Spandam

Spandam (スパンダム) is the chief of CP9 and the main antagonist of the Enies Lobby Arc.

Appearance
Spandam is a pale man of slim stature with wavy, wild lavender hair in a layered style that is roughly shoulder-length and parted in the middle. He has black markings around his large eyes, and his narrow nose is a dark red, which leads to Franky's nickname for him, "Spanda". He is fond of leather, and wears a brown studded leather mask which covers the bridge of his nose and scars on his moderately high forehead just above his eyebrows, right cheek, and strong chin from when Franky attacked him eight years ago, as well as long brown leather gloves and a black high-collared leather vest with matching pants separated by a studded belt. He has white shoes with brown tassels extending from their heels, and wears a long-sleeved light gray shirt decorated with a diagonal squiggle pattern below his vest with the collar turned up. His face is very expressive, and he has a large smile that causes his slightly angular eyebrows to narrow in slightly.

In Franky's flashback, Spandam's nose, not yet broken, was slightly longer, and his strong jawline was more pronounced. He wore a long black coat with gold-colored trim and the World Government symbol with oversized shoulder pads, a white shirt with a black tie, a gray vest with corset lacing and a diagonal squiggle pattern identical to that on his shirt eight years later, black pants and shoes, and short brown gloves. His hair was partially slicked back, emphasizing the prominent widow's peak on his high forehead, and he had small sideburns.

In the Volume 44 SBS, Oda drew pictures of the CP9 agents as children. Based on these illustrations, it seems Spandam had a small elephant as a pet when he was a child.

Personality
Spandam is very clumsy (he tends to spill coffee on himself during moments of excitement) and short tempered, with special sensitivity towards his name. Franky's nickname for him, Spanda (due to his panda-like markings around the eyes and nose), always causes him to lose his head. As a result, Spandam comes off mostly as a comedic villain like Buggy, though he often reveals real malice when gloating over his prisoners - as seen when he broke his promise of the Straw Hat Pirates' safety, and proceeded to beat on his defenseless captive, Nico Robin. He is not detached from the idea of exploitation, backstabbing, or the use of loopholes to get his own way, as he has proven many times in the past.

Spandam is also a great believer of the absolute justice conveyed by Admiral Akainu, and believes that the end justifies the means, with the end being the acquisition of the ancient weapons and the means being as many murders or sacrifices as it takes. He sees himself as the world's greatest hero for capturing Robin, and is very interested in his rank and prestige, often coming across as extremely power-hungry, even contemplating using the weapons' power for his own benefit, instead of the world's - unlike the other agents, who don't want any recognition whatsoever. He has no consideration for the lives of others at all and doesn't even consider the loss of innocents, only having power at his command. He likes plans to go perfectly fine and gets annoyed when they don't.

The most important thing is my life!!! My promotion! If I let them go freely, who will protect me when something happens?

Spandam's main character trait is his cowardly outlook on life - even when he does not display his cowardice, he is constantly thinking about such things. He is confident only when he feels safe because he has no strength, seeing as he has a Douriki of 9 - an average Marine has 10, so he relies on others to protect him. Thus to this end, every move that he made throughout the Enies Lobby arc was a move to put his safety above all others. Moreover, though the fault for the destruction of Enies Lobby falls solely in his hands, he uses the members of the CP9 as his scapegoats to avoid the blame being pinned on him. Though this granted him some protection, he made enemies of his former co-workers.

He appears to underestimate the strength of pirates and overestimate the strength of Marines, as once he heard a transmission saying that Luffy had defeated 400 marines, he is quoted as saying: "400? The soldiers aren't that weak!" He also accused the Straw Hats of stealing all the keys to Nico Robin's handcuffs, instead of beating up all CP9 members to get them.

CP9
Spandam viewed CP9 as an unbeatable force and were the World Governments greatest assets. While CP9 was loyal to Spandam, they were not above bad mouthing him even in his presence with Kalifa constantly stating he was doing something causing sexual harassment or Kumadori being over dramatic with himself and being the only one to save Spandam from Franky biting on him. Even though Spandam is a weakling, Lucci respects him as his boss. Spandam also believes in Lucci’s strength and he always refers to him as the strongest member of the organization. However, once CP9 was defeated by the Straw Hats, Spandam framed them for the loss of Nico Robin and Enies Lobby to save himself and they became a renegade crew. Lucci also called a crippled Spandam stating that they will come for him someday and get revenge.

