Seraphim

The Seraphim are a special type of Pacifista units developed by the Marines' Special Science Group with the intention of replacing the Seven Warlords of the Sea as one of the Three Great Powers. They are living weapons built as clones of the former members of the Warlords, mixed with King's lunarian Lineage Factor and augmented with the Devil Fruit power-replicating Green Blood.

They are currently stationed at Egghead, where their creator, Vegapunk, resides.

Due to their actions and roles, they are supporting antagonists in the Egghead Arc.

Appearance
Just like the original Bartholomew Kuma-based Pacifistas, the Seraphim units are cyborgs built in the image of an existing person; in their case, the units bear an uncanny resemblance to former Warlords of the Sea, albeit at a much younger age and at a relatively larger size. S-Hawk and S-Snake, for example, had likenesses matching those of Dracule Mihawk and Boa Hancock during their childhood, the latter corroborated by the Gorgon Sisters.

Aside from that, another distinct feature of the Pacifista is their lunarian-like biology, featuring brown skin, white hair, black wings, and a plume of fire burning on their backs. It has been noted that most Seraphim sport star-shaped pupils; S-Bear, like the real Kuma, wears thick glasses so his pupils are not visible. The star insignia on the clothing of S-Bear is shared with other creations of Vegapunk.

Like every Pacifista, the Seraphim have the designation "PX-" marked somewhere on their bodies. So far, it was shown on either the Seraph's left pectoral, such as in the cases of S-Shark and the Seraphim based on Crocodile and Doflamingo, or on the left side of the neck, such as in the cases of S-Hawk and the Seraph based on Gecko Moria.

Biology and Behavior


The Seraphim are clones of the former Seven Warlords of the Sea created using a combination of their individual Lineage Factor and the genetics of the Lunarian tribe, specifically that of Alber. They undergo an accelerated growth process and are infused with a substance called Green Blood which can be instilled with the Lineage Factor of those who consumed a Paramecia, allowing that unit to emulate the Devil Fruit abilities of the said user. Due to all the technology that must be invested in their creation and maintenance, the Seraphim are considered extremely expensive to make. This could be attributed to the fact that Lunarian DNA is hard to come by, along with the materials used to create them. Thanks to their numerous unique traits, they are considered by their inventor, Vegapunk, to be the highest echelon of science conceivable, even referred to by him as The Strongest Form of Humanity.

Like the original Pacifista, the Seraphim execute their duties in a quiet, robotic manner. Seraphim are programmed to only obey direct orders from the Five Elders, Vegapunk, and Sentomaru; in that specific hierarchical order. Anyone else, including the likes of CP0, has to be in possession of an "authority chip" to command them, though the previously mentioned individuals would still have greater command over the Seraphim than those in possession of the authority chip. Likewise, a Seraphim has to be given its orders directly; trying to command them remotely (such as through Den Den Mushi) does not work. Furthermore, once the Seraphim have received a command, it can only be overwritten by the command of someone higher on the ladder of authority. A command from someone of equal authority to the one who gave the order will not work.

If given a directive to attack, they will do as commanded, although without showing restraint, and putting the lives of downed fighters at risk. Koby, despite being a Marine captain and member of SWORD, had apparent trouble reining them in during the Amazon Lily siege, implying that they might be harder to control than normal Pacifista units. Furthermore, they are capable of attacking those with higher authority than the ones who give them a command to attack if they happen to be on the enemy side, only stopping when said individual orders them to stop. Even Vegapunk and his satellites can be potentially killed by them depending on the situation.

Though artificially created, their partially biological nature means that the Seraphim are apparently capable of aging and thus becoming stronger as they mature. In addition, thanks to their biological nature, they can express feelings and are capable of speech. They also retain limited decision-making abilities depending on circumstance, removing the need for direct orders. It is also possible that a Seraphim can retain traits from their "donor" that can even go against their own programming. This was shown when S-Snake, clone of Boa Hancock, expressed similar affection for Monkey D. Luffy, enough that she agreed to undo the petrifaction of his crew and others against the orders from York when he asked.

Overall Strength
The Seraphim were specifically designed to replace the Seven Warlords of the Sea within the dynamic of the Three Great Powers. Marine Admiral Fujitora, who was familiar with the project before its official deployment, was convinced the Seraphim could effectively replace the Warlords. Their creator, Dr. Vegapunk, believes that the Seraphim can be considered the strongest form of humanity in the history of the world.

