Caribou

"Wet-Haired Caribou" (濡れ髪のカリブー) is an infamous rookie pirate who was at the Sabaody Archipelago around the time of the Straw Hat Pirates' reunion. Deranged, sadistic and prone to acts of brutal violence, he has earned a bounty of 210,000,000, making him part of the new generation of rookie pirates with bounties over 100,000,000. He is the brother of "Blood Splatterer" Coribou, another infamous rookie. Both brothers gained their reputations for killing Marines. As both of them have bounties of over 70,000,000, they both fulfill the requirement of the Impostor Straw Hat Pirates, but they eventually left upon discovering the crew's fraudulence. He is the tertiary antagonist of the Fishman Island Arc, coming after Hody Jones and Vander Decken IX.

Appearance
Caribou is a tall man with dark hair reaching down to his shoulders, a distinctive wet-looking tuft giving him his epithet, and a beard in the shape of a whirl going upwards on his chin. He has psychotic-looking eyes with many circles around the pupils (with dark and medium green central heterochromia in the anime), pointed ears, and long limbs. He has a long tongue which is often seen sticking out.

He wears a coat which appears to be made of fur, dark on the outside and lighter and spotted on the inside (similar to a leopard's), draped over his shoulders like a cape, dark pants and shoes, and an extremely long-sleeved shirt (which at Sabaody was covered in blood) with a Cross fleury-like design on the chest, that appears to be the symbol of his crew. With the way he wears his shirt, concealing his arms under his long sleeves, it resembles an unbuckled straitjacket.

Personality


Caribou is a violent lunatic renowned for killing Marines. He apparently believes strongly in a God, begging Him to forgive the Marine that tried to shoot him, before sadistically ordering his brother to bury the man alive as a punishment for the Marine's "sins". This hints at a deeper depraved nature within the man, as he justifies his own acts of brutal violence using religion, and appears to genuinely believe that murdering in cold blood is done in the good faith of this higher power. He later shoots the Marine when additional reinforcements arrive, as the Marine lied to him about calling for backup, without concern for the consequences of his actions.

In spite of his religious zeal, or perhaps because of it, he does seem to have at least some basic understanding of how corrupt the world is, as shown by his comment on how the Marines need to get rid of their "unspoken rule" about how it is okay to lie to criminals, as well as his comment about how hypocritical the Marines are. However, the comment may be based more on his anger toward the Marine who lied to him about the reinforcements that he called than anything else.

He is very merciless, as he ignored the pleas of the fake Straw Hats as he had graves dug to bury them alive. He planned to profit off the lives of mermaids, seeing them as mere means to an end with no value for human - or merman - life. He released the mermaids when he stole the treasures of Ryugu Palace, simply considering selling mermaids to be a hassle compared to getting rich much faster by plundering the treasure. Upon learning about the existence of the Ancient Weapons, and that Princess Shirahoshi is one of the three, he grew an obsession to kidnap her for the dreaded power to destroy the world. All these factors strongly hint at a psychotic and ruthless nature within him, showing no remorse whatsoever and taking glee from the cries of his victims, going so far as to even justify his actions as keeping with the whims of a higher power.

He also appeared to show less-than-innocent deviant ideas when eyeballing Nami and planning an ambush in private, actions which even professional pervert Sanji immediately disapproved of.

Caribou originally shows a complete lack of fear toward the Straw Hat Pirates (both the real and fake ones), completely disregarding the fake Luffy's orders despite knowing Luffy's 400,000,000 bounty, and still opted to go after the real Straw Hats after escaping from Sentomaru (though it is not known whether or not he witnessed the ease at which the Monster Trio dispatched the two Pacifista units that Sentomaru brought with him, or even acknowledged the strength of the real crew). Apparently, he had planned to kill the crew from within after joining, and decided to do the same to the real crew after the fakes were exposed.

However, Caribou is revealed to have some common sense when dealing with them. When he found himself alone in the presence of the entire Straw Hat crew, his own crew having been unable to board their ship with him, he immediately understood that he could not win. Instead, he begged for mercy and pretended to be cannon fodder as a ploy to get them to let their guard down; ironically, his overconfidence of his escape from the ropes that bound him led him to drop his own guard, which led Franky to seal him into a barrel. However, he has the patience and the intelligence to remain silent long enough for some unwitting mermaids to unseal the barrel.

Notably, when encountering the Kraken, he expresses fear of death. He seems to be somewhat perceptive as he was the only one who noticed the Kraken beneath them, though he may have been aware of its presence there beforehand. He also showed some concern when his crew suffered a shipwreck from the Kraken, and was angered when Zoro insulted them by calling them jellyfish.

