Daruma

Daruma is a cookie-cutter shark fishman and a former officer of the New Fishman Pirates.

Appearance
Daruma is a cookie cutter shark fishman, being the smallest one amongst the officers of the crew by far, as well as one of the smallest fishmen that appeared so far in the series. He has circular eyes, a flat nose and sharp teeth; his arms are notably larger than his hands and his skin is red. On his right arm is a tattoo of the New Fishman Pirates' Jolly Roger.

He sports a distinctive head gear composed of a hat similar to an aviator's, with two massive protrusion on both sides of his head, pointing upwards, and decorated on the front, paired with a plumed crest on top of it, similar to those found on ancient Roman and Greek helmets. He also wears a dark, sleeve and zipperless open jacket with a fur collar and a pair of Bermuda shorts.

As a teenager, he wore a large, dark top hat with a strange creature imprinted on the front, somehow reminiscent of both a mollusk and a standard Jolly Roger's skull, a simple A-shirt with spots on the upper part, just below the neck, and dark shorts.

Due to the negative effects of the Energy Steroids, his body heavily aged after being arrested and put in prison. He then wears a prison jumpsuit but still sports his aviator helmet.

Personality
He appears to be violent and hungry as he says they should "gnash up" the escaping humans' meat. Like Hody Jones and the other officers, he follows Arlong's ideals and despises humans as well as Otohime's ideals. He is not above using threats to force the Fishman Island citizens to comply and follow the New Fishman Pirates. He seems to have a carnal urge to bite things, as he gets restless when he has not used his jaws for a while, and even says they ache; this leads him to despise sweets and snacks, and instead wants hard fish bones to gnaw on.

Abilities and Powers
Despite his small size, Daruma is still a fishman, and thus possesses ten times the strength of an average human, and even more underwater. Being an officer and a shark fishman, he is probably even stronger than that.

As an officer of the New Fishman Pirates, Daruma has control over his lower-ranked subordinates.

Daruma has shown himself as having very powerful jaws that are rapidly able to pulverize stone walls. He also possesses tremendous willpower being completely unfazed by Luffy's Haoshoku Haki burst. He was also able to intentionally combust by unknown means.

However, after the negative effects of the Energy Steroids took effect, he became weak and old, stripping him of all his strength.




 * Cookie Cutter (クッキーカッター): Daruma uses his powerful jaws as a way of travelling, by swiftly eating out tunnels underground.


 * Daruma Otoshi (ダルマ落とし): During the fight against the Straw Hat Pirates, he burrowed underground and created numerous pitfalls in Gyoncorde Plaza, which quickly proved successful in stopping the fierce assault from the Kurosai FR-U IV and the Brachio Tank V. This attack can be indiscriminate as Daruma caused many of his comrades to fall into the massive pit he created. This is called Daruma Drop in the FUNimation sub. The name of this attack is a pun, as Daruma Otoshi is a traditional Japanese children game played with a Daruma doll.


 * Hi-Daruma Cutter (火ダルマカッター): Daruma engulfs himself in fire by unknown means and then jumps towards his opponents, trying to bite them. This is called Fireball Cutter in the FUNimation sub.

Energy Steroids
Like the rest of the crew, Daruma consumed Energy Steroids during the battle against the three princes of Ryugu Kingdom, who are crowned the strongest soldiers in the entire island, and was able to overpower them due to this. The drug doubles his strength per pill, but shaves off a portion of his lifespan. This also had another side effect of making him old and weak after he was arrested, which lost him the strength he naturally had.

Past


When Daruma and the future officers were children, they witnessed human oppression against fishmen. While they were growing up in the Fishman District, they only learned one thing: to hate humans. When they were teens, they read about Fisher Tiger's exploits at Mariejois. They cheered the Sun Pirates on thinking that their goal was to destroy humans.

After Hody joined the Neptune Army, the officers became a terrorist group that would kill any fishmen who sympathized with humans, especially those who willingly donate blood to them. After the assassination of Otohime, the officers celebrated.

The New Fishman Pirates' Coup d'État
He is seen in Noah along with the rest of the officers and Hody Jones. As Gyro and his crew are attempting to flee Fishman Island after sworing loyalty to the New Fishman Pirates upon entry to Fishman Island, Daruma suggests they "gnash up" the escaping humans. He is later seen when Hody and Vander Decken IX make an alliance, saying two very powerful people have just teamed up.



