Hatchan

Hatchan (はっちゃん), nicknamed "Hachi" (ハチ) by most characters, is an octopus fishman, a former member of the Arlong Pirates, and a member of the Sunny Pirates before that.

After the rest of the Arlong Pirates were arrested, Hatchan was the sole escapee, and underwent many adventures which end up in him opening a floating takoyaki restaurant and meeting up again with the Straw Hat Pirates. Along with Keimi, he is one of the main supporting characters in both the Sabaody Archipelago and Fishman Island Arcs.

Appearance
Hatchan, being an octopus fishman, has 8 appendages (6 arms and 2 legs) and an octopus-like face. He has pink skin and grey hair styled with five spikes. He has a muscular build and has suction cups on his six arms, which he can use to cling on to walls. Hatchan has a tattoo in the shape of a sun on his forehead, which is to represent that he was a part of the Sunny Pirates.

Hatchan usually wears heavy clothing and shirts made especially for octopus fishmen. During the Sabaody Arc, he wore a jacket to cover his four extra arms and a bandage to cover his tattoo to prevent him from being captured and sold at the Human Auctioning House.

Personality
Hatchan is not very intelligent and can be easily duped, such as when he failed to recognize who Roronoa Zoro really was, and mistakenly begins to introduce himself while asking other people their names. He initially fails to understand Zoro's words during his battle about the difference in "weight" between their swords (he assumed Zoro meant weight as in "heavy", but Zoro was referring to weight as in "burden"). In his fight against Zoro, he made many misjudgments and even at some points allowed himself to get angry, which partly contributed to his defeat.

By the time he meets the Straw Hats again near Sabaody Archipelago, his personality seems to have changed. He seems to be significantly more intelligent and very knowledgeable about the Sabaody Archipelago (though he did think Duval and Sanji looked the same, and was still easily tricked by Sanji into revealing his true identity), and wisely cautions Luffy against provoking the World Nobles in spite of their cruelty. He feels some guilt about his actions as part of the Arlong Pirates. Hatchi is also rather humble in comparison to other fishmen, often accepting that things are how they are and not wanting to upset others.

He seemed to respected Arlong, going as far to support his ambitions, since he willingly joined his crew, a band of fishmen who hate humans, even though Hatchan himself is friends with Rayleigh and Shakky; Hatchan's friendship with humans proves that he never truly supported such ideals, and even Nami vouched that Hachi was the better one of the Arlong Pirates, and that they should save him. Hatchan's childhood dream was to be accepted into the human society, and he admitted that Arlong's tyranny was going too far; unlike Kuroobi and Chew, Hatchan alone was not corrupted by Arlong's ideals. After Luffy accepted Hatchan as a friend, he outright opposes Arlong's ideals, much to Hordy Jones' disappointment.

Friends
Hatchan is good friends with Chew and Kuroobi, having known them since before he joined the Sunny Pirates. He was formerly friends with Macro, Gyaro, and Tansui of the Macro Fishman Pirates, having known Macro from his times as a Sunny Pirate, until he destroyed their ship for supposedly selling him a fake map. He is also well acquainted with Silvers Rayleigh who he saved from a shipwreck as a child. Since his escape from a prison ship, he has also befriended Keimi, the mermaid and Pappug, the starfish and runs a Takoyaki stand with them. He has even managed to befriend the Straw Hat Pirates, who saved him while he was held hostage by the Flying Fish Riders, despite being one of their old enemies. Jinbe also showed concern over Hatchan's well-being, despite the ex-Shichibukai feeling guilty releasing the Arlong Pirates into East Blue.

