Gladius

Gladius is an officer of