Hyouzou

Hyouzou (ヒョウゾウ) is a poisonous blue-ringed octopus merman. Prior to his imprisonment, he was a mercenary and working as the New Fishman Pirates' assassin, and he was known as the best swordsman on Fishman Island.

Appearance
Being an octopus merman, Hyouzou has six massive orange octopus tentacles in place of legs with large motifs vaguely reminiscent of eyes on them, making eight limbs with his two arms. He has a standard, slim pink upper body and two human arms. He has unkept, black medium-length shaggy hair. He's usually seen with a sleepy look on his face. He has an unusually large mouth that protrudes out from his face.

He usually has a toothpick in his mouth. He wears a blue unbuttoned shirt with the sleeves rolled up, an untied tie hanging around his neck over his chest, and a jacket which is draped over his shoulders like a cape. His left arm is usually pulled through from his shirt and is seen holding a katana that lacks a guard and kept in a sheath covered in elongated spot motifs. Hyouzou also carries around a gourd that he often drinks his alcohol from.

After overdosing on Energy Steroids, his appearance changes (like Hody) with his hair turning white and slicked back. After the negative effects of the Energy Steroids appeared, his body became old and weak.

Personality
Hyouzou has a laid-back and calm demeanor. He seems to be annoyed by noisy people, as is evident by his distaste toward the ruckus made by the Mermaids of the cove. He likes to drink and when he gets drunk, he will blindly attack anyone around him, whether enemies or allies.

He has an evident interest in money, being a mercenary for hire who ends up only working for those of the highest bidder, to the point that he wouldn't even help Arlong invade East Blue because the Fishman was tight with his money and wouldn't pay his fee. Apparently, he's not interested in the goals of the faction he's working for, as long as he receives payment. However, although he has no interest in the goals of the New Fishman Pirates, he is shown to be very efficient when he does have a client as shown when he forced the Fishman Island citizens to comply with the New Fishman Pirates. Since he was hired help, he himself did not share as much of the same views as others working for Hody, but was no better due to his role in life. Despite priding himself as the best swordsman of Fishman Island, he doesn't seem to have honor of one, as he tried to kill Zoro with a sneak attack from behind, which has often been referred as a shame for a swordsman. Also shown during his fight with Zoro is that he can be angered when he is insulted.

He has known Hatchan, and seems to look down on him for the fishman's skills in swordsmanship and says Arlong would have taken him if it wasn't for his money problems. He apparently has developed a sense of intrigue with Luffy, as he stated he thought it would be a shame if Luffy died from his poison. He can be sarcastic since he claimed that he felt bad for Arlong for recruiting Hatchan.

After his transformation from Energy Steroids overdose, his personality changes: even when drunk, bystanders note that he has seemingly developed a lust to cut anything-even his own allies-as opposed to simply attacking blindingly.

Like many other characters in One Piece, he is given a personal laughter, which is "Ho he he he".

Abilities and Powers
Prior to his defeat, Hyouzou was a mercenary, the strongest swordsman on Fishman Island, and the assassin of the New Fishman Pirates. He claimed he was not assisting them for common goals, but simply because he was hired for it: the fact that the crew resorted to hire a merman mercenary tells a lot about Hyouzou's abilities. Even though he is a freelancer assassin for the crew, he still appeared to be an officer of his crew as, just like the other officers, he led a squad of their crew during their takeover of the island, and when the other officers were arrested and imprisoned, Hyouzou was alongside them instead of the lower-ranking members, who were merely sentenced to work off their debt to society. He also has a very strong-will, as he was completely unaffected Luffy's Haoshoku Haki blast.

He seemed to be stronger than Hammond and Kasagoba, as he was seemingly the only one able to block Luffy's punch (even though he was still greatly pushed back by the attack's sheer force), showing off incredible speed, given that Luffy was in Gear Second mode at the time, and stamina, as he was able to walk away without any visible injuries while his two companions were out-cold and bleeding, yet carrying them with his tentacles. While Luffy himself acknowledged Hyouzou as a strong individual, Zoro on the other hand did not consider Hyouzou as a worthy opponent. Zoro effortlessly defeated Hyouzou even though he was powered by Energy Steroids.

Due to being the only kind of octopus that is poisonous to humans, he is capable of poisoning his opponents through a mere, short-lasting physical touch, as Luffy was poisoned by rapidly punching him. Hyouzou was subsequently concerned that his poison might have killed the Straw Hat'ss captain (Chopper confirmed it was deadly poison when testing Luffy's blood); Luffy, however, easily fought it off, due to being exposed to a variety of intense poisons during his fight with Magellan two years earlier. Also, as a merman, he is a fast swimmer.

However, after the negative effects of the Energy Steroids took effect, he became weak and old, stripping him of all strength, save for his poison which is natural to the type of merman he is.

Weapons
Hyouzou was a swordsman, and his weapons of choice were seven sabers and a katana which he was always seen carrying around. Hyouzou can be recognized as a very proficient swordsman. He is later confirmed to be the strongest swordsman on Fishman Island; even while (or rather because of being) intoxicated, Hyouzou shows tremendous swordsmanship, swinging three swords to easily take down members of the New Fishman Pirates. His last resort appears to be coating his eight swords with his deadly venom. However, after his defeat and his body became weak, it is unlikely he could do any swordsmanship close to what he could do when he was young.