The Seraphim have shown enough strength and skill to force even one of the Four Emperors, Marshall D. Teach, into a defensive position, right after effortlessly defeating a myriad of his subordinates. Also, thanks to their lunarian traits, they appear to have vast resilience, something noted by the Gorgon Sisters, who claimed the Seraphim involved in the siege left the island with hardly a scratch on their bodies. Even combined attacks from powerful individuals seemingly neither do not harm them or do any sort of damage to them. Their young appearances may also inhibit foes who have reservations fighting children from attacking them. Helmeppo would later infer that sending even a single Seraphim against the Blackbeard Pirates would be enough to at least safely rescue the captured Koby from them.

Cyborg Modifications and Weapons


Like standard Pacifista, the Seraphim are cyborgs, as evidenced by their use of built-in laser weaponry and recording equipment.

Seven Warlords Lineage Factor
Pythagoras theorizes that this might be a property of the Lineage Factor, which could potentially transmit memories of learned skills and natural talents from the original individuals unto their Seraphim counterparts. This theory is reinforced in cases like with S-Hawk—the Seraph based on Dracule Mihawk—exhibits an incredibly destructive level of swordsmanship that is capable of splitting even mountains in half and S-Shark —the Seraph based on Jinbe— being, a devastatingly powerful practitioner of Fish-Man Karate capable taking out several opponents at once, not unlike the originals.

As some of the Warlords the Seraphim are based on are from certain powerful races, like fish-men, the Kuja, and the Buccaneers, they also gain all the advantages of those races as well.

Lunarian Lineage Factor
The Seraphim were augmented with the Lineage Factor from the lunarian Alber. Like natural lunarians, the Seraphim have innately resilient physiques, and are capable of becoming drastically faster when their flame goes out, though they will become more vulnerable to attacks. However, as Roronoa Zoro, who personally fought King, pointed out, the fire emitted by the Seraphim units are not so easily expunged by comparison.

Green Blood
Thanks to the Green Blood flowing in their bodies, the Seraphim also have access to artificial Paramecia-type Devil Fruit abilities; some have the same powers as the warlords they are modeled after, such as S-Snake possessing the power of Boa Hancock's Mero Mero no Mi, and S-Bear possessing the power of Bartholomew Kuma's Nikyu Nikyu no Mi. Others, the ones based on warlords who do not have Devil Fruit powers, have been given powers from other Devil Fruit users whose powers best complement the fighting techniques the Seraphim have inherited from the warlords they are based on, such as S-Shark possessing the power of Senor Pink's Sui Sui no Mi, and S-Hawk possessing the power of Daz Bonez's Supa Supa no Mi.

Due to the Green Blood, the Seraphim are affected by the standard Devil Fruit weaknesses, such as the energy-draining effects of the sea.

Past
At some point in the past, the SSG envisioned, and later began developing the Seraphim as a means of replacing the Seven Warlords of the Sea as one of the Three Great Powers in Egghead's Labophase, They utilized the Lineage Factors of the original Seven Warlords and that of the Lunarian, Alber, along with creating clones of them in their adolescent stage imbued with Pacifista technology as well as Green Blood to mimic the Devil Fruit abilities of their predecessors or others.

Wano Country Arc


After the Levely concluded, the Seven Warlords system was abolished and anti-monarch revolutions were sparked in World Government-affiliated countries. As a result, the Seraphim were dispatched to help the Marines in capturing the former Warlords and suppressing the rebellions. The Marines took S-Snake and S-Hawk to Amazon Lily in order to arrest Boa Hancock. During the clash against the Kuja warriors and the Blackbeard Pirates, who wanted Hancock for themselves, Marine Captain Koby attempted to order S-Hawk to back down, as its attacks threatened to shatter the Marines petrified by Hancock's ability. By the end of the battle, the Seraphim were no longer around, presumably due to being ordered to retreat. It was noted by the younger Gorgon Sisters that neither of the Seraphim received a single scratch throughout the entire battle.

Egghead Arc


Weeks after the assault on Amazon Lily, the CP0 agents Rob Lucci, Kaku, and Stussy transported S-Bear back to Egghead while on their mission to eliminate Vegapunk. In order to test S-Shark, Lilith, Pythagoras, and Edison had it battle Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Nico Robin, and Franky simultaneously, until Shaka intervened, ordering the Pacifista to stand down.

Upon the World Government ship arriving at Egghead with S-Bear and requesting permission to dock, Pythagoras alerted Shaka of the ship as well as CP0 including Rob Lucci was onboard, prompting Shaka to have Pythagoras to reply to the ship and tell them to unload the Seraphim and leave. Pythagoras then thanked the World Government agents for returning S-Bear, and as the Seraphim was capable of returning on its own, informed them to give the Seraphim the order to return in order the fulfill their mission. Not being allowed to dock, the government agents instead used S-Bear's Nikyu Nikyu no Mi power to fly onto the island. When their intrusion became known to the SSG, Shaka instructed S-Snake, S-Hawk and S-Shark be mobilized under Sentomaru's command.



