Minotaurus

Minotaurus is one of the four Demon Guards in Impel Down and the first one to appear. He is an "awakened" Zoan Devil Fruit user that ate a fruit that turns him into a cow.

Appearance
In his Zoan form, Minotaurus is a dumb looking minotaur with cutesy eyes, large lips, and a runny nose. His body pattern resembles that of a Holstein cow. He wears pants, but no shirt. He is often seen with a spiked club that he uses. Before his appearance was fully revealed, he was seen in a silhouette and appeared extremely savage and truly demonic due to his actions. Like the other guards, Minotaurus has a comical and harmless appearance, despite his true power and personality.

Personality
A cold, heartless Demon Guard! A monster who treats humans like so much trash!

Despite his ridiculous appearance, Minotaurus is a cold-blooded beast. He would brutally bludgeon rioting prisoners and opponents alike with his spiked club. He would often do so aimed at their skulls. Because of his savagery, the various prisoners of Impel Down fear him, like the Demon Guards.

He acknowledges Sadi-chan's superiority in battle, even fearing her when she got angry over his failure.

Abilities and Powers
As one of the Demon Guards of Impel Down under Sadi-chan, Minotaurus is in charge of torturing and maintaining the various prisoners.

While he doesn't look like a powerful opponent, Minotaurus is in reality a fearsome beast. He has immense physical strength and speed, along with excellent resilience. Wielding his spiked club as a weapon in conjunction with these attributes, he is a lethal force to be reckoned with.

Devil Fruit
He has eaten a Zoan type Devil Fruit that allows him to become a cow. Because he is an awakened Zoan, he is able to quickly recover from high amounts of damage.

Impel Down Arc
It is first seen beating two prisoners up for fighting and locking them up in a cell for death row, then again beating Jinbei in Level 6. Although only its shadow is shown during those times, it is clear that it is a Minotaur that shows no fear. (though at the time, Jinbei was chained down and Jinbei also states that it did not hurt him).

Later as Luffy reaches the Starvation Hell of Impel Down, it gets the order to battle him as well as Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, who was supporting Luffy. However, as soon as it sent Mr. 2 flying with a single hit, Luffy recognized its true powers and immediately activated Gear Second and used his Jet Bazooka to send Minotaurus flying to save Mr. 2.

Although Luffy used one of his powerful techniques to defeat Minotaurus, it appeared later, hunting Buggy and Mr. 3 (it landed on top of them when Luffy sent it flying). At one point they come to meet Luffy and Mr. 2. Buggy used his secret weapon, the Muggy Ball, to take Minotaurus down, but even after a huge explosion it was still conscious. Even when Mr. 2 used a strong kick to finish it off, it stood still but was in great pain. Only as Luffy and Mr. 3 combined their abilities to use the Gomu Gomu no Tonkachi Rifle, they could fully defeat Minotaurus. He was last seen falling from level 3.

Later, he fully recovered (albeit bandaged) and joined the battle against the rioting prisoners. Despite all of this, he was defeated (as well as receiving his comeuppance for beating Jinbei earlier) with the rest of the demon guards by Monkey D. Luffy, Crocodile and Jinbei in level 1.

Major Battles

 * Minotaurus Vs. Monkey D. Luffy, Mr. 2, Mr. 3 and Buggy (level 3)
 * Minotaurus Vs. Impel Down Prisoners and Residents of New Kama Land
 * Minotaurus, Minokoala, Minorhinoceros and Minozebra Vs. Luffy, Crocodile and Jinbei (level 1)

Translation and Dub Issues
In the manga, the spikes on his club were sharp like nails, but in the anime the spikes are edited into flat, round spikes. This may due to censorship as sharp-spiked club is strongly connected to sadism.

Trivia

 * Zoro's design for Mugiwara Theatre - Monster Time is similar to Minotaurus in many ways. Both carry identical clubs, are minotaurs that resemble cows and both have patches in similar places to each other.
 * Minotaurus' name is a combination of Mino and Taurus, Mino, an ancient Greek city and the origin of the Minotaur legend, and Taurus the latin name for bull. This naming combination is shared with his fellow Demon Guards.
 * For some strange reason, the Minotaur was able to hurt Luffy with his spiked club in the manga and studded club in the anime. However, "Iron Mace Alvida" was unable to hurt Luffy with her spike mace in the begining of the series, when Luffy wasn't nearly as stong as he was in the Impel Down Arc