King

King the Conflagration is one of the three All-Stars of the Beasts Pirates and Kaidou's right-hand man. Born as Alber, he is a member of the nigh-extinct lunarian race from the Red Line, noted for their ability to create fire.

Due to his actions and role, he is a major antagonist in the Wano Country Arc.

Appearance
King is a towering man at 613cm tall, with a well-muscled, broad-shouldered frame and long limbs. Being a lunarian, he bears his race's telltale features: large, black-feathered wings on his back (reaching down to knee length), a brown complexion, and silver-white hair. Said hair is shaved on the sides but kept long on top, where it is mostly drawn back and bound at King's occiput before flowing freely down past his nape; some sidelocks hang down on the right of King's face, to his collarbone, and include a thin braid. King's face is characterized by his narrow red eyes, prominent dark eyebrows, a straight nose, prominent lips, and a square, stubbly chin. Circling halfway around his left eye, on its outer side, is a dark-colored tattoo resembling a laurel wreath or olive branch. In addition, a plume of fire constantly rises from King's upper back, also owing to his heritage (though it may extinguish), and when King transforms into a pteranodon, these flames further engulf his back and wings while his natural lunarian wings are replaced by his pterosaur ones. When being dealt the finishing blow by Roronoa Zoro amid the conclusion to their fight, King had half his right wing sliced off.

In order to hide his lunarian identity, King keeps himself clad in a dark, form-fitting leather uniform that bares no skin. Covering his head and neck area is a full-faced leather mask, which leaves only two holes for his eyes and has a zipper going up the front of the neck, flanked by two blue, gray-studded leather bands. The mask around the eyes is black, with a trio of blue strips below (also beset with studs) forming a triangle to mark off the nose, mouth, and chin section, and to the sides of which is blue leather of flame-like shape. Topping the eyes are blue-lensed, gray-rimmed goggle pieces, and on either side of the mask, connecting with a studded base, is a large and black, horn-like spike. Five more such spikes, only smaller, are located further on top upon a blue band that runs coronally into another one positioned like a headband, and crossing yet another that goes sagittal, with airholes in-between. Otherwise, King's upper-body wear includes a dark-blue, double-breasted leather jacket that has ten gold buttons and notch lapels with square, red, gold-edged skull patches sewn on. Running straight down each side of the jacket's waist are two columns of yet more studs, and flat, two-part shoulder pads (black and double-trimmed with studs) are present on each side, down the upper arms with three curved spikes atop either (the outer spikes the biggest). The tight sleeves of the jacket are cuffless, end in black gloves, and each bears an additional, stud-covered pair of leather bands above thinner strips, plus three very small, white spikes above the wrists. Below the jacket, King wears a white shirt whose ruffled neckline emerges from under the jacket's lapels. For lower wear, King dons dark-blue pants matching the jacket, with three studded leather bands wrapping around each upper leg and a ring of the same material located on either knee. The pants go inside black, high-heeled boots (once again tied with studded straps), the high shafts of which end folded over, in studded jags.

While held in World Government captivity, a teenaged King was already very tall by human standards, reaching up to Kaidou's waist. His hair was at roughly neck-length, his wings were proportionally smaller (their lower end reaching only to waist level), and King's fire was already present at his back, as was the tattoo around his eye. King's clothes at the time consisted of a light-colored shirt and dark pants, and he already seemed to be equipped with a flaming sword.

Years following his recruitment by Kaidou, King had already begun attiring himself in a version of his current leather uniform, being seen with his mask off while in the company of Kaidou. Twenty years ago, King wore a version of his uniform that, in the anime, is shown to have had a dark-red coloration as opposed to blue. King's spikes atop his mask were shorter, blunter, and he wore his jacket's collar upturned without white ruffles visible. The jacket's front had just one row of buttons, with two golden cross shapes right there that either served as oversized buttons or were simply patches. Also in the anime, King was seen carrying a blue-flamed torch.

Personality
King is a stern and reticent man who keeps a level head in most situations, rarely showing any strong emotion (though this is partly attributable to his face being always masked). Like Queen, King tends to be very rude toward and critical of crewmates, such as frequently insulting and deriding his fellow All-Stars for perceived failures.

Not only stoic but proactive and good at making big decisions under pressure, King personally engaged Big Mom and her crew to keep them from entering Wano, despite not being ordered to do so by Kaidou. Later in Big Mom's presence, King showed himself not intimidated by her in the slightest, despite his surprise at her survival, and bluntly refused her offer to join her. King also took the initiative to summon the Tobiroppo after hearing Kaidou was looking to address a problem with Yamato, acting conniving by framing the summons as one from Kaidou due to knowing that the Tobiroppo would not answer to him. When Kaidou became occupied with fighting during the rebel invasion of Onigashima, King was mainly the one to handle their crew's troops, calmly issuing orders.