World Government
Spandam is a loyal follower of the World Government. He does whatever they ask without question and, like Akainu, is a firm follower of Absolute Justice. However, Spandam was not above manipulating the Gorosei to carry out the mission of trying to gain the blueprints of Pluton to rule the world. He even believes everything the government does is right.

Spandine
Spandam is Spandine's son. Spandam seems to be close to him since he gloated to Robin about how he's the son of the man who forced her life to the way it is now. After his defeat at Enies Lobby, he worked together with his father to plot their obliteration together.

Straw Hat Pirates
Spandam is a major enemy of the Straw Hats for forcing Robin to work together with CP9 and trying to kill them. He viewed Luffy as a weakling and believed he and his crew had no chance of defeating CP9 and rescuing Robin. This proved to be his downfall, as not only did they defeat CP9 and escape with Robin, but Spandam was left with the humiliation and pain from Robin breaking his back and of the defeat he suffered at their hands.

Franky
Spandam holds a grudge against Franky for scarring his face years ago and for destroying the blueprints for Pluton. Franky himself hates Spandam for framing him, Iceburg, and Tom for the attack on Water 7 years ago and for sending Tom to his death. Franky took his revenge by pounding Spandam to bits and crushing him with his own weapon. Spandam also is annoyed when Franky calls him "Spanda".

Nico Robin
Spandam viewed himself as a hero for capturing Robin and forcing her to the situation she was in. He went as far as to physically and mentally torture her by grabbing her hair, punching her and even shoving her face in the stone all the while laughing at her misery. He even gladly told her that he's the son of the man who forced her life the way it is while enjoying her crying at her suffering. However, once Robin was freed thanks to Franky, she went as far as to brutally take her revenge by slapping him senseless and broke his back to let him suffer for what he did to her.

Abilities and Powers
Spandam is the least powerful of the group as he has a Doriki level of only 9 (a normal, armed marine has a douriki level of 10). Being this way, he is incapable of learning and knowing any Rokushiki moves. Nonetheless, the rest of the Cipher Pol 9 do not mind and "respect" him as the chief of the Marines, with the possible exception of Kumadori, as he was the only one who saved Spandam from being beaten further by Franky (sending Spandam flying into the ceiling in the process). Because of his physical weakness, Spandam relies on his natural talents of knowledge and deception, as opposed to actual combat.

However, despite his physical weakness, he appears to be capable of enduring considerably high amounts of damage, as seen when he was still standing after two attacks from Usopp (as Sogeking), Robin's "Seis Fleur Slap", and Franky's "Strong Right" (in Franky's case, he also instantly counter-attacked), which only seemed to swell his face, as well as having Funkfreed land on top of him after Franky threw the elephant at him.

He also often reveals extreme cowardice, and doesn't hesitate to use his rank to boss around subordinates (though he fears the power of the CP9 agents, especially Lucci's) - he even threatens to fire them or have them killed in order to get a job done. It is unknown how he got his rank, but perhaps it was being linked to his father, the former head.

Spandam also has many contacts, which is the reason why he was able to get hold of two Devil Fruits easily.

Weapons
Spandam's main offense is his special sword, "Funkfreed", which somehow absorbed a Devil Fruit, Zou Zou no Mi. Using this fruit, it can turn into an elephant. This phenomenon has only been witnessed once before in the series, with Mr. 4's gun-dog, Lassoo. Funkfreed also makes up for Spandam's weakness by being both his weapon and bodyguard.

Past
Fourteen years ago, Spandam manipulated the Gorosei to change their policy about preventing the Ancient Weapons from being recovered and to allow him to revive the weapons to combat the increase in pirate activity. However, Spandam's machination was really to depose the government and rule the world himself. Spandam used to be the CP5 leader and was the first one to come after the Pluton blueprints held by Tom. When Tom refused, Spandam framed him by using Franky's battleships on a judiciary ship, making it seem like Tom and his apprentices (Cutty Flam and Iceburg) were the culprits. In the end though, Spandam was outsmarted (as Tom safely hid the plans away) and only got a very scarred face for his trouble (courtesy of Cutty Flam). When Cutty Flam tried to stop the train, Spandam ordered them to keep going and laughed at his suffering when he was run down by the train.

Spandam became the chief of CP9 almost eight years ago, replacing his father Spandine. Rob Lucci was also with him as proven in his mini-flashback.

