Silvers Rayleigh

Silvers Rayleigh is the former first mate for the Gold Roger Pirates and was known as the Right Hand of the Pirate King. He became a coating mechanic in Sabaody Archipelago after Gold Roger died and the crew disbanded. He is one of main focuses in the current arc as the Straw Hats seek his skills in order to get to Fishman Island.

History
As vice captain of Roger's ship, he disciplined Buggy and Shanks over their constant arguing by beating them over the head, saying that it did not matter. In that appearance, he was not named, though Oda clearly told Toei Animation not to refer to him as Captain in the anime.

Appearance
Two of Rayleigh's most distinguishing marks are that he typically wears glasses, and that the facial hairs on his chin are arranged like stripes across his lower jaw. When he was younger, Rayleigh kept his black hair cleaned cut and had a moderate amount of facial hair. Over the years as his hair whitened, he let it grow longer and wild. He also grew a beard from his initial stripped patterned facial hairs and got a scar over his right eye.

Abilities and Powers
He specializes in coating ships with Yarukiman Resin, so they can travel underwater to Fishman Island and the New World. Even though there are more coating mechanics in the Shabondy Archipelago, Hatchan trusts the quality of Rayleigh's work. Shakky, a business parter of his, has high praise for his strength, saying that he's "100 times stronger than all the Eleven Super Novas."

In chapter 500, he was surprisingly found to be located at the Human Auctioning House in a cage to be sold as a slave.

When the manager, Disco, mistreated the newly arrived Camie, he used a "rush of spirit" to knock Disco out. The giant with whom he was in a cage noted this, and asked him who he was, which he shoved of, saying he was just an old man. This is presumably similar to the ones displayed by Shanks and Luffy. However, unlike Luffy, Rayleigh's experience onboard Roger's ship means he's not a complete novice when utilizing the effects of "Spirit Energy" on targets, having rendered a specific target completely unconscious without adversely affecting anybody else near the initial target

Trivia

 * When Shanks and Buggy were first revealed to be part of Gold Roger's crew, a fan asked Oda in a SBS question if the man that scolded them was a subordinate captain under Roger that commanded the ship they were sailing on, or even a high ranking officer. Without giving away Rayleigh's name at the time, Oda responded that this man was none other than the First Mate of Gold Roger's crew. Oda also stated in his response that since he had set this fact in stone from the very start, he told the anime staff that when they adapt Buggy's flashback for the anime, Buggy and Shanks wouldn't call Rayleigh captain.