Enemies
Hatchan, as a member of the Arlong Pirates, became the Straw Hats' enemy when they fought against Arlong for Nami's sake. During that time, he bore a grudge against Zoro for tricking him, and volunteered to fight him himself. The newer members of the crew (Chopper, Franky, Robin and Brook), are unaware of what happened, though, until Usopp explained it. While he is currently cooperating with the Straw Hats, Nami notes that she has not forgiven him though she seems to believe that Hatchan is honestly trying to atone for what happened. The Macro Fishmen Pirates also harbor a grudge against him for destroying their ship and saving Keimi. He made enemies with the New Fishmen Pirates for siding with humans and with the Flying Pirates since they ally themselves with the New Fishman Pirates. Hordy Jones and the other fishmen who follow Arlong's ideals all lost respect for Hatchan, as they believe his friendship with humans to be disgraceful. With Hatchan unable to sway Hordy Jones, Vander Decken IX used him for a demonstration of his "curse".

Abilities
As a fishman, Hatchan has ten times the strength of an average human on land, and twice that in water. In fact, as officer of the Arlong Pirates, he is much stronger than that, being able to defeat the three members of the Macro Pirates single-handedly. His strength allows him to wield six cutlasses with each weighing over 300 kg in battle. He is also aware of the existence of Haki, but admits that he knows very little about it.

Even after being significantly crippled after the timeskip, that it required him to use crutches, Hatchi still displayed considerable swimming prowess. But it wasn't enough for him to outpace the barrage of arrows that Decken sent at him after he marked Hatchan as his target.



Hachi can also shoot streams of ink from his mouth like a true octopus in order to blind the enemy, and to assist his combat style by striking down the enemies while they cannot see. He also covered himself with it in the failed attempt to conceal his identity from the Straw Hat Pirates.

Rokutoryu
Hatchan is an accomplished swordsman. He has stated that he is the number two swordsman in all of Fishman Island. Hyozo stated if Arlong didn't have a "tight-wallet" he wouldn't have settled for Hatchan. Being an octopus fishman, he has six arms, which enables him to wield six swords at once, giving him an advantage over regular swordsmen in terms of number and raw strength.

Each of his sword is a cutlass that weights over 300 kg (661.387 lbs), totalling to nearly 2 tons worth of metal, which is far more than a normal human's limit. However, their heaviness is apparently less than the three swords wielded by Roronoa Zoro, in terms of "burden" instead of "weight", which is what led Hachi to ultimately lose against Zoro.

Endurance
Hatchan seems to have great endurance as he was able to survive getting slashed by Zoro's three swords and Sanji's kick. Both are great deeds especially since Hatchan also got up sooner than any of the other fishman after getting beaten by Zoro. Although to be fair, both times he was at the advantage, Zoro had been badly damaged by Mihawk, and Sanji's kick was under water reducing his power and speed. However, he was the only fishman from the Arlong Pirates to escape and was one of the top Sunny Pirates member. This suggests that Hatchan might have been the head officer in Arlong's gang. Of course, it can be assumed that fishman would have great endurance as they survive great water pressure and have great strength.

Early Life
Hatchan was friends with Chew and Kuroobi since childhood, and they dreamed of opening a Takoyaki stand. Hatchan was with Arlong, Chew and Kuroobi when they saw the Sabaody Ferris Wheel.

When he was a child, Hatchan saved Silvers Rayleigh from drowning in a shipwreck. Since then, the two were on good terms, but Rayleigh disapproved of Hatchan joining Fisher Tiger's Sunny Pirates. During his time as a Sunny Pirate, he befriended Macro and worked his way up the crew. Hatchan's main contribution to the Sunny Pirates was to alert the crew of enemy ships.

Hatchan knew Shakuyaku for twenty-two years, but they haven't spoken to each other for twelve years before the current storyline.

Service under Arlong
Hatchan became an officer and the caretaker of Mohmoo the Sea Cow of the Arlong Pirates after the Sunny Pirates were disbanded. Originally Arlong wanted to take Hyozo into the crew as his swordsman, but couldn't afford his price and settled on Hachi instead.

After Arlong killed Bellemere, Hatchan went in her house and found a map. Nami charged at him, telling him that it's her map which she drew it herself and demanded it back. Arlong, who read the map, was amazed at her talent and ordered Hatchan to bring her with them. Hatchan grabbed Nami by the neck and went to where Arlong Park would now stand. Compared to his present appearance, the only difference in his past appearance was that Hatchan wore a diamond-checkered outfit as opposed to the striped outfit he wears today.