Strongly averse to the idea of showing his face and revealing his lunarian identity, King wears a head-enwrapping mask that leaves only his eyes visible; it was stated by a grunt of the Beasts Pirates that no one had ever caught a glimpse of King's face. When his mask took some damage in his fight with Roronoa Zoro, King flew into a silent rage, indiscriminately attacking enemy and crewmate alike (even his fellow All-Star) before taking care to relocate his battle with Zoro to someplace that had no one else around but them. Once King's mask was off completely and some close-by underlings of his recognized him as lunarian, the All-Star mercilessly disposed of them with his flames. Ultimately, however, King takes some pride in the biological strength of his race, boasting to Zoro that humans could not compare to lunarians.

King has a sadistic side to him, having been called a "torture-loving pervert" by Queen. In general, King appears to share Kaidou's streak of ruthlessness, having shown himself to be not above executing a child when demanding that Sanji hand over Momonosuke for him to kill, in accordance with Kaidou's New Onigashima Project. He also had no scruples about personally dispatching turncoat subordinates who, in fact, had been brainwashed into betrayal. Likewise, while loyal to his crew, King has no qualms about betraying long-standing allies who are outside their direct organization, especially if so doing is pertinent to Kaidou's plans, and so lent his sword to Kaidou so he could decapitate their ally Orochi, whom they had been friendly with for over two decades.

King seems to greatly respect strength in others, with Kaidou's immense power being what originally induced King to join his crew. In combat, King has expressed his belief that one ought not to limit oneself to a single way of fighting, as there should be no need for adherence to any one school or style in a real battle. Generally, while King does admit to enjoying a good duel, the All-Star's stolid and no-nonsense attitude carries over into his fights: he does not bother with posturing, monologuing, or following fighting etiquette. Instead, he wastes no time in going for the kill should an opportunity present itself, personally goes after noteworthy enemies when they are physically disabled, immediately strikes at foes who are distracted, and may relentlessly mount attack after attack on opponents to leave them little time to defend themselves. Moreover, he may goad enemies into attacking him to render them vulnerable to his own offense.

King is among the scant few people aware of Joy Boy's supposed nature, hence his past speculation that Kaidou might be Joy Boy, although he admitted not to care much for the legend.

Kaidou
Kaidou is the man who will become Pirate King!!

King first met Kaidou over 30 years ago when King was still a boy and both were held captive on Punk Hazard as the World Government's research subjects. Kaidou eventually set the young lunarian free and took him under his wing as a first recruit for the soon-to-be-founded Beasts Pirates. It was when the two escaped Punk Hazard that Kaidou gave King his current name, in recognition of his power, and declared the boy his right hand. King, on the other hand, was charmed by Kaidou's strength and self-confidence in being the only one who could change the world, and he ultimately came to believe firmly in Kaidou being the man who will become Pirate King. More than that, at some point in the past, King came to be under the belief that Kaidou might be "Joy Boy" himself and told Kaidou as much. When Kaidou inquired whether King really thought that he could be that legendary figure and if the world he was aiming to create was the world King that desired to see, King answered that, legends being just legends, all he cared for was that Kaidou—to whom he owed his life—would remain the strongest, with King declaring that he would never lose a single battle until such a time that Kaidou becomes King of the Pirates.

Since his recruitment, King has come to enjoy Kaidou's full trust and, being steadfastly loyal to his Governor-General, is ever ready to execute missions on his behalf. When Big Mom and her children arrived at Wano Country, King was swift to attack and knock her ship into the sea, on his own initiative rather than Kaidou's orders. King also immediately lent his sword to Kaidou so he could behead Orochi with it as soon as the shogun protested about Kaidou taking over the Flower Capital, despite having received no verbal instruction to do so from Kaidou, showing the great degree of trust and knowledge of another that is present between the two.

Another show of King's loyalty to his Governor-General was when King bluntly and immediately refused Big Mom's offer to join her crew, in spite of her stated willingness to forgive King's transgressions against her. Kaidou, while seeing King as one of his confidants, did not hesitate to give the lower-ranked Tobiroppo a chance to challenge any All-Star of their choosing to take their position, as the crew's hierarchy is determined by an individual's power, something King, on the other hand, did not complain about.

His eventual defeat by Zoro made King recall his aforesaid promise to Kaidou as he fell unconscious, that he would never lose in battle until Kaidou has become Pirate King.

Queen
King and his fellow All-Star, Queen, have a seeming rivalry with one another and are frequently seen trading barbs, with Queen having called King a "torture-loving pervert" (拷問好きの変態野郎) because of his full leather appearance. In the anime, King has shown annoyance over Queen's performative tendencies.

