Saruyama Alliance

The Saruyama Alliance (猿山連合軍) is an alliance that was formed between three pirate captains, between Montblanc Cricket and his surrogate sons "Salvage King" Masira and his brother Shojo. As it is an alliance, it composes of two pirate crews led by the brothers: the Masira Pirates (マシラ海賊団) and Shojo Pirates (ショウジョウ海賊団).

History
Cricket arrived on the island of Jaya several years ago before present storyline. The alliance formed sometime after Cricket's own crew abandoned him for trying to prove whether or not his ancestor Montblanc Noland was a liar and began the search for the lost city of gold that had supposedly sunk into the ocean. Shortly afterwards, Masira and Shojo appeared, they were fans of his book on Noland wanting to help him find the city and the alliance was formed.

The Straw Hats first encounter Masira when they try to salvage a ship that fell from the sky, and they later meet Shojo while travelling to Cricket's house, coming into conflict both times. However, after saving Cricket's life from a disease, they become friends. The Saruyama Alliance helps the Straw Hats begin their journey to Sky Island. However, while the Straw Hats were in Jaya's forest looking for a "South Bird", the Bellamy Pirates attacked, stealing their gold artifacts that acted as their only proof that the city existed. Angered, Luffy defeated Bellamy and returned the gold to Cricket, before they set off for the sky.

At the end of the Skypiea Arc, Luffy rings the golden bell of Shandia, signaling, among many other things, that the city of gold exists. With one dream resolved, the Saruyama Alliance decides to move on to another.

Pirate Flag
The Alliance has two jolly rogers: one for Masira and one for Shojo.
 * Masira's flag is a baboon head with two bananas in place of crossbones.
 * Shojo's flag is an orangutan skull with crossbones behind it.

Alliance Strength


The three captains themselves are weak by the Grand Line standards but their bond as a group is strong. They suffer heavy beatings from Bellamy the Hyena and his crew but still manage to work on the Going Merry for the Straw Hat crew afterwards. There is also renewed spirit amongst them after Luffy returns with the gold Bellamy stole during his attack.

Other Information
Masira and his crew are experts at recovering sunken ships from the bottom of the ocean while Shojo and his crew are experts at using sonar to locate things hidden under the waves. Masira's ship has a giant monkey statue with cymbals at the front. This statue can be lowered into the water to grab a net containing a sunken ship. Masira and his crew then blow large amounts of air through the monkey to lift the ship to the surface.

Shojo's crew can locate objects underwater through echolocation. First, Shojo screams into a microphone, which projects sounds underwater, and divers surrounding the ship confirm any echos. The divers are so skilled that they can identify objects simply from these sounds.