Nelson



Commodore Nelson Royale (ネルソン提督 Neruson Royale Teitoku) is an extremely obese Naval officer on the East Blue, who seeks the Thousand Year Dragon, Ryuji, for his own selfish purposes. To that end, he hires a man named Erik to do his dirty work. Nelson seeks the Thousand Year Dragon to make an elixir of life from its bones. Assumed as dead due to Erik's furious attack on him after the return of the Thousand Year old dragon's birthing grounds.

Nelson is the commander of the 8th branch of the Marines,as seen on his main ship. His rank is roughly equivalent to "Commodore" (准将 Junshō), yet the rank he holds (提督 teitoku) does not exist within the Marine's rank system, according to the author. This is probably an oversight by the writing staff of the TV show, since Nelson does not appear in the manga,outside the adaption into the form of a manga novel not drawn by Oda.However,the top brass of the Marines must know its meaning, because in chapter 96 (and episode 45),Don Kriegs nickname is worded by Liuetenant Commander Brandnew as "Kaizoku Kantai Teitoku Krieg".

Appearance
Nelson, aside from his extreme obesity, has some other peculiar marks. He has a long, thin, curved moustache, spiral marks on his huge cheeks and he also seems to have no eye brows, having two dark spots in their place instead.

The 8th Branch
The 8th Branch of the Marine, that Nelson is head of, ís active in East Blue. It appears Nelson has a fleet of at least 10 smaller battleships, plus his main ship, at his disposel. The only seen technique, which this branch uses to capture pirates, is the "akuyoku" formation-which consists of surrounding an enemy with a fleet of battleships and then blocking all escape routes by connecting each battleships with several large chains.



The only higher ranking official seen, though unnamed, is the official, who is sent after Apis, along with Erik. He takes the ship into the "mirror zone" and back, aleit loosing Eric for a while, to a seeming pleasure of the commander, who does not trust Erik. After Erik re-appears, he is about to call off the operation, when Erik requests a two rowers and a small boat.The commander gives them to Erik, who then betrays Nelson.

He is addressed by the title of "Shōsa" by his subordinates, which translates as "Liuetenant Commander".