Sakazuki

Fleet Admiral Sakazuki (サカズキ元帥), better known by his alias Akainu (赤犬), is the fleet admiral of the Marines. He was one of the three admirals and the last one to be fully revealed until he defeated Aokiji during the timeskip, which resulted in his promotion to fleet admiral.

Akainu is a vicious extremist, whose name incites terror into the hearts of pirates and marines alike. Because of his actions during the Battle of Marineford, he is one of Luffy's most notorious adversaries, and one of the main antagonists of the series.

Appearance
Akainu is an incredibly tall man, about as tall as his fellow admirals, with a square shaped face, very pronounced facial features and short black hair. He usually wears a standard Marine cap and sports a crimson, double-breasted suit, decorated with what appear to be a pink rose on his left buttonhole. Unlike many high-ranking Marines, he does not wear a tie, instead leaving his light flower-patterned shirt unbuttoned showing his muscular neck and part of his tattoo. He wears black gloves and shoes.

The tattoo on the left side of his chest is black (light-blue in the anime), it contains numerous images of flowers integrated into its design. Akainu's tattoo has flame-shaped edges and it extends from the admiral's left shoulder to his hip, covering part of his back and ribs. He has another, smaller tattoo in the shape of a black sword on his right deltoid and a small part of the biceps. In the anime, his eye color is seen to be brown and this was also shown in a colored drawing by Eiichiro Oda.

Twenty-two years ago, at the Ohara incident, he wore a simple white Marine cap under a dark gray hood that seemed to be a part of a cloak he wore beneath his suit, or Marine coat. Until getting off his chair in order to destroy an incoming iceberg during the Battle of Marineford, his face was always hidden by his cap.

As a child, Sakazuki still had the grim disposition he retained as an adult. He also wore tattered clothes and carried a dagger.

Personality
We have to be thorough! If even one of those scholars made it onto that ship, all of the sacrifices we've made would be for nothing! We must eliminate the very possibility of this "evil" existing!!

Sakazuki is a firm believer in Absolute Justice, and is ruthless in his maintenance of it, in fact his motto is "Thorough Justice" (徹底的な正義). He has a stern, dead-serious disposition, grim, expressionless, and was the most ruthless out of all three admirals two years ago. Despite this disposition, like Eustass Kid, Akainu seems to be able to restrain himself at times, having chosen to spare Jewelry Bonney's life after the latter was left by the Blackbeard Pirates for Akainu to salvage, along with her crew, and letting fellow comrade Aokiji live despite the latter losing to him in a 10 day fight over the position of fleet admiral.

Akainu's beliefs led him to go as far as destroying a refugee ship simply because of the miniscule possibility that a scholar could be hiding on board. His logic is that if even one of the scholars of Ohara had escaped with it, the mission would have been a failure, much to the dismay of Kuzan, who called him a fool for overdoing things. Akainu takes his extremist attitude as far as to kill anyone who does not share his point of view, as he attempted to execute Coby for his plea to stop the war. Additionally, he has no tolerance for Marines who desert their posts and even appeals of wanting to return to families instead of dying does not sway his sympathy, the only consolation he does offer is that they should not dishonor their families by running away. Caesar Clown also believed that Akainu would desire his ideas of mass-murder weapons and inhumane experimentation on prisoners, in contrast to the more sympathetic Sengoku. To Akainu, any Marine who is not willing to fight for justice is not worthy to be called a Marine. Despite all of this even Akainu could not kill his former comrade Kuzan.

Despite his position as an admiral prior to promotion, Akainu is willing to lie or deceive his enemies in order to achieve Justice. So far, Akainu's manipulations have been incredibly successful such as he managed to deceive Squard through Sengoku's master strategy, or insulting Whitebeard to get Ace angry enough to stop his attempt at escape. He finds people who attempt to interfere with him as nothing more than irritating obstacles. Furthermore, he seems in many ways unafraid of older legends and comments on this when Whitebeard claims to his men not to be intimidated by Garp, while Akainu says that he and Garp are of the same generation and promptly attacks him. While other Marines, such as Sengoku and Garp, share a decent amount of respect for their enemies, Akainu has no such empathy, instead insulting them at every chance he gets.

