Shiki

Shiki the Golden Lion (金獅子のシキ) is the notorious captain of the Golden Lion Pirates and the first prisoner ever to escape from Impel Down. He wreaked havoc on the seas during Roger's time and is the main antagonist of the 10th One Piece Movie. He is also known as the "Flying Pirate".

Appearance
Shiki is a pirate dressed in traditional Japanese clothes consisting of a yellow, a red and a black robe tied together with a dark green sash and he wears a yellow stripped tattered coat draped over his shoulders. He has golden mane-like hair, and on the top of his head is a part of steering wheel that got lodged into his head after his battle with Roger. The doctor has noted that trying to remove it could result in death, as it is lodged too deep. Shiki himself thought he looked like a chicken without realizing that it was himself when looking into a mirror. As for his facial features, he sports a golden bushy tuff of hair for a beard at the bottom of his chin, and a dark goatee surrounding the edges of his mouth. He is usually seen smoking a cigar.

After cutting off his own legs to escape Impel Down instead of using more conventional prosthesis, he uses his own swords as prosthetic legs, which he openly shows. He is quite skilled at using the swords, as he has little difficulty standing or walking using them.

His overall design resembles a typical shogun.

Personality
Shiki is usually a calm person at most times. He takes most things with a cheerful smile and even getting a steering wheel stuck in his head, losing half his Pirate fleet to Roger, or cutting off his feet didn't bring him down much. He also seems to be a little bit absentminded, as he mistook himself for a rooster when he saw his reflection after the steering wheel was lodged in his head. Shiki is one of the many Pirates whose utmost respect had been gained by Roger. In fact, during their youth, the two Pirates flew into several skirmishes against each other, but in their last battle, Shiki has shown to be willing to treat the past like "water under the bridge" if Roger would just agree to cooperate with him. Shiki seems to have a knack for planning, often those with grandiose (which he once attempted to invite Roger to take part of), and even Whitebeard seems to warily view him in his regard. He possesses an extreme amount of patience as shown by the fact he was not upset at all about having to wait for twenty years before he could complete his plan.

He has shown that, when the time calls for it, he can be absolutely ruthless, such as when he slaughtered dozens of Marines at Marineford, and shooting one of his subordinates in annoyance. This stems from his anger, which makes him do such reckless and ruthless actions. The only thing so far that has been shown to make him angry was when the Marines "captured" Roger. This made him angry because he rightfully regarded the Marines to be too weak to beat Roger.

Abilities
Shiki commands a large pirate crew, of at least 51 divisions, somewhat similar to Don Krieg's Pirate Armada and the Whitebeard Pirates. It is unknown how strong his crew is, but what is known is that the largest Pirate Fleet was under his control at that time.

While his exact level in strength is still unknown, during the Roger Era, he was one of the most powerful figures of the time, being in line with Sengoku, Garp and even Whitebeard or Roger. He was also sent to Level 6 in Impel Down, which may also give an idea as to how powerful he is. It is unknown how much strength he lost during imprisonment, or how his strength might be different in the current storyline as opposed to twenty years ago.

Shiki also has a huge tolerance for pain and great endurance having cut off his own legs and then escape Impel Down, which as we see in the Impel Down Arc is a staggering feat.

Devil Fruit
Shiki ate the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, a Paramecia Devil Fruit which allows him to levitate. He can make surrounding non-living matter levitate as well.

Weapons
Shiki possesses two double-edged swords by the names of Outou and Kogarashi, which according to him were famous. In the past he used them like regular swords but later he replaced his legs with them.

He possesses great skills as a swordsman and was able to kill a mountain of Marines before getting captured. Shiki is also capable of attacking from a distance with them, by sending slashes from his sword legs in a Rankyaku like fashion. He was also seemingly able to fight on par against Roger, and later both Garp and Sengoku in their prime.

Past


Twenty five years ago, two years before Gol D. Roger and his crew reached Raftel, Shiki had learned that the Pirate King had located an ancient weapon. Seeing the opportunity, he asked Roger if they could join forces. With his large pirate fleet and Roger's weapon, Shiki believed that together they could take over the whole world. Roger however refused Shiki's offer saying that there was no point in being a pirate if he could not do as he wished. A great sea battle soon ensued between their crews. Due to a storm that happened during their fight, Shiki unfortunately lost and half of his fleet sunk. Despite this and getting a piece of a steering wheel lodged into his head that almost killed him, Shiki came to have great respect for Roger.



