Vergo

"Demon Bamboo" Vergo (鬼竹のヴェルゴ) is a subordinate of Donquixote Doflamingo, Marine vice admiral, and head of G-5 who made his first appearance on Punk Hazard. Because of his duplicitous conduct and allegiances he can be considered the secondary antagonist of the Punk Hazard Arc.

Appearance
Vergo is a tall man with short dark hair, a beard, sideburns, and sunglasses. From his sideburns on, he grew his facial hair horizontally. On his cheek he grew it downwards with a pointed end.

He also wears a knee-length trench coat that has a quilted design which stops just below his waist, where the coat then has a plain design, with two dark pockets slightly above the chest on either side. Under the coat he wears a light colored shirt with a dark colored tie. He also wears dark colored gloves.

As Vergo is a messy eater, he tends to have pieces of food stuck to his face from time to time, such as French fries when residents of a certain island had a flashback of him, and when he was first introduced he had a partially eaten hamburger patty stuck to his left cheek. However once pointed out by Monet, Vergo then proceeded to finish eating the piece of food stuck to his cheek.

During his time as a vice admiral of G-5, Vergo wore a Marine coat over his current attire.

Personality
Through his short confrontation with Trafalgar Law, Vergo proved himself to be a shrewd man due to his mistrust of Caesar Clown, having Monet placed on the island to monitor his actions. He can also come across as condescending, mocking Law's position by pretending to have some respect for the Shichibukai. Seeing himself as above the Shichibukai, Vergo quickly reminds Law of the difference in their power by beating him unconscious. He is also shown to be a person who demands respect from others, such as when he demanded that Law refer to him as Vergo-san.

Vergo stated that his favorite food is hamburgers. He appears to be a very messy eater, as he was first shown to have the hamburger still on the side of his cheek, and apparently not noticing until Monet pointed it out.

While around citizens, Vergo is cited to be an amiable person, in comparison to the other G-5 Marines. The parents of the children kept on Punk Hazard trusted Vergo's words that all of the missing children died in accidents at sea. His statement caused them to partly believe that they were truly gone, though some parents still believe that their children are alive. Easily deceiving both citizens and the entire Marine bureaucracy, Vergo has proven himself to be highly manipulative and deceptive. His true identity being a secret to most, he can become very cruel and ruthless once he reveals his true disposition, and would murder his own subordinates without so much as a moment of hesitation or explanation.

Despite his perceived intelligence however, Vergo can at times seems to lapse into moments of witlessness such as when he claimed to Caesar Clown that he had been enjoying coffee and cookies, only to be reminded shortly after that there had never been any cookies to begin with. Another example is when he was about to go after Smoker and Law, he could not remember where he put his sword, only for Monet to remind him that he is not a swordsman. Later, he claimed to have bought a camera only to be reminded that he did not buy one at all.

Smoker
Vergo was concerned about Smoker's transfer to G-5, as he mentions that from the day Smoker was transferred, he had to put up the largest possible guard to prevent Smoker from finding him out. Vergo also expressed the desire to murder Smoker by accident, since he knows his true disposition. Smoker in turn expresses disdain for his colleague's felonies and intends to battle him alone in retribution for his treason against the Marines.

G-5
As Vergo acts congenial towards everyone under his jurisdiction, his subordinates admire him despite their ruthless disregards for laws. However, when the situation calls for it, Vergo can mercilessly kill any G-5 Marines, which led them to adamantly believe that the Vergo attacking them is an impostor, as they insist the Vergo they know is a kind and caring person. Smoker and Tashigi are the only two G-5 personnel who discovered the truth.

Donquixote Doflamingo
Vergo is stated to be Donquixote Doflamingo's most beneficial and trustworthy Marine officer. In the past Vergo enlisted in the Marines under Doflamingo's orders.