Prior to Sengoku making it public, Akainu is one of the few who knew that Luffy was Dragon's son. It is unknown if he has some past relationship with Dragon or if it was simply common knowledge among the higher ranking Marines that Dragon is Garp's son. As such, Akainu deems that Luffy's mere existence, due to being Dragon's son, is enough to be a threat to the world, and must be eliminated. In fact, Akainu's beliefs of heritage run deep enough that he declares that even if every other pirate escapes, he personally will not permit Ace or Luffy to leave the war alive due to their bloodlines, to the point of actively hunting Luffy himself, even though Blackbeard was destroying Marineford. He views criminals, whether they be pirates or any other sort for that matter, as tools to be used against each other.

Despite his austere disposition, he does seem to have at least a measure of compassion, as he spared Kuzan's life during what was supposed to be a duel to the death.

Marines
As the Marine fleet admiral, Akainu has command over the entire Marines. Marines respect him and used to call him "Admiral Sakazuki" most of the time, as opposed to his alias.

Nevertheless, his ruthless adherence to "Absolute Justice" has made his colleagues fear and despise him, especially Aokiji, who called him a fool for taking things too far. In turn, Akainu can easily kill any Marines who contradicts his beliefs, as he executed a soldier for leaving his post in fear, and made an attempt on Coby's life for voicing his objections for taking the war too far. Aokiji strongly opposed Akainu becoming fleet admiral and dueled him for the position. After winning, Akainu decided to spare Aokiji because they were comrades, showing at least some compassion, if only for a whim, though Aokiji chose to leave the marines and resign from the position of admiral, as to not serve under Akainu. His ruthlessness also made Caesar Clown believe Sakazuki would support the ideas of mass-murder weapons and using prisoners as guinea pigs.

Akainu also did not show any respect to Monkey D. Garp, despite the old vice admiral being a "hero" who was eligible for the position of admiral, due to him being from the previous generation and for sharing the same lineage with Dragon and Luffy. Garp, in turn, tried to murder Sakazuki for executing Ace, and had to be restrained by Sengoku.

Whitebeard Pirates
As Akainu boldly insulted Whitebeard, he earned the wrath of Portgas D. Ace, who viewed the captain as a father figure. This made Ace lose his chance to retreat in an attempt to strike down Akainu in revenge, only to fail and ultimately lose his life at the hands of the then admiral. Akainu, in turn, viewed Ace as one of the two most dangerous individuals (the other one being Luffy) in the world, due to his father being Gol D. Roger.

Akainu feigned sympathy towards Squard to get him to betray Whitebeard, then brutally injured Whitebeard and killed Ace, which resulted in the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates directing their anger toward him, and the remaining commanders attempting to fight against him, even though they might have been killed. Whitebeard himself brutally injured Akainu (an example of this would be when Akainu was placed at the epicenter of a shockwave, courtesy of the Gura Gura no Mi) out of revenge for Ace's demise. Akainu, however, views all pirates as criminals that are not allowed to exist, and the Whitebeard Pirates are no exception.

Monkey D. Luffy
Due to Luffy being the son of the Revolutionary Dragon, Akainu views him as the most dangerous threat to the world, along with Ace, and possesses an immensely dangerous obsession with ending Luffy's life. After killing Ace and sending Luffy into a mental breakdown, Akainu hounded Luffy throughout the remainder of the war, insistent that he would not escape Marineford alive. To this end, the admiral ignored all surrounding threats, and focused solely on taking Luffy's life. Akainu showed frustration when Shanks's intervention allowed Luffy to escape. Even though he failed to take Luffy's life during the war, he managed to give Luffy an X-shaped scar that covers most of his chest. Furthermore, Akainu did the only thing that no one else could do in the entire series: completely break Luffy's spirit.

Akainu always refers to Luffy as "Dragon's son", viewing him as a global-scale threat solely based on heritage, and that Luffy must be eliminated at all costs. On the other hand, Luffy holds great resentment toward Akainu for killing his brother, although after learning of Akainu's promotion, he was quick to return to his old carefree attitude after a brief moment of anger.

Abilities and Powers
As the current Fleet Admiral, Akainu has command over the entire Marine organization, from ordering all soldiers and officers to issuing a Buster Call on any island he deems to be a threat. His only superiors are the World Government's Commander-in-Chief Kong and the Gorosei.