He is also a hypocrite and a liar, as he murdered the fake Straw Hats and many Marines, but when captured by Franky, he cried out that human lives are not to be wasted so quickly, molding his beliefs and words to whatever will best benefit only himself. When confined into a barrel, he went as far as to beg to become Franky's slave in exchange for his release.

Like many other characters, he has a distinct laughter style, starting with "Kehehe".

Abilities and Powers
Caribou is a pirate captain reputed as a fearsome killer of Marines, who has managed to reach Sabaody Archipelago, sailing through the first half of the Grand Line.

In his first appearance, he was able to detect the presence of a Marine hiding nearby who was spying on the recruits and reporting their presence to his superiors. However, contrary to this, he later failed to notice Franky was right next to his hiding spot, looking at him.

While the impostor Straw Hats saw Caribou to be a valuable asset and a terrible force to get on the wrong side of due to his fearsome reputation and abilities, none of the real Straw Hat Pirates even see him as a threat, but instead as nothing more than an annoyance. Franky stated that the reason why Caribou is no threat is due to him being an idiot. Indeed, despite his Logia-class abilities, Luffy easily sent him flying out of Ryugu Palace and knocked him unconscious with one punch, showing that Caribou has low endurance in retrospect to Luffy's strength.

Devil Fruit


Caribou ate the Numa Numa no Mi, a Logia-class Devil Fruit which allows him to become and control a swamp or bog like substance. He can create swamps of various size, either in his hand, such as the one he used to drown Drip, or a giant one as he did to capture a trio of mermaids. He can also use this ability to absorb any form of an attack using the swamp mass.

It seems that people who step on his swamp mass can sink in it, even if its outer appearance looks shallow, similar to Blackbeard's Yami Yami no Mi. It also seems that people who sank into his swamp and were absorbed filled his stomach and satisfy his hunger; this acts as some form of storage space. Caribou claimed that the swamps he can produce are bottomless, thus giving him the power to store virtually everything inside his body.



The real Sanji was able to kick him despite his Logia intangibility, but it was shown later on that he was deliberately hiding his power so the crew will drop their guard, as he does not believe he can take them all alone; normally, Caribou can shift into his intangible swamp element to allow attacks to be harmlessly absorbed.

A major weakness of this fruit is that, if he is in his Logia form, he is confined to his volume, as seen when Franky locked him up in a barrel and he was unable to escape. He also has the standard Devil Fruit weaknesses and he is vulnerable to Haki attacks.

Weapons
He used some sort of spear or polearm to stab the Marine who was spying at the Fake Straw Hats meeting point. He was also seen wielding a flintlock pistol.

Past
Some time in the past, Caribou and Coribou became pirates and gained a fearsome reputation for killing Marines.

The Straw Hat Reunion


Eventually, the two brothers managed to reach Sabaody Archipelago, where they allied themselves with the Impostor Straw Hat Pirates. They were first seen in Grove 46, the allies' meeting point, together with some fellow pirate captains. Caribou spotted a Marine spying on them. When the Marine attempted to draw his gun, Caribou injured him with his weapon and then begged God to forgive the man for trying to kill him. He then ordered Coribou to bury the Marine alive as punishment. They were interrupted by fake Luffy, who ordered them to stop.

After the Marines surrounded the pirates at the meeting place, fake Luffy ordered Caribou and Coribou to use the Marine that they injured as a shield. Caribou chooses to disobey the order, instead shooting the Marine for lying to him about not calling reinforcements. He then says that the Marines should do away with the unwritten rule that says that they can lie to criminals. He and his old crew then launch an attack. In the ensuing battle, fake Luffy is exposed as a fraud and captured, while the real Luffy is revealed to the those present.



Despite all the other recruits being captured, Caribou, his brother, and the rest of their crew managed to escape, even capturing the remainder of the impostor Straw Hat counterparts (sans Cocoa and fake Chopper) along the way. He had his crew dig graves for the fakes to be buried alive in.

Caribou reveals that he never intended to follow the Straw Hats, having planned to first gain their trust and then kill them from the inside. After that, refusing to listen to the fakes' pleas for mercy, Caribou picks up the fake Sanji and starts to suffocate him with his Devil Fruit power. Fake Sogeking then tries to shoot him, but his body absorbs the shot. Caribou eagerly orders his crew to bury the fakes and happily states that he was able to confirm the real Straw Hat Luffy.

Into the Depths of the Sea
He is seen in the ocean on his coated ship, following the real Straw Hats, commenting that they had better let him join this time.