After escorting Big Mom to Onigashima, Queen furiously blamed King for Big Mom's remaining presence in Wano, since King had been the one to prevent the Big Mom Pirates from entering the country prior. When Queen expressed his irritation at Straw Hat Luffy leading the former prisoners of Udon into battle on Onigashima, King sarcastically responded that he would not blame Queen as someone who had been useless from the start. While fighting on the Live Floor, King seemed to care nothing for Queen's safety, as when Queen nearly had his neck sliced as a result of King sending indiscriminate attacks out in all directions, King sarcastically noted that it was a pity that his attack had missed, to Queen's indignation.

Despite King's secrecy involving his identity, Queen is well aware of King's background as a lunarian survivor and the nature of his tribe, while acknowledging King's strength and resilience as a monster's and that Zoro would not be able to defeat him.

Jack
King and Queen look mutually down on their fellow, younger-aged All-Star Jack. King seems to view Jack as incompetent, as shown when he scolded him for how few offerings he procured from the Wano province that Jack rules, calling him "Foolish Jack" (ズッコケジャック). Jack, in turn, refers to King and Queen respectfully as "elder brothers" and, despite his savage personality, takes their verbal abuse without protest.

Tobiroppo
King seems to have a rather strained relationship with the Tobiroppo Sasaki and Who's-Who, being aware of their ambition to become All-Stars and acknowledging that they would likely ignore any summons order they knew came from him. When they expressed their aforesaid ambition before him and Kaidou, King disdainfully told them to know their place, and when Kaidou asked him and Jack if they would object to the Tobiroppo being granted a chance to fight one of them for their All-Star post, King said that he had none, showing confidence in his superiority over them.

Ulti and Page One are viewed as brats by King, like they are by some of their fellow Tobiroppo.

Big Mom Pirates
Since Big Mom is a rival of his Governor-General, King sees her as an enemy. He personally kept her and her children out of Wano by knocking their ship into the ocean as they tried climbing Wano's waterfall. He was later surprised to see that she survived once she was brought to Onigashima by Queen. Big Mom stated that she would forgive King's attempt on her life if he joined her crew, since he is, as a lunarian, part of a unique and thought-to-be-extinct race that she wanted in Totto Land, but King bluntly refused.

Big Mom's first son, Charlotte Perospero, later expressed his intention to get his revenge on King for what he had done to his mother and crew.

Roronoa Zoro
Being on opposing sides during the war on Onigashima, King and Roronoa Zoro came to battle another fiercely following Zoro's recovery from his prior fight against Kaidou and Big Mom. They initially commented on their differing views on combat as they engaged the other, with Zoro describing King as a "killing machine" for his brutal yet pragmatic fighting style mixing swordplay and hand-to-hand combat. King earned Zoro's ire when he tried to kill him with his wing instead of a sword, as Zoro saw it as disrespectful, while King truly started to resent Zoro for damaging his mask.

You are a lifeform incapable of defeating me!!

Ultimately, although King came to acknowledge Zoro as a capable swordsman worthy of remembrance, he was unwilling to concede until the very end that him being defeated at Zoro's hands was possible, as Zoro was a mere human and thus had, in King's eyes, nothing on him as a lunarian, which Zoro found to be a weak excuse. When Zoro subsequently managed to overcome King's fire dragon with his own finishing attack on the All-Star, King had a flabbergasted expression on his face.

Overview
As the Beasts Pirates' head All-Star and Kaidou's right-hand man, King holds authority in the crew that is just below Kaidou's own.

In combat, King is extremely powerful and dangerous, with his 1,390,000,000 bounty illustrating his fearsome reputation. A veteran pirate, King has been part of Kaidou's crew for over three decades, seemingly as Kaidou's first recruit and acknowledged and monikered by Kaidou in his youth for having extraordinary strength. Like the other two All-Stars, King is hailed as a "calamity" for his sheer destructiveness, linked to his pyrokinetic abilities.

During the war on Onigashima, King (with Queen) effectively engaged Marco, Whitebeard's former right-hand man, in two-on-one and later single combat, keeping Marco occupied until he ran out of stamina, all while King remained none the worse for wear. Later, King proved more than a match for Roronoa Zoro—one of the Straw Hat Pirates' top fighters—by going toe-to-toe with and consistently overwhelming the enemy swordsman in their duel, with Zoro believing that unless he figured out King's background, he would not be able to win. However, after Zoro had managed to figure out the secret of King's body and the means by which to hurt him, the swordsman was able to deal a decisive blow to the All-Star and defeat him.

Physical Abilities


Like his fellow All-Stars, King has a penchant for melee combat. His fighting style is a wild one, eschewing proper form and technique in favor of a brutal yet pragmatic blend of hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship. He has been seen disarming opponents with his swordbreaker-esque katana to leave them vulnerable to follow-up attacks, and generally pairs punches and kicks with strokes of his sword. As a swordsman in particular, King has proven himself skilled enough to keep up with Zoro's powerful three-bladed fighting style, matching him blow for blow and overpowering him at certain points via brute force.

