Vinsmoke Judge

Vinsmoke Judge, also known as Garuda, is the king of the Germa Kingdom, the supreme commander of the Germa 66, and the patriarch of the Vinsmoke Family. He is also a skilled scientist, and a former research partner to the leading World Government scientist Vegapunk.

Due to his actions, he is the secondary antagonist of the Totto Land Arc and one of the central antagonists of the Yonko Saga.

Appearance
Judge is a large man with long golden hair which reaches his waist. He has a long and thin black mustache which spikes upwards, a thin and small beard, and a prominent cleft chin. He wears a dark robe with the number "66" on the bottom front, a large orange cape, a belt with the number "66" on the buckle, dark gloves, and a warrior's helmet.

Thirteen years ago, Judge wore the same outfit he wears presently, with inverted colors.

Personality
Judge has great respect for strength, and the privileges that come with its exercise. He believes that men should speak with physical force alone, a view which colors his attitude towards his children. He only values his sons when they prove such strength; for this reason, he is proud of Yonji, but refused to intervene as his other sons bullied Sanji when they were all children. These expectations are heightened by his desire to see his scientific achievements come to fruition. He will exhibit great pride in something should it succeed, as he doted on all his children except Sanji when they developed into superhumans. On the other hand, he will be very ashamed should something fail and will treat it in an unforgiving manner, as he judged Sanji as unworthy of being a member of the Vinsmokes based on his childhood actions and performances; when Sanji left the family, Judge only wished that he not tarnish his name by associating the two of them. Even after over a decade of estrangement, after which Sanji gained immense improvement, Judge continues to refuse to accept his third son as a true family member, more inclined to the fact that Sanji's genetic modification was negated by Sora than simply being physically weak and having compassionate feelings for the lower-class.

Judge also craves power, and is preoccupied with recapturing the past glories of the Vinsmoke Family; for this reason, his lifelong ambition is to retake the entire North Blue, as his ancestors once did. He has proven that he will not hesitate to use any means to accomplish his goals, including employing unfair advantages against his opponents; such actions include dishonorably creating a human shield, comprised of his subordinates, during his one-on-one fight with Sanji.His thirst for power led him to go as far as to modify his own children into superhumans at the cost of their emotions, and even went as far as to tell his wife that he is perfectly content with turning his offspring into monsters.

Additionally, Judge exhibits a typical royal hauteur, holding the firm belief that royalty is meant to be served, not to serve others. He disowns Sanji after learning about Sanji's "disgusting" habit of cooking for others (which he equates with serving others). It has been shown that he passed these attitudes down to his children, as his other sons use the same rationale to justify bullying Sanji, and his daughter is similarly proud of the status and privileges of being born with royal status. He enjoys flaunting his power and accomplishments, as he posted an image of himself victorious in the Conquest of Four Nations as interior decoration, to which Reiju claimed it was to display his own strength, though Sanji considers it tasteless and lunacy.

Judge has also proven that he is capable of immense cruelty. He was not simply content with demoralizing his son in front of his siblings, but even punished Sanji horribly by putting a metal mask over his face and locking him up in a dark cell within the family's castle. After 13 years apart, his only reason for seeking Sanji out was to use him as a political pawn to further his goals. He even threatened the life of Zeff (the man who took Sanji in after Sanji left the family) and placed exploding wrist-cuffs on Sanji's hands (the things Sanji values the most), to ensure Sanji cooperated with the wedding. The only time he has shown an interest in Sanji's safety was in preventing Niji from attacking him, because he still needed Sanji to seal the political alliance. However, Judge has shown hints of a conscience, as shown when he was unable to bring himself to kill Sanji.

Despite his cruelty, however, Judge claims that he is not inhumane enough to kill his children regardless of his feelings toward them. However, he will exploit loopholes if they present themselves, such as allowing Sanji to die by going off on his own.

