Hannyabal

Hannyabal is the Vice-Warden in charge of Impel Down.

Appearance
Hannyabal is a large pot bellied man that resembles a cross between a devil and an Egyptian pharaoh. His brow ridge is shaped like horns, his chin is shaped like a pharaoh's false beard and he wears a nemes with yellow and green stripes, the striped head cloth worn by pharaohs, with his hair coming from inside the nemes. His face in particular is designed in such a way that it looks like a Hannya mask. He has demon-like wings on his back and also carries a pitch fork around, another common symbol linked to the devil.

20 years ago, when Shiki escaped the prison, Hannyabal was seen wearing the standard militaristic white uniform that normal guards wear. He still wore the nemes and the bat-like wings, but he also wore a cap over the former. Now, he goes bare-chested in reference to his great endurance. He has a weakness with women just like Sanji.

After his original nemes had been stolen by Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, his new one has a fox figurehead attachment on top that resembles the Egyptian jackal God of Death Anubis and has blue stripes instead the green stripes. Overall, his appearance is an allegory to the underworld.

Personality
He has a habit of saying he owns everything and then having to apologize afterwards for getting ahead of himself. He does this because he is an ambitious person. He also seems to be prone to "Freudian Slips", which often give insight to his previously mentioned, ambitious qualities and his somewhat dark brand of humor. Hannyabal usually tries to show off how tough he really is to the prisoners by going into the Freezing Hell of Level 5 without weapons and almost completely naked, a reason he is admired amongst the guards.

He is emotionally more stern than most characters and can maintain a clear mind even in the presence of Boa Hancock, remaining unaffected by her charms. Despite this, he seems to be easily infatuated with beautiful women, as he let slip of his true ambitions towards Hancock. This might have been because she wasn't his kind of woman as later he was easily seduced by Nami (who was really Mr. 2 Bon Kurei in disguise).

Hannyabal's desire to become Warden by eliminating Magellan causes him to willingly jeopardize the security of Impel Down, such as letting prisoners run away, if it means for a chance to pin the blame on his superior. In short, Hannyabal cares more about his own position than the security and welfare of the prison, however he seems only willing to let prisoners escape if they are relatively harmless (ex. Buggy and Mr. 3) and shows genuine concern when powerful prisoners escape, like Crocodile and Jinbe.

Despite his seemingly lack of seriousness most of the time, due to his desire to get Magellan fired, Hannyabal may get serious when the situation gets to the extreme, especially if he risks getting fired too. When this sudden change occurs, it can surprise even people who know him.

His ambition gets the better of him most of the time; however, it turns out that he is a considerate person who became a gaoler to protect the lives of innocents by keeping criminals in prison. Furthermore, he was the only high ranking gaoler who was never shown torturing the inmates or to enjoy doing so.

Impel Down
Hannyabal cares little for his superior Magellan, whom he simply wishes to see fail or be rid of so he can become the chief warden in his place. Even when not suffering from Freudian Slips, around his superior Hannyabal will also openly state his desire to see his superior fail or die. Sometimes he will even begin shouting or speaking out his words within Magellan's hearing range, causing Hannyabal to reword his sentence to sound better when he realizes he has stepped out of line too much. This often leads him to be conflicted with the warden Magellan, who shuts him up with his poisonous breath. However, every time he is poisoned by Magellan he seems to comically act as though he is dying yet make a full recovery mere moments later.

Hannyabal's main grudge against his superior is over his apparent "lack" of leadership skills and he will often scold Magellan for things like neglecting the intruder call on Luffy because he was distracted by Hancock's charms. However, Magellan fully trusts him and states he is the only one beside himself who is able to run Impel Down.

After being tricked by Mr. 2 Bon Kurei (disguised as Nami) and was tied up in the weapon storage room, Hannyabal seems to have developed a grudge against the okama, as he claimed to hate being tricked like this.

He seems to have a good reputation amongst the personnel and his courage during serious situations is admired by the gaolers.

Abilities and Powers
As vice warden of Impel Down, Hannyabal has command over all of Impel Down, second only to Magellan. However, this power apparently is not satisfying enough, as he always speaks out on how he desires to take over as warden.