King possesses immense physical strength. His feats include: easily hurling Shinobu with significant force after grabbing her by the head; repressing a Raid Suit-donning Sanji by grabbing his neck one-handed and blocking a powerful kick from the latter using his own leg (on top of, in the anime, blocking Sanji's Ryusei Osoba Kick easily with an open palm); slicing one of Marco's phoenix wings right off with a downward swipe of his sword; overpowering Zoro's three-sword guard with a single swing of his sword despite Zoro's own superhuman brawn, violently blowing Zoro back in the process, and kicking the enemy swordsman away with great force.

Due to his lunarian descent, King is tremendously tough and durable, with Queen describing him as a monster that could survive in any natural environment. In combat, even without invoking his Zoan transformation, King is able to endure extremely potent attacks without being fazed or shedding a drop of blood. He has withstood powerful blows from the phoenix-bodied Marco, a direct hit from Zoro's Rengoku Oni Giri (an attack that defeated Killer), and Zoro's One Sword Style Iai: Shi Shishi Sonson (one of Zoro's strongest attacks that seemingly cut King from his head down the middle), all without King suffering any discernible damage. Even an enormous explosion coming off King's body left him completely unhurt, whereas Zoro admitted that he might have died to that same explosion had it not been for his Haki. However, once the fire on King's back goes out, his durability significantly decreases.

Apart from strength and toughness, King is extremely fast and agile, despite his large frame, and can instantly cover a large distance with one leap. His speed is far greater when the flame on his back is out, allowing him to move faster than the untrained eye can follow, at the cost of his natural durability diminishing. King is additionally able to fly using his feathery wings, without the need for his Zoan transformation.

Fire Manipulation


As a lunarian, King wields the natural ability to "ignite" (発火) his body on any point, allowing him to create and manipulate fire in his humanoid and pteranodon forms; it is this ability that garnered King his epithet as a Calamity: "the Conflagration". It is unknown if excessive use of his flames causes King any kind of drawback, but what is shown is that the flames on his back seem to be linked to his tremendous resilience as a lunarian: when they go out, King's bodily defense weakens considerably in exchange for a boost to his movement speed.



Using the fire he conjures, King can make his melee attacks more damaging, like throwing a flaming punch or kicking with a flaming leg to burn his foe, can launch bullet-like flame projectiles from a distance, and set the surrounding battlefield ablaze. At their most powerful, King's flames appear to take on the consistency of magma, with King's strongest-seen fire techniques involving him channeling fire into his sword in order to generate massive, superhot flame dragons that burn up whatever lies in their path.

Attacks

 * Andon: King conjures a fireball over his open palm, then forms a fist to execute a powerful, flame-clad punch. The attack was first seen when King tried to strike (a then-disabled) Zoro, but Marco came in to block the punch. The attack's name comes from andon (行灯), a type of traditional Japanese lantern consisting of an oil lamp housed in a paper-covered, wooden stand; like King's other attacks, this one's name ends with -don. The Viz manga calls the technique Imperial Flame.


 * Karyudon: A powerful attack where King ignites his sword's blade and, from its tip, produces a large, whirling, serpentine dragon made of fire, dense enough that Zoro called it similar to magma. Consequently, King sends this dragon flying against a single or multiple enemies in order to incinerate them. He was first seen performing this technique to burn some underlings to death for having seen his face. Soon after, the attack was used a second time against, but was dodged by, Zoro. The name of the technique may be a pun on "curry udon" (カレーうどん); like King's other attacks, this one's name ends with -don. The Viz manga calls the technique Imperial Flaming Wings, which may be a pun on chicken wings.




 * Omori Karyudon: A more powerful version of Karyudon, creating a larger fire dragon with which King attacks and tries to immolate his opponent. The technique's true potential was never witnessed because, when King used it against Zoro, the latter was able to simply slice the dragon apart using his "King of Hell Three Sword Style", avoiding harm. Ōmori may be a pun on "large serving" (大盛り); like King's other attacks, this one's name ends with -don. The Viz manga calls the technique Extra Large Imperial Flaming Wings.

Devil Fruit


King ate the Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Pteranodon, an Ancient Zoan-type Devil Fruit allowing him to transform into a full pteranodon and a pteranodon hybrid at will. When transformed, he is more clad in flames than usual and gains the ability to fly at extremely high speeds. As with dinosaur-based Zoans, King's Zoan form greatly bolsters his overall physical abilities, including his naturally impressive durability, and he can use his wings as a shield to defend from powerful attacks without sustaining injury. King's full Beast Form is strong enough to either violently push back or inflict significant damage upon whatever he flies into, be it people or massive objects, like an entire ship.

