Puzzle

Puzzle is the captain of the Phoenix Pirates. He has a bounty of 100,000,000. He was apparently injured in a previous battle. While he is injured, Stansen temporarily takes command of the crew.

Appearance
Puzzle is a red haired man. He has a birthmark in the middle of his forehead which looks like a phoenix, easily his most distinguishing feature. After the battle in the New World, his head was bandaged. He wears red pants with his weapon, a chain made from a slightly gold colored substance, a blue shirt with buttons, and in flashback he was seen with a black sleeveless vest. His red hair is messy and nearly as long as Sanji's.

Relationships
Puzzle is very much trusted by his crew. Because of his inspiring strength, they have vowed to protect him with their own lives. The one to have shown this the most is Vigaro. He sacrificed himself so that the Puzzle could live to fight another day.

Abilities and Powers
Puzzle is apparently a very strong man who uses a chain to fight. He practices great control over it as he fished Luffy out of the water easily when he was drowning. The chain itself is quite heavy as when he was wounded he couldn't pull up Luffy, and his whole crew had to help. Usually no matter what danger he is in or no matter how much damage he receives from a battle, he would usually come back to his feet and continue to fight as if like a phoenix risen back from the ashes. For this his crew believes that he will become the next Pirate King. He himself believes he can do this as he is seen admiring his Jolly Roger, saying that this is the flag he'll become the Pirate King with.

History
Puzzle lead his crew across the Grand Line while inspiring them with his strength. However when they went to the New World, he and his crew discovered the difference in strength between them and the dangers there. They were attacked by a crew sailing a large ship. Besieged by the volley of cannonballs shot at them, Puzzle had no other choice but to retreat. Unfortunately for him and his crew, the enemy was too powerful for them to escape from. To help out with the situation, Puzzle's first mate, Vigaro, decided to hold the enemy back while the rest of the Phoenix Pirates escaped. As Vigaro left to face the enemy alone, he told Puzzle that he trusted him completely and would sacrifice his own life ensure Puzzle's safety. Thanks to Vigaro's efforts, Puzzle and the Phoenix Pirates were able to escape from the enemy. The battle however had critically injured Puzzle and Vigaro was killed in the fray. For this, Puzzle's crew fled back to the other side of the Grand Line.

After the battle, Puzzle fell into a coma due to his wounds. While he was out, Stansen was made temporary captain of Puzzle's crew. Puzzle's crew were unfortunately then defeated by the Achino Family. With the taking of the Phoenix Pirates' flag, the crew then forced to serve under the Achino Family in their bounty hunting business. While all this happened, Puzzle was safely hidden away in a secret room of the Phoenix Pirates' ship. Under the watch from his crew, Puzzle struggled as he recuperated from his wounds. Upon encountering the Straw Hats and after having his wounds checked up, the youngest of Puzzle's crew, Jiro, asked Chopper to help take care of the captain. According to Chopper, Puzzle received some very heavy wounds. While Chopper was able to do the best he could, Chopper however stated that Puzzle was still in a critical condition. For this Chopper decided to stay at Puzzle's side until he fully healed.

After much rest, Puzzle woke up from his coma much to the joy of his crew. He was then told about the current situation by Jiro. After being informed, Puzzle asked the crew to assemble on the deck. With Puzzle awake at last, the crew believed that they would return back to being regular pirates again and go back to the New World. However, much to the disappointment of his crew, Puzzle decided that they wouldn't return to the New World. Feeling responsible, Puzzle felt that someone like him who couldn't even protect his comrades, shouldn't belong in the New World. With this, Puzzle's crew became completely discouraged about their situation. As his crew become disheartened because of his decision, Puzzle thanked Luffy for Chopper's treatment and tried to warn him about the dangers of the New World. Luffy however, simply grinned and stated there wasn't anything to worry about since he and his crew were strong. This last statement struck Puzzle. Ultimately however, he decides to fight with the Straw Hats and reclaim their flag after Jiro left with Chopper to reclaim both flags, he later holds off Kanpachino so the Straw Hat pirates could escape.

Trivia

 * Puzzle and his crew have already gotten to the New World, but later on he and his crew ended up retreating from unknown attackers which they could not defeat, bringing them the nightmare of facing the dangers on that sea.
 * This was the 2nd pirate crew (i.e. for anime) to be shown backing off from deadly encounters in the Grand Line. The first was Don Krieg's fleet retreating from the Grand Line due to their encounter with a Shichibukai.
 * Despite being an anime only character, Puzzle shares his epithet "Phoenix" with Marco of the Whitebeard Pirates; but they each gained the epithet for different reasons.

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