Unlike Magellan or the Four Demon Guards, Hannyabal seems to lack a feared reputation for the prisoners to acknowledge, as Buggy and Mr. 3 stated that they haven't heard anything about him. However, this was misleading, as he is one of the most powerful enforcers in Impel Down being more powerful than any of the four Demon Guards and only second to Magellan himself. A possible explanation is that, as he doesn't fight unless it's an extreme emergency, like a prisoner of level 5 or 6 trying to escape. If not, he will not move a finger and let the job to the Demon Guards or Magellan. He easily defeated both Buggy and Mr. 3 without a single scratch on him even after taking a direct hit from Buggy's Muggy Ball (which was enough to severely harm the demon guard Minotaurus and annihilate the entire platoon of gaolers guarding the door to Level 3 ). On the other hand, the guards seem to know him to be a powerful fighter and enforcer. Even Magellan claimed that Hannyabal is the only person worthy to be his successor as Chief Warden of Impel Down.

Hannyabal also seems to have a resistance to extreme temperatures, as he is known to walk through the Freezing Hell with nothing more than his loincloth and nemes, as well as tolerating the extreme heat in Level 4 in the very same attire. He is also very resilient to physical strikes, and is capable of withstanding some of Luffy's Gear Second attacks and get back up on his feet, something that only the World Goverment's top agents, like Blueno and Rob Lucci (both great users of Tekkai), were as well able to do.

Weapons
Weapon-wise, Hannyabal was seen wielding a pitchfork, like many of his subordinates, but has not been seen using that in battle (except in the anime). Instead, his signature weapon is a polearm based on a double-bladed naginata (a Japanese halberd) called Kessui (血吸), which he is quite skilled in wielding. With a katana on each side, he is capable of performing a variety of attacks with it, and, most surprisingly, is also able to spin it wildly and create flames to deter any opponent. The fact that he's capable of using with such skill a weapon with two blades, which could potentially injure an inexperienced user as well as the enemy, is a testament to his swordsmanship.

Shiki Escapes
20 years prior to the start of the current story Shiki made his escape from his holding cell by cutting off his legs. Hannyabal found Shiki sitting on the rafters of Level 6 asking him if he had seen Shiki's swords. A shocked Hannyabal then shouted for help from Magellan (then only the vice-warden), but not before shouting he wanted a promotion.

Impel Down Arc
Upon Boa Hancock's and Momonga's arrival at Impel Down, he comes to greet them and orders Domino to do a body search on Hancock. As Hancock petrifies her and the Surveillance Den Den Mushi, his subordinates report that they have no image from the room and he goes on and meets them as they exit the room. Then he takes Hancock and Momonga to a lift to go to the fourth floor to meet the prison warden Magellan. While in the warden's room he shows many obvious signs that he wants to be warden someday.

He then continues down to Level 6, and introduces Ace to Hancock. He also quickly runs away when Magellan uses Hydra on a prisoner. He comments that if he meets the escapees (Bentham, Luffy, Buggy and Galdino), he will let them escape so Magellan would be fired and he would take his position. Magellan assigned him to keep the stairway who led to Level 3, and Buggy and Galdino conspired to beat him to escape, thinking he is the weakest point within the escape routes of Level 4.

However, due to their miscalculations, he easily defeated both of them off screen. But when Magellan arrived at the scene later, the person assuming Hannyabal's role was in fact Bentham, who had distracted him by seducing him while transformed into Nami, then knocked him out and tied him up in a weapons storage room. After being tied up for a few hours, a couple of guards find him, and he tries to ask them to untie him through his gag.

After he has been released, the guards tell him that Buggy, Galdino and Bentham, the latter having been disguised as Hannyabal, have descended down to Level 5. The only thing they found was Hannyabal's stolen nemes, which was covered in blood. Under the report of the guards, Hannyabal found that if the four intruders were not eaten by the wolves, but instead escaped, then not only Magellan, but also Hannyabal himself, would risk losing their officer positions, much to Hannyabal's shock.

He is then later seen in the monitor room, surprised to see Luffy, Iva and Inazuma heading down to Level 6. He then tells a guard to inform the jailers of Level 6 to prepare for combat while Sadi-chan gets there with the Demon Guards. He also tells the guard to inform Magellan and all floors of this discovery and to activate all the traps in the passage that lead to Level 6. This sudden turn of seriousness makes the guard question whether Hannyabal is an impostor.