Akainu's background, specifically his black-hearted behavior, is renowned, especially among the stronger figures in the New World, striking fear into the hearts of pirates and marines alike. After Van Augur identified Akainu aboard a marine ship for negotiations, Blackbeard immediately fled, knowing the consequences of battling against him, even after Blackbeard had gained the powers of the Gura Gura no Mi, and strengthened his crew with several of Impel Down's most powerful criminals. Many high ranking echelons within the World Government suggested Sakazuki to become the succeeding fleet admiral over Kuzan, thus further supporting his incredible military might. Furthermore, Jinbe noted the Marines have become a much more powerful organization under Sakazuki despite the resignations of Garp, Sengoku and Kuzan, indicating great leadership on Sakazuki's behalf.

He is a very skilled manipulator, using his knowledge of his opponents to deceive them into doing what he wants. He feigned sympathy to Squard, and used his hatred of the late Pirate King to influence him into betraying his loyalty to Whitebeard. He also used Ace's devotion to Whitebeard to his advantage, insulting Whitebeard in order to provoke Ace into attacking him and preventing escape, and ultimately killing the young pirate by aiming for his younger brother.

Akainu has an incredible amount of superhuman durability shown by the fact that not even two quake-powered blows at point-blank range from Whitebeard were able to keep him down, the latter of the two was powerful enough to split Marine Ford in two, and he was still able to fight the Whitebeard Pirates and two former Shichibukai (Crocodile and Jinbe). He has enormous stamina, being able to fight numerous enemies and being able to keep going without showing any signs of exhaustion. He was able to easily defeat Jinbe, Emporio Ivankov, and Inazuma. His durability also extends to Haki attacks since it took Whitebeard's own Haki to actually affect him. He also is shown to possess unimaginable strength, as seen when he stopped Whitebeard's bisento with just one leg. He also has extremely acute hearing, being able to hear activity underwater, before the Whitebeard War began. Furthermore, he was the one who emerged victorious from the ten day duel duel between him and Aokiji for the position of the Fleet Admiral, even though they both suffered grave injuries.

Haki
It was stated that all vice admirals possess Haki, so with two ranks above vice admiral, Akainu can also use this ability. He was seen using his Busoshoku Haki to negate Whitebeard's attempt to destroy the execution platform, by creating, with his fellow admirals, a shield combination of their three Haki.

Devil Fruit
Akainu possesses the Magu Magu no Mi, a Logia-class Devil Fruit which grants him the ability to transform his body into magma and manipulate it at will. As a Logia, Akainu can let physical attacks pass through him without injury and can only be wounded with the use of Haki, Kairoseki, being caught off guard and his elemental weakness. Apparently, Akainu is aware of Haki and found some way to avoid Haki attacks, even after Marco and Vista sliced him in the neck with Haki infused attacks.

Our powers are in a relationship of superiority! His ability is naturally of a higher order than Ace's pyrokinetic abilities, as the higher heat and smothering abilities of his magma allowed him to successfully harm Ace despite Ace's Logia-defense, and ultimately kill Ace due to this superiority. Akainu's Devil Fruit allows him to take on people like Emporio Ivankov and Jinbe with minimal effort. During the decisive ten day battle on Punk Hazard for the position of fleet admiral, Akainu showed the furious power of his Devil Fruit as he changed the weather of one side of Punk Hazard and left it in a blaze.

A Storm in the Edd War
When the Marines learned that the Roger Pirates and the Golden Lion Pirates were about to battle in the Edd War, three years before the death of the Pirate King, Sakazuki was seen in the Marineford, walking with Garp, Kuzan, Saul and Tsuru, listening to the conversation about Garp's efforts to capture Gol D. Roger.

Ohara Incident
He was known as Vice Admiral Sakazuki before his promotion. He was present at the Ohara incident, being one of the five vice admirals leading the Buster Call bombardment. He ordered the destruction of an evacuation ship of civilians and soldiers, claiming it needed to be destroyed in case a single scholar managed to sneak on board (an action that horrified even Spandine).

War Against the Whitebeard Pirates
Vice Admiral Momonga mentioned to Boa Hancock that the three Marine admirals, including Akainu, will lead the Marines against the Whitebeard Pirates following the announcement of Portgas D. Ace's execution. Following the gathering at Marineford, Akainu was seen sitting beneath the execution platform of Portgas D. Ace with his fellow Marine admirals.

