Sea King

Sea Kings (海王類) are mythical sea creatures which are generally much larger than normal sea creatures. They are found in great numbers along the Calm Belt around the Grand Line, although in rare occasions they can be found in other places throughout the world.

Appearance
Sea King species consists of radically different physiques and builds, so unique that no two individual Sea Kings have been recorded as being of similar build. They are serpent-like in appearance. Some may have arms and legs and one particular sea king even was noted to look like an oversized frog. Despite this, they are normally different enough to be determined from other types of sea monsters. "Lord of the Coast" is one of the smallest Sea Kings seen in the storyline, yet is still quite large in comparison to most other sea monsters. Little Garden had two large rocks that are actually the skulls of two dead Sea Kings. These skulls are far larger then the island's volcanoes.

Personality
They are classified in the One Piece world as a type "C" creature, which is the "Big Savage" group of creatures. They will attack anything that comes within reach of them and are savage predators. In the storyline they were seen as sea monsters who attacked without mercy and were ruthless, which led many to fear their strength and presence.

Their depiction within the storyline however did not fully display their true nature until the Fishman Island arc. They are far more intelligent than the storyline had initally lead the reader to believe. When they were summoned to Fishman Island, they acknowledged that Luffy was a strong human, but more remarkably acknowledge that if they were any later than they had been, the Island would have been saved but Noah destroyed. They also do not seem to be above lending their strength to those who need their help. Curiously enough, these Sea Kings seen were the exact same group that were first shown when the crew unintentionally entered the Calm Belt, that were assumed to be hostile at the time.

Abilities and Powers
Sea Kings make trade and travel difficult for anyone trying to cross the water where they are found as they are exceptionally fierce and strong compared to many other sea creatures. They are powerful predators and attack unprovoked with no fear or signs of backing down, the only exceptions was in the cases where they themselves were the hunted. Cases have arisen where some islands in the Grand Line close to the edge of the Calm Belt (their natural breeding ground) have ended up getting almost completely cut off from the rest of the world.

Most other creatures in the ocean fear the Sea King, with the notable exceptions;
 * Bananawani: their only natural predator.
 * Yuda: who are too ferocious even for them and also poisonous.
 * Blue Gorillas: Impel Down guards who are extremely good swimmers and incredibly strong, cutting Sea Kings up for food.
 * Giants: who are incredibly strong themselves.

Only the strongest of ships or captains can take on a Sea King. Confrontation with one by all but a few humans is inadvisable and is considered nothing short of suicide. The fishman Jinbe also acknowledged the danger Sea Kings when he summoned whale sharks into the calm belt, thus proving at the very least fishmen are also aware of their potential threat. Many characters, such as Franky, see the act of killing one a sign of strength and achievement.

Poseidon
Even though the Mermaids can communicate with fish in the sea, the Sea Kings are beyond their reach. This indicates that they are very different to the other aquatic inhabitants of the ocean. Ryuboshi once commented that he always dreamt of riding on the back of a Sea King. However, according to legend once every few centuries a mermaid is born with the ability to speak to the Sea Kings, on that day the world will change forever, then one day a man will appear to guide that mermaid. The name of the previous Mermaid turned out to be Poseidon, whose abilities were considered a weapon able to destroy the world and power in line with another ancient weapon called Pluton. This power implies that the Sea King species is very powerful indeed, but it is noted that due to the nature of this ability when used for the greater evil it is a most dangerous ability, as if they are drawn into a rage by the Mermaid's ability unintentionally through shock due to the mermaid's lack of control, they can destroy and sink every land mass into the ocean thus making the ability a threat to Fishman Island.

In the past, Vander Decken went looking for a mermaid princess of legend with this ability drawn to the bottom of the ocean in his search. The search continued with every member thereafter until Vander Decken IX. Shirahoshi is believed to be the current mermaid with this ability.

Besides the Mermaid of legend, the only other people who seem to be able to hear the Sea King have been Monkey D. Luffy and Gol D. Roger. The latter was said to be able to "hear the voice of all things".

