Marco

Marco is the first division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. He is known as Phoenix Marco and owes this nickname to his unique Mythical Zoan ability to transform into a phoenix at will.

Appearance
Marco is a lean, blond-haired man with dark skin and a rather sleepy look. While his chest was barren in his initial appearance, in his subsequent appearances he has the cross and crescent moon mustache symbol that resembles a silhouette of Whitebeard's Jolly Roger tattooed on his chest after Oda changed it.

Marco was a Whitebeard Pirate 20 years ago as well and while how old he was is difficult to ascertain, he appeared for the most part very similar to how he looks in the present so it can be assumed he is at least currently 35-years-old or older.

Personality
Marco appears to be a patient and calm mild-mannered man. He is knowledgeable in the sense that he knew about Shanks' powerful Haki. He clearly cares for his crew because he warned them to stay back to avoid Shanks' Haki. Marco seems to appreciate raw talent, even those coming from someone whom he has never met before (i.e. Luffy); it is for this reason why he immediately showed signs of liking when Luffy intercepted Crocodile's attack on Marco's Captain, Whitebeard, making him the first Division Commander to take favor on the Straw Hat Captain. He apparently likes to speak like in chess analogies, as shown during his block of Kizaru's attack, where he refers to Whitebeard as the "King".

Abilities and Powers
As commander of the first division of the Whitebeard Pirates, Marco has authority over the lower-ranking subordinates. He was one of the fewer men unaffected by the powerful Haki released by the Yonkou Shanks. He is very experienced and a veteran of the Whitebeard pirates from the times of Gol D. Roger.

He is most likely the strongest man from the Whitebeard Pirates (except Whitebeard himself), pointed by his position as the first division commander. Marco was capable of fighting on par with Kizaru, one of the Marine Admirals.

Marco was able to touch Kizaru, who is normally intangible due to his Logia ability. This may indicate that Marco is capable of using Haki.

Despite his Devil Fruit, Marco also possesses a great amount of physical strength and reflexes. He kicked both Admirals Kizaru and Aokiji away great distances.

Devil Fruit
Marco ate a Devil Fruit referred to as a Mythical Zoan that turns him into a Phoenix. It is a power that is said to be even rarer than Logia. The fruit gave him his nickname: Marco the Phoenix.

This first and foremost gives Marco increased speed and flight, as well as the possibility of launching aerial attacks. Along with being able to transform into a phoenix of blue flames, the fruit allows him to regenerate any wounds with fire, much like how a phoenix is said to rise from it's own ashes, making him very resilient. Marco also has access to an hybrid form just as a standard Zoan user, even if his hybrid form is very different from the usual one, lacking any disproportion in upper and lower body parts or the like: actually, his hybrid form just transforms his arms into wings of fire, while his hands keep their shape, giving him the ability to fly and regenerate while still fighting with kicks and punches.

The regeneration is very close to that of the Logia user's. However, unlike Logia users, Marco apparently can't train to change to this form at reflex, nor to use the regeneration powers as a reflex, as seen when Kizaru pierced him with a pair of lasers while having his back turned. This makes Marco more vulnerable while he is in human form.

Other than that, Marco is also weak against the standard Devil Fruit weaknesses.

Jaya Arc
He first appeared as a background character; when Rockstar asked if anyone knew him, Marco answered "Nope, never heard of him".

Post Enies Lobby Arc
He next appeared when Shanks came to visit. He appeared to be fairly well knowledgeable and experienced with dealing with Shanks since he knew exactly what would happen to the younger crew members in his presence. He also told the members still standing afterwards not to worry about their fallen comrades as they were just unconscious. Marco was also seen in a flashback when Ace first became a member of the Whitebeard crew.

Marineford Arc
Marco showed up at Marineford with the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates and their allies from the New World. He states that, including him, all of the commanders are ready for a battle. With his powerful Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit abilities, he nullified an attack by Admiral Kizaru. They seemed to be on par with one another, each calling the other out on claims of being damaged.

He saw Luffy and his Impel Down team falling from above and came to the realization that it was Ace's brother who Ace was always talking about. When he witnessed Luffy blocking Crocodile's attempted attack against Whitebeard, he concluded that "Ace's little brother is not too shabby after all." After Luffy advised Whitebeard that Ace would be executed before schedule, Whitebeard later told Marco that he will not forgive him if he lets Luffy die, to which Marco (who appears to have developed similar opinions and liking towards Luffy) smiled and says "Roger".

Later, when Whitebeard manipulated Buggy into joining his side temporarily, Marco remarked at how simple minded Buggy is. Also, when he saw Luffy attacked by Mihawk, he called out to Vista to help him out. He found it odd when Squad appeared next to Whitebeard, and was shocked when Whitebeard got stabbed by Squad. He was the first one to reach the Moby Dick and to attack Squad, but he was repelled by Squad's sword when he tells Marco it's also his fault that he's been forced to attack Whitebeard. After Crocodile yells at Whitebeard for being weak, Marco comments on how Whitebeard's health is getting worse since Whitebeard should have been able to stop any attack at him, even when he was taken off guard. Seeing Squad crying and deeply regretting his actions, Marco tells him that he should redeem himself. Seeing the Moby Dick heavily damaged by Akainu's meteor magma attack, Marco gave a solemn face.

Marco was about to save Ace from being executed, but did not need to do so since Crocodile did this. After Luffy was heavily injured by the Admirals and was about to be finished off by Aokiji, Marco arrived and kicked Aokiji away a great distance.

With (seemingly) only two marines watching over Ace, Marco flies towards the execution platform, telling Ace he'll be right there. As he gets closer, however, Garp intercepts him from the side with a punch that sends him crashing to the ground. Marco looks up, frustrated and with a small bruise on his left chin.

After witnessing Whitebeard coughing up blood, he says how this is what he was afraid might happen and rushes to him. Except he doesn't get very far, having been struck down by two laser bursts from Kizaru from behind. Enduring the pain, Marco continues to run towards Whitebeard, only to have Kairoseki handcuffs put on his right arm by Onigumo in order to hamper the regenerative ability that his Devil Fruit powers grant him. Kizaru takes the opportunity to shoot Marco with two more laser bursts. Later, after Luffy uses his Haoshoku Haki, the bloodied Marco shows surprise.

Major Battles

 * Marco Vs. Admiral Kizaru
 * Marco Vs. Admiral Aokiji
 * Marco Vs. Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp
 * Marco Vs. Admiral Kizaru

Manga and Anime Differences
In the anime when he was first shown, he was replaced with a generic crewmember: a black haired man with lighter colored skin and different clothes. This is a common mistake that occurs in transferring a scene from manga to anime and has been witnessed in One Piece before, in particular when characters are first introduced without a formal introduction.

Trivia

 * He has been under Whitebeard's service for at least 20 years.
 * Marco shares his epithet "Phoenix" with the anime only character Puzzle; but they each gained the epithet for different reasons.
 * While Marco has the greatest control of all Zoan-user's, Laffite of the Blackbeard Pirates may possess similar control over his Devil Fruit as he has only transformed his arms into wings, however, since he has yet to be confirmed a Zoan-user, this may not be the case. Marine Vice Admiral Onigumo has also shown the ability to control his transformation to only sprouting spider arms while maintaining human form. Pell also extreme control, he has transformed into a falcon, flying with a pair of wings while sprouting a second set for forlimbs that appear as feather-covered arms complete with talons.

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Marco