Akainu stepped into the battle when Jozu hurled a massive iceberg, displaying abilities to control volcanic rock by launching a fist made of lava to destroy the iceberg and sending small burning rocks flying all over the place, destroying one of Whitebeard's ships.

He was later seen confronting a Marine officer who was fleeing from the battle not wanting to die out of concern for his family. Akainu attacks, and brutally executes the Marine officer for this "cowardice", much to the horror of Coby and Helmeppo who were watching (having nearly ran into the admiral themselves doing the same thing). Akainu then receives a report on the Den Den Mushi that the preparations for Sengoku's plan are set. Luffy's arrival at Marineford has Admiral Akainu commenting that, as the son of Dragon, Luffy is the one pirate who must be eliminated at all costs.

During the battle, following Sengoku's orders, Akainu talks to Captain Squard, making him believe that Whitebeard has betrayed his allies, trading their lives for Ace's. He demonstrates his words making Squard notice that the Pacifistas has attacked everyone in the bay but Whitebeard's pirates, this being also part of Sengoku's plan. He tells Squard he does not agree with the plan of sparing Ace's and Whitebeard's life, and offers him the chance to save himself and his own crew if he kills Whitebeard. Because of his deep hatred for Gol D. Roger, who killed his first crew, Squard believes him and attacks Whitebeard, stabbing him in the chest.

Whitebeard survives Squard's attack, forgives his ally and starts a massive attack against the Marines, using his Devil Fruit's powers. Akainu, along with Aokiji and Kizaru, manages to stop Whitebeard's seismic waves directed to the platform on which Ace is chained.



After the steel wall is finally raised around the pirates, Akainu starts to attack the pirates with his Ryūsei Kazan, melting Aokiji's ice and destroying the Moby Dick. Much later, when Luffy is hurled over the siege wall and lands before the execution platform, Akainu sneers before commenting on how bold the son of Dragon is. After Whitebeard and his crew successfully enter the plaza, Whitebeard begins to swing his Bisento for another attack when Akainu intervenes, telling him that the island will not hold out long if he keeps on like that. Whitebeard then tells him he should try and protect it. They both use their Devil Fruit powers and clash with each other.

When Garp joins the battle, Whitebeard tells his men that he is just an old man and should not be fooled. Akainu retaliates and says that Whitebeard himself is also of the same generation. The two clash again, causing another rampage in Marineford. Akainu is angry at Whitebeard and shouts at him for destroying the city, and Whitebeard repeats what he said before and tells him he should protect it. Suddenly, Whitebeard grabs his chest and coughs up a massive amount of blood. Akainu comments on how Whitebeard cannot escape the effects of the old age and takes full advantage by landing a devastating blow to Whitebeard's chest with molten magma.



Luffy unleashes a wave of Haoshoku Haki, saving Ace from the second execution attempt, while Akainu notices that Luffy used his power unconsciously. When Ace is finally freed, Akainu assures his men that there is nothing to worry about, since the two pirate brothers are going to be captured again and executed. He then confronts Luffy and Ace, and provokes Ace into attacking him by badmouthing Whitebeard. After Ace's attack backfired, Akainu says that his magma can consume Ace's fire and is thus able to injure Ace despite his Logia intangibility, making him his natural enemy.



He goes on to state that both Luffy and Ace deserve to be executed due to their parentage and attacks Luffy, but Ace throws himself in the way. Ace takes Akainu's devastating attack through his torso, which shortly leads to his tragic death. Akainu then burns Jinbe as the latter attempts to protect Ace from a strike to the head. Marco and Vista attack him with their haki, and he comments on how much of a nuisance they are. Enraged at the death of Ace, Whitebeard attacked Akainu, striking him from the back with a crippling blow. Akainu got back up and attacked back, nearly taking off half of Whitebeard's face.



Akainu, having survived Whitebeard's onslaught, tunneled underground and reappeared in front of Jinbe as he was making his way to the escape ship. Akainu demanded Jinbe to hand over Luffy, but Jinbe refused, stating that he will protect Luffy with his life. Akainu then prepared to attack, but Ivankov appeared and blasted Akainu with a Hell Wink. He later heard Blackbeard as he declared to the entire world that the age of Blackbeard has begun. Despite Blackbeard's grave announcement and his newly acquired power, he still chose to continue pursuing Luffy.