With their seacow, the Caribou Pirates eventually caught up with the Straw Hats ship and they prepare for battle. Caribou is the first to set foot on the Thousand Sunny. Before his crew can follow, his seacow, which turns out to be Mohmoo fled in fear after seeing Nami, Sanji, and Luffy taking the rest of the Caribou Pirates and leaving Caribou behind. Once Caribou sees that he is left alone, he begs the Straw Hat crew to have mercy on him. After the Straw Hats tie him up, Caribou decides to bide his time and wait for the right opportunity.

When they travel to the deep currents and encounter a sea monster known as the Kraken, Caribou urged the Straw Hats to turn back, but Luffy decides to tame it much to Caribou's shock. Caribou is nervous and is thinking to himself on how crazy the Straw Hats are for not retreating. As he sees Coribou and the other Caribou pirates come to save him, Caribou rejoices only to be let down when the ship is destroyed by the Kraken. He screams in fear with Nami, Brook, Chopper, and Usopp. He then grieves shortly about his crew and scolds Zoro when he says that his crew resemble jellyfish.

In an effort to stop the Monster Trio from endangering Sunny, and him, he gives Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro a way to fight the Kraken. He introduces to the Straw Hats flutter kick coating, which is coating oneself to make a diving suit. When Usopp questions his method, Caribou states that he warned the Straw Hats to run from the beginning. After Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji defeated the Kraken, Caribou was surprised.



After the crew entered the Deep Sea, Caribou seemingly vanishes. Brook is the first to notice his absence because he found the rope used to tie him up. He was hiding in a barrel on the ship and was reformulating his plan to kill the Straw Hats, concluding that the best time to do it would be the instant they arrive at Fishman Island.

Franky found him and promptly started sealing the barrel with ropes and metal plates so that he could not escape even if he turned into his liquid form. He begged Franky to let him out, agreeing to be his slave and calling him "Master Bikini Pants." Caribou is still trapped in the barrel as the Straw Hats escaped the eruption of an undersea volcano and arrived at Fishman Island.

Trouble on Fishman Island
After the ship flew through the bubble surrounding Fishman Island, it fell into a current and the crew get separated. Caribou's barrel floats in with Luffy, Sanji, Chopper, and Usopp. The barrel eventually makes its way to Mermaid Cove where the four Straw Hats relax and have fun with the mermaids. Two mermaids observe the barrel, noticing that it has been sealed tight, and wonders what was inside. Out of curiosity, they suggest opening it while Caribou remains silent.



After Sanji suffered a near-fatal nosebleed and was taken away by the Straw Hats, Ishilly and two other mermaids start opening the barrel thinking they might find treasure or alcohol. After Ishilly loosens a few bolts, Caribou pops out and terrifies the three mermaids. As Ishilly and the two mermaids try to flee and scream for help, Caribou quickly proceeds to capture them with his Devil Fruit powers which is identified as the Numa Numa no Mi. Seemingly "satisfied" by the abduction, he resolved to go hunting other prized mermaids in order to sell them at a later date at the Auction House. His actions indirectly led the citizens of Fishman Island to turn against the Straw Hats, who are the likely suspects, since the fishmen and merfolk are completely unaware of Caribou's presence. While the Straw Hats are taking the heat of the accusations, Caribou kidnaps two more mermaids from the south beach.

Caribou is later seen at Coral Hill hiding in the shadows when the Mermaid Princess was shown out in the open. After gazing at the princess and seeing her size will bring a much bigger profit than the normal-sized mermaids, Caribou sets his sights on kidnapping her.

By the time Hody Jones and Vander Decken IX were defeated, Caribou snuck into the Ryugu Palace and released the mermaids he kidnapped. He stole all the treasures in the palace including the national treasure, the Tamatebako.



Caribou remained hidden in the palace while the royal family and the Straw Hats were having a feast. He is later seen eavesdropping on Neptune and Robin. By listening in on their conversation, he learns of Shirahoshi's value as the Poseidon of her generation, further escalating his desire to ensnare her. When Shirahoshi is going back to her room, Caribou attempts to capture her with his element. He is then interrupted by the Straw Hat's Monster Trio, and got sent flying out of the palace by Luffy.

After Neptune told Nami that the Straw Hats could have the treasure if they got it back from Caribou, she sent Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji after Caribou to retrieve it. The trio then find Caribou (who has been knocked out by Luffy's punch) and collect all the stolen treasures.

Trivia

 * "Caribou" is another word for reindeer (which is a play on his ship's figurehead).
 * Caribou appears in One Piece: Gigant Battle! 2 New World as a playable character.