King's long, sturdy, and pointy beak wields immense piercing power, meaning that King can use it like a spear. In his Beast Form, he further has the abnormal ability to make his beak sink back into his face, which he achieves by pulling back on his head crest. When he releases his grasp, his head and beak are catapulted forward with enough destructive power to bust through a large amount of solid stone; Zoro describes this move as being impossible to block.

What is more, in both his Human-Beast and Beast Forms, King can wield his pteranodon wing-arms like blades. His wings have proven able to equal Meito being wielded by a master swordsman in a clash, and King can use them to unleash powerful projected slashes; these slashing winds can be launched in rapid succession.

Busoshoku Haki
King is a very skilled user of Busoshoku Haki. He was shown using Hardening on his sword and managed to overpower Roronoa Zoro's own Haki-imbued sword defense with a powerful stroke of his weapon.

Kenbunshoku Haki
King possesses the ability to use Kenbunshoku Haki.

Weapons


King carries a large katana on his right hip, befitting his size. It sports a plain-round, golden tsuba, a matching gold kashira and kojiri, and tsuka-ito of dark-orange color forming traditional rhombus gaps to expose the lighter-orange hilt underlay. It is sheathed in a saya of the same orange as the ito, which has two red cords with hanging, tufted ends below its mouth, plus additional red bands around the lower parts of the saya.

King's katana has a swordbreaker design: its blade, along the edge, can become segmentally notched to form comb-like teeth, allowing King to catch and pull away swords that clash against it, thereby disarming enemies to leave them vulnerable to follow-up attacks. King can also combine his pyrokinetic powers with use of the sword, channeling fire into it in order to produce massive, flame-composed dragons from the blade's tip. The sword's blade was broken in two as a result of Zoro's final attack on King that ended their fight.

Even King's suit seems to be designed to facilitate hand-to-hand combat, such as having spikes that extend out of his gloves and boots when he punches or kicks someone. Finally, King appears to have some kind of explosive device hidden beneath his suit, which when struck by an enemy (whom King may goad into attacking the right spot) can trigger an enormous explosion. King, thanks to his resilience, can endure this blast without issue while his foe will be helplessly exposed; when Zoro was caught in the explosion, he was only able to survive by putting up a Haki defense.

Past
Alber was born on the Grand Line 47 years ago, into the lunarian tribe that originates from on top of the Red Line before Mary Geoise was built, and which in the present day is widely believed to be extinct.



At some point during his childhood, Alber was captured by the World Government and held at Punk Hazard's Third Research Institute to be experimented on and have his lunarian abilities tested. Eventually, Kaidou, who was also a research subject at the time, broke out of captivity and found Alber, proposing that the boy come along with him because Kaidou was planning to escape and form his own pirate crew. Alber asked if Kaidou was someone who could change the world, to which Kaidou responded that only he could. After the two had broken out of the research facility, Kaidou asked for Alber's name and suggested he call himself "King" instead, declaring that from that day forth King would be his right hand.

Sometime around 33 years ago, the Beasts Pirates were founded. At some point following the crew's formation, King and Kaidou were seen drinking together and conversing about King's belief that Kaidou may be the legendary "Joy Boy". Kaidou asked whether King really thought as much, but King responded that legends were inconsequential so long as Kaidou simply remained as the strongest, consequently vowing never to lose a fight himself until he saw Kaidou become the King of the Pirates.

Eventually, King followed Kaidou in coming to Wano Country where their crew's base of operations would be set up. Twenty-three years ago, King partook in his crew's battle against the Gecko Pirates led by Gecko Moria, which resulted in Moria's crew suffering a crushing defeat in the Ringo province of Wano Country.

Twenty years ago, King was involved in the Beasts Pirates' total takeover of Wano through their final battle against Kozuki Oden, then-daimyo of Kuri. When Oden and his retainers, the Nine Red Scabbards, were on their way to Onigashima, a thousand members of the Beasts Pirates, including King and Queen, confronted them in the Udon region. In the ensuing battle that lasted five days, King fought against the Scabbards, including Raizo and Ashura Doji. King managed to stab Ashura in the back while the samurai was distracted by Kaidou's attack on Oden. In the end, Oden and his allies were overwhelmed and crushed. Following Oden's execution, King, Queen, and Jack were present when Kaidou set Oden Castle ablaze in order to kill the rest of the Kozuki Family.

Marineford Arc
Two years ago before the looming Summit War of Marineford, Kaidou tried to make an attack on Whitebeard. King accompanied him for this undertaking, but they were stopped by the Red Hair Pirates.

Wano Country Arc
In the present on Onigashima, King was first seen alongside his fellow two All-Stars, Queen and Jack. Along with Queen, he reprimanded Jack for how low the number of offerings from Kuri was, then asked him if he knew where to go for their next trade deal now that they could no longer rely on Donquixote Doflamingo. While having this discussion, King pointed to Queen while noting how the latter was already incompetent, causing the two to continue trading insults.



