Z

"Black Arm" Zephyr (黒腕のゼファー), also known as Z (ゼット) was the leader of the Neo Marines and the main antagonist of the One Piece Film: Z. He was once a Marine admiral before his resignation.

Appearance
Zephyr appeared as a big and muscular man, being almost twice the height of an average-height man, with short purple hair and a large mechanical right arm connected to the left hip with some mast rigging. Underneath that mechanical arm is a regular-sized, pitch black prosthetic arm. He dressed in a Marine-like coat with his Jolly Roger impressed on it and baggy trousers tucked into his boots, and a pair of sunglasses.

He has some breathing problems due to his age, so when he breathes too hard, he must use an aerosol.

Personality
He believed deeply in justice and heroism, having joined the Marines simply to fulfill both desires, and resigning eventually when he realized the organization was not what it seemed.

Originally a happy person, being popular among his subordinates and having created a loving family, his life changed for the worse when his wife and son were murdered by a pirate and his arm eventually severed by another, the latter who would become a Shichibukai; all of this loss and injustice led to a deep hatred towards pirates, as he formed a group to take matters into his own hands and annihilate them all himself even if it also meant opposing the World Government and the Marines. His hatred led to irrational acts such as plotting to destroy the world itself to eradicate his enemies.

He believed that pirates must be eliminated on sight, and that merely imprisoning them is ridiculous. His loathing towards pirates was so strong that he would go to the extremes to achieve his agenda, even if it meant directly opposing the Marines and World Government, such as stealing a powerful weapon from the Marines, and raising a jolly roger.

Zephyr’s ultimate ambition was to end the Great Age of Piracy, which he planned to achieve by using the Dyna Stone to destroy the three Endpoints to release enough subterranean magma to destroy the New World itself.

Despite his loathing for pirates, he did have a sense of loyalty and respect to even his enemies to the bitter end, as he gave up his life to give time for his Neo Marines and the Straw Hat Pirates to escape from Kizaru, having come to respect the latter after their final battle.

Family
At age 38, Zephyr got married, and one year later his son was born. He was very attached to his family, so much so that when a pirate killed them, he wanted to resign his position as an Admiral. However he was persuaded to stay as an instructor.

Neo Marines
Despite feeling the Government and Marines betrayed his beliefs by siding with pirates, Zephyr was caring, trusting and loyal to his subordinates and Zephyr ultimately gave his life to battle against Kizaru in order to give the Neo Marines time to escape. He strongly believed that Shuzo would not tell anything to the marines even though he was captured.

Ain greatly respected Zephyr. Her respect was so high that she defected from the Marines to join his cause, which led them to become criminals in the eyes of the World Government.

World Government
After the Government requested the pirate who cut off Zephyr's arm to join the Shichibukai, he resigned his position as a marine instructor. This is probably why he considers the World Government and Marines to be traitors.

Marines
During his time as a Marine, he was very popular with his subordinates. After he became an instructor, he trained many Marines such as Sakazuki, Borsalino, Kuzan, Momonga, Doberman, Onigumo, Comil, Yamakaji, Strawberry, Hina, Smoker, Ain and Binz. Some of them refers to him as "Sensei", showing respect for him, with Ain, Binz and Shuzo even resigning from the Marines and joined Zephyr's cause.

Before leaving the marines Zephyr left a legacy with many of the younger marines looking up to him. After defecting from the Marines and confronting his former collagues, many of the marines regretted having to fight their former instructor, with some even becoming emotional, after being ordered to kill him, due to his new stance on justice, as shown when Doberman shedded tears.

During his time as Marine Instructor, Zephyr trained the future Admiral Aokiji too. Due to this, Kuzan seems to very much respect him and even though he wanted to stop his former teacher from destroying the New World, he never attacked him. Also, in the end, Kuzan helps him to protect Ain, erecting an ice wall between her and Zephyr, and consoles the young woman and Binz, talking about how great a man Zephyr was.

Monkey D. Luffy
During One Piece Film: Z's events, Zephyr and his Neo Marines fight against the Straw Hat Pirates. Intially, Zephyr deemed Luffy unworthy to be the Pirate King after handing him a defeat. During his final battle with Luffy however, he changes his judgment. He acknowledges Luffy as a worthy opponent and decides to battle the Marines in order to allow his subordinates and the Straw Hats to escape from Admiral Kizaru.

Pirates
Having his beloved family killed by pirates and his arm severed by another, the latter of whom was (in Zephyr's opinion, unjustly) promoted to the ranks of Shichibukai, Zephyr was left traumatized, and developed a deep-seated loathing for all pirates and wishes to exterminate them all.

Abilities and Powers
In a trailer, he was referred to as being the strongest enemy that the Straw Hats have faced yet.

