Admiral

Admiral (大将) is the second highest rank in the Marines, senior to a vice admiral and junior to the fleet admiral. As part of the Three Great Powers, the three admirals were amongst the most powerful characters in the series.

Abilities
The admirals are crowned the World Government's "Greatest Military Powers" (最高戦力), and are the strongest individual fighters within the World Government and the Marines. These three admirals are respected and feared amongst the entire world.

As seen in Sabaody Archipelago, the mere presence of just a single admiral was enough to cause a panic on the island and make the entire population flee from the island, including the Eleven Supernovas; the fact that Monkey D. Luffy challenged all three of them brought great shock to witnesses. Other notable examples of the admirals' reputation is Nico Robin from the Straw Hat Pirates, related to her childhood trauma, she constantly loses her grip and starts panicking whenever an admiral is around, this being significant as she rarely panics even in most of the dangerous situations, and that Akainu's presence alone was enough to deter the Blackbeard Pirates from making a trade with the Marines for a Marine Battleship, and effectively frightened the Blackbeard Pirates off the island they were inhabiting briefly.

Three Admirals of the Golden Age of Piracy


All three of the admirals that were active before the end of the Battle of Marineford are very high-level users of Haki, shown when using Busoshoku Haki together to block Whitebeard's powerful shock wave. All three of them are also able to survive a strike imbued with Haki, despite it nullifying their intangibility, though Aokiji did bleed from the mouth after a sneak attack by Jozu, imbued with Haki, though it made no further injuries; Akainu survived two Haki-enforced slashes in the neck, though he noted the discomfort the strikes made.

The difference in physical prowess between admirals and vice admirals also seems to be dramatically high (with the exception of Garp), as one of Whitebeard's quake-imbued punches was enough to incapacitate a vice admiral giant, yet Akainu took two (both of which were also imbued with Haki, further increasing damage) and still had more than enough stamina left to keep fighting. Also, while Whitebeard was able to overpower the strength of a giant with ease, Kizaru and Akainu both managed to hold down his polearm by standing on it with a single foot.

However, what makes the three admirals quite formidable is that they all have Logia-type Devil Fruit powers, each representing their respective color. All of their powers are very destructive, even when comparing to an average Logia user. They are all strong enough to combat against Whitebeard alone, with Kizaru and Akainu causing him severe harm (albeit that Jozu interfered in Aokiji's fight), as well as to fight on par with the top three Whitebeard Pirates commander each, and eventually overpowering the said commanders with relative ease, with Akainu even killing one (although Kizaru and Aokiji's opponents were distracted and Akainu's magma has a natural superiority to Ace's fire). Admirals Aokiji and Kizaru are seen to be proficient swordsmen when creating blades from their own element and wielding them. It is unknown if Akainu also shares this ability, though, as he has only been seen using molten fists for close combat. However, Akainu and Kizaru too, are proficient hand-to-hand combatants, whether combining their skills with their Devil Fruit or by simple raw strength.

Duties
Aside from having control over the thousands of soldiers who rank underneath them, the admirals are the only Marines, along with the fleet admiral, within the World Government who have the authority and ability to issue a Buster Call. They are also the only ones who can grant World Government agents the permission to use the Buster Call. The admirals' only superior, aside from the fleet admiral, are the Gorosei and the World Government Commander-in-Chief.

Should a World Noble be opposed or injured, an admiral will be summoned to take down the opposing party in question and/or the assailants who did the damage. Failure is not acceptable.

Known Admirals
34 years before the start of the series, Zephyr was promoted to admiral. He resigned after a pirate murdered his family.

Sengoku was an admiral. He eventually took over as fleet admiral when Kong was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the World Government.

When the title of admiral was first introduced, Robin stated that there was only three of them amongst the entire Marine organization, and listed them by the epithets they were best known as: "Aokiji" (Kuzan), "Akainu" (Sakazuki), and "Kizaru" (Borsalino).

Eventually, after the Battle of Marineford, Kuzan and Sakazuki were both nominated to succeed Sengoku as the new fleet admiral. Both men were adamant in securing the position for themselves, and they battled on Punk Hazard, which took place for ten days. Though both were evenly matched, eventually Sakazuki won and was promoted, and Kuzan, unable to bear taking orders from Sakazuki, resigned. This battle was so intense, it was recorded and much spoken of by the entire world, and the abdication of Aokiji was a huge negative impact on the Marines' military strength. As of now, the only known active admiral is Kizaru; any new admirals have yet to be disclosed. Nonetheless statements from Trafalgar Law, Kuzan and Sakazuki present the implication two new admirals have been appointed.

Merchandise


The admirals have been featured sparingly in the fan merchandise. All three are set to be featured in the One Piece Super Deformed Figures, One Piece Super Effect Devil Fruit User, and One Piece Figuarts Zero figure series.

Early One Piece


In One Piece Green: Secret Pieces was revealed an early concept of the admirals.

Trivia

 * All three pre-timeskip admirals are based upon Japanese actors and are drawn to resemble them, and their birthdays are the same as the said actors.
 * Their aliases are taken from Momotarō legends, they are a pheasant, a dog and a monkey assisted the boy hero, Momotarō, on his adventures. Coincidentally, each personality fits the aliases (Aokiji, the pheasant, is somewhat lazy; Kizaru, the monkey, is quite absent-minded and irresponsible; and Akainu, the dog, is very loyal).
 * Each of their Logia-class Devil Fruits correspond to specific features of land (molten rock), sea (frozen water), and sky (sunlight).
 * Interestingly enough, their color-schemes (yellow, blue, and red) are the three primary colors in the subtractive color system.
 * The three pre timeskip admirals are visually similar. They each wear different suits that correspond to their Devil Fruit color. The color of the cuffs on their coats also correspond to their respective colors. They all possess some kind of accessory on their heads which they often use to cover their eyes: Aokiji wears a sleep mask, Kizaru has orange sunglasses, and Akainu uses a Marines cap. They also have black hair and are of the same height.
 * In Gigant Battle, they are incorrectly shown to be different heights with Aokiji as the tallest, then Kizaru, and then Akainu as the shortest.
 * Former Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp has, on more than one occasion, turned down the promotion to become admiral. He has stated that he does not need a higher position to do what he wants. While being officially ranked as a vice admiral, his power was once or still is enough to qualify him for the rank of admiral or even fleet admiral before he retired.

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Admiral (Marine der Weltregierung) 三大上將