Five years ago, Spandam dispatched the CP9 to Water 7 to finish what he was trying to do before: seize the blueprints.

Mission: Acquire Pluton
Before the mission to send CP9 to Water 7, Aokiji contacted Spandam of Robin's whereabouts. Spandam almost had his CP9 take action but delayed to wait for her arrival. Knowing Robin through his father and her weakness, he sent Blueno to keep an eye out for her. Spandam also acquired the authority to summon the Buster Call with the Golden Den Den Mushi on the admiral's behalf.

Spandam was not seen in the story until when the CP9 contacted him about capturing Franky. Spandam ordered them to bring Franky to Enies Lobby. Franky was shocked and angry of hearing Spandam's voice after so many years and Spandam mocked Franky for being weak like he is now, but accidently spilled his coffee on him and prompted Blueno to hang up on him.

Before the Battle with the Straw Hats
Before the arrival of CP9, Spandam was seen with the other members: Jabra, Fukuro, and Kumadori over the reasons of why the mission they were assigned of only killing three people turned into over twenty people. While all of them tried to explain and Jabra losing his temper with Fukuro and Kumadori, Spandam tried telling them it was alright since the mission was a success, but accidently spilled coffee on himself again and scream in pain from how hot it was.

He was later seen greeting Lucci and the others while delighted at seeing Franky again after so many years and thrilled at having finally caught Robin. As the CP9 members start to make fun of Spandam and not how weak he is compared to them, he defends himself on how his sword Funkfreed helps make up for that. Kalifa continues to state how he keeps doing sexual harrassment, shocking him and is annoyed by Kumadori's and Jabra's moment together. He tells them about how Aokiji allowed him the Golden Den Den Mushi and when Robin asks why he was given one despite him not being an admiral, Spandam punches her and tells her to mind her business and states it doesn't matter since she's done for. When he laughs about how he'll finally get the blueprints for Pluton, Franky bites him for mocking Tom's sacrifice and is saved (rather poorly) by Kumadori. He is then informed of the Straw Hats arrival and how Luffy is defeating over 4000 Marines despite Spandam misheard him earlier and thought only five were defeated. He's even more shocked when Oimo and Kashi changed sides and allied with the Straw Hats.

When he has Franky and Robin chained to a wall by the Marines, he is shocked that Franky inflates his butt and states he'll self-destruct and Spandam runs for his life despite tripping on the stairs. However, Franky instead used a move called Coup De Boo to fart and free him and Robin and land on the outer edge of the roof. Spandam tells CP9 not to let them get away and restrain them. He is shocked when he sees that Blueno has been defeated by Luffy and claims that a pirate could never defeat a CP9 agent like Blueno.

When Robin shouts to Luffy about how she doesn't want to be rescued and just wants to die, Spandam laughs and claps in excitment over the situation and welcomes CP9 to the top of the roof with the others. When Jabra asks if they can kill him, Spandam tells him to wait and wants to let Luffy suffer over the fact that despite coming to save Robin, she doesn't want to be saved and is shocked by Luffy's rudeness of picking his nose despite Spandam's threats. He is later scared over the fact that the other members of the crew are fully present to fight CP9. When Spandam decides to use the Buster Call, Robin begs him not to, stating he has no idea the horror of what it can do.

Enies Lobby Incident
Spandam then tells the crew about how challenging the World Government means challenging the whole world and that the mark of the World Government is absolute with over 170 nations in unity with the government and states that all of those nations are Robin's enemies. With Luffy now understanding who Robin's enemies are, he orders Sogeking to burn down the flag and they officially declare war on the World Government. Spandam is shocked by this and shouts that they now have no chance of surviving with the whole world as their enemy while Luffy just shouts if he wants to see about that causing Spandam to get afraid by him. When Franky decides to place a bet with Spandam after having witnessed the Straw Hats valor and when Robin finally shouted out she wants to live, Spandam demands what he means. Franky reveals that he had the Pluton blueprints on him the whole time, much to Spandam's, even Lucci's, and Kaku's shock. Spandam is estatic that the blueprints are right in front of him all the while ignoring Franky's bet on who will win the fight. When Franky burns the blueprints, Spandam is speechless. Franky declares that he will burn them now so a second Pluton can never be built again and so an idiot like Spandam can never get his hands on such a weapon. Spandam, infuriated that Franky destroyed the blueprints, pushed Franky off the edge of the Tower of Justice while he was destracted, but was saved (by being struck by the Rocketman by Kokoro). Spandam tells CP9 that it is their job to win and protect his life no matter what and keep his status safe. Afterwards, he moves with Robin and Lucci to the lower ends of the tower to take her across the Bridge of Hesitation.

