hody won't hesitate to throw his comrades away. Regardless of that, Hody's subordinates still follow and support him. They do seem to care about him since they did show concern for him after Zoro delt him a grievous wound and when he had an overdose of Energy Steroids. He seems closest to his officers, as even though the rest of his crew were shocked at the news that he killed Otohime, the officers themselves already knew.

Other Fishmen
Hody deeply respects Arlong and wishes to continue his legacy of conquering humans, though he did think Arlong was barbaric and unsophisticated, a mistake that Hody learned from and is now more prepared as a result. He originally planned to become Arlong's right hand man when he became of age, and trained hard to achieve that goal. Hody also respects Fisher Tiger, the hero of the fishman race, and despises the humans for refusing to donate blood to Tiger in his greatest hour of need (though in truth Tiger refused the blood transfusion due to it being tainted by humanity's hatred for fishmen, a fact Tiger asked his crew not to reveal). He also made an alliance with Vander Decken IX, and stated it was a pleasure to be working together, and that they are equals instead of leader and underling. Jinbe seems to know about him and he was aware that Hody was plotting something in the Fishman District. Hody also lost all respect for Hatchan for befriending humans, and had no qualms with allowing Decken to attack him; Hatchan claims that Hody has no mercy for any fishmen who dares befriend humans. They also consider that Jinbe and the part of the Sun Pirates that follow him are an annoyance. But Hody said he has liked Jinbe when the former Shichibukai has been more wild than now.

Neptune
Hody was once a member of the Neptune Army. The Minister of the Right said that Hody was once a very talented soldier. However, Hody reveals that he only joined the army to gain experience, and that he views them as his enemies. Hody appears to be determined to take King Neptune's reign away from him, even going as far as forcibly recruiting pirates who descend to Fishman Island as additional forces for his and his crew's cause. After Hody successfully captured the king, he plans to execute him.

Humans
Like the rest of his crew, Hody despises humans, looking down on them with the full intent of conquering them. He believes humans are as worthless as slaves, and was willing to use them as disposable pawns for his invasion plan. Despite this, he was willing to grant freedom to those who completed the task he gave them, although the task he gave them had a very low survival chance. He only spared Gyro and his crew so that they could tell the terrors of the fishman race to the rest of the world. He also bears a grudge against the Straw Hat Pirates, particularly Monkey D. Luffy, for crushing Arlong's ambitions.

Abilities and Powers
As the captain of the New Fishman Pirates, Hody has complete authority over the crew.

Being a fishman, he is ten times stronger than the average human, and twice that in water. However, his strength is monstrous even by fishman standards: he was able to completely destroy a massive wall of stone by simply gripping it, and can throw water drops with such strength that they hit like deadly bullets. Usopp noted that Arlong was nothing compared to Hody. Keimi mentions to Nami that Hody's mind is more dangerous than his strength.

During his time in the Neptune Army, he was recognized as a particularly talented soldier. As such, he gained knowledge and experience of combat techniques on the battlefield.

Weapons
During his raid on the Ryugu Palace, Hody was seen holding a long, thin black trident, possibly something he has kept from his old days as a soldier. He hasn't been shown using it in combat yet, but it might be assumed that he is proficient in using it, and given that he carries it around despite being able to perform devastating attacks barehanded and possessing a huge deal of strength even while not under the effect of the Energy Steroids, that it can greatly enhance his already formidable offensive abilities.

After being struck a grievous wound by Zoro, and then revitalizing himself with and Energy Steroid pill, Hody was seen holding a different trident, a light-colored one with elaborate design underneath the spikes, similar to the one used by Neptune himself, but much smaller.

Energy Steroid
By taking the deadly drug Energy Steroid, which doubles his strength each time he consumes a pill, Hody can become far more dangerous than he already is, taking further advantage of his amazing physical strength.

Each pill he takes doubles his physical strength. So far he has taken at least four, granting him strength at least one hundred sixty times that of an average human. His jaws are also very powerful as they were all he needed to single-handedly defeat Crab-Hand Gyro, a pirate with a bounty of 73,000,000, and his entire crew. Swimming with blinding speed, he punched holes in their ship and even ripped the mast off using his jaws. He took multiple gunshots to the back and was completely unharmed.

These pills also seem to regenerate the users' wounds to some extent and take strain off them, as seen when a wounded and seemingly unconscious Hody, given one more pill, managed to stand up in mere seconds and to use his strength to its full extent, stopping the gigantic Neptune with just one hand. After overdosing on the drug to ease the pain of the scar Zoro gave him, Hody underwent a painful transformation into a more massive form. In this new form, his strength is greater than ever, firing a drop of water like a bullet a great distance across the island.