After hearing that Roger had been captured Shiki shot the man who had informed him and went to Marineford on his own where he beat up several Marine soldiers. He yelled out how he could not believe how such "wimps" could have captured Roger and told them to bring him out if they had him so that he could kill him with his own hands. Shiki was suddenly approached by Sengoku who went on to explain that he would never have another fight with Roger as he could win and then be able to escape. Sengoku goes on to explain that Roger was scheduled to be executed in Loguetown, "The Town of Beginnings", within a week and that the execution was meant to break the heart of every pirate. As Shiki lamented on the fact that the "Legend of the Pirate King, Roger" would end in the weakest sea and how it would be the greatest insult to him, Monkey D. Garp appears and tells him that East Blue was a symbol of peace while Sengoku explains that they won't let him interfere in the execution. Both Garp and Sengoku prepare to fight and an unseen battle began between the three that destroyed half of Marineford but in the end Shiki lost and was imprisoned in Impel Down.

Shiki lay broken in his cell and heard about how everyone was setting out to find Roger's treasure. He thought to himself that he would prove to the world how pirates were the rulers of the world. Twenty years ago, Shiki was the first prisoner to escape from the great prison Impel Down, by cutting off his own shackled legs and later replaced them using his own personal swords as prosthetic limbs. Because of this event, Sengoku states it was a serious mistake on their part to let him escape.

He later sought out Whitebeard and offered him to be a part of his plan although he was cut short as Whitebeard threatened to throw him overboard if he did not cut his crap. Shiki then revealed to Whitebeard that he would disappear for a while and that he would show the real fear of pirates to the rookie pirates. Shiki is then seen at a mountain on a unexplored Grand Line island. He asked Dr. Indigo how the experiment is coming and is told by Dr. Indigo that he made a discovery that there is balance between the plants and animals on the island. He also explains that many plants and animals can not be found elsewhere to which Shiki interrupts him. Shiki orders him to get straight to the point and asks Dr. Indigo how long will his plan take and is told that it will take twenty years, at least. Accepting this Shiki says that he will then carry out his plan in 20 years and then he will show "them" hell on Earth by releasing tons of mutated animals in the world similar to Boss, declaring war with the world.

Pre-Movie Arc: Little East Blue
After 20 years have passed, Shiki is set to put his plan in motion. However one of his animals, a large horned beetle, escapes from his base of operations. He contacts the Amigo Pirates and their leaders, Largo and Corto, and offers them to let them join his conference provided they retrieve the beetle for him. In the end however they fail thanks to the Straw Hats (though Shiki is unaware of this) and Shiki ultimately dismisses the escaped beetle citing one escapee won't stop his plans.

Major Battles

 * The Golden Lion Pirates vs. The Roger Pirates.
 * Shiki vs. Sengoku and Monkey D. Garp

Early One Piece
In the early design sketches of Shiki, Oda originally drew Shiki as bald and with more lion-like facial features. A later early sketch of Shiki, Oda drew Shiki with the steering wheel but embedded in his head a different position. In an interview about Strong World, Oda also revealed that he originally intended this concept of Shiki to be used on Kuma. He however turned down the idea but later decided to use it for Shiki.

Trivia

 * Like other characters in One Piece, he has a distinct laughter which is "Ji ha ha ha ha".
 * A fan noticed Shiki being mentioned in the manga and asked Oda if the character was one and the same with the character in the movie. Oda confirmed that the two characters were one and the same, and explained more about him. Originally, Oda wanted to include Shiki to be mentioned during the meeting between Shanks and Whitebeard. He however held back because he thought it might be too much info for readers and confusing. At the time also, he did not know that the story about the pirate who caused havoc during Roger's time would be made into a movie.
 * Oda personally selected Takenaka for Shiki due to his large range of character roles.
 * Like other One Piece characters (such as Franky) Shiki has gotten some of the strangest appearance alterations as the result of an injury. He has a steering wheel jammed in his head and replaced his feet with his swords.
 * Of his known surviving crew members, they all have a colour in their name. His colour is "Gold" as per his epithet "Gold Lion".