Energy Steroids
Like the rest of the crew, Hyouzou had taken the Energy Steroids during the battle against the three princes of Ryugu Kingdom, who are crowned the strongest soldiers in the entire island, and was able to overpower them due to this. The drug doubles his strength per pill, but shaves off a portion of his lifespan. After he overdosed on Energy Steroids, he underwent a transformation similar to Hody, in which his hair turned white, and was afterwards able to cut iron easily. The pills, however, had another side effect of making him old and weak after he was arrested, which causes him to lose all the strength he naturally had.

Past
He was offered a position by Arlong to join his crew, but Hyouzou denied him since Hyouzou only cared about money. Since Arlong had a tight wallet, he could not pay him.

Some time prior to the current storyline, he was employed by the New Fishman Pirates as an assassin since the crew's captain was more willing to pay for his services than Arlong.

The New Fishman Pirates' Coup d'État
Hyouzou first showed up alongside Hammond and Kasagoba when the Straw Hat Pirates were just outside of Fishman Island. After the Straw Hats escaped the sea monsters controlled by Hammond using Coup de Burst and flew through the bubble surrounding Fishman Island, Hyouzou wondered if the Straw Hats are still alive.

After receiving orders from Hody Jones to bring Straw Hat Luffy to him, Hyouzou, Hammond and Kasagoba found Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Sanji at Mermaid Cove. After Sanji suffered a massive nosebleed, the fishmen pirates attempt to capture the four Straw Hats but Luffy was able to repel them. Hyouzou managed to avoid the full force of Luffy's attack by blocking him. He also inadvertently poisoned Luffy when the latter struck him.

After the fight, he is seen carrying his unconscious crew mates away and comments that it would be bad if Luffy dies unaware that he had developed an immunity to poison.

Later, when Hatchan shows up at Noah and warns all the people there not to take Neptune lightly, and to quit the rebellion, he is seen watching Hody opposing Hatchan's views. When asked by Hatchan why he did not answer to the call of Arlong in the past, while now he is assisting Hody, someone younger than him; Hyouzou replied that he was only hired by the New Fishman Pirates and that Arlong could not afford him and could only manage to appoint a swordsman of Hatchan's caliber.



Once Hody Jones and Vander Decken IX commence their attack on Ryugu Palace, Hyouzou is seen with the New Fishman Pirates riding on top of sea monsters. Hyouzou says that he'll cut if he's told to do so. The New Fishman Pirates split up to spread terror at other locations. Hyouzou goes to the Fishman's Assembly Hall at the southwest side of Fishman Island. As the invasion commences, Hyouzou is seen forcing the Fishman Island citizens to step on the fumi-e of Queen Otohime. He tells them that they either step on the fumi-e or get off the island. Otherwise, he will cut them.

Hyouzou then gets seriously drunk. One of the New Fishman Pirates tries to snap him out of it, but Hyouzou thoughtlessly attacks anyone around him.

Battle for Fishman Island
The New Fishman Pirates soon gather at the plaza and the Neptune Army's attempts to save the king have been thwarted by the Sea Beasts. Hyouzou and the other officers notice a soldier trying to attack them with dynamite and drunkenly mumbles something about it. Hody stops the soldier's attempt with Water Shot. After the three princes arrive and defeat the Sea Beasts, Hyouzou and the other officers prepare for battle by taking energy steroids. When the princes are defeated and tied up, Hyouzou is seen slumped against a rock sleeping soundly.



After Luffy and Hody leave to confront Decken on Noah, Hyouzou consumes a large amount of energy steroids which were in his booze. He then undergoes a transformation much like Hody. He goes into a drunken frenzy and attacks anyone near him, regardless of whose side they are on. He then sets his sights on Robin and charges at her. He is blocked at the last minute by Zoro, and the two started to fight. Despite Zoro paying so little attention to the fight that he is able to talk to Chopper, Hyouzou isn't able to hurt Zoro. When he gets tired of the fight, Zoro cuts the octopus merman's swords to pieces with one attack and comments that Hyouzou wasn't even strong enough to kill his boredom. Despite being disarmed, a still-drunken Hyouzou merely smiled and complained.

Defeat and Imprisonment
Later, Zoro seemingly lowers his guard and insults his opponent by calling him a frog. An angered Hyouzou then draws new swords, coats them with his own poison, and attempts a sneak attack while yelling that he is the best swordsman on Fishman Island. Zoro effortlessly cuts down Hyouzou, defeating him.

After the battle was over, Neptune sentenced him to prison, along with Hody Jones, the officers of the New Fishman Pirates, and Vander Decken IX. Sometime later, he became conscious along with the other New Fishman leaders, and his body was old and weak like the others due to the Energy Steroids. He was still drunk and saying that his joints were hurting.

Major Battles

 * Hyouzou, Hammond, and Kasagoba vs. Monkey D. Luffy
 * Hyouzou and the New Fishman Pirates' Officers vs. Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi and Manboshi (unseen)
 * Hyouzou vs. Roronoa Zoro

Translation and Dub Issues

 * His name comes from hyōmon-dako (ヒョウモンダコ), the Japanese name for blue-ringed octopus.
 * He was called the "Drunken Manslayer" (人斬り上戸) by the New Fishman Pirates members, but this was more of a description of his personality and profession rather than a true moniker.

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