The following day, the Big Mom Pirates attempted to enter Wano by ascending its waterfall on the Queen Mama Chanter. Just as they had reached the top, their ship still midair, King as a pteranodon flew in and attacked, causing the ship to flip over and fall back down, while sending Big Mom into the gushing sea below. Around two days later, Queen brought a chained-up Big Mom from Udon to Onigashima and scolded King for not having been thorough in eliminating her. Big Mom told King that she would forgive him for what he had done to her if he joined her crew, as she recognized him as one of the few races that were not part of Totto Land, but King refused her offer.

Prior to the latest Fire Festival commencing, King heard that the Numbers had returned to Wano, of which he informed Queen. During the beginning stages of the festival, King appeared before Kaidou to confirm that it was he who had summoned the Tobiroppo in Kaidou's name, for the purpose of having them find the latter's "son", Yamato. Kaidou then offered to let the Tobiroppo challenge the All-Stars for their positions should they succeed, to which both King and Jack had no objection.

Later, King appeared beside his fellow All-Stars and Kaidou himself on the Live Floor of the Golden Kagura, behind Shogun Orochi, as Kaidou declared his intention to "liven up" the execution of Momonosuke with the announcement of the "New Onigashima Project". As Kaidou gave the explanation of said project, King held out his sword for Kaidou to use to unexpectedly decapitate Orochi. When Kaidou thereupon prepared to execute Momonosuke, the All-Stars and Kaidou were taken by surprise when the Nine Red Scabbards and Izou suddenly appeared from behind them and launched an all-out attack. Izou disarmed King by shooting his sword out of his hand, leaving him helpless to stop Kaidou from being assailed.



After Kaidou and the Scabbards had taken their battle to the roof of Onigashima's Skull Dome, Shinobu attempted to sneakily free Momonosuke. King, noticing her, simply grabbed and hurled the kunoichi away. However, Sanji (invisible thanks to his Raid Suit) was successful in rescuing the boy right after. King then clashed with Sanji in midair, and once Sanji had thrown Momonosuke to safety, King (now in his pteranodon form) sent himself and Sanji crashing into a nearby tower, intent on splitting Sanji in half with his beak. Afterwards, a still-flying King momentarily guarded the way to the rooftop, a hole made by Kaidou, together with Queen and a group of flying Gifters. Thereafter, King returned to the Performance Stage and contacted the Tobiroppo with a Den Den Mushi, ordering them to cease their search for Yamato and prevent the rebel alliance from reaching the dome's roof. After Bao Huang had located Momonosuke, King ordered all forces to go kill the boy, as the death of Oden's son would deprive the samurai of their will to fight.

A while after, King returned to his task of preventing enemies from reaching up to the roof of the dome, as was noticed by Roronoa Zoro. Once Marco the Phoenix had joined the fray inside the dome and started flying Zoro up toward the roof, a pteranodon-transformed King and Queen blocked their way. Both All-Stars tried stopping Marco, but the latter restrained them at once with his phoenix wings before throwing Zoro to the roof.



After he was informed of the Scabbards' location in the castle's second-floor treasury and their badly wounded state, King noted how he was occupied, ordering someone else to go kill them. He afterward entered his pteranodon form once again, then attacking Marco with a rain of bullet-like projectiles. Subsequently, as Marco in his phoenix form was flying at Queen, seemingly attempting to attack, King back in human form was quick to jump at him, cutting off Marco's left wing with his sword. Marco, however, was not fazed and simply used the remains of said wing to form a large fireball, which he sent straight at King in a blunt-force attack, sending the All-Star crashing violently into a building behind him. Before King had a chance to put up his guard, Marco made a follow-up attack, launching himself into King with a flying knee strike and causing an explosion, but King started getting back up shortly.



King was later seen looking on solemnly as the enemy alliance's will to fight was reinvigorated by Momonosuke's broadcasted announcement that Straw Hat Luffy, after having been declared defeated by Kaidou and about to die prior, was actually alive and soon to return to the battle. Subsequently on the Live Floor, King and Queen began taking out the many renegade Beasts Pirates who had been converted to the enemy's side due to a certain Devil Fruit ability, with Marco temporarily out of action and Sanji overwhelmed by the combined presence of two All-Stars. King had managed to ascertain the enemy's plan to heal the heavily injured Zoro via some strange treatment and gave out the order to put a stop to it. King was then quick to personally find the bandaged-up Zoro, who was being carried away by samurai, and attempted to strike him with his flaming Andon punch, but Marco managed to fly in at the right time and block the attack. Marco commented how he had heard long ago about a certain race living on top of the Red Line that had the power to burst into flames, but King did not respond. Instead, he and Queen initiated attacks to take out Marco for good, but before they had a chance to do anything, a recuperated Zoro and Sanji jumped in to assault the All-Stars with their respective techniques, with King being sliced by Zoro's Rengoku Oni Giri.