Attacks

 * Soshark (粗鮫（ソシャーク）): Hody uses his tremendous strength and grip to crush large walls of stone. "Soshaku" means 'mastication' in Japanese. This was first seen when Hody used it to crush the wall of Ryugu Palace to allow water to flood in.
 * Yabusame (矢武鮫): Hody first wets his arm, then he punches the air in a chosen direction, using his massive strength to throw many drops of water, which are converted into deadly arrows through mere kinetic force; this is similarly to Arlong, who also threw water with the force of bullets during his battle against Zoro and Sanji in Arlong Park. "Yabusame" is a type of traditional Japanese mounted archery. This was first seen used against the Straw Hat Pirates and the restrained Neptune army.
 * Uchimizu (撃水): The basic version of Yabusame, in which Hody throws a single drop of water. After undergoing the transformation due to the Energy Steroids, the penetrative force has increased greatly to the point where it not only pierced through a fishman, but several structures behind him. "Uchimizu" is the sprinkling of water in Japan. This was first seen used against a soldier who ran at him, commencing a suicide bombing.

Past
Hody and his crew looked up to Arlong and his dream ever since they were children. As a child, Hody dreamed that one day, he would grow up to be Arlong's right-hand man. While Hody and the future officers of the New Fishman Pirates were growing up in the Fishman District, they read about Fisher Tiger's exploits at Mariejois. They cheered the Sun Pirates on thinking that their goal was to destroy humans, not knowing that Fisher Tiger had non-lethal morals.

At some point, he joined the Neptune Army only to gain battle experience and not out of loyalty. During his time as a soldier, he was present in the throne room when Jinbe, the captain of the Sun Pirates after Fisher Tiger, spoke with Neptune. Hody seemed displeased upon hearing that Jinbe accepted a position in the Shichibukai and that Tiger actually wanted peace with the humans.

When a World Noble, Saint Mjosgard, arrived on the island, Hody was in favor of killing him, considering him to be "the worst trash in the world." He then looked stunned upon witnessing Shirahoshi's ability to summon Sea Kings.



One day, Hody paid a human pirate to set fire on the signature box. Admist the chaos, Hody shot Otohime. After Otohime died, Hody shot the pirate and passed him up as the criminal. Ignoring Jinbe's advice to hide the pirate, Hody appeared to everyone and declared that Otohime was assassinated by the human pirate. This was all part of his plan to rule Fishman Island in the future.

After Arlong had been defeated by Luffy, Hody decided to step up to continue where Arlong left off. He left the Neptune Army and formed his crew, the New Fishman Pirates.

The Alliance
Learning from the Arlong Pirates' mistakes, Hody and his crew made thorough preparations to carry on Arlong's will. While preparing for his plan to take Fishman Island, Hody had his henchmen intercept human pirate crews coming to Fishman Island and force them to join the New Fishman Pirates making their experience on Fishman Island miserable. Occasionally, some of the human captives attempt to flee only to be made examples by Hody.

When Hammond reported that the Straw Hat Pirates had arrived on Fishman Island, Hody expressed his desire to see the captain, Monkey D. Luffy, and ordered Hammond to bring Luffy to him.



When he learned that Gyro's pirate crew (a pirate crew that swore loyalty to the New Fishman Pirates upon entering Fishman Island) was fleeing Fishman Island to escape the clutches of the New Fishman Pirates, Hody decided to deal with them himself. He took some Energy Steroids and confronted the pirates after putting his hands in handcuffs. With his jaws alone, he gave the pirates a complete and utter defeat. Hody decided to spare their lives in order to allow them to float to the surface, so that they can spread word of the terror of the New Fishman Pirates. He then declared that the New Fishman Pirates will overthrow king Neptune, take Fishman Island by force, and show the world that fishmen are the supreme race.

Later, he is joined in Noah by Vander Decken IX. After Decken puts on a glove, they shake hands. They then form an alliance. They agree to take down Neptune and crush the Neptune Army and cause the kingdom to crumble.

As they set their plan into motion, Hatchan appears and tries to talk the New Fishman Pirates out of going through with the operation. Hody expresses his disappointment towards Hatchan, saying that he has gotten soft and allows him to become a target of Vander Decken IX. Once Hatchan had been dealt with, Hody then tells a group of captive pirates about how will they take part in the operation. He tells them that Decken will throw them at Hard-Shell Tower in the Ryugu Palace. Once they are inside, they will open the connection corridor to the palace which will allow the New Fishman Pirates to invade. Hody goes on to say that he isn't concerned about whether they live or die and that they are nothing more than pawns for them to use.

Siege at Ryugu Palace
Hody is then seen heading to Ryugu Palace while riding on top of the sea monsters with his crew and Vander Decken IX. Once they enter the palace, they find the Straw Hats, King Neptune and the Ryugu Palace guards already tied up. Hody comments that this seems way too convenient. King Neptune quickly accuses Decken of kidnapping Shirahoshi which makes Decken realize that the Mermaid Princess is no longer in the palace. Hody calms Decken saying that he can find her location using his ability. Decken goes after Shirahoshi leaving Hody to take care of things in the palace.