Caesar Clown
Caesar Clown seems to trust Vergo, as demonstrated by him giving the Marine Law's heart, who was later able to use it to incapacitate Law when he had begun to move against them. However, Vergo and his group's distrust towards Caesar led them to hire Monet and place her in Caesar’s organization. Caesar, in turn, considers Vergo to be expendable, as he ordered the Shinokuni gas to be leaked into the room where Vergo was engaging his subordinates in order to exterminate the G-5 Marines as part of the demonstration while revealing that Vergo's life was never a priority compared to the experiment.

Trafalgar Law
Vergo has a past relationship with Trafalgar Law. Vergo knows the Shichibukai since they were members of Doflamingo’s crew. Vergo mocks Law by pretending to respect him as a Shichibukai, and then beating him unconscious without hesitation. On Doflamingo's orders, Vergo intends to kill Law.

Abilities and Powers
Vergo is a powerful man, and he is confident that he is above an opponent like Trafalgar Law, who is powerful enough to become a Shichibukai, and backed up his confidence by easily defeating Law, though he had Law's heart to weaken and incapacitate him before their confrontation; either case, Doflamingo has enough confidence in Vergo to entrust him to kill Law in the most brutal method possible. He has shown to be highly durable, as he was able to shake off a direct kick to the head from Sanji, who had strengthened the blow with Diable Jambe, although the attack did cause him to spit out blood and even Law's Counter Shock did little damage. He possesses incredible physical strength, as with one kick he was able to fracture a bone in Sanji's leg, a noteworthy achievement due to Sanji's leg having high durability.

Being a vice admiral and head of G-5, he has command over lower ranking subordinates, as well as control over the entire base. He is also skillful enough to deceive the entire Marine force, even the observant Smoker in hiding his true affiliations, as well as deceive citizens with pretexts by falsifying the crimes into "accidents".

Vergo has demonstrated the ability to quickly change the density of an object into something much harder, turning a bamboo stick he was holding into a blackened substance before striking Law with enough force to knock him unconscious. While using this ability, his hand and wrist also turn into the same blackened material. The ability was demonstrated defensively when he blocked Tashigi's sword with just his arm. Sanji describes this ability like a mass of iron, thus making Vergo's body very durable to attacks. He can also utilize it onto his bare limbs to enhance his strikes. This ability is similar in appearance and effect to Monkey D. Luffy's Busoshoku: Koka, which uses Haki to harden parts of the body, turning them black. His ability is what earned him the epithet "Demon Bamboo".

Rokushiki
Like several other high-ranking Marines, Vergo has access to the Rokushiki martial arts style and he has demonstrated the technique Shigan while fighting G-5 Marines at Punk Hazard. He was also seen using Geppo to escape from Sanji and for midair travel through a hallway.

Haki
It was stated that all vice admirals possess Haki, so Vergo can also use the ability. So far, he has been seen using an ability similar to Luffy's Busoshoku: Koka in which he can harden his body parts, though, whether this is the result of haki or some other ability is yet to be known.

Weapons
When attacking Law, Vergo was seen using a bamboo stick that he combined with his ability to harden it into a black material, which may be a reference to his nickname "Demon Bamboo".

Past
Vergo met Law a long time ago when Law was a subordinate of Joker. Vergo himself was a pirate, but before becoming famous, he enlisted in the Marines under Doflamingo's orders, and ascended the ranks for about fifteen years, eventually becoming a vice admiral, while keeping his true identity hidden from everyone outside of his affiliates. This allowed Joker to have in his control one of the most trusted and convenient Marines available to him. While he was a echelon of the Marines, he claimed to visit his sick sister in his hometown.

Vergo also benefited Caesar's research by reporting the kidnapped children to have died in accidents at sea, in the official Marine reports, as well as helping to shroud the true nature of Punk Hazard in mystery, though out of distrust, Monet was placed as a deep cover agent to monitor the deranged scientist on behalf of Joker.