Although thrown to the ground by said attack, King was unhurt and, like Queen, promptly rose back up. As Sanji and Zoro were bickering, King took the chance to draw his sword and swing down at an unguarded Sanji, which was blocked by Zoro. When Queen mentioned how Sanji's flaming leg was an ability inexplicable for a normal human like him, as he could not be a "lunarian", King listened in silence. He then turned his attention to Zoro, who was already busy attacking him. King had his sword form angular notches along its edge and lodged Zoro's handheld swords in them. Pulling his own sword aside, King snatched Zoro's sword pair away from him, then proceeded to throw a powerful punch at Zoro's face that the latter stopped using his mouth-held sword. When Zoro remarked how King's manner of fighting was like a killing machine's, King responded that, to begin with, he never saw use for traditional forms and styles in a real battle. Zoro concurred, stating how King never claimed to be a proper swordsman anyway, but he too would take any measures necessary to win their fight. As their duel continued, King was seen launching a kick at Zoro in the air. A little later, King along with everyone else on the Live Floor reacted in confusion at the sudden sight of a dragon different from Kaidou—the grown-up Momonosuke—busting headfirst into the Skull Dome.



At some point, Zoro managed to break off a piece on the top-left side of King's mask. Irritated at his mask being damaged, King in his Human-Beast Form began indiscriminately attacking everyone around him on the Live Floor. Manifesting his pteranodon wings to use as makeshift blades, he sent out slashing winds in a chaotic flurry that struck enemies and allies alike, while hitting Zoro with such force that he was blown a fair distance away, into the Right-Brain Tower's central hallway where Franky was. When Queen told off his fellow All-Star for grazing him too, King merely stated that he wished he had sliced Queen's neck, before following Zoro into said hallway. With his Tankyudon technique, King promptly flew at the swordsman to yet again strike with one of his wings. Albeit his mask took further damage from Zoro's consequent Ul-Tora Gari counterattack, King overpowered Zoro in their clash and sent him flying further back, causing him to smash through the Skull Dome's outer wall to the outside. With a third divebomb attack, King nearly blew Zoro off Onigashima, but Zoro managed to push himself back onto the island's outskirts where King was standing. When Zoro remarked that King should at least show him respect by using his sword to deal a finishing blow, King (now with more of his face made visible) noted that he would ask the same of Zoro.

The two men then continued crossing blades. King re-entered his pteranodon form and assaulted Zoro with fire projectiles launched from his wings and a head-on beak attack, which Zoro blocked with his swords; as they fought, Zoro had a brief Den Den Mushi call with Sanji. Then, as the battle proceeded, King flew high into the sky and pulled on his pteranodon crest in order to shoot out his head like a powerful slingshot, striking at Zoro and leaving him barely able to dodge. As King proclaimed that this was the way that pteranodons used to hunt their prey in ancient times, Zoro launched his Sanbyakurokuju Pound Ho at the still-flying All-Star, which the latter evaded before raining down yet more fiery bullets. Zoro responded by using his Kokujo: O Tatsumaki, but King shielded himself with his wings. When Zoro observed how dinosaurs were essentially like dragons with their tough hides, King agreed but noted that there was more to him. He then shifted back to his humanoid form to go into melee, indulging Zoro with a clash of swords. As Zoro thought about how King did not shed any blood after taking his attacks, how his wings seemed to be real, flames were still on his back, and he thus wondered what race King might be, the All-Star overpowered him with a stroke of his sword, sending the Straw Hat crashing violently into a boulder behind him.



Just then, Zoro's sword Enma began excessively draining Zoro's Haki to his dismay. King took the chance to move in on Zoro, but without actually attacking. Confused, Zoro stabbed King's stomach area with his blade, which King merely acknowledged as a direct hit before unexpectedly blowing up, causing a massive explosion. Zoro managed to narrowly avoid harm by putting up a Haki defense and, as the dust settled, noticed King was unharmed by his own blast. Sparing no time, Zoro used One Sword Style Iai: Shi Shishi Sonson to directly strike King yet failed to inflict any damage on the All-Star. King then initiated his Tempuraudon attack a second time. Due to Enma acting up, King's head managed to graze Zoro, while blowing apart large parts of the rocks lining Onigashima's coast. As Zoro tried keeping hold of his falling swords, King kicked the enemy swordsman to the ground before using his Barizodon attack to keep up the pressure. Flying straight at Zoro, King then used his wing to push the swordsman through the ground and into the lower floors of Kaido's castle. After briefly laying on the ground reminiscing about his past, Zoro grabbed Enma, convinced that he now knew how to handle the blade, and released his Haoshoku Haki to knock out onlooking Beasts Pirates. In response, King calmy asked if Zoro really wanted to be a "king", which Zoro affirmed.