After seeing that Hody has an Arlong tattoo, Nami goes to an unknown location. When the Minister of the Right curses Hody, a former soldier of the Neptune Army, for causing chaos on Fishman Island, Hody reveals that he only joined the army to gain experience. Hody then crushes a palace wall, flooding the palace in the process. He launches his Archer Shark attack, injuring Neptune and some of his soldiers. Hody laughs at Neptune for getting in the way of the attack, saying that a king should not protect his subjects. Zoro launches a counterattack by sending a sword wave at the fishman. Hody blocks the attack by using one of his own comrades as a shield.



Hody then orders his crew to attack, but Usopp holds them back by launching a Pop Green that spawns a flower the gives off a bad odor. Hody, however, remains unfazed, commenting on the childishness of the attack. Usopp and Brook untie the guards and Zoro cuts Neptune's chains. When completely underwater, Hody prepares to face off against Zoro. However, even though he has an advantage being underwater, he appears to be no match for the swordsman, who seems to have dealt him a grievous wound.

Neptune takes Zoro, Usopp, and Brook and creates an escape route, which the ministers and the palace guards use to escape. The New Fishman Pirates give Hody an Energy Steroid, reviving him in the process. Before Neptune and the three Straw Hats with him can escape with Hoe, Hody seizes Neptune with one hand. The New Fishman Pirates then capture Neptune, Zoro, Usopp, and Brook.

The Coup d'état
Hody is then seen addressing Fishman Island through a visual broadcast. He explains his plan to take over and rebuild the Ryugu Kingdom with himself as the ruler. He tells the citizens that those who wish peace with the humans should be banished. He shows the chained-up King Neptune and explains his plan to execute him in Gyoncorde Plaza in three hours. He goes on saying that he found the letter from the World Noble and the box holding the signatures. Since stepping on Otohime's fumi-e won't be enough, he decides to use the signatures to determine who is against him. He will also dispose of anyone who gave their signatures. He then addresses the Straw Hats and shows the imprisoned Zoro, Usopp, and Brook. Hody plans to drown them in a room withing rising water after executing Neptune and intends on making an example out of Luffy to the surface world.

After he finishes his speech, he decides to leave the palace with most of his subordinates since the palace is impenetrable. He is also confident that no one can save the three Straw Hats imprisoned in the palace and comments that the wound he got from Zoro still aches. He then gets a status report on the island's new residents from the Fishman District. Hody tells his subordinates to use the homes of those who left and those who will die.



As he is taking the king to Gyoncorde Plaza, he suddenly suffers from intense pain due to taking so many Energy Steroids as painkillers, collapsing and twitching in agony, to the point of having difficulty in breathing. Neptune chastises him for being too reliant on the steroids and is now reaping the consequences. Shortly after thrashing around on the sea monster's back that he was riding on, Hody managed to get up, with an apparent change in his body that was enough to frighten a sea bear that was a certain distance away.

At the Execution Ground
Hody arrives at the execution ground as a changed being. After taking his seat, he then stares quizzically at an Energy Steroid. His crew also gather at the plaza and the Neptune Army's attempts to save the king have been thwarted by the Sea Beasts. When a soldier tries to kill one of the officers with dynamite, Hody stops him with Uchimizu. With his new found strength, not only was the shot able to go through the soldier, but it also crashed through several rock and coral formations before landing in the water at Mermaid Cove. He then marvels at his own strength saying that he feels incredible. When the princes arrive, Hody listens to Fukaboshi's speech about how the people want to walk with humans and Hody is preventing that. After the princes defeat the Sea Beasts, Hody simply replies that in the end, the kingdom will belong to the victor.

The princes are then defeated and captured. Jinbe, Shirahoshi, and Megalo have fallen into one of Hody's traps and got captured as well. Hody is overjoyed that his plan is going smoothly. Madame Shirley appears and tells Hody that he won't be the one to destroy Fishman Island. Hody shuts her up with a water shot. He then reveals to everyone that he was the one who truly assassinated Otohime. Neptune is furious at the revelation, but Hody silences him. When Hody gloats about killing Otohime right in Shirahoshi's face, the princess says that she knew all along.

Major Battles

 * Hody Jones vs. Gyro and his crew
 * Hody Jones vs. Roronoa Zoro

Translation and Dub Issues
His family name comes from hōjiro-zame (ホオジロザメ), the Japanese name for great white shark.

Trivia

 * His given name may come from "Davy Jones", a nickname for what would be the devil or god of the seas.
 * "Jones" is also slang for 'heroin' or an 'addiction or intense craving', it can also be used to describe a state where one experiences a strong desire or craving, such as when experiencing drug habit withdrawals; possibly referring to Hody's use of Energy Steroids.
 * It is also possible that his name comes from "Jaws", as the Japanese pronunciation for both are almost identical: "Jones" Jōnzu (ジョーンズ) and "jaws" Jōzu (ジョーズ). This supported further as Jaws, like Hody, was a great white.
 * Hody's actions and ideals echo some of the extremist views of the Ku Klux Klan, who preach and believe in white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration. At points throughout their history they were known to have gone so far as to even kill their fellow man if he so much as befriended a black person. Their actions would go as far as to enact terrorism and murder on the innocent. If the similarities hold water, then Hody's species as a Great White Shark adds to the resemblence.