Morgan

"Axe-Hand Morgan" is a former Marine captain and the first significant Marine officer to be seen in the series. He is the third antagonist of the Romance Dawn Arc. After his defeat at the hands of Zoro, he was stripped of his status that he had been abusing for three years.

Appearance
Morgan is an extremely tall, muscular man with tanned skin, blonde hair, and a steel jaw etched with the word Möwe (the German for "seagull"). As his epithet suggests, his right hand has been replaced in a huge steel axe, the handle of which seems to have been bolted through the bones of his forearm.

Like most Marine officers, he wears a large, ornate overcoat. However, this coat notably lacks the "Justice" (正義) insignia, and is completely sleeveless; it is also worn conventionally, instead of being draped over the shoulders like a cape.

In peacetime, he can frequently be seen smoking a cigar.

After his defeat and arrest, Morgan was put into a standard striped prisoner's uniform, and shackled around the arms and legs. While he eventually rid himself of the shackles, the prisoner's uniform has remained his last known outfit to date.

Personality
Prior to "capturing" Kuro, Morgan seemed to be a brave man who was not afraid of death. After his promotion, Morgan was corrupted by his power and became who he is today.

When Morgan is first introduced, he is governing over the small island of Shells Town, where his naval base is located. He is a cruel man who did little but spread terror on the town's citizens. He is ruling by fear, abusing his rank to make people pay taxes, and even going as far as killing his own men if they do not obey his commands.

He has a very spoiled son named Helmeppo, who is almost as bad at using his father's rank to get what he wants from the island's inhabitants. Although Helmeppo thought that he could get away with whatever he does because his father would protect him, in truth Morgan shows not even the slightest of fatherly love for Helmeppo. Morgan's lack of love goes as far as stating that before he punched Helmeppo, he never hit him because he's a foolish son not even worth hitting.

Morgan's obsession with rank is proven in his battle against Luffy, where, despite not being able to land a single blow on the rubber man (and having taken several), he would not accept defeat.

After his defeat, dismissal, and escape from arrest, Morgan became rather carefree, as he was napping nonchalantly on his boat as it sailed through the sea.

Abilities and Powers
As a Marine captain, Morgan had command over lower-ranking subordinates and citizens. However, he heavily abused this authority to get whatever he desired. He was eventually stripped of his rank and authority after he was easily beaten by Luffy and Zoro.

Morgan is quite strong, being able to carry around his large axe hand all the time with ease. He was also durable, as he is the sole survivor of Kuro's wrath five years ago, although the reason for his survival was later revealed to be a plot planned by Kuro. He also has knowledge of Devil Fruits despite their rarity in the East Blue, and saw through Monkey D. Luffy's rubbery body as a result.

Weapons
In battle, Morgan has a massive axe installed in place of his right arm, which was strong enough to slash through an entire fence with one swing through a shock wave and create a small fissure in the ground.

Past


Five years ago, when Morgan was still a mere chief petty officer, he and his crew attacked the Black Cat Pirates one night, only to incur the wrath of their captain, Kuro. Morgan was the only survivor on board of his ship, which left him with a broken jaw and the loss of his arm. Refusing to beg for his life, Morgan challenged Kuro to bring him death. However, Morgan surviving the pirate's deadly claws was deemed impressive, and Kuro used Morgan as part of his plan to escape the pirate life. Morgan was hypnotized by Jango into believing that he had captured Kuro (actually a lookalike pirate), gaining him immediate fame, the rank of lieutenant commander and possibly setting him on the path to his current obsession with rank and power. While Kuro's assault broke his jaw, causing him to get his brace, it's unclear how or when he got his trademark axe hand.

Romance Dawn Arc
He was left in charge of a Marine base on an island. As a high ranking and famous Marine, none dared challenge his authority, not even his own men as he had a habit of punishing those who disobeyed him (even killing his own men).



This all changes however when Luffy comes to town to help Koby fulfill his dream, and possibly recruit Roronoa Zoro into his crew. After Luffy accidentally breaks a newly finished statue of Morgan, the captain immediately sets after him, (considering that he was about to have one of his men killed for just scratching the statue, this is rather humorous as it occurs just as he was about to do the deed) confronting Luffy in the courtyard of the Marine base. Morgan is defeated by Luffy without even landing a single blow, though he is finished off by Zoro as Luffy has to deal with Helmeppo holding Koby hostage.

