Nelson Royale

Commodore Nelson Royale is an anime-only Marine Officer from East Blue, commanding the 8th Branch. He holds the unofficial rank of Teitoku (提督). He appears in the Warship Island Arc as the secondary antagonist.

Appearance
Nelson is extremely obese, to the point where he is unable to walk and must be carried on a humongous chair by at least six men. This also prevents him from being able to wear a fitted marine coat, which can only cover his arms and back. On his huge stomach, he also has a large tattoo of the Marine emblem in blue. He, aside from his extreme obesity, has some other peculiar marks. He has a long, thin, curved mustache; spiral marks on his huge cheeks and his eyebrows seem to be cut very short and round into two dark spots—which is considered a symbol of nobility. He also wears a rather expensive looking gold necklace with a red gemstone embedded in it. On his head, he wears a tall blue marine hat which is also unique in that no similar marine hat was ever seen before or after.

Personality
Nelson is a selfish and gluttonous man, who only cares about his own needs. When someone opposes him, he is unable to see their point of view.

He also shows very little concern for the lives of his men, fully willing to put them at risk for his selfishness. When his men are being defeated by Luffy, Zoro and Sanji, he is alarmed only because the Thousand Year Dragon which he was pursuing was getting away; when he realized Eric betrayed him, he ordered all his warships to open fire on the rowboat he is in, disregarding the fact that three of his own men were also on the boat at the time.



He is prone to scream at his soldiers and when he is in his normal "residence" he is waited on hand and foot. A group of soldiers are always standing alertly and nearby, sweaty and afraid of the Commodore. Along with his spoiled attitude, he is also very gluttonous, as he is seen constantly eating, even if the portions he takes are so big he chokes himself. He has shown very poor manners, as he was not the least troubled or embarrassed at spitting out his food all over Eric's face.

He constantly fans his forehead with a handy paper fan with the Marine emblem on it, due perhaps to excessive sweating, caused by his rigorous obesity.

Though he has had the Marine seagull emblem seemingly tattooed on his huge stomach, and though the Marine symbol adorns nearly everything around him (his top hat, his fan, the back of the chair he is carried in), he has shown no scruples and no heed of Justice, rather using his power to follow his own personal goal, to the point of kidnapping a little girl, having her transported by a whole Marine ship.

Nelson has a habit of ending his sentences with as "de o-jaru", "jaru" being an old form of "da".

Abilities and Powers
As a marine officer and leader of the 8th division, he can use all of its resources as he pleases, including the special cannon; he abused this privilege for his own self-serving purposes.

Battle Capabilities
He has some strategic aptitude in naval warfare, as during the battle against the Straw Hats, he ordered his ships to use the "Kakuyoku no Jin" (鶴翼の陣), which consisted of trapping the Going Merry in a half-circle of marine ships, chained together. However, due to his morbid obesity, he cannot so much as move without his soldiers carrying him, making him incapable of personally engaging in physical combat.

Warship Island Arc
Nelson sought the Thousand Year Dragon, Ryu, for his own selfish purposes. To that end, he hired a man named Eric to do his dirty work.

He at first managed to capture Apis, the only person who knew where the dragon was, but she fled during a storm. Nelson was outraged and summoned Eric to accompany a battleship and retrieve her.

However, Nelson became suspicious when Eric did not respond and therefore decided to interfere.



His battleships encircled the Straw Hats and chained them in. When the attack proved fruitless, he ordered the deployment of a gigantic cannon. However, just as he gave the order to shoot, Usopp fired a cannonball into it, making it explode and knocking Nelson to the floor.

His soldiers proved unable to stop the Straw Hats from invading their ships and cutting their steel chains. Nelson was extremely frustrated with this and threatened to exile all of his soldiers if they fail, but the Straw Hats almost got through an opening, when their ship was almost hit by a wind strike from Eric. Eric took over the raft on which the dragon was located, much to Nelson's pleasure. However, Eric revealed he only used Nelson to find the dragon and that he wished to use the Dragon Bone elixir to become invincible. Nelson was so angered that he ordered his ships to open fire on Eric.

When the dragon walked up and began to fly towards his ship, he panicked and ordered it to be shot down. When Luffy came to aid the dragon Grandpa Ryu, Nelson ordered a harpoon shot into Ryu to pull him in. It is, however, caught by Luffy, who asked what he was doing. Nelson began laughing at him for seeing a friend in a sack of Dragon Bone and began bragging how he would gain eternal youth.

Luffy, enraged, threw the harpoon and narrowly missed Nelson. He demanded that Luffy be killed as well. However, before they could fire, a swarm of millennium dragons arrived at Warship Island. Nelson was at first very pleased with how much Dragon Bone he had to his disposal, but he was soon knocked down by the huge dragons, which flew so high they could not be targeted by the marine cannons.

As this happened, however, Ryu died. When Nelson saw this, he became extremely happy and started laughing mockingly at Luffy. This angered him so much that he used his ability to reach a high flying Thousand Year Dragon and from there, delivered such a powerful kick to Nelson's ship that it broke in half.

However, when the Dragon's Nest rose from the ocean, Nelson was seen still alive. He was confronted by Eric, who told him to move, while Nelson began fast talking him into making another deal, seeing how many dragons there were to claim. Eric had no patience for Nelson and struck him with one of his wind attacks.

Translations and Dub Issues
His rank is roughly equivalent to "Commodore" (准将), yet the rank he holds (提督 teitoku, "admiral" or "fleet commander") does not exist within the Marine's rank system, according to the author. This is probably an oversight by the writing staff of the anime, since Nelson does not appear in the manga, outside the adaptation into the form of a manga novel not drawn by Oda. However, his "rank" may just be reflective of his status as the head of a fleet, rather than an oversight, due to it being possible for a Marine to hold a rank, as well as another position, such as Monkey D. Garp holding the rank of Vice Admiral, but also the position of General Inspector or another anime-only character Shepherd holding the rank of Commander, but also the position of Major Inspector. Whatever the reasoning, the top brass of the Marines must know the meaning of "teitoku", because in chapter 96 (and episode 45), Don Krieg's nickname is worded by Lieutenant Commander Brannew as "Kaizoku Kantai Teitoku Krieg". Nelson's rank is often translated by fansubs and even in official dubs as "Admiral".

Enemy Appearances

 * Grand Line Dream Adventure Log

Trivia

 * He is possibly named after Horatio Nelson, a British admiral, best known for his leadership in the Battle of Trafalgar (and is sometimes referred to as "Commodore Nelson").

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