As Magellan was busy with Ace's transfer, Hannyabal was in charge of the prison. During his leadership, he learns Luffy, Inazuma and Ivankov has freed both Jinbe and Crocodile for allies. Hannyabal orders all jailers to gather at Level 4, intending to face the escaped prisoners himself, fearing the incident could cost him his position, but is informed about another riot going on on Level 2 started by Buggy and Galdino as well as an army led by Iva, Inazuma, and Bentham consisting of prisoners that were thought lost forever and is unsure what he should do.



Still undecided about how to deal with the current situation, Hannyabal learns that Blackbeard and his crew are invading Impel Down. Now with 2 situations on his hands he struggles to make a decision and casually asks the other jailers if they should lock themselves in the monitor room and have snacks, much to the shock of the jailers. He then gets a Den Den Mushi call from Magellan, having told him that the riot on Level 2 is over, and with Magellan giving him an order to hold out on Level 4 until he gets there. In an ironic sense of relief, Hannyabal cheers the warden on.



Hannyabal finally faces Luffy and the rest of the rioting prisoners on the door that connects Level 3 and Level 4. He is backed by the Bazooka Unit and tells the freed prisoners that they don't have chance, bringing out his Naginata "Kessui." Luffy simply orders him to get out of the way. Hannyabal refuses and attempts to fight him with his Hanya Carnival move Shounetsu Jigoku-Guruma. However, Luffy uses Gear Second, and beats him back with the Gomu Gomu no Jet Gatling.

Even so, Hannyabal refuses to give in and attempts to stop Luffy even when beaten and bloody as the gaolers beg him to stop for his own sake. Hannyabal proceeds to give a speech about why "scum" like Luffy have no right to be free.

He goes on to say that because innocent people are threatened and frightened by the very existence of pirates, Impel Down exists to keep evildoers locked up and protect the weak people outside. He claims that its destruction would result in more fear, and therefore he would not let Luffy pass and thereby escape. Luffy once again refuses, saying that Ace was precious to him.

Hannyabal bitterly reflects that some people refuse to listen. Then the Bazooka Unit begins to vanish into Blackbeard's darkness as Blackbeard crushes Hannyabal under his feet and mocks his beliefs, stating that he could search the world and still there is no answer.

After Blackbeard and his crew attempt to deal with Magellan, Magellan quickly douses them with poison and disposes of them. He then acknowledges the battered and bloody Hannyabal and thanks him for holding out for so long. Magellan leaves Impel Down to Hannyabal and tells him not to die, admitting that Hannyabal is his only worthy successor. However, Hannyabal was not conscious to hear that praise. Then, Magellan orders the guards to give Hannyabal the medical attention he needs for the wounds inflicted by Luffy and Teach.

Major Battles

 * Hannyabal and Impel Down Guards vs. Buggy and Galdino
 * Hannyabal and Impel Down Guards vs. Bentham (disguised as Nami)
 * Hannyabal vs. Monkey D. Luffy (interrupted by Marshall D. Teach)

Anime and Manga Differences
In an anime flashback, it was stated that twenty years ago was about the time Hannyabal joined the prison, and the first prisoner he had to deal with was Olive, who seduced him to lower his guard, and then tied him up and stole his clothing, for escape, and would have succeeded if not for Magellan interfering. Magellan then gave him a speech on how every single guard is important for the security of the prison.

In the anime, when he adorned his new fox-headed nemes he commented that this one was suppose to be for when he became warden.

Translation and Dub Issues
While some translations may use "Hannibal" as the English spelling for his name, this is wrong. The name Hannibal in Japanese would be written like this: ハンニバル (hannibaru), while Hannyabal's name appears in the manga as ハンニャバル (hannyabaru), a clear combination of both Hannibal and Hannya which is ハンニャ.

Trivia

 * The fox on his fox-head nemes is drawn in a style that resembles the jackal head of Anubis, an Egyptian god associated with the dead.
 * His appearance might be based off the Amarna style in Ancient Egyptian art.

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