Dalton

Dalton is the King of Sakura Kingdom (formerly called Drum Kingdom). He is a former Royal Guard who served under Wapol.

Appearance
Dalton is an imposing man, with slicked black hair and a goatee. He wears a long, fur-lined green tunic and has armor plates on his arms; these plates are retained on his fore legs when assuming his full-bison form. Sometimes he covers his head with a fur lined hat, equipped with ear-flaps against Drum Island's intense cold, and he always wears long boots. He carries his weapon of choice, an extra-large spade, in a sheath that hangs on his back. In Chapter 0, he was seen wearing a more regal armor, and his hair was also parted in three points, instead of one. After becoming king of the country, he started wearing a fur-lined cape with the kingdom's symbol on it over his standard attire.

Personality
Dalton is a brave warrior and a man who cares for the people of Drum Island and in return the people of Drum have learned to trust him. As the new king of Sakura Kingdom, the former Drum Island, he lives a simple and humble life. He refuses to live in the castle, preferring to live amongst the common people of Drum Island even though Kureha has offered him a room in "her" castle. He has the habit of giving people completely trivial information that they never asked for.

Friends
He is on good terms with Dr. Kureha; she approves of him as the king of Drum, though she treats him with disrespect. He displays no grudge nor protest against her for her actions; in fact, he seems to respect her for her role in the events of Wapol's ultimate defeat. The two remain on friendly terms; while Wapol disliked her for being a rogue doctor, Dalton is quite content with allowing her to do as she pleases.

Dalton also has a sound view of Chopper, whom he views with the highest respect having saved the kingdom of Drum and was the one who saved his life six years ago by stopping an angry Chopper from fighting a hopeless battle against Wapol and his army to avenge Hiluluk's death, having recognized what he was trying to do. He keeps an eye out for Dr. Kureha's "son" and was the first to tell her when Chopper gained a bounty.

He also has respect for Princess Vivi, whom amazed him when she was a child. It was because of her actions that first made Dalton criticize his own king, Wapol. He compared her against Wapol and noted how even at her young age she was fully aware of her political status and how one minor incident could have descended to a drastic situation. Though the present Vivi did not reveal her identity to him on Drum Island during the Drum Island arc, Dalton was even more amazed by her actions with the Straw Hat Pirates after realizing who she was following their departure, and how one such as her would ally herself with pirates such as them.

Enemies
Dalton was the humble servant of King Wapol, who originally obeyed the orders of his King through loyalty. Dalton however, unlike other members of the Kingdom minsters, had a conscience and once he was encouraged by Hiriluk's actions, refused to be Wapol's obedient guard any longer. After Wapol fled Drum Island, Dalton harbored a deep hatred for his former King and refused to allow him to revert Drum Island back to what it was before his departure.

Abilities and Powers
Dalton is a capable fighter. He possesses greath strength, enhanced by his Devil Fruit power, and he's fast enough to surprise Wapol and decapitate him with a single blow. He's also very resistant and resilient, as he took many arrows from Chess and was covered by an avalanche, and yet survived.

Devil Fruit


He has eaten the Devil Fruit known as the Ushi Ushi no Mi, Model: Bison which gives him the ability to transform into a bison and into a half human/half bison form that resembles a minotaur. His Hybrid form is primarily utilized for combat, and is powerful enough to stop Chopper's Heavy Point.

The main advantage of this fruit, however, doesn't seem to be the enhanced strength but, strangely enough, the speed: his quadrupedal bovine state allows him to run at a much higher speed than his default human state, making it ideal for transportation; he proved to be incredibly fast, evading the bullets shot at him by Wapol's soldiers with tremendous agility. In his hybrid form Dalton uses Fiddle Banff (フィドル突撃（バンフ） Fiddle Assault), which allows him to twirl his sword and charge the opponent at an incredible speed, slicing up anything in its path. This attack works especially well against large groups of enemies.

Weapon
Dalton's main weapon is a Spade, a large pole-arm with an over-sized blade. It is not shaped like most spades though (which have fan-like shapes such as the famous Shaolin Spade), and is rather unusual in its shape.

Past
Twenty years ago Dalton served the former kind king of Drum Island and both he and the king worried about prince Wapol's behavior. However, as time went on, the king passed away, leaving the spoiled Wapol to inherit the throne.



Dalton then became a guard to the new King Wapol, but he was opposed to Wapol's treatment of his subjects. He was seen with Wapol in Mariejois in a meeting King Nefertari Cobra and his daughter Princess Nefertari Vivi. He was inspired to rebel by Hiruluk. After seeing Hirluk's noble sacrifice, he turned against Wapol, but was subdued and thrown in prison, constantly mocked by Wapol and his henchmen, Chess and Kuromarimo. After Wapol abandoned his kingdom when Blackbeard invaded, Dalton took charge and kept the island from falling into disarray, soon gaining the trust of the people.

Present Time
When Monkey D. Luffy and his crew came to Drum Island in search of a doctor to cure Nami of her illness during the mission to get Princess Nefertari Vivi to Alabasta Kingdom, they encountered Dalton and some men who thought they were there to rob the island. When asked about a doctor, the only one who could heal Nami was a witch named Kureha.

Even after Wapol returned and once again subdued him, the people and even the top 20 doctors continued to help out Dalton. He was later seriously wounded by Wapol because he defended the townsfolk from arrows launched by one of Wapol's bodyguards. And he in turn then, even almost going to extreme measures such as planning to blow up Wapol's castle. Luckily, Luffy defeated Wapol and knocked him off the island, after which the people of Drum elected Dalton as their new king and renamed the island, Sakura Kingdom (inspired from the special chemical created by Hiluluk, which turned the snow pink).

Post-Enies Lobby arc
He appears later in Chapter 440 as king of the newly crowned Sakura Kingdom (formerly known as Drum Island), where he shows Dr. Kureha the new bounties of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Translation and Dub Issues
In the 4Kids dub the fruit is called the "Ox-Ox Fruit" and the animal he turns to is an ordinary Ox.

Trivia

 * Dalton has a habit of mentioning trivial things about the subject he is speaking of; such as mentioning that Kureha likes pickled plums when informing Luffy, Sanji, Usopp and Vivi about the island's only remaining doctor; and that Gyasta is a fine place for skating when naming it's location for Usopp and Vivi while they were searching for her.
 * In Episode of Chopper Plus, the ninth One Piece movie, he never reveals his Devil Fruit form.
 * He is the first Zoan Devil Fruit user to be introduced in the manga.
 * He is currently the only known person with the class of noble who was not born into the status.