Spandam

Spandam (スパンダム, Supandamu) is the chief of CP9 and one of the main antagonists of Water 7 arc/Enies Lobby arc.

Appearance
Spandam is a pale man of slim stature with wavy, wild lavender hair in a layered style that is roughly shoulder-length and parted in the middle. He has black markings around his large, vaguely soulless eyes and his narrow nose is a dark red, which lead to Franky's nickname for him "Spanda." He is fond of leather, and wears a brown studded leather mask which covers the bridge of his nose and scars on his moderately high forehead just above his eyebrows, right cheek, and strong chin from Franky's injury eight years ago, as well as long brown leather gloves and black high-collared leather vest with matching pants separated by a studded belt. He has white shoes with brown tassels extending from their heels, and wears a long-sleeved light gray shirt decorated with a diagonal squiggle pattern below his vest with the collar turned up. His face is very expressive, and he has a large smile that causes his slightly angular eyebrows to narrow in slightly.

In Franky's flashback, Spandam's nose, not yet broken, was slightly longer, and his strong jawline was more pronounced. He wore a long black coat with gold-colored trim and the World Government symbol with oversized shoulder pads, a white shirt with a black tie, a gray vest with corset lacing and a diagonal squiggle pattern identical to that on his shirt eight years later, black pants and shoes, and short brown gloves. His hair was partially slicked back, emphasizing the prominent widow's peak on his high forehead, and he had small sideburns.

In the Volume 44 SBS, Oda drew pictures of the CP9 agents as children. Based on these illustrations, it seems Spandam had a small elephant as a pet when he was a child.

Personality
Spandam is very clumsy (he tends to spill coffee on himself during moments of excitement) and short tempered, with special sensitivity towards his name. Franky's nickname for him, "Spanda" (due to his panda-like markings around the eyes and nose), always causes him to lose his head. As a result, Spandam comes off mostly as a comedic villain like Buggy, though he often reveals real malice when gloating over his prisoners - as seen when he broke his promise of the Straw Hat Pirates' safety, and proceeded to beat on his defenseless captive, Nico Robin. He is not detached from the idea of exploitation, backstabbing or the use of loopholes to get his own way, as he has proven many times in the past.

Spandam is also a great believer of the "Absolute Justice" conveyed by Admiral Akainu, and believes that the end justifies the means, with the end being the acquisition of the ancient weapons and the means being as many murders or sacrifices as it takes. He sees himself as the world's greatest hero for capturing Robin, and is very interested in his rank and prestige, often coming across as extremely power-hungry, even contemplating using the weapons' power for his own benefit, instead of the world's - unlike the other agents, who don't want any recognition whatsoever. He has no consideration for the lives of others at all and doesn't even consider the loss of innocents, only having power at his command. He likes plans to go perfectly fine and gets annoyed when they don't.

The most important thing is my life!!! My promotion! If I let them go freely, who will protect me when something happens?

Spandam's main character trait is his cowardly outlook on life - even when he does not display his cowardice, he is constantly thinking about such things. He is confident only when he feels safe because he has no strength, seeing as he has a Douriki of 9 - an average Marine has 10, so he relies on others to protect him. Thus to this end, every move that he made throughout the Enies Lobby arc was a move to put his safety above all others. Moreover, though the fault for the destruction of Enies Lobby falls solely in his hands, he uses the members of the CP9 as his scapegoats to avoid the blame being pinned on him. Though this granted him some protection, he made enemies of his former co-workers.

He appears to underestimate the strength of pirates and overestimate the strength of Marines, as once he heard a transmission saying that Luffy had defeated 4000 marines, he is quoted as saying: "4000? The soldiers aren't that weak!" He also accused the Strawhats of stealing all the keys to Nico Robin's handcuffs, instead of beating up all CP9 members to get them.

Abilities and Powers
Spandam is the least powerful of the group as he has a Douriki level of only 9 (a normal, armed marine has a douriki level of 10). Being this way, he is incapable of learning and knowing any Rokushiki moves. This said, the rest of the Cipher Pol 9 do not mind and "respect" him as the chief from the Marines, with the possible exception of Kumadori as he was the only one who saved Spandam from being bitten further by Franky (albeit sending Spandam flying into the ceiling in the process).

Because of his physical weakness, Spandam relies on his natural talents of intelligence and talent at deception, as opposed to actual combat. He also often reveals extreme cowardice, though he doesn't hesitate to use his rank to boss around subordinates (though he fears the power of the CP9 agents, especially Lucci's) - he even threatens to fire them or have them killed in order to get a job done. It is unknown how he got his rank, but perhaps it was being linked to his father, the former head.

