Fire Tank Pirates

The Fire Tank Pirates are an infamous and notable rookie pirate crew who are led by Capone Bege, originated in the West Blue, and arrived on the Sabaody Archipelago around the time the Straw Hat Pirates arrived there two years ago, along with other rookie crews.

The crew were once subordinate to Big Mom, one of the Yonko, and her crew on Whole Cake Island. They formed a temporary alliance with the Sanji Retrieval Team to overthrow Big Mom and they ended their alliance after escaping the Whole Cake Chateau.

Jolly Roger
The crew's flag is a triangular cartoon-like depiction of Bege's face with a cigar in his "mouth", wearing his trademark hat. There is a castle with three towers in the background with little flags atop each of the three towers. There are also two sets of three cannons each pointing forward on both sides of Bege's cartoon-like face and fortifying the castle. The castle motif appears to be based after Bege's Devil Fruit powers from eating the Shiro Shiro no Mi, which has made him a human fortress.



Another common emblem the crew uses is a stylized "T" and "F" combined, which is seen tattooed on Vito, and imprinted on the sides of Gotty's shoulder armor and on Bege's Big Father form.

The ship's flag also has a rook with two cross bones, and two towers in the sides.

Members


The crew seems to have a high number of members, though only a few have been named so far. A mafia family changing their profession into piracy, many of them are dressed in suits, with coats strapped to their shoulders, and/or wearing fedora hats. Hence they, like Crocodile, have a look that is very much like the stereotype of Italian mafia. The members also ride on horses when launching a surprise attack from within their captain's fortress body.

Crew Strength
You guys have already lost... in sheer military force.

Every crew member of the Fire Tank Pirates are shown wielding firearms or artillery, ranging from revolvers to a prosthetic machine gun, with a majority of crew members wielding rifles. Many ride horses into battle and some fire cannons from their captain's body, via his Shiro Shiro no Mi ability. By Bege's admission, their crew relies on heavy military force, enough to trump a group of Marines that surrounded them. Their principle tactic is ambush, hiding within their captain's body and using the element of surprise to attack and appear to surround their unsuspecting adversaries. They are experts in marksmanship and are highly skilled in volley fire on enemies. The Fire Tank Pirates are also skilled experts in stealth and infiltration as a few members disguised themselves as chefs of the Big Mom Pirates to secretly jam all communications and block off all routes to the wedding venue while placing a mirror in the wedding cake in preparation for Bege and Luffy's plans to assassinate Big Mom and save the Vinsmoke Family from being murdered. Vito is capable of performing a sneak attack on Bobbin, a very powerful member of the Big Mom Pirates, and successfully silenced him.

They were an extremely strong pirate crew as before they began piracy they were able to defeat four of the Five Families of the West and under Bege's ingenious leadership they were able to defeat infamous Pirate captains in the Grand Line as they made it all the way to the Sabaody Archipelago. In fact, until the failure to assassinate Big Mom, Bege's plans have always succeeded. They, like the Bonney Pirates, were completely unharmed by Kizaru's raid, though they did not encounter the admiral himself or the Pacifista. During their early travels in the New World, they suffered a rather big surprise when they were pulled towards a mysterious, gigantic black sphere, but managed to survive nevertheless. Having defeated mafia gangs and infamous pirate crews, they have gained great experience in battle, knowing exactly what to do when facing off against marines. After the time-skip, they have become allied with the Big Mom Pirates, with Bege earning the rank of "Rook", being in charge of security of the Tea Party, and he intends to use this to his advantage of assassinating Big Mom from behind her. The members are shown to be powerful enough to restrain Pekoms, a mink and a powerful member of the Big Mom Pirates, long enough for Bege to personally silence him. At Bege's strict adherence to cleanliness, they could force Charlotte Brûlée, a Devil Fruit user, and Diesel, who is powerful enough to massacre numerous factory worker equipped with firearms, into cleaning up and changing their clothes while still keeping them completely restrained. They could fight off a large number of Big Mom Pirates when rescuing Chiffon.

Ship
The Fire Tank Pirates' ship is the Nostra Castello. It has a fortress theme, having a castle instead of a cabin and equipped with cannons even on the figurehead.

During the timeskip, the design became more elaborate as tank tread were added to the sides that act as paddles.

Hideout


During their ruse of an alliance with the Big Mom Pirates, the Fire Tank Pirates set up their hideout on the northwest region of Whole Cake Island. The base of operation is a castle placed on top of a mountain, with the front gates, which has the appearance of a mansion's front, at the base of the mountain. Inside are bathhouses for guests to clean themselves before meeting Bege, who refuses to meet up with anyone who is unclean, and a meeting room with a long table in front of sofas.