Zoro's following attack successfully cut and drew blood from King, tearing up his mask. Zoro discerned that, with the flames on King's back having gone out, King had become faster yet his defense weaker, hence King being vulnerable. King then shed the remains of his mask and so exposed his face to his underlings nearby, who immediately recognized his features as a lunarian's. As punishment, King used his Karyudon technique to burn said underlings to death, and when Zoro suggested that King tell him about his race, King stated that such knowledge was not needed by a dead man before following Zoro back outside the castle, using his wings to immediately barrage him with attacks. Zoro then stated that King and his crew's time reigning at the top should come to an end already, to which King retorted that Kaidou is the man who will become Pirate King.



Zoro subsequently hit King with his Rengoku Oni Giri but immediately noticed how the attack had, yet again, dealt no damage due to King's fire having returned. At that moment, King launched a fire dragon at Zoro, who dodged, and the two men locked blades. Like once before, King attempted to use his swordbreaker to yank Zoro's swords from his grip, but Zoro blew King away with his Haki. Subsequently noticing King speed up again, Zoro reacted swiftly by using his Yakkodori technique to cut the now-vulnerable King in an instant, right as the latter was kicking at his face. When Zoro pointed out how King had begun blocking his attacks and no longer seemed so unassailable, King proclaimed that a human could never stand up to his kind and, if anything, King would merely remember Zoro as a decent swordsman. Zoro denied this, saying that he would personally ensure that King remembered him if King managed to survive him. Thereupon, King created an even bigger flame dragon to send at Zoro. The latter unhesitatingly jumped at the beast and, using a powerful three-bladed slash, carved it up while sending a concentrated cutting wave toward King, hitting him squarely in his chest, slicing off part of King's right wing, and destroying his sword. As King fell defeated, fading out consciousness, he muttered Kaidou's name and reminisced about how, sometime in the past, he had told Kaidou that he could be Joy Boy and promised that, whether or not he was, King would never lose in battle until Kaidou became Pirate King. King then continued falling off Onigashima, with his defeat being recorded by a Mary flying nearby.

Major Battles

 * Beasts Pirates vs. Gecko Pirates
 * Beasts Pirates vs. Kozuki Oden, the Nine Red Scabbards, and Shinobu
 * King vs. Raizo
 * King vs. Ashura Doji
 * King vs. Sanji
 * King and Queen vs. Marco
 * King and Queen vs. Sanji and Roronoa Zoro
 * King vs. Zoro

Filler Battles

 * King vs. Denjiro

Anime and Manga Differences
In the anime during the flashback of Oden's and his retainers' battle against the Beasts Pirates 20 years ago, King was seen briefly battling Denjiro.

King's fight with Sanji over the Skull Dome's Live Floor is extended in the anime, with the two having a short but fierce melee in the air that sees King block Sanji's Ryusei Osoba Kick with his open palm before transforming into his pteranodon self and pursuing Sanji (in flight with his Raid Suit) through the air across the Skull Dome, until performing the same divebomb attack on his foe as in the manga.

Playable Appearances

 * One Piece Treasure Cruise

Trivia

 * Like his fellow All-Stars Queen and Jack, King is named after the playing card rank, fitting with the card-based naming scheme of the Beasts Pirates.
 * King's birth name (going by the katakana) might be a reference to the real-world Mount Arbel (アルベル山) in the Lower Galilee.
 * King, in his character design and abilities, may have diverse inspirations:
 * The character's concept bears a resemblance to the archangel Uriel of Judeo-Christian lore. Uriel's attributes include large, dark wings pointing downwards, fire in the palm of his hands, and a flaming sword, traits shared by King.
 * King's Devil Fruit and pyrokinetic abilities might be inspired by Rodan, a popular pteranodon kaijū that resides in a volcano, and of whom one specific incarnation is the "Fire Rodan".
 * In terms of his attire and wings, King's design may be a reference to the figure on the cover art of Angel of Retribution (the 2005 studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest), as well as the masked head depicted on the cover art of Hide Your Face (the 1994 debut album by Japanese musician hide, which also has fire in the background).
 * King's Vivre Card entry revealed two earlier design concepts for the character: one where he looks mostly like his current self-save for his wings being leathery and bat-like as opposed to feathered, and another where King looks more drastically different, having a very top-heavy build and a pronounced hunchback, a cape rather than wings, prominent horns, and what looks like overalls (while seemingly retaining a flame on his back and a sword).
 * King's first anime appearance is in the opening OVER THE TOP. Originally in it, his wings were depicted white, but this was soon corrected to black.
 * King's bounty is currently the highest known of any pirate who has never officially been a leader of their own crew.
 * King's favorite food is flying fish sashimi.
 * Despite his mouth-covering mask, King is able to eat food by manifesting his pteranodon beak from the mask.

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