Judge is a self-serving hypocrite and a promise-breaker, as he coldly disowned Sanji for being a failure, and allowed him to leave to live his own choices on the condition of never speaking of his heritage to cover the shame, only to later force Sanji to return with a hostage situation and labeling him as a son to the public (if only to provide a child to marry off for a political alliance).

Judge also possesses great political astuteness. He understood the full implications of Doflamingo's fall from power, including its impact on the war on Broc Coli Island. He also weighed up Germa's current privileges within the World Government against the benefits of an alliance with Big Mom, before deciding that losing the right to attend Reverie was far exceeded by gaining the manpower to retake North Blue. Judge is very cautious being willing to take several extreme measures to resolve potential unexpected difficulties such as threatening his third son by holding his mentor hostage as well as cuffing his hands with explosive wrist-shackles, he also intends to hold his future daughter in law hostage in order prevent Big Mom from backstabbing him; it was for this reason he chose to marry off Sanji, to ensure that if Big Mom holds him hostage, Judge would not be affected by the loss of his estranged son. Ironically, Judge still underestimated Big Mom by not realizing that the wedding itself was a giant trap, in that she intends to kill him and his entire family during the ceremony, and by parking his entire kingdom in her territory he left his technology for her to take. His trust in his daughter due to the genetic modifications he made to ensure her obedience has led him to overlook that she switched the explosive shackles placed on Sanji's wrist with fakes, and that she truly resented the Vinsmoke Family.

Sora
Judge and his wife had conflicting ideals. Sora did not want their sons to lose their humanity, but Judge only cared about giving them the power to win wars and forced her to undergo surgery which would alter their sons' Lineage Factor. Sora did everything she could to stop Judge's wild ambitions, even if it meant risking her own life.

After she passed away, Judge wished to move on from her way of doing things, as he saw no merit and nothing to be gained by continuing on the legacy of a deceased person. He forbade Sanji from emulating her example, even scorning him for following her legacy of caring for the weak. Judge effectively trampled on Sora's wishes, genetically modifying their quadruplet sons against her will and later neglecting, imprisoning, and banishing Sanji, their only son to live up to Sora's efforts.

Sanji
Unlike his siblings, whose genetic modifications were successful in giving them superhuman strength, Sanji's strength remained that of a normal human throughout his childhood, due to Sora's intake of a counter-drug that negated the surgery effects on Sanji alone. Judge did try to encourage Sanji by sternly scolding him that he must train a thousand times harder than his siblings if he wished to become strong, but he still showed no improvement. After Sora's death, Judge blamed Sanji and saw him as a constant reminder of his late wife's personality. For this reason, Judge deemed Sanji to be an "utter waste of space and air" and the single blemish in his life. This even led the pitiless father to have Sanji locked in a dungeon for over 6 months. Despite his extreme scorn for Sanji, Judge allowed Sanji to be fed and admitted that he could never bring himself to dispose of Sanji himself. When Sanji escaped and announced his intentions to leave Germa Kingdom, Judge was pleased and even allowed Sanji to escape from the Germa Kingdom on the condition that he never tell anyone about their relationship.

Judge, however, eventually decided to bring him back and pursued him constantly, going so far as to both use the World Government and the Marines to locate him, and manipulating the Marines' bounty system to ensure his safe return. This was all done merely in furtherance of his ambition to re-conquer the North Blue; in order to seal an alliance with Big Mom, which would give him the forces necessary to realize this ambition, he forces Sanji to marry one of Big Mom's daughters in order to meet her terms for an alliance. Despite being father and son, they share a mutual dislike, with Sanji calling him a "bastard" and refusing to acknowledge him as his father, and Judge telling Sanji that he has never considered Sanji a true son, even after Sanji proved himself to have grown tremendously during his decade of absence. Judge finds Sanji's unroyal behavior disgraceful, claiming Sanji needed to reign in his "twisted thinking". Because he views Sanji as a means to an end, he required him to be alive in order for his plan to be a success as shown when he prevented Niji from attacking him, which marked the first time he ever defended Sanji from his brothers. As Sanji reiterated his disgust for his family, Judge silenced him by forcing Sanji into following his orders by threatening the life of the man whom he saw as his real father. He is also observant of Sanji's behaviour since their reunion, as he noticed his third son gone pale when he revealed his knowledge of Zeff's existence, and when Luffy came towards the Vinsmoke carriage, his only reaction was looking back at his son. On the night before the wedding, Judge stated Sanji finally proved himself useful and shared a toast with his other sons to their "dud". Despite their mutual dislike, Sanji confessed to Luffy that he did not have in him to leave his father to die at Big Mom's hand and wanted to save him.