Punk Hazard Arc
During the battle between Caesar, the Straw Hat Pirates, and the G-5 Marines, Vergo comes across Law just as the young man fell to the ground, suffering some kind of internal damage as he begins to cough up blood. He explains that his mistrust of Caesar led him to placing Monet on the island as a deep cover agent, he mockingly compliments Law on his new position as a Shichibukai. Reminding Law in a condescending manner of how the "adults" will always find out his secrets, Law tries to attack Vergo, who then brutally beats him to the ground, knocking the Shichibukai unconscious.

Vergo then captures Law, and puts him in a cage along with Luffy, Robin, Franky, Smoker, and Tashigi. Vergo questions Caesar's motives, which Monet suggests that since he has awoken his pet, Smiley, that he must be starting a new experiment. Monet asks Vergo if he ate a hamburger this morning, which Vergo answers saying that it is his favourite and how she knew. Monet tells him there is some meat left on his cheek. Vergo is revealed as Vice Admiral Vergo, head of the Marine G-5 base. Vergo continues his conversation with Monet saying that he would like to see the experiment and asks if everyone outside is going to die. Monet answers saying probably but he will be safe inside the research facility. Smoker interrupts the conversation shouting at Vergo that the men outside are his subordinates. Vergo knows this but does not seem to care being more interested in the captives being held in the cage, referring to it as a grand line up. Luffy then asks Law who Joker is, and Law reveals him to be Donquixote Doflamingo.



Vergo is later seen sitting with Monet drinking coffee while Caesar makes his broadcast to the various illegal brokers. During this broadcast it was revealed that Vergo was able to swiftly defeat Law due to the fact that after the Shichibukai and Caesar had made a deal involving the former and Monet's hearts, Caesar had then presented it to Vergo who subsequently used it to severely weaken Law during their battle.

After the Straw Hats, Law, Kinemon, Brownbeard, and the G-5 Marines all get together, Vergo is seen with Caesar and Monet while Caesar is being informed that the Straw Hat Pirates, G-5 Marines, Kinemon and Brownbeard are in the base. Vergo says that he is going to have to go kill Law, and looks for his sword. Monet tells him he does not have a blade, since he is not a swordsman, and Vergo remembers he is not but he swears he will deal with these brats.



Arriving in the area the G-5 Marines had been left in, he initially does nothing while the soldiers celebrate his sudden appearance, believing him to be leading reinforcements. However, he quickly assaults them using his Shigan technique and defeats Tashigi before she can do any harm to him. About to commence a massacre, Vergo is suddenly attacked by an enraged Sanji who claimed to have heard a woman's falling tears. Vergo engages Sanji in battle stating his slaughter of his subordinates is a private affair to which Sanji responds with disdain for his attitude.

Vergo uses an unknown ability, nearly cracking Sanji's bones during a connected attack. An emergency broadcast is heard from the D Building that Law is in the manufacture room of the SAD room much to Vergo's alarm discerning it was what Law was after ever since he became a Shichibukai and that whatever he is planning will make a mess of the New World. After running away from Sanji, Vergo contacts Donquixote Doflamingo and informs him of Law's betrayal. Doflamingo orders him to mercilessly kill Law, and Vergo agrees to bring back an ear to show proof of Law's death. Doflamingo then tells Vergo, Caesar, and Monet that he is going to send two subordinates (Baby 5 and Buffalo) to Punk Hazard, and when they arrive, all of them are to return to Dressrosa.

Afterwards, Vergo arrives at the SAD room to confront Law. During the fight, Law tries to recapture his heart, but Vergo beats him to the ground and steals the heart back. Law uses a Counter Shock on him, but it is ineffective. Law tells him that he was the one miscalculation in his plan and Vergo prepares to finish him, when Smoker suddenly shows up and prepares to fight Vergo.

Major Battles

 * Vergo vs. Trafalgar Law
 * Vergo vs. G-5 Marines and Tashigi
 * Vergo vs. Sanji
 * Vergo vs. Trafalgar Law (SAD room)

Translation and Dub Issues
Vergo's epithet, Kichiku would normally to translate into "Brute". However, the kanji for it is written as 鬼竹 (literally meaning "demon bamboo") instead of the usual 鬼畜, making his epithet a Japanese pun.

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