Eight years later, he was still member of Arlong's crew. He was shown making a comment on how Nezumi's mouse face made him laugh, which Arlong scolded him for. Hatchan then went on to escort Nezumi out of Arlong Park in his Octopus Pot.

Later, he was seen again after Arlong went to Cocoyashi, he was alone cooking a giant boar for Mohmoo. He called out for him with his mouth as a horn, however Mohmoo did not come. However, Zoro, who was in Arlong Park, noted the call, and found Hatchan. However, unknown to Hatchan, Zoro had recently slashed up his buddies. Hatchan, thinking Zoro was a guest, escorted him to Cocoyashi to find Arlong.

Hatchan went back to Arlong Park and was met by Arlong, whom had returned, and was angrily asked where he had been. Hatchan saw many of his buddies slashed up, prompting him to swear revenge. However, when Kuroobi asked him if he had seen someone like Zoro, Hatchan started to describe the guest's appearance, finally realizing the guest's true identity, much to his comrades chagrin. He then started to explain himself that he believed Zoro to be one of Arlong's guests, like Nezumi.

Later, a Marine Branch 77 under Commodore Pudding Pudding came to rescue the Goza citizens, but wrongfully decided to attack Arlong Park. Chew, Kuroobi and Hatchan formed a teamwork to handle them. Hatchan's job was to move a cliff under the Marine ship, which passed over it with tremendous speed (thanks to Kuroobi), causing a maelstrom, sinking the ship.

Decisive Battle in Arlong Park
After Nami's money had been taken by Nezumi, Monkey D. Luffy broke down the gates of Arlong Park, together with Usopp, Sanji and Roronoa Zoro (whom Hatchan immediately recognized). Once again, he called forth Mohmoo, only to find it with a giant bump on it's head, and a severe fear of Luffy and Sanji (whom had previously beaten it). After it had been defeated (along with the rest of the crew, save for Arlong, Hatchan, Chew and Kuroobi), the fishmen prepared to fight the Strawhats.

Hatchan started off the fight by firing a jet spray of ink at Luffy (who had stuck himself in order to defeat the lesser fishmen), before slamming a piece of debris at him, only for Sanji to destroy it with a single kick. As he attempted another debris throw, Zoro taunts him into a fight, leaving Luffy, Sanji and Usopp to the others.

After Luffy was thrown into the ocean by Arlong, Zoro charged at Hatchan, cutting his hair after the fishman ducked from the incoming blow. After an unsuccessful attempt at catching Zoro's sword, Hatchan clung himself to the roof of Arlong Park, intending to stall Zoro, making it difficult to rescue Luffy. However, Zoro soon collapses due to the wound he received earlier from Mihawk, prompting Hatchan to rapidly punch the pillar he stuck himself to, in an attempt to crush Zoro beneath it. However, Zoro responds by throwing Hatchan beneath the crumbling structure, before collapsing once again.

Enraged, Hatchan exploded from the rubble, now wielding six swords in his Six-Sword Style, in order to vanquish Zoro for humiliating him. However, Zoro was undaunted and asked Johnny and Yosaku to lend him their swords, in order to use his Santōryū.

Johnny and Yosaku soon throw their swords towards Zoro but because of his increasing fever, he is unable to move to catch them. At this moment, Hatchan attempts to cut Zoro into pieces with his Six-Sword Style, but Zoro reverses it with his Tou Rou Nagashi, repelling all of Hatchan's swords, whilst cutting the fishman's abdomen.



Enraged, Hatchan tries to break it down to Zoro simply: His six swords automatically outrank Zoro's three swords. However, Zoro responds by saying that his swords are heavier than Hatchan's. Not understanding what Zoro meant with what he said, Hatchan performs a pot-stance attack on Zoro, who blocks it, until Hatchan releases the swords from their stance, allowing him to land a devastating headbutt to Zoro's chest, re-opening the wound from Mihawk.