The Distant Past
800 years ago during the Void Century the Sea Kings made a promise to tow the ship Noah thanks to the mermaid known as Poseidon's and her abilities. However, Joy Boy, who made the deal with Fishman Island and Poseidon failed to keep up his end of the bargain and Noah was never used leaving its mission unknown.

The Sea King Menace
Sea Kings occupy the Calm Belt. In the past their reputation and numbers have been the sole protection for Amazon Lily located inside the Calm Belt itself. However elsewhere, islands close to it such as Water 7 remained cut off.

Instances Throughout History

 * During Montblanc Noland's return to Jaya, the two ships led by his king encountered a Sea King themselves. Terrified of such a beast, the king left Noland to handle it by himself. In a published false story, however, the king himself was the hero who defeated the Sea King.
 * Sea Kings were the reason behind Dorry's and Brogy's contest to see who was the stronger warrior. They caught one each and began arguing over who caught the bigger Sea King.
 * Yorki is believed to have perished when he attempted to flee the Grand Line via the Calm Belt.
 * Franky began his attempt to best one of these beasts as a child. He began building the Battle Frankys. Ten years before the storyline, he successfully kills a Sea King. However his ships for killing Sea Kings would later become part of a plan hatched by Spandam.
 * Twelve years ago, Higuma is killed by a Sea King and Shanks loses an arm to the same Sea King while saving the life of Monkey D. Luffy.
 * Ten years ago, it is revealed that Shirahoshi has the ability to control Sea Kings, unknowingly using this ability to save her mother.

Changing Times
After centuries of ruling the sea, the Sea Kings' control over the Calm Belt has been lessened. Dr. Vegapunk discovered that Seastone emits the same aura as the sea, resulting in the Marines lining the hulls of all their ships with it and thus are completely ignored by the Sea Kings. For the first time, ships can move in and out of the Grand Line freely. Also, the Sea Train was invented by Tom to create trade and travel between Water 7 and its neighbouring islands, and was designed to create a noise that repels Sea Kings.

Fishman Island
During the Fishman Island arc, the Sea Kings were summoned by Shirahoshi's will to become Luffy's strength. The Sea Kings lend their strength to aid Luffy in protecting the island by stopping Noah from crashing into the island. In the process, they also protected the ship from being completely destroyed by Luffy. They then reveal to Shirahoshi that it was indeed her that called them and it was her wish to aid Luffy that led to their actions. The Sea Kings go on saying that Shirahoshi has been destined to be their queen and they move Noah to the Sea Forest where it will be fixed.

Trivia

 * Very few Sea Kings end up with names, only those who commonly inhabited the same waters receive names. The Sea King that ate Shanks' arm is known as Lord of the Coast, and Long Ring Long Land island had a Sea King called Master of the Waters.
 * Sea King meat is apparently considered a delicacy as Luffy has claimed that food made out of Sea King meat is "crazy good stuff". It is also one of Zoro's favorite foods.
 * Though nameless, some of the Sea Kings seen early in the series often crop up in intros and outros even though Oda himself has never reused them for the storyline until chapter 647 in which many anime-familiar sea kings appear all at once in the same panel. Notably, a puffy white Sea King with a bird's beak has been in multiple introductions.
 * "Sea-King" was a term given to powerful Viking pirates.
 * Sea Kings and the other large sized monsters of the world are most likely based on the illustrations of Sea monsters found on old maps, often placed on the map as a warning to sailors traveling in those waters as a result of local superstitions. This practice was abandoned with the use of modern cartography technqiues.
 * Interestingly enough this is the second case that Luffy could hear an animal speaking that no one else but a single person could hear. Previously, Luffy heard the voice of the Sennenryu in the anime filler Warship Island Arc storyline that only Apis could hear. (ironically it was in this filler arc that the crews canon foray into the Calm Belt was shown, which revealed the group of Sea Kings for the first time)

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