As Hody Jones and Vander Decken IX go to the Ryugu Palace, Daruma and the other officers go spread terror at other locations. Daruma goes to Candy Factory Town on the northwest side of the island. As the invasion of Fishman Island commences, Daruma is seen forcing the citizens to step on a fumi-e of Queen Otohime. The citizens reluctantly complied. Daruma comments on how boring it is.

Daruma then chews on the wall of the candy factory. He then scolds the lower-rank subordinates for bringing him cappuccino and sweets for his snack and angrily reminds them to give him his favorite food. Daruma then tells his comrades to gather at Gyoncorde Plaza at the appointed time. He then goes on ahead to the plaza by burrowing through the ground.

Battle for Fishman Island
The New Fishman Pirates soon gather at the plaza and the Neptune Army's attempts to save the king have been thwarted by the Sea Beasts. Zeo points out that a soldier is doing something with dynamite and Daruma asks where the soldier is. Hody stops the soldier's attempt with Water Shot. After the three princes arrive and defeat the Sea Beasts, Daruma and the other officers prepare for battle.

Initially, the princes have the upper hand, but the officers turn the odds against them by taking Energy Steroids. They then defeat the princes and capture them. The New Fishman Pirates celebrate as the princes are placed right next to their father. After Jinbe and Shirahoshi have been captured as well, Hody reveals to everyone that he was the one who truly killed Otohime, shocking the royal family, the citizens, and the lower-rank subordinates. The officers already knew the truth. Daruma laughs at the surprised people for not noticing.

When Hody prepares to kill Neptune, Luffy (who has been hiding inside Megalo) suddenly appears and kicks Hody away. Daruma is shocked at Luffy's unexpected appearance. When Hody's Water Shot is intercepted by Jinbe's, Daruma is shocked that Jinbe would be able to match their captain after his transformation.

After the Straw Hats showcase their abilities and defeat several of the New Fishman Pirates' subdivisions, Daruma makes his move, burrowing underground and creating pitfalls to take out Franky's vehicles. The Brachio Tank V quickly falls into a pitfall, and Daruma comments that he will next take out the "bike idiot", referring to Franky. However, he is shocked when Franky and the Black Rhino FR-U IV fall into the same pitfall, and calls Franky a moron. Going back underground, he is surprised to hear someone else digging around nearby, and is knocked back onto the surface by Chopper. As the two face each other, Daruma tells Chopper that he will rip him to shreds.

Later on, he tries to catch up with Chopper, claiming that he cannot be beaten in digging. Chopper suddenly smells Dosun near Usopp and covers him by knocking out Dosun. Usopp shoots an exploding Pop Green inside the tunnels while Daruma is still inside. When the Pop Green explodes, Daruma bursts out of the ground. Daruma then prepares to face off against Usopp.

In his fight against Usopp, Daruma lights himself on fire and attacks Usopp, who dodges and tries to snipe the fishman. Daruma taunts Usopp for firing duds, but Usopp states that in three shots he will snipe Daruma.

Defeat and Imprisonment


Daruma starts to get mad when Usopp ignores their fight to talk to Chopper, but is knocked away from the sniper by the latter's first shot, and then sent skyward by the second. After Usopp fires his third shot, the Impact Wolf, Daruma claims that he can just bite through it but is quickly knocked out by the shockwave released by the Pop Green. After the battle for Fishman Island has ended, the officers of the New Fishman Pirates are locked up in the palace prison.

Sometime later, he became conscious along with the other New Fishman leaders, and his body became old and weak like the others due to the Energy Steroids. He was seen breathing heavily.

Major Battles

 * Daruma and the other New Fishman Pirates' Officers vs. Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi and Manboshi (unseen)
 * Daruma vs. Tony Tony Chopper
 * Daruma vs. Usopp

Trivia

 * His name comes from daruma-zame (ダルマザメ), the Japanese name for cookie-cutter shark.
 * His character design is similar to some of Oda's concept art for Chopper after the timeskip.
 * A Daruma is a traditional Japanese round, hollow doll.

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