While Zoro is in the air, Hatchan starts spinning his blades, in an attempt to grind Zoro into pieces once he comes in contact with them. However, Zoro manages to masterfully evade every single blade, whilst cutting the fishman's hands. Enraged, the fishman attempts the pot-stance again, but its repelled by Zoro's Oni Giri, which destroys all of his swords. Smiling, Zoro asks Hatchan if he knew what he meant when he said that his swords were heavier than Hatchan's.



In one last attempt to defeat Zoro, Hatchan tries to punch Zoro into submission, but this was stopped by Zoro's Dragon Twister, which sent him flying. Defeated, Hatchan wonders how three swords could beat six swords, before slamming into the ground.

However, after Kuroobi's and Chew's defeats at Sanji's and Usopp's hands respectively, as Luffy was receiving recovery, Hatchan arose from his place of defeat. However, Hatchan's intentions was not to defeat Zoro, but instead killing Luffy and those who were on the ocean bed.

At the bottom of the sea, Hatchan encountered Sanji and Nojiko. In a last-ditch effort to stop them, Hatchan tried to punch Sanji with his multiple arms, but Nojiko swam in the way of the punches. However, before he could do harm to any of them, his wounds re-opened, just like Zoro predicted, allowing Sanji to release Luffy.

Hatchan's Sea-Floor Stroll
Shortly after the defeat of Arlong, Hatchan was brought on a Marine prison ship. He escaped and decided to go home to Fishman Island. He initially does some simple good deeds, including removing a hook from a panda shark, giving food (which was given in gratitude by the pandashark he rescued earlier) to a stranded islander and finding a ring for the Goldfish Princess. Gaining a trident from the goldfish kingdom, he used it to stab a monster attempting to eat a sea boar.



After saving the boar, it unexpectedly spits out a small mermaid named Keimi and a starfish named Pappug, whom Hatchan befriends with little problem. But he betrays Keimi when the Macro Fishman Pirates give him a map to help him find the artifacts needed to create his most prized talent: takoyaki. Unfortunately, the map merely directs Hatchan to the octo-creature Mash, whom he defeats but helps him in no way towards making his takoyaki.

Feeling betrayed by the Macro Pirates and soon encountering a saddened Pappug still wanting Keimi back, Hatchan attacks their ship and reunites starfish and mermaid. But when he returns to the creature, he discovered that the creature helped him after all: under his shell (which opens like a lid in a similar fashion to Brook's skull-head) was a massive jar of the best takoyaki-cooking sauce.

Taking the creature, the sauce and a ton of treasure stolen from the Macro Pirates, Hatchan continued his journey until he arrived at a town of catfish, ruined and desolate and particularly hungry. Hoping to help them out, Hatchan sells off all his treasure for cooking equipment and a cart, using it to create enough takoyaki not just to help the catfish but to propose to Octopako. Octopako turned him down, but the catfish were grateful and in love with the takoyaki created by the octopus man.

While originally dejected by his initial failure, encouragement from Keimi, his original dreams (where it was shown that he, along with Chew and Kuroobi planned to open a Takoyaki-selling business) and a new ship built in gratitude by the catfish let Hatchan decide to stay true to himself. In the end, he decides to go through and open up a new floating takoyaki stand Takoyaki 8, with the mermaid and starfish occasionally helping on support.

Reuniting with Old Enemies
Hatchan was being held as a hostage by the Macro gang and Flying Fish Riders.

The Straw Hat crew rescued him, without realizing who it was they're trying to rescue, though Zoro, Sanji and Nami have made references on how he seems to be familiar. Upon reaching him, Hatchan attempted to conceal his identity by coating himself with his ink. Unfortunately, his voice was recognized by Zoro along with his silhouette and even Nami found him suspicious. Sanji tricked the fishman into admitting his identity by asking him about Arlong. When the Straw Hats found out that he's the Hatchi that served Arlong, they changed their mind about rescuing him (Hatchan actually encourages this, warning the crew it is a trap and that they should leave him) but Nami decides to rescue Hatchi because he's harmless and they already made a promise with Keimi.