As the captain of the Neo Marines, Zephyr had complete authority over the crew; an armada of several hundred warships, with three Devil Fruit users and a Pacifista army as part of the crew. In One Piece Film: Z, he managed to steal the Dyna Stones from the Marines, explosives capable of destroying an entire island and said to have power to rival the Ancient Weapons, increasing his group's lethality.

In the past he was a Marine admiral, which means his command over the soldiers within the organization was once the second highest, just underneath the fleet admiral, and he was once crowned as the World Government's greatest military power, being among the strongest individual fighters within the government and Marine organizations of his time. He also had the authority to issue a Buster Call on any island he deemed a threat, and could give that authority to any World Government agent. With his resignation, he forfeited such privileges.

After his resignation and prior to becoming an extremist, he was requested to stay in the military as an instructor, and he trained many powerful cadets who would become high ranking officers, and even after defection his legacy left many of his former disciples showing genuine remorse of having to fight their instructor, indicating he was an excellent and charismatic teacher.

In the trailer, it was also shown that he could charge at his opponents with a lot of speed despite his size and the weapon he carries, and was able to counter Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji's (all of whom were trained by some of the most powerful figures in the world) attacks against him with little problem.

His fighting skills are revealed to be mostly based on his physical features and Haki, showing a strength able to hold out against Luffy's own and a high speed, able to follow Borsalino's movements, despite his breathing problems. His strength was so great that he was able to create a large shock wave and crater by simply striking the ground.

Haki
It was stated that all Marines with a rank of Vice Admiral and above can use Haki, so Zephyr can also use this ability.

He mastered Busoshoku Haki at age 34, allowing him to coat himself with it and turn his arms black for much more devastating strikes and defenses, which earned him the nickname "Black Arm", and used it quite commandingly in a battle with Luffy. He was also easily able to break Kibin's Tekkai with a Haki-enhanced punch.

Rokushiki
Like several other high-ranking Marines, Zephyr has mastered the Rokushiki martial arts style, although he has not been shown using it.

Weapons
He had a mechanical arm that is named Battle Smasher which he used as a powerful bludgeoning weapon. The weapon was constructed by Marine scientists after Zephyr lost his right arm.

The arm was imbedded with Kairoseki, effective for combating against Devil Fruit users, especially Logia-class users like Borsalino and his Pika Pika no Mi. Inside Smasher there also were a powerful blast cannon and a machine gun turret.

He also used a simple handgun which shot Kairoseki bullets.

Childhood
As a child, Zephyr played the role of a hero named "Z", as he defeated bullies while protecting a girl and her doll.

Marine Service
Sixty years ago, a 14 year old Zephyr enlisted in the Marines, desiring to become a hero. He eventually participated in his first battle four years later. At age 28, Zephyr realized that the Marines are not always heroes. Six years later, Zephyr had mastered Busoshoku Haki. For this reason, he received the epithet "Black Arm".

Zephyr became an Admiral at age 38, during Gol D. Roger and Edward Newgate's golden age. By this time, he had become very popular with his subordinates. He got married, and a year later, his son was born.

Zephyr's happiness was ended prematurely when a pirate murdered his wife and son three years later. Zephyr wanted to resign from the Marines, but he was eventually persuaded to stay as an instructor. He trained many cadets, most of whom would ascend the Marines bureaucracy in both power and status.



Twenty-three years after the death of his loved ones, Zephyr's arm was cut off by a pirate who had once pleaded for his life when he was arrested by the former Admiral, along with his entire division massacred with only Ain and Binz surviving. At age 70, Zephyr received his mechanical arm from a government scientist.

Neo Marines
One year ago, the same pirate who severed Zephyr's arm became a Shichibukai, prompting the instructor and former Admiral to renounce the Marines in order to create his own group, the Neo Marines. With his new group they plotted to destroy all pirates.

Sometime after the Neo Marines were formed, Ain and Shuzo dueled each other for the position of Z's right hand. Ain became the victor and Z appointed her as his second-in-command.

Z's Ambition Arc
Ain and Zephyr learn Shuzo's fate from the newspapers. Ain tells Zephyr that she should have made herself clealer to him, apologizing. She then wonders if the Navy found out what they were up to. Zephyr tells her not to worry, that no amount of torture will make him or his men talk. Confident in his minions loyalty, this setback does not bother him in the least. He then gets a call on his Den Den Mushi, announcing they will be arriving at an island soon. Zephyr promises the end of the New World is near, and he will kill every last single pirate in it.

Zephyr and the rest of the Neo Marines arrived at Firs Island and he is prepared to eradicate all the pirates in the New World.

One Piece Film: Z
Zephyr was first seen attacking Firs Island in order to retrieve the Dyna Stones. Zephyr, Ain, and Binz wipe out several of the marines and make their way inside the base.