While Monkey D. Luffy and Lucci began fighting, the three Seraphim met up with Sentomaru. The group encountered the invading government agents, during which Kaku who was using an authority chip instructed S-Bear to eliminate one of the Seraphim. Sentomaru overrode the command and had S-Bear attack the agents, which it did to their surprise. Sentomaru then instructed S-Snake to take the Straw Hat Pirates, who were trying to aid the original Vegapunk with fleeing the island to the vacuum rocket, while S-Hawk and S-Shark were given the order to hold back CP0. Afterwards, Sentomaru was assaulted by Lucci in an attempt to give CP0 authority over the Seraphim. Obeying Sentomaru's commands, all four of the Seraphim began assaulting the government agents, during which S-Snake directed the Straw Hats in fleeing to the Vacuum rocket with Atlas and Jewelry Bonney. Afterwards, Sentomaru succumbed to his injuries, resulting in the four Seraphim following CP0's command.



Upon CP0 infiltrating Egghead's Labophase while its defense system was deactivated, the four Seraphim took the initative to follow the assassins. When they arrived, Lucci ordered them to destroy Vegapunk's laboratory before the scientist could come out, leading to them damaging the building's structure using a range of attacks. After Stussy turned on Lucci and Kaku and put both of them to sleep, Edison and Lilith came out of the lab to issue a command for the Seraphim to stop attacking, which Edison was successfully able to issue thanks to the intervention from the Straw Hats.



With the World Government en route to erase Vegapunk and his Satellites, York devised a plan to get rid of of all her obstacles, prompting her to instruct the Seraphim to kill everyone in the Frontier Dome except for Stella and the people underneath the laboratory. To safeguard her involvement in the attack, York told S-Snake to temporally petrify her in front of the Labophase's occupants to avoid suspicion. Afterwards, York warned the Pacifista about the place in the laboratory not to destroy before the group enacted the plan.

Later, S-Snake ambushed Pythagoras in Tower C, and while the Straw Hats and Satellites were looking for Dr. Vegapunk's main body, who had gone missing, Usopp, Franky, Lilith, and York found the remains of Pythagoras's body, though he himself survived by detaching his head. As part of the plan, York walked over to S-Snake so that she could be turned to stone, and S-Snake then ignored Lilith's commands and opened fire on the group, separating them from York. S-Bear and S-Hawk also broke into the lab and opened fire on Luffy, Zoro, Shaka, and the unconscious Lucci and Kaku. Shaka was unable to command the two of them to stop.



Ultimately, the Seraphim were all trapped in Lilith's seastone-coated bubbles, weakening them and preventing them from carrying out their objective. Due to being a clone of Boa Hancock, S-Snake shared her affection of Luffy with her, allowing Luffy to convince her to undo the petrification on his allies. Vegapunk believed this to be related to the Lineage Factor, as she was not programmed to act this way.

Major Battles

 * Marines vs. Kuja Pirates
 * S-Snake vs. Marguerite and Sweet Pea
 * S-Hawk vs. Blackbeard Pirates
 * S-Hawk vs. Marshall D. Teach
 * S-Shark vs. Straw Hat Pirates (except Luffy, Zoro, Chopper, Brook and Jinbe)
 * S-Bear, S-Hawk, S-Shark & S-Snake vs. CP0
 * Seraphim vs. Labophase occupants
 * S-Bear and S-Hawk vs. Roronoa Zoro, Monkey D. Luffy, Rob Lucci, and Kaku
 * S-Snake vs. Lilith and Franky
 * S-Shark vs. Nami, Zeus, Brook, and Sanji

Translation and Dub Issues
In standard English, the word seraphim is a plural form and seraph is its singular form. However, the VIZ translation has opted to use seraphim for both singular and plural.

Trivia

 * In traditional Christian angelology, the Seraphim are angelic beings regarded as belonging to the highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy. The name means "burning one", which fits with their lunarian-based fire abilities.
 * Their appearance may be a reference to a putto, a representation of a naked child, especially cupid in Renaissance art. The Cherubim, the second highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy, have become associated with the putto which resulted in depictions of them as small, plump, winged boys.
 * It is unknown how Vegapunk comes up with the name for his new creations, but he most likely did so by starting with the letter "S" (Seraphim), followed by the name of a certain animal that associates with the original Warlords (currently, the names of Doflamingo, Moria, and Crocodile's clones are unknown).
 * Following Lucci giving an order to the Seraphim and then being incapacitated, Stussy was unable to stop his order, which seemingly contradicts Lucci previously being able to stop Sentomaru's command after he became unconscious. Stussy attributes this to having the same authority level as Lucci, while Sentomaru has higher authority than Lucci.

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