After being freed by Zoro, Hatchan effortlessly punches Macro and his crewmates away from the island, before finally (sort of) reconciling with Zoro (whom had just moments ago saved Hatchan, Keimi and Pappug from an incoming Flying Fish Rider). Later, he would aid in the fight against the Flying Fish Riders using his Rokutou, mainly protecting Brook and Zoro while they were recuperating (Zoro from his earlier wounds from Kuma, and Brook whom had worn himself out by running on the water for too long), before the pair returned the favor.

Later, when Duval had let his Fish Riders throw Sanji in the sea, Hatchan was quick to stop both Luffy and Zoro from jumping in after him, claiming that he could catch up with them (as he is a fishman), but Duval soon stopped him from doing anything by saying that the Flying Fish are even faster than fishmen underwater, which would mean that Hatchan would never catch Sanji in time before it was too late. Nonetheless, Keimi helped Sanji from his trap, resulting in Duval receiving an extreme facial makeover.

The Sabaody Archipelago
As the Straw-Hats, Hachi, Keimi and Pappug left Duval's ruined base, the latter trio rewarded the Straw-Hats with the takoyaki Keimi had promised them earlier. Even though the situation got a little tense when Hachi asked Nami how it was, she replied that even though she hadn't forgiven the fishman, she found the takoyaki tasty, which was more than good enough for him.

He helped the Straw Hats find a coating mechanic to coat the Thousand Sunny with resin from the Yarukiman Mangrove so that the ship may sail underwater. Hatchan claims to know a mechanic in the Sabaody Archipelago that he would trust with his life and has promised to take the Straw Hats to that mechanic, in exchange for the Straw-Hats to not to defy the World Nobles.

Keimi was then later revealed to be missing and so Hatchan, Pappug and the Straw-Hats all met up at the Human Auction at Grove Number 1 so they could save her by buying her off the slave auction. However, the World Noble Saint Charloss bought her for 500,000,000, crushing any hopes of rescuing Keimi that way.



As fate would have it, Luffy and Zoro crashed through the door of the Auction House, and Luffy, seeing Keimi, decided to rescue her. Hachi, however, didn't want Luffy to do anything rash, and tried to stop him, accidentally revealing himself as a fishman, due to him trying to restrain Luffy with his remaining arms. At that moment, he was shot by Saint Charloss, who believed that he could take Hachi as an additional slave for free.

As Luffy advanced towards Charloss in anger, Hachi attempted to stop Luffy from harming the World Noble, claiming that as he had been a pirate, this was exactly what he had deserved. He also added that all he wanted to do was to make up for what his former crew had done to Nami these past eight years, and apologized for not being unable to screw things up. However, his pleas went on deaf ears, as Luffy ruthlessly punched the World Noble in the face before the Noble could silence Hachi.

Afterwards, he was seen recovering in Rayleigh's house, and promised to lead the Strawhats to Fishman Island.

Post-War Arc
Hachi is seen again on the Thousand Sunny with Keimi, Pappug, Shakky, and the Rosy Life Riders. Hachi discusses with Keimi and Pappug about the places on Fishman Island that the Straw Hats should visit. His suggestion is the Fishman Karate Dojo.

Two Years Later
He returns to Fishman Island to rest and recover after protecting the Thousand Sunny in a battle against the Marines. Franky revealed that one year ago, Marines discovered the location of the Thousand Sunny. Hatchan, Duval, and Kuma protected the ship, but Hatchan and Duval suffered severe wounds that forced them to retire, leaving Kuma to defend the ship until a member of the Straw Hat Pirates returns.



At Noah, Hatchan attempts to talk the New Fishman Pirates out of attacking Fishman Island and destroying the current regime. Hordy Jones express his disappointment in him, who he thought had fallen so far from Arlong's ideals, which he still believed in.