In keeping with his utmost respect for strength, Judge claimed that Sanji, even as a child, was worthless for not being able to defend himself from his brothers and punished him for persisting with cooking. However, he (like Reiju and Yonji) did show surprise at Sanji's drastically improved strength as an adult, voicing his disbelief that Sanji was able to use Haki. He also expressed surprise and anger that Sanji would dare to kick him or that he'd sacrifice his own family just to protect his crew.

Reiju
Judge's daughter outwardly shows great respect and admiration for him; while Sanji denounces Judge's decision to put up glorified pictures of himself throughout the royal castle, Reiju responds that it simply shows that their father is a man of great fame and power. Judge, in turn, trusts Reiju enough to delegate important tasks to her, such as cuffing Sanji with exploding wristlets.

Unbeknownst to Judge, however, Reiju secretly holds him in contempt for his cruel ways and his treatment of Sanji. Even though Judge has modified her mind so that she cannot directly disobey his orders, she still circumvents him when she can, such as deciding to put fake exploding bracelets onto Sanji when trusted with the task. Her hatred of her father extends to the point that she wishes death on him as well as herself for the things he had forced her to do, reasoning that there's no place in the world for murderers.

Ichiji
Judge highly values his "beloved" eldest son, and is happy to entrust the command of Germa 66 forces to him as the organization carries out its commissions. He approved of Ichiji (along with Niji and Yonji) bullying Sanji as a child, and refused to consider marrying him off to one of Big Mom's daughters even to seal a powerful political alliance.

When Ichiji informed Sanji that he was disgracing the family with his unroyal behaviour, Judge glorfied his son's words stating Ichiji's logic was "flawless".

Niji
As with Ichiji, Judge also values his second son and is happy to entrust Germa 66 forces to him in combat situations. He approved of Niji (along with Ichiji and Yonji) bullying Sanji as a child, and refused to consider marrying him off to one of Big Mom's daughters even to seal a powerful political alliance.

Though he has great respect for his second son, Judge still stopped Niji from kicking Sanji, not willing to let Sanji get damaged before the wedding. Niji is also obedient to his father to an extend as he halted his attack on Sanji at his father's orders despite his extreme fury towards his younger brother.

Yonji
Judge seems to respect his youngest son, questioning Sanji over what he did to his younger brother and stating that Yonji's strength is formidable. He considers Yonji, along with Ichiji and Niji, as "valuable"; therefore, despite his desire for an alliance with Big Mom, he refused to consider marrying Yonji into her family in order to meet her terms for an alliance.

Subordinates
Judge describes the soldiers of Germa 66 as the "true backbone of Germa's might", and he expects their absolute loyalty. However, he has little to no personal regard for them, as he ordered several of them to block Sanji's attack, and even stabbed one of them through with a spear simply to land a surprise attack on Sanji.

Charlotte Linlin
Judge desires an alliance with Big Mom, as her forces, combined with his, would enable him to easily conquer North Blue. However, he does not like her as a person, calling her a "madwoman" and not wanting his favored children to be married into her family. In front of her, Judge would put up a front of friendly and respectful relationship, though full-heartedly agreeing with her on the marriage's primary reason is to cement the alliance. Judge planned to take Pudding hostage after the wedding in order to ensure that Big Mom won't double-cross him.

