Shupeal

Spiel the Hexagon is a pirate and the main antagonist of Romance Dawn, Version 2.

Appearance
Spiel is a tall, lanky man with a sallow-face, his hair tied into six short ponytails, arranged in a hexagonal manner, and two of which stuck out of his tricorne; according to Luffy, his head resembles a seahorse or water strider. He wears a striped shirt, black shorts, with a pirate belt, a tricorne and an open vest.

Personality
Spiel is a very cruel and cunning man. He would set his own men ablaze as punishment for failure, and also has a sadistic sense of humor, having given Ann the means to free Balloon only to shoot her moments later. He is intolerant for insults, especially those directed to his looks, and reacts violently to any of it.

His cruelty and utter lack of respect for his crew is fully shown when he abandoned them when he found himself losing to Luffy, stating that he has no further need for any of them as long as he got what he wanted. Not shying away from exploiting Luffy's Devil Fruit weakness, he easily sank his own ship, disregarding his crew's well being just for a cheap victory.

Abilities and Powers
Spiel has the ability to use magic, allowing him to ride on a broomstick, setting a subordinate ablaze, summoning a hammer, and controlling water to sink his own ship. This gives him an advantage over non-magic users, but most of it was useless against Luffy's rubber powers.

Weapons
Spiel carries a broomstick that he can fly on, and summoned a hammer from thin air to strike his opponents. Magic aside, he also wields two flintlocks.

History
Spiel was an unknown pirate who raided and killed everyone in Ann's village in an attempt to get the blood of the monster bird Balloon. However Balloon managed to escape Spiel, but since he always returned to Ann whenever they were separated, Spiel spared her life in order to lure Balloon back to him. Spiel chased Balloon down by his ship and managed to shoot the bird, in the process it landed on Luffy's boat. Luffy boarded Spiel's ship with the wounded Balloon. When Spiel welcomes and thanks Luffy for bringing in Balloon, Luffy is more fascinated by his appearance and angers the captain deeply. The result is both Luffy and Ann end up locked up together in the prison on Spiel's ship.

Later while Spiel's crew sleeps, Ann makes an attempt to free Balloon, having escaped from the cell with help from Luffy. Spiel however was watching from the crow's nest. After witnessing his crew being bested by a mere woman, he sets one alight. He throws Ann the key and tells her that she is free to go, but instead shoots her when she attempts to open the cage. He is stopped from further dealing with Ann by Luffy who has found a boat to escape with. When Spiel uses his spells against Luffy, Luffy displays the power of the Gomu Fruit leaving his crew to panic, thinking Luffy also knows magic. Luffy reveals his powers to them and when Spiel realizes he cannot win, retreats back to the Crow's Nest where Luffy tries to end the fight only to end up in the water.

The captain escapes via broomstick, with Balloon on a leash. However, after being saved by Ann, Luffy uses his rubber powers to finally defeat Spiel and retrieve Balloon from him.

Translation and Dub Issues
His nickname is a play on the word "Hex", which is a word meaning "spell" or "curse" and "Pentagon" which refers to a sign often used for curse and devil worship in popular culture. Hexagon is also a shape, referring to his loosely hexagon-esque shaped face.

"Spiel" in English means "lengthy or extravagant speech or argument". If one takes it as literal, his name at a pinch can be read as along the lines "long lengthy spell/shape". Spiel is also the German word for "game".

On his wanted posters in the anime, his name is often misspelled as "Shupeal".

Trivia

 * His face can be seen on a wanted poster during Episodes 45, 48 and 66 of the anime, as well as in Movie 9.
 * Spiel remains to date, the only One Piece antagonist who could use "magic" in this context. All other powers in the actual One Piece storyline are the result of abilities such as Haki, technology such as the cyborgs or Devil Fruit powers. However, in the Dressrosa Arc, the gladiator Mummy claimed to be a sorcerer, and used abilities that appeared as magic. Also Faust from the Hawkins Pirates is stated to be a magician.
 * It was never truly explained why he needed Balloon's magical blood or what purpose it would serve him.
 * Unlike Galley, Spiel is a prototype character whose appearance is exclusive to Romance Dawn, Version 2.

Site Navigation
Spiel Шпиль