Inside they steal several Dyna Stones and bring them back to their ships. While bringing back the stones, Borsalino appears and destroys several Neo Marine ships. Then a battle between Zephyr and Kizaru begins. In a last resort move, Zephyr takes out one of the Dyna Stones from the container, launches it at Borsalino, and shoots it with a blast from his Smasher fist. A giant purple light explosion engulfs the entire island and causes the volcano to erupt. Kizaru escapes unharmed, but Zephyr is blown away from the explosion.



Elsewhere the Straw Hat crew is acting silly and celebrating sakura blooming on the Thousand Sunny. They enter a cloud of raining ash, caused by the explosion. Later they find an unconscious Zephyr on some brink wood in the sea. Monkey D. Luffy and the others rescue him and Tony Tony Chopper nurses him back to health. After Zephyr awakens, he talks to Luffy and Chopper about his time as a former Marine and his weapon Smasher, that has Kairoseki imbedded in it. But when Luffy mentions that they are all pirates and he is going to become Pirate King, Zephyr attacks Luffy. During his fight with Luffy, Roronoa Zoro and Sanji, he hears commotion from outside, and realizes that his crew has arrived with the help of a Vivre Card, and is fighting the rest of the crew outside of the ship. He eventually defeats the Monster Trio, sending Zoro and Sanji flying out of the room, and picks Luffy up around the waist. He asks him his name, Luffy tells him that his name is "Monkey D. Luffy", and Zephyr realizes that he is the grandson of Monkey D. Garp. He then throws Luffy away, and declares that the crew is going to perish, and goes back to his ship, the White Tiger, as it attacks the Thousand Sunny. When the crew manages to escape thanks to a Coup de Burst, Zephyr is seen surprised.

Some time after their fight with the Straw Hat crew, the Neo Marines reach Secon Island. Zephyr plants a few Dyna Stones near the island's volcano, and fights Commodore Kibin's Marine platoon by himself. He wins easily, then tells his crew about the Grande Imbuto, as the Dyna Stones explode. He is interrupted by Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp, who have come to get Ain to return the Straw Hats she had rejuvenated to their proper ages. Zephyr orders Ain and Binz to attack Zoro and Sanji, while Zephyr himself fights Luffy. The young pirate puts up a better fight, but Zephyr manages to win anyway thanks to a Kairoseki bullet. He notices Luffy's straw hat which had fallen off during their battle, picks it up, and steals it. Luffy gets up and tries to attack Z again, saying this hat was given to him by Shanks, but the former Marine Admiral easily grabs Luffy again, and attacks him with a point-blank blast from the Smasher. He then leaves the island, and is next seen in his ship, overlooking the island's destruction with his crew.

Major Battles

 * Zephyr, Ain, Binz, and a Marine platoon vs. a future Shichibukai
 * Zephyr vs. Firs Island's Marine platoon
 * Zephyr vs. Admiral Kizaru (on Firs Island)
 * Zephyr vs. Straw Hat Pirates
 * Zephyr vs. Commodore Kibin and his Marine platoon
 * Zephyr vs. Monkey D. Luffy (on Secon Island)
 * Zephyr vs. Monkey D. Luffy (on Piriodo)
 * Zephyr vs. Admiral Kizaru, Vice Admirals Momonga, Doberman, Comil, Onigumo, Strawberry and a Marine platoon (on Piriodo)

Trivia

 * Zephyr shares his name with Zephyrus (Ζέφυρος), the personification of the west wind in Greek mythology.
 * He is the only Marine Admiral that hasn't eaten a Devil Fruit.
 * He shares some similarities with Gasparde:
 * Both crews' jolly rogers indicate a relationship with the Marines.
 * Both were high-ranking Marine officers before their departure (though their reasons and paths chosen were different).
 * Zephyr also shares many similarities with the main antagonist of the movie Strong World, Shiki:
 * Both are the antagonists of movies overseen by Oda himself during the whole process.
 * Both's histories have been developed by Oda himself.
 * Both also have remarkable prostheses that double as weapons, with Shiki having two swords replacing his feet and Zephyr having a huge mechanical arm.
 * Both characters have elements found in ships in their own bodies, with Shiki having a steering wheel on his head and Zephyr having two mast rigging across his chest, possibly supporting his mechanical arm.
 * Both characters have their origins in Roger's era.
 * Zephyr even shares some similarities with Edward Newgate:
 * Their origin in Roger's era.
 * They were of the same age (though Newgate died two years before Zephyr).
 * Their last action being to sacrifice themselves to save their comrades from the Marines.
 * Both being killed by a former subordinate who they once shared a mutual respect with.
 * Their signature weapons serving as their grave markers.
 * Their dependance on medical support outside of combat.

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