Unbeknownst to Judge, Big Mom never intended to honor the alliance between herself and Judge, or to marry her daughter into the Vinsmoke Family. Rather, she planned the wedding as a set-up to kill Judge and his children, in order to take their army and technology without having to negotiate with Judge for their future use.

Zeff
Judge is aware of Zeff's role in raising his third son when he ran away. Judge appears to hold Zeff in disdain as he stated it was probably because of the chef's teachings that Sanji developed his "twisted" way of thinking. After Sanji continued to remain defiant, Judge silenced the latter by showing him a picture of Zeff, Judge warned Sanji that (through his alliance with Big Mom) he knows of Zeff's current location and if he were to continue refusing to obey his wishes, he will ensure the death of the man whom Sanji viewed as his real father. He also said to Sanji that no danger will come upon anyone he knows or cares about as long as he follows his orders accordingly.

Straw Hat Pirates
Judge is very apathetic towards the Straw Hat Pirates, most likely due to his arrogant royal values, but was angered when Sanji claimed he would sacrifice his own family to be with his crew. Judge later recognized the infamous Monkey D. Luffy as he rushed towards their carriage but was nonplussed when Luffy tried to get Sanji to return to the crew. During their encounter, Judge watched Sanji carefully and taking note of Sanji's reaction. When Sanji was forced to beat down his captain and Nami slapped Sanji in farewell, Judge believed with satisfaction that Sanji had severed his "useless bonds".

Vegapunk
Judge was Vegapunk's former ally scientist in an attempt to develop hi-tech weaponry as part of a foreign, lawless research team. The two discovered the "Lineage Factor", which causes the World Government to go after them out of fear of the discovery, and the two went their separate ways, with Vegapunk being caught and is now working for the government, and Judge managing to escape and continue the research for his own goals. Their current relationship status is unknown.

Political Powers
As king of the Germa Kingdom, Judge has authority over his subjects, and is an attendee at Reverie. Additionally, however, Judge seems to possess an unusual degree of power either within or over the World Government itself, as he can both influence the Marines' bounty process, and issue certain orders directly to them. Currently, it is unknown whether these political powers are common to all royal families; however, this seems unlikely, as Nefeltari Cobra (king of Alabasta) was nervous about the Marines discovering that his daughter had travelled with the Straw Hat Pirates, while Judge, by contrast, openly ordered a change to the condition of capture for a member of the same crew.

Judge also has authority over Germa 66 as its supreme commander, giving him command of a very powerful military force. Judge once led his army in a conquest that vanquished four North Blue kings, further demonstrating his might. These positions and past actions have made Judge infamous throughout the Underworld.

Scientific Expertise
Once renowned as a brilliant scientist, Judge worked alongside Vegapunk in an illegal weapon research and development team over 21 years ago. Together with Vegapunk, Judge was able to discover the blueprints for the creation of life itself, attributed as the "Lineage Factor". A highly skilled geneticist, Judge has advanced knowledge of cloning and gene manipulation techniques, being able to conduct his research of the Lineage Factor by himself even after the World Government's capture of Vegapunk.

His children and the soldiers of Germa 66 are among Judge's genetic experimentation achievements. His daughter and sons were genetically modified as children to have limitless physical potential (although due to Sora's interference, Sanji's modifications were neutralized), while his soldiers are artificially manufactured and programmed to be loyal and fearless.

Physical Abilities
Judge has exemplary physical strength, fighting evenly with his son Sanji, a powerful and famous pirate with a 177,000,000 bounty, and consistently overpowering him. He is capable of jumping extremely high, a feat he further enhances with jets affixed to the back of his boots, and his men in Germa 66 were awed to see his power on display. He has tremendous durability, as he was able to easily withstand Sanji's extremely powerful kicks that can shatter large boulders, steel, and even the incredibly hard body of a Pacifista, and could even grab hold one of Sanji's legs, which was enhanced by the extremely high heat of his newly improved Diable Jambe technique, without showing any signs of pain.

He also has knowledge of Haki, as he recognized it when his son used it against him.

Weapons
Judge wields a spear. He also possesses the Vinsmoke Family's advanced technology, which he has used to modify both his spear, boots and gauntlets, along with other pieces of armor.

Attacks

 * Denji Crack (電磁クラック): Judge electrifies his left foot and kicks his opponent with it.
 * Blaster (ブラスター): Judge kicks his opponent and uses the jet at the back of his boot to accelerate his foot, increasing the power of the kick.
 * Denji Shaft (電磁シャフト): Judge concentrates electrical energy at the tip of his spear, blasting away his opponent.

Past


Sometime in the past, Judge worked alongside Vegapunk, as part of the rogue research group that discovered the Lineage Factor. When the World Government caught wind of this research, they deemed it a threat and Vegapunk was arrested. Judge managed to escape the Government's grasp and continued the research in the Germa Kingdom.

At another point in the past, Judge led Germa 66 in an event known as the Conquest of Four Nations, in which he vanquished four kings in the North Blue.

Before the birth of his children, Judge married Sora, thereby crowning her queen consort of the Germa Kingdom. She later gave birth to their first child and only daughter, Reiju, before conceiving fraternal quadruplet sons. Before their sons were born, Judge argued with his wife about giving them modifications. Judge was only concerned about giving his sons power, even if it meant making them emotionless, and forced his wife to undergo surgery against her wishes. After his sons' birth, Judge was pleased that the surgery was a success, but was puzzled by Sanji's "peculiar" behavior.

When his five children were very young, Judge revealed his ambition for them to lead Germa 66 into battle and began training them. While Sanji's siblings excelled at their exercises and their bodies evolved, Sanji continually lagged behind due to his body remaining human, which greatly disappointed Judge. One day, Judge caught Sanji cooking and warned Sanji that he would need to cease his habits and train even harder if he wanted to catch up with his siblings. He then threw the food out of the palace window as he told Sanji to never make another meal again, causing Sanji to cry.

Eventually, Judge determined that Sanji would never develop the enhanced abilities of his siblings, and decided to erase his existence by putting an iron mask on him and locking him in a dungeon. He then staged a state wake to "mourn" Sanji's passing, informing the kingdom that Sanji had died in an accident.

Despite his scorn for Sanji, Judge allowed him to be fed. As his four other children made great progress with their training, Judge expressed how proud he was and gave them a hug. Eventually, he decided to wage some wars in the East Blue. After the Germa Kingdom crossed the Red Line into the East Blue, Judge ran into Sanji after he escaped his cell. Sanji declared that he wanted to leave the kingdom, something that Judge was actually pleased to hear. He allowed Sanji to go on the condition that he never tell anyone about their relationship.

When he wanted to form an alliance with the Yonko, Big Mom, Judge did not want to marry off any of his precious children into her family. He then remembered about Sanji and decided to bring him back. After Sanji gained his first bounty, Judge sent Marines and bounty hunters after his son. However, due to the poor depiction of Sanji in his wanted poster, the hunters ended up going after Duval instead. When Sanji's wanted poster was updated to show his true face, Judge increased his bounty by 100,000,000 and changed the condition of the bounty for Sanji from "Dead or Alive" to "Only Alive".

Zou Arc
Judge and Big Mom initiated an alliance between Germa 66 and the Big Mom Pirates, with Sanji being arranged to marry Big Mom's 35th daughter, Charlotte Pudding, to officially form the alliance.

Totto Land Arc
After the Germa Kingdom began to converge at Whole Cake Island, Judge reunited with Sanji. He attempted to speak peacefully with him as Sanji refused to recognize him as his father. Judge then asked Sanji what he did to Yonji, as Yonji has formidable strength but Sanji stated he just happened to be stronger. Judge then ordered Sanji to step outside, so that they could settle matters through physical force.

Judge and Sanji began fighting, with Sanji continually refusing to recognize his former family even stating he did not care what Big Mom would do to them when she hears of his refusal. Judge was very surprised at Sanji's strength and his ability to use Busoshoku Haki before offering to give him a sword only for Sanji to stick with his vow of never using his hands. Judge then used his advanced technology and spear to gradually overpower Sanji, who activated Diable Jambe and moved to attack. However, Judge had his men form a wall between the two of them, and he stabbed through his men with his spear, blowing away Sanji with electrical energy. Judge later spoke with Sanji again as he was being treated by Reiju, and he told Sanji that the Vinsmokes' alliance with Big Mom would make conquering the North Blue a guarantee. He then revealed to Sanji that he never saw him as a son and only as means to end. As Sanji was distracted by those words, Judge had Reiju put exploding wristlets on him to keep him from escaping the wedding.

The next day, Judge was present to witness the arrival of his two oldest sons in the Germa Kingdom, expressing joy at their return. As the reunited family ate breakfast, Judge warned his children to be prepared, as it was likely the World Government would soon discover their alliance with Big Mom and revoke their right to attend Reverie. However, Judge was indifferent to this problem as the alliance would bring Germa 66 to the brink of achieving its ambitions. During the meal, Judge watched as Sanji defended the head chef, Cosette, from Niji's attack and declared that his family stood for everything he despised. Judge responded by showing Sanji a photograph of Zeff, threatening to have him killed if Sanji did not cooperate with the wedding.

He later departed the Germa Kingdom with his children and head for Big Mom's castle in his family's carriage. On the way, they encountered Luffy and Nami. Judge watched as Sanji kicked Luffy and coldly turned down his request to return with him. He then witnessed Sanji further insulting Luffy before kicking him repeatedly. After Luffy collapsed, Sanji returned to the carriage. Judge stated that Sanji severed his bonds with the Straw Hats and the Vinsmoke Family continued on to the Whole Cake Chateau.

After arriving at Big Mom's castle, Judge and his family had a meal with Big Mom and Pudding. Judge concurred with Big Mom's excitement about their soon to be formed alliance. Sometime later, Big Mom showed the Vinsmoke Family (except Sanji) her collection of rare creatures, which were stored in books. Judge noted that no giants have been seen in Totto Land, even though it is supposed to be a utopia where all races can live together in harmony.

Sometime after the tour, Judge, Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji had a private discussion in the Vinsmoke guest room. Judge told his sons that Pudding would be living with them on Germa Kingdom after the wedding so they could use her as leverage against Big Mom. Big Mom then sent barmaids to serve alcohol to the Vinsmokes and get them drunk, and as the night went on, the euphoric Judge decided to save the real drinking for the next night, when they would have the Big Mom Pirates on their side. Judge and his sons then had a toast to Sanji, their "dud", actually being useful to them.

On the day of the wedding, Judge was shown getting dressed for the tea party.

Major Battles

 * Germa Kingdom vs. four unnamed nations
 * Judge vs. four unnamed kings (unseen)
 * Judge vs. Sanji

Trivia

 * In the Marine comic strip, Sora, Warrior of the Sea, there is a brief scene of Sora facing Germa 66. On Germa's side is a large man wearing a helmet (although it is a Roman-style Centurion helmet) and holding his cape out like wings. This figure may be a fictional representation of Judge, with the wing-like cape being an allusion to his epithet, Garuda.
 * The names of the members of the Vinsmoke Family, based off those that are currently known, appear to follow the pattern "(number) + j + vowel". Vinsmoke Judge's name in romaji contains the -ji (ジ) suffix used for the known male members of the family.
 * "Garuda" is a mythical bird in Hinduism and Buddhism, known as the king of birds and the first bird. The kanji used for Judge's epithet, "Garuda" (怪鳥) literally means "Monster Bird".
 * Despite disowning Sanji as his son, Sanji is ironically the only child with Judge's hair color.

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