Loguetown Arc
Upon the issuance of Luffy's 30,000,000 bounty, one of the Marines that guarded his cell returned with the pirate's bounty poster in hand. The Marine then snickered and showed Morgan the poster, to which Morgan became agitated.

Diary of Koby-Meppo


Morgan was later seen in the series in a chapter title page mini-story, as a prisoner stripped of rank on Vice-Admiral Garp's ship, where both Koby and Helmeppo also happen to be serving. However, Garp had suddenly fallen asleep and was slashed by Morgan, who escaped the ship by using his own son as a hostage. Helmeppo disowned him shortly thereafter and returned to the Marine ship, leaving Morgan alone and drifting on the ocean.

Jango's Dance Paradise


He was seen again as a cameo in Jango's Mini-arc taking a nap in the ocean as Jango unknowingly passes him.

Major Battles

 * Morgan vs. Kuro
 * Morgan vs. Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro
 * Morgan vs. Monkey D. Garp
 * Morgan vs. Helmeppo and Koby

Early One Piece


Helmeppo was drawn before his father and early drawings of Morgan greatly resembled Helmeppo's own appearance. One example had him almost identical to Helmeppo, just with a crazier hairstyle. Though he is said to have gone through several transformations, he was given his final design after the editor told Oda that the early design simply "looked too lame".

Morgan's original name was going to be 'Captain Chop'. Oda explained that he did not have the nerve to actually use this name (his name also apparently was similar to a wrestling move by a famous Japanese wrestler called Giant Baba).

Manga and Anime Differences
In the manga, Morgan is shown openly maiming Rokkaku for refusing to pursue Rika, his axe-hand leaving a visible gash in Rokkaku's side. The anime somewhat censors this, omitting any visible blood and re-framing the blow to look like it was delivered with the axe's blunt handle.

The anime also inserts Morgan into the aftermath of the Arlong Park Arc, showing one of his former subordinates taunting him with news of Luffy's 30,000,000 bounty.

Translation and Dub Issues
While Morgan's overall brutality is retained in the 4Kids dub (including all of his threats against Rika, as well as his own men), the specific dialogue is softened in many areas. For instance, his command that his men kill themselves for hesitating against Luffy and Zoro is changed to a veiled threat for them to "shake hands" with his axe-hand.

Like most of the anime's tobacco depictions, his cigar is digitally removed in the 4Kids dub.

Playable Appearances

 * One Piece: Become the Pirate King!
 * Grand Line Dream Adventure Log
 * One Piece: Going Baseball
 * One Py Berry Match
 * One Piece Treasure Cruise

Enemy Appearances

 * Birth of Luffy's Dream Pirate Crew!
 * Aim! The King of Berry
 * One Piece (Game Boy Advance)
 * One Piece Romance Dawn: The Dawn of the Adventure
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3

Support Appearances

 * One Piece: Dance Battle
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3

Non-Playable Appearances

 * Grand Battle! 2

Cultural References

 * In Gintama Episode 50, an Axe-Hand Morgan look-alike is seen charging towards one of the characters to fight, along with Crocodile and characters from other anime and manga.

Trivia

 * When Morgan was explaining Devil Fruits to his men, he used two examples: the ability to breathe fire, and another to cause tsunamis, both of which belonged to two world-renowned pirates: the Yonko, Whitebeard, and his subordinate and son of the late Pirate King, Portgas D. Ace; both of which were the first Devil Fruit users to die in the series.
 * Oda intended to give him an onion-like hair style resembling his son Helmeppo and name him "Chop" instead of "Morgan", but the idea was soon discarded because of comment on the character as "Ugly".
 * Oda has stated that he drew Morgan's name from a real-life pirate. This pirate is most likely Sir Henry Morgan (namesake of the famous rum brand), who also began his career as a law-abiding seafarer.
 * Oda explained in an SBS that had Morgan been a Marine on the Grand Line he would have held the rank of Lieutenant, as there is a three-rank difference between the Headquarters Marines and Auxiliary Marines (Marines stationed in one of the Four Blues).
 * He is the first character in the series to call Luffy by his nickname, "Straw Hat".
 * He is the second smoker depicted in the manga (after Benn Beckman), and the first in the anime.
 * His favorite food is Haute Cuisine.

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