Spandam was assisted by Lucci to take Robin to the Gates of Justice. Along the way, Lucci stayed behind to fight Monkey D. Luffy, and Spandam foolishly activates the Buster Call by accident, causing chaos and confusion to ensue on the island due to him shouting how useless the Marines are and how he does not care about their lives and only his and keeping Robin from escaping. While on the way at the end, Robin would continuously try to escape and keep herself from reaching the end by biting the edge of the bridge while Spandam mocks her for her weakness and how she has no hope left and that the Straw Hats will be killed and she'll never be saved. As he brags about how he's the son of Spandine, the man who caused the life she lived, finally causes her to break into tears while he laughs at her pain. He drags her to the end by her hair and nearly reaches the gate. However, he was hit at long-range with one of Sogeking's explosive projectile attacks, allowing Nico Robin to escape and break free of her handcuffs thanks to Franky saving her and gaining the rest of the keys from Sogeking, much to Spandam's horror when he realizes that the "unbeatable" CP9 has indeed been defeated. When he tried to attack Robin to prevent her from escaping, Franky crushed him with his own sword, finally settling his vendetta for what he did to Tom. Robin's first act was to beat him by slapping him sensless for everything he did to her and nearly left his face swollen to great size and passes out from the pain and from Sogeking shooting him again.

As the Straw Hats are escaping on the returned Going Merry, he recovers (though now horribly bruised and swollen) and gives the order to fire stating Aokiji gave him permission to do so despite Robin being on board (though this is just another lie). Robin notices this and, thinking about all the pain he caused her, uses her "Clutch" move on him to the extent that his back breaks in half as her group sails off.

CP9's Independent Report
After the battle, he decides that it was the unforgivable errors of CP9 that caused his mission to fail and orders marines to capture them, marking the beginning of CP9's journey to evade the marines and explaining why CP9 could not turn to the government for medical help. Despite his injuries, he survived, although he is currently heavily bandaged in the hospital, and he receives a Den Den Mushi call of sorts. However, he is shocked to find it to be his former subordinate Rob Lucci, calling him as the remainder of CP9 fight off marines. After that, he teams up with his father Spandine, to plot the assassination of CP9.

Major Battles

 * Spandam vs Franky (at Water 7)


 * Spandam vs Nico Robin and Franky
 * Spandam and Enies Lobby Escort vs. Usopp (as Sogeking)

Early One Piece
In One Piece Green: Secret Pieces, an early concept of Spandam is revealed. Just like now, he was supposed to have a panda theme, just stronger in terms of appearance. He was even supposed to have panda ears.

Trivia

 * Following CP9's animal theme, he has a panda theme, because not only does he have markings around his eyes and nose resembling that of a panda, but his name also has the word panda in it. This is also presumably the reason behind why Franky calls him Spanda, much to Spandam's chagrin.
 * In the 4th Japanese Fan Poll Spandam ranked as the 64th popular character with 22 votes.
 * Many characters in One Piece were given distinct laughs. Spandam follows in this tradition with a short "wa" at the beginning of his laugh (i.e. "Wa ha ha ha ha!"), though it sounds more like "Da" in the anime.
 * In the escape scene from Enies Lobby between Marines and the Straw Hat Pirates differs between the anime and the manga. In the anime, the scene is extended. Robin uses Cien Fleurs: Defense to slow cannon balls and Franky lobs them back to the Marines. Zoro and Sanji grabs an unconscious Luffy to stop cannon balls and fling them back, while in the manga he was conscious and foaming at the mouth after they had done so. Also, Robin used Seis Fleurs: Clutch to break Spandam's spine. In the manga, she does so and there is a crack and he slumps back. In the anime, his body fades out, only showing his skeleton and showing it break directly in half.
 * Though it is never stated he stole the Golden Den Den Mushi from Aokiji, whenever someone asked about Aokiji handing it to him, Spandam would panic and show signs of guilt about having the Golden Den Den Mushi. In the end the only note Spandam made was to say he "borrowed" it off of Aokiji. Whenever authorities reacted to the Buster Call, they expected Aokiji to be on scene but were surprised at Aokiji's absence and Spandam's presence.

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