Vander Decken IX then revealed his cursed abilities which allow him to hit anyone from anywhere with a throwing projectile (such as the dagger he throws over Hatchan's shoulder, which turns around and stabs the Octopus fisman's back) even when he deliberately misses. Decken then gets a load of arrows and prepares for another demonstration of his ability. Hatchan runs for his life from a swarm of thrown arrows and dives into the water only to find that it is pointless. He got pierced by the arrows but remains conscious long enough to reach Coral Hill and warn Chopper and Sanji of the upcoming attack.

He then receives medical treatment from Chopper while the doctor and Sanji are met with accusations from the Fishman Island citizens for mermaid kidnappings. Hatchan refuses to tell Chopper and Sanji about who is responsible for his wounds and keeps telling them to leave Fishman Island. While hovering above Coral Hill on top of Megalo, Luffy spots them and jumps down to meet them.

After Megalo spits out Shirahoshi, the Fishman Island citizens states that this is a Mermaid Princess kidnapping. The citizens then tie up Hatchan and his friends. Their celebration is interrupted by the arrival of Vander Decken IX. After Luffy pummels Decken and Wadatsumi, Hatchan and the group head towards the Sea Forest on top of Megalo.

They soon reaches the Sea Forest where the group gets acquainted with Franky, Den, and Jinbe. Jinbe is surprised to see Hatchan, who was supposed to be captured with the Arlong Pirates. Nami and Keimi soon arrive bearing terrible news about Hordy Jones' rampage in the Ryugu palace. As Keimi goes to Hatchan's side, Jinbe decides to explain the situation as quickly as he can. Hatchan then listens to Jinbe with a worried look as the former Shichibukai reveals that he himself was the one responsible for allowing Arlong to run wild in the East Blue.

While having conversation with Jinbe, Nami states that she noticed that Sabaody Park resembled Arlong Park. Hatchan states his regret for Arlong's brutality and says that ever since he and Arlong were kids, they wanted to part of the human world. Hatchan goes on explaining the humans' continued hatred towards fishmen and some history such as Fishman Island becoming a member of the World Government and the beginning of the Great Pirate Era. When Hatchan finishes, Jinbe proceeds to explain the ideals of Queen Otohime and Fisher Tiger.

Major Battles

 * Hatchan vs. Hyozo (Several times, unseen)
 * Sunny Pirates vs. Marines
 * Hatchan, Chew and Kuroobi vs. Marine 77th Branch
 * Hatchan vs. Roronoa Zoro
 * Hatchan and Straw Hat Pirates vs. Flying Fish Riders and Macro Pirates
 * Hatchan and Duval vs. Marines (unseen)
 * Hatchan vs. Vander Decken IX

Early One Piece
In One Piece Green: Secret Pieces was revealed in an early concept of the Arlong Pirates that Hatchan would have originally been an squid fishwoman. Her name was supposed to be Maple Reed.

Also, in Buggy's original crew there was a messenger bird named Hachi. This character was scrapped and its name later became Hatchan's nickname.

Trivia

 * His name comes from hachi (八), the Japanese word for "eight", the number of feet which an octopus has.
 * Hatchan's name is quite strange. In the Japanese language, chan is a diminutive suffix, added to the end of someone's name, giving it the meaning of "cute" or "little". However, Hatchan insists that his name is Hatchan and that Hachi is just a nickname. When questioned on this, Oda replied that the chan is similar to the last name of "Chan" common in Chinese, rather than the suffix -chan. He is the one of two characters to have a Japanese honorific problem with the word "Chan" in the name, the other being Sadi-chan whose name caused confusion for the Marines.
 * His dumbness could be an ironic reference to the high intelligence of the octopus: as seen when Hatchan is stunned in a flinching manner thinking the Usopp Rubberband attack was coming straight for him when Usopp was far away.
 * Another irony is the fact that he sells takoyaki, a food made of octopus.
 * Macro noted that Hatchan's species, an octopus fishman is a rare species that can sell for a good price.

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Hatchan 小八