Akainu then subdued Ivankov and Inazuma and continued to chase after Jinbe and Luffy, which ends in Akainu piercing through Jinbe and straight towards Luffy, critically injuring the both of them. When he was prepared to finish them off, Crocodile repelled him and got Luffy and Jinbe out of the admiral's reach. Akainu then prepared to face off against Crocodile and the Whitebeard Pirates. In the anime the events of this battle are touched upon showing massive explosions rocking Marineford, sending nearby pirates flying back. Large geysers of magma are shown showering the escaping New World Pirates. His efforts to pursue Luffy are consistently stalled by Marco deflecting all of his attacks and the Whitebeard Pirates forcing him back with a barrage of bullet and cannon fire, at which he comments is irritating.



He takes down Curiel and goes into a blind rage yelling to the marines to not let pirates roam this earth. He, along with the whole battlefield, is stopped by Coby as he yells for the fighting to stop. Akainu is outraged at this and attacks Coby, only to have his punch blocked by Shanks. Akainu is angered that Shanks's interference has caused Luffy to escape his grasp. After Aokiji and Kizaru's failed attempts on Luffy's life and Sengoku complying with Shanks's demands to end the Whitebeard War, Akainu was very displeased.

After the War


When the Blackbeard Pirates' raft is damaged because of the size of Sanjuan Wolf, Marshall D. Teach takes Jewelry Bonney and her crew as a means of exchange with the World Government for a new ship. The Marines do not seem to accept the exchange, since Akainu is sent to the island. Blackbeard and his crew escape, leaving Bonney behind. Akainu faces Bonney, saying that the World Government has been worried due to her disappearance, with Bonney replying that she hates the World Government and the Marines.

A Rise in Rank


Sakazuki was nominated for the position of fleet admiral after Sengoku had retired. Aokiji, however, was against the idea of having him become the new fleet admiral and the two admirals battled each other for the position on Punk Hazard. The battle lasted for ten days, and their respective powers caused Punk Hazard to permanently be frozen on one half and burning on the other. In the end, Akainu ended up as the victor of that battle (albeit both men were seriously wounded). Akainu, however, decided to let Aokiji live because they were comrades.

His new leadership has given the Marines a stronger sense of Absolute Justice. Not wanting to serve under Akainu, Aokiji decided to resign from the Marines. After becoming Fleet Admiral, Sakazuki decided to relocate the Marine HQ to the New World in exchange for the G-1 branch.

Filler Battles

 * Akainu vs. Squard

Translation and Dub Issues
Sakazuki's alias, "Akainu", means "Red Dog" in Japanese. His real name Sakazuki (盃) means "sake cup".

Anime and Manga Differences
The anime-only Vice Admiral Jonathan is said to be Akainu's protege, but unlike his mentor who is a pure believer in Absolute Justice, Jonathan believes more in Moral Justice.

Merchandise


Akainu has been a choice character in several series of merchandise. He has been featured in the Portrait of Pirates Figuarts Zero, One Piece DX Figure, One Piece High Spec Coloring Figure, Ichiban Kuji One Piece and Super Modeling Soul One Piece lines. But also in the World Collectable,One Piece Super Effect, One Piece Amazing Log Collection,Deformeister Petit One Piece,One Piece Super Deformed Figures, Anichara Heroes, One Piece Full Face Jr. and the One Piece Logbox series.

Trivia



 * Akainu is the first antagonist to kill an important character outside a flashback (whom Luffy loved as a brother), and also the first to make Luffy almost forsake his dream. He is now the commander-in-chief of the Marine forces, who are central antagonists of One Piece.
 * The way Akainu's character design is drawn resembles the famous Japanese actor, Bunta Sugawara. Akainu's real name, Sakazuki is apparently based on the three movies of Bunta Sugawara with "Sakazuki" in the title. Even Akainu's birthday is based on Sugawara's.
 * His nickname, along with the other admirals' (Aokiji, Akainu, and Kizaru), are taken from Momotaro legends (Momotaro met Pheasant, Dog, and Monkey as friends to accompany him in his journey).
 * Before being revealed in the manga, Akainu's abilities were the center of many myths among fans.

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Akainu Akainu Akainu Akainu Sakazuki 赤犬 薩卡斯基