However, despite his physical weakness, he appears to be capable of enduring considerably high amounts of damage, as seen when he was still standing after 2 attacks from Usopp (as Sogeking), Robin's "Seis Fleur Slap" and Franky's "Strong Right",( in Franky's case, he also instantly counter-attacked) which only seemed to swell his face, as well as Funkfreed land on top of him after Franky threw the elephant on him.

Spandam also has many contacts, which was the reason why he was able to get hold of two Devil Fruits easily.

Weapons
Spandam's main offense is his special sword, "Funkfreed", which somehow absorbed a Devil Fruit, Zou Zou no Mi. Using this fruit, it can turn into an elephant. This phenomenon has only been witnessed once before in the series, with Mr. 4's gun-dog, Lassou. Funkfreed also makes up for Spandam's weakness by being his bodyguard and weapon.

Past
Used to be the CP5 leader and was the first one to come after the Pluton blueprints held by Tom. When Tom refused, Spandam framed him by using Franky's battleships on a judiciary ship, making it seem like Tom and his apprentices (Cutty Flam and Iceburg) were the culprits. In the end though, Spandam was outsmarted (as Tom safely hid the plans away) and only got a very scarred face for his trouble (courtesy of Cutty Flam).

Spandam became a chief almost 8 years ago, replacing his father Spandine. Lucci was also with him as proven in his mini-flashback. 5 years ago Spandam dispatched the CP9 to Water 7 to finish what he was trying to do 8 years ago: seize the blueprints.

Present
Before the Water 7 arc, Aokiji contacted Spandam of Robin's whereabouts. Spandam almost had his CP9 take action but delayed to wait for her arrival. Knowing Robin through his father and her weakness he sent Blueno to keep a eye out for her. Spandam also acquired the authority to summon the Buster Call with the Golden Den Den Mushi on the admiral's behalf.

Spandam was not seen in the story until chapter 359 when the CP9 contact him about capturing Franky. Spandam ordered them to bring Franky to Enies Lobby.

Spandam was assisted by Lucci to take Robin to the Gates of Justice. Along the way, Lucci stayed behind to fight Luffy, and Spandam foolishly activates the Buster Call by accident, causing chaos and confusion to ensue on the island. Near reaching the gate however he was hit at long-range with one of Sogeking's explosive projectile attacks, allowing Nico Robin to escape and break free of her handcuffs, much to Spandam's horror when he realizes that the "unbeatable" CP9 has indeed been defeated. When he tried to attack Robin to prevent her from escaping, Franky crushed him with his own sword, finally settling his vendetta for what he did to Tom. Robin's first act was to beat him.

Near the end of the arc as the Straw Hats are escaping on the returned Going Merry, he recovers (though now horribly bruised and swollen) and gives the order to fire stating Aokiji gave him permission to do so despite Robin being on board (though obviously this is just another lie), Robin notices this and uses her "Clutch" move on him breaking his spine as her group sails off. Afterwards, he decides that it was the unforgivable errors of CP9 that caused his mission to fail and orders marines to capture them, marking the beginning of CP9's journey to evade the marines and explaining why CP9 could not turn to the government for medical help. Despite his injuries, he survived, although he is currently heavily bandaged in the hospital, and he recieves a Den Den Mushi call of sorts. However, he is shocked to find it to be his former subordinate Rob Lucci, calling him as the remainder of CP9 fight off marines. After that, he teams up with his father Spandine, to plot an assassination plan against CP9.

Trivia

 * Following CP9's animal theme, he has a panda theme, because not only does he have markings around his eyes and nose resembling that of a panda, but his name also has the word panda in it. This is also presumably the reason behind why Franky calls him Spanda, much to Spandam's chagrin.
 * In the 4th Japanese Fan Poll Spandam ranked as the 64th popular character with 22 votes.
 * Many characters in One Piece were given distinct laughs. Spandam follows in this tradition with a short "wa" at the beginning of his laugh (i.e. "Wa ha ha ha ha!"), though it sounds more like "Da" in the anime.
 * Though it is never stated he stole the Golden Den Den Mushi from Aokiji, whenever someone asked about Aokiji handing it to him, Spandam would panic and show signs of guilt about having the Golden Den Den Mushi. In the end the only note Spandam made was to say he "borrowed" it off of Aokiji. Whenever authorities reacted to the Buster Call, they expected Aokiji to be on scene but were surprised at Aokiji's absence and Spandam's presence.
 * Spandam's mask resembles the one of the real life professional wrestler Mick Foley. It has been unconfirmed by Oda, but the resemblance is striking.

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Spandam