Past
Originating in the West Blue, the Fire Tank Pirates were originally a massive mafia led by Bege, heralded as one of the Five Families of the West. Due to Bege's sadistic nature they frequently attack leaders of rival mafias and destroyed all enemies who attempted revenge. After Bege grew weary of his dominance he set sailed for the seas as a pirate taking all the members of his mafia with him as his crewmates under his leadership. The Fire Tank Pirates, however, did not change their modus operandi, as they took down many infamous pirate captains while leaving their crews intact, which earn them notoriety as they traverse the Paradise half of the Grand Line and make it all the way to Sabaody Archipelago.

Sabaody Archipelago Arc


The crew was seen in a restaurant, along with the Bonney, and Hawkins Pirates. The crew later witnessed Jewelry Bonney stopping Roronoa Zoro from attacking a Noble. After Monkey D. Luffy attacked a World Noble, Capone Bege ordered the crew to go to Fishman Island in order to not come in contact with Admiral Kizaru.

Marineford Arc
After witnessing most of the war on a screen at Sabaody, the Fire Tank Pirates travel to Marineford by ship, to witness Shanks ending the war, along with the beginning of the New Age.

Post-War Arc
After the Fire Tank Pirates enter the New World, their ship is drawn upward to a large black object. The crew screams in terror as the object lifts them out of the sea.

During the Timeskip
One year before the current story line, the crew attempted to invade Big Mom's territory but were defeated. They then became subordinates of the Yonko and Bege married Big Mom's 22nd daughter, Charlotte Chiffon to officially seal the alliance.

Dressrosa Arc
After the Fire Tank Pirates hear the news about Doflamingo's defeat, Bege orders his men to capture Caesar Clown, as Big Mom's flag is seen behind him.

Zou Arc


Capone Bege and his men inside his castle went to Zou alongside Pekoms in order to capture Caesar and the Straw Hat Pirates. After Pekoms tried to let the Straw Hats go to repay them for saving his homeland, Bege had his men shoot Pekoms. Bege's men emerged from his body and captured the four Straw Hats and Caesar, who were brought into his body. Bege then showed Sanji the invitation for him to marry Charlotte Pudding.

Sanji refused to attend the wedding, but the Fire Tank Pirates told him the consequences for not attending, and Vito gave Sanji a shocking piece of information. The Fire Tank Pirates let Sanji give a note to his crew, but Sanji used this opportunity to free Nami, Brook, and Chopper from Bege's body. Sanji stole a rifle from one of Bege's men using it to hold Caesar Clown at gunpoint preventing them from going after his friends. Bege was then confronted by Nekomamushi, who wanted to know what happened to Pekoms, and he raced away with Sanji and Caesar still inside him. On the way to Whole Cake Island, Vito showed Sanji a photo of his bride-to-be, making the latter lovestruck.

Whole Cake Island Arc
Shortly afterwards, Vito talked to Sanji about Germa 66 and the fictional tale about their clash with the Marines. When Sanji ordered Vito to leave, Gotty entered and warned Sanji to not insult his crewmate. This nearly started a fight with the latter only for Charlotte Chiffon to stop him. She told Gotty that Sanji is a very important person whom they cannot harm or else his family will execute their captain. She left the room with an apologetic Gotty while Sanji noted on how she looks familiar to him. A few days later, the Fire Tank Pirates abducted Pekoms. The day after, they took him to the northeastern coast of Whole Cake Island to dispose of him. Bege shot Pekoms, causing him to fall off a cliff into shark-infested waters. On the day of the wedding, Vito shot and wounded Bobbin as he was pursuing Sanji. Sometime later, Jinbe contacted Bege to have a meeting with Luffy. Bege agreed to the meeting but would show no mercy towards Luffy if he makes him angry.

After Luffy and his group arrived at the Fire Tank Pirates' base, Bege and Luffy commenced with the meeting to negotiate an alliance to take down Big Mom. At first, a quarrel broke out, but Jinbe stopped the bickering by reminding them that they shared a common enemy in Big Mom. Bege and Luffy then began discussing their next move. Bege went over his plan which to weaken Big Mom stating at one tea party he noticed Big Mom act strangely over a picture. He then proceeded to tell the crew his goal was to destroy the picture and taking advantage of Big Mom in a vulnerable they would assassinate her with poison gas. Bege then set Caesar would use a mirror for their escape when the plan was done. He finished his explanation by stating for the plan to succeed Luffy must be the bait which he agrees to. Before they left Luffy requested a mirror be put in the wedding cake while he gathered animals to be used as decoys.

At the ceremony, the crew were standing outside dealing with an uncooperative guest who refused a body check. The guest was soon shot down by sweet commander Charlotte Katakuri whose presence and fearsome reputation made Bege consider him a dangerous element to the plan. The crew would wait outside as Vito noted of the many enemies inside as Bege told him not to worry. They soon put their plan into action with some members disguising themselves as staff to block off all communication and the exits. Bege then had Caesar Clown ready the mirror for their escape. Bege would check to see if the Straw Hats were prepared but found them asleep as Jinbe told him he will awake them when the time came. As this was happening, a door homie overheard the plan as Bege noticed it watching him and had Gotty eliminate it. Bege then walked in the hall stating there was no turning back. Once inside Bege noticed Sanji and Pudding arrived, while thinking that Sanji's love-struck expression was "good acting". Moments after Luffy and his group started causing chaos at the wedding venue, Brook destroyed Carmel's portrait. However, Big Mom did not start screaming as planned. Bege pretended to pin Luffy down in order to avoid suspicion. When Brook's head rolled over to them, he suggested showing Carmel's broken picture to Big Mom again and Bege became confident that the plan could work after seeing Katakuri's pale expression.



When Luffy showed Carmel's damaged portrait to Big Mom again, Big Mom started her strange scream. Vito and Gotty exited Bege's body just before Big Mom scrapes her knees, and aim their KX Launchers at her. The Fire Tank Pirates then fired their weapons at her. However, Big Mom's scream detonated the rockets before they could reach her. With the assassination attempt a failure, Caesar flew into the venue with the escape mirror and Bege signaled the alliance members to retreat. Before they could escape into the mirror, Big Mom's scream shattered it, leaving them trapped at the venue. With nowhere to run, Bege transformed into a giant fortress to save the alliance. As the alliance and the Vinsmoke Family retreat to their temporary haven of the Big Father fortress, some members were shot down by Charlotte Katakuri when they attempted to flee into the fortress. The Big Father had all its cannons jammed by Katakuri's mochi and mobility sealed by Charlotte Perospero's candy. Inside the fortress, Bege lamented on the first time his plans ever failed and explained to his allies about the dire situation they were in. Big Mom then regained her senses and started attacking the Big Father, causing severe damage to Bege's body in the process.

Chiffon attempted to appeal to her mother to spare Bege, but Linlin only became more infuriated at her daughter and declared her a traitor to be executed as well. Surrounded, overwhelmed, and outnumbered, Bege decided to have Caesar lift his human form out of the venue via flying while the alliance remained inside his body. However, the plan would require a distraction since there were many Busoshoku Haki users among the enemy ranks. The Vinsmoke Family offered to take the fight to the Big Mom Pirates, but Luffy and Sanji also jumped out to assist. Despite the efforts of Luffy, Sanji, and the Vinsmokes, both the Fire Tank Pirates and the Straw Hats were routed by the Big Mom Pirates. However, the Tamatebako dropped to the base of the Whole Cake Chateau and the bomb inside the chest exploded, causing the castle to topple over.



As Big Mom's castle collapsed, Caesar carried Bege far away from the falling castle and rendezvous with the Sanji Retrieval Team at the northwestern part of Whole Cake Island. There, Bege decided to end his alliance with the Straw Hats and gave Caesar his heart back. After saying his farewell to the Straw Hats, Bege fled the scene with his crew inside him. As they head for the coast, the Fire Tank Pirates were pursued by Tart Tanks. While fleeing, they were approached by Pudding, who began begging Chiffon for help in saving the Straw Hats who agreed as thanks for saving Lola.

After Chiffon left with Pudding, Bege and his crew returned to their ship and escaped Whole Cake Island. They then head for Cacao Island to pick up Chiffon.

As the crew approached the front of the harbor of Cacao Island, they were besieged by Tarteships. They were then contacted by Oven, who was holding Chiffon hostage to force Bege to surrender. Once they were close enough to the harbor, Bege shot Oven in the face and freed Chiffon from his clutches. As Bege piloted the Nostrra Castello onto Cacao Island, revealing it could travel across land with tank treads, Sanji kicked the carriage holding the chefs (including Pudding and Chiffon) and the cake and launched it to the deck of the ship. With Chiffon and Sanji's group on board, the Fire Tank Pirates went back to the sea. Oven tried to prevent their escape by boiling the sea, but he was thwarted by Pound, enabling the Nostrra Castello to escape Cacao Island.

On the way to the Thousand Sunny, Bege and Sanji argued over what to do with the cake. Bege insisted on putting poison or planting explosives inside the cake. Sanji then gave Bege a taste of the simsim cream, causing him to change his mind.

Trivia

 * The members of the Fire Tank Pirates tend to refer to their captain as "father" which is another reference to the American mafia.
 * Until Chiffon's marriage into the crew, all the known Fire Tank Pirates members are named after bosses of well-known Italian-American mafia families.

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