Tsuru

"Great Staff Officer" Tsuru is a Marine Headquarters vice admiral.

Appearance
Tsuru is a tall, thin and elderly woman with gray hair tied in a bun. Her attire appears to be less formal than the other high-ranking officers', consisting of a shirt left hanging out, with the sleeves rolled up and a tie around her neck, and calves-long pants, which makes her somewhat resemble the animal of her name, the crane. She sports earrings made of beads, and on her right wrist she has two bracelets. The epaulets on her Marine coat is purple, she and Garp being the only two Vice Admirals to have such differing epaulets from the standard blue.

Twenty-seven years ago at age 49, her skin was already wrinkled.

In her youth she was quite beautiful and had dark blue hair tied up in a loose pony tail with sidebangs that framed both sides of her face. She wore a standard Marine uniform with a rifle strapped to her back.

Personality
She is a veteran Marine who is not without wisdom for her age. She seems extremely knowledgeable; she knew who set the Marines to fight each other in the Marine and Shichibukai meeting when all others thought the two were simply messing around, and knew who Laffitte was on sight. She is not above telling off the younger marines that show concern for her well being when she steps up to fight the incoming pirates at Marine HQ. She then justifies her being on the front line with the other vice admirals by stating there is no longer a safe place left in the world for her to run to anyway. According to Garp, she is an empathetic woman although she does not show this disposition very often.

Her crew is shown to consist solely of female Marines.

Gion
Tsuru and Gion have a close-relationship due to Tsuru treating Gion as if she's her little sister.

Sengoku
Sengoku appears to be well-acquainted with Vice-Admiral Tsuru as well. 13 years ago, in the North Blue, she worked under Sengoku's orders to stop the Donquixote Pirates. Despite being outranked by him, Tsuru still had no problem calling him a fool for providing her wrong intel.

Nowadays, Tsuru appears to be annoyed with Sengoku's new cheerful disposition and lack of responsibility.

Monkey D. Garp
Tsuru is well acquainted with Garp, having known him for a long time. Before the Battle of Marineford occurred, she told him that he had done nothing wrong about Ace, which Garp replied with laughter, saying that she was supposed to be sympathetic towards him during this situation.

Garp and Sengoku are the only ones that call her Tsuru-chan while the others call her either Vice Admiral Tsuru or Tsuru-san.

Abilities and Powers
You're a million years too early to defeat me.

As a Marine Vice Admiral, Tsuru is easily one of the most powerful Marines in the series, being a part of the same generation of prominent marines as Garp and Sengoku. Even in her elderly age of 63, Tsuru was strong enough to strike intense fear into Doflamingo who is an extremely powerful pirates before he became a Shichibukai, as he was quick to flee during her many pursuits of the Donquixote Pirates throughout the North Blue, and despite his initial plans to reclaim Law from the Marines's custody to use his powers to immortalized himself, Doflamingo quickly changed his plans upon seeing her battleship off the coast of Minion Island. Several years later, when Doflamingo lost his title as a Shichibukai, he still showed respect for her, a stark contrast to his usual disrespect to other high ranking Marines.

Master Tactician
Tsuru is exceptionally well-versed in military strategies. She is a master tactician with extraordinary wisdom and could instantly formulate new plans right on the spot, earning her the nickname "Great Staff".

Haki
It was stated that all vice admirals possess Haki, so Tsuru can also use the ability. However, she has not yet been shown using it.

Weapon
In her youth, she is seen with a flintlock rifle. How proficient she is in using it is unknown.

Devil Fruit


Tsuru ate the Woshu Woshu no Mi, a Paramecia-class Devil Fruit that allows her to literally "wash and hang out to dry" people and objects as if they were clothes, turning them into flat and malleable like clothes. This disables the opponents by rendering them unable to move. This can also "clean" a limited amount of evil off the victims, which is considered a dangerous ability against pirates.

Past
Twenty-seven years ago, Tsuru is seen walking with fellow vice admirals Monkey D. Garp, Jaguar D. Saul, Kuzan and Sakazuki. Garp asks her if he can borrow a ship, but she refuses because he always breaks them.



Thirteen years ago, Tsuru was stationed in the North Blue, where she continuously pursued the Donquixote Pirates at the time. Doflamingo noted that her chases stopped after Rosinante left the crew, which led Doflamingo to suspect that his younger brother was giving away his crew's location to the Marines.

Three days before the scheduled exchange between the Marines and Diez Barrels for the Ope Ope no Mi, she was stationed at Swallow Island following Rosinante's intel that Doflamingo and his crew would be there, unaware that they actually had gone to Minion Island instead. She was then contacted and informed by the Marines scouting Minion Island about the fire at Barrels' hideout and ordered them to investigate the coast while avoiding being spotted. Doflamingo, who was tricked by Corazon, had assumed Law was with Tsuru as he heard the Marines had retrieved a young boy; while this was a coincidence, it was enough to convince Doflamingo to undo the Birdcage and go after the wrong person which allowed the real Law to escape.

Jaya Arc
Tsuru is seen present for the gathering of the Shichibukai to choose a replacement for Crocodile.

Marineford Arc


Tsuru is next seen at Marineford, saying comforting words to Garp concerning the upcoming execution of Portgas D. Ace. Upon Whitebeard's arrival, she comments on the illogicality of his position and joins the other vice admirals when his division commanders begin their attack. Although Vice Admiral Yamakaji expresses concern for her safety during the attack, Tsuru stays on the front lines, stating that she is as safe there as anywhere else.

She is next seen observing that Little Oars Jr. was bigger than any giant. She is then seen receiving Sengoku's order to prepare for the next part of the Marine's plan after having dealt with several pirates using her powers.

She later goes to the plaza when Sengoku starts to execute the final stage of his plan. After Shanks' arrival and call for a ceasefire, she is seen standing down along with the other Marines.

One Piece Film: Z
After Borsalino acquainted Sakazuki of Z's return, Tsuru reiterates the present about Z's former rank and his hazard.

Dressrosa Arc
After the Donquixote Pirates were defeated, Tsuru came to Sengoku's ship. After a shaky conversation, Sengoku offered Tsuru some okaki.

Three days after Doflamingo's downfall, Tsuru and Sengoku arrived at Dressrosa and met up with Admiral Fujitora. Tsuru asked Fujitora why he did not capture Luffy and Law. The Admiral explained that he made his decision based on the roll of a dice and that the pirates have been lucky for two days in a row. Fujitora then gave Tsuru his dice and declared that if it rolled on any number other than one, he will go after the pirates himself.

After Luffy and his group escaped, the Marines left Dressrosa while escorting Doflamingo. While guarding Doflamingo's cell, Tsuru reminded Doflamingo of the reality that he lost and then listened to his comment about how the war for the title of Pirate King will begin. Later, the Marine convoy came under attack by Jack of the Beasts Pirates, who sought to rescue Doflamingo. Two of the Marines' four ships were sunk but they managed to defeat him.

Anime and Manga Differences
In her first appearance in the anime, she does not say anything. In the manga, she talks to Donquixote Doflamingo, ordering him to be a good boy and calm down.

Major Battles

 * Tsuru's crew vs. Donquixote Pirates (at least once)
 * Marines and Shichibukai vs. Whitebeard Pirates and Allies.
 * Doflamingo's Marine escort vs. Jack

Playable Appearances

 * One Piece Thousand Storm

Non-Playable Appearances

 * One Piece: Gigant Battle
 * One Piece: Gigant Battle! 2 New World

Trivia

 * Eiichiro Oda has stated that he tends to name female characters after birds. This tradition continues with Tsuru, whose name means "crane". Her name can also be translated as "to hang", depicting her ability.
 * Tsuru is introduced as Marineford's second-in-command despite being a vice admiral. Whether she holds more power than a normal vice admiral is unknown.
 * She is currently the highest ranked female Marine along with Gion.
 * In the 4Kids dub, Tsuru's rank of vice admiral (中将) title has been translated as her surname.
 * When Tsuru and Sengoku were mentioned by Bartolomeo, they were shown in the latter's imagination, hardly resembling their real appearance at all.
 * In the special Adventure of Nebulandia, it is revealed that she follows her own motto of Justice like the admirals. Hers is "Clean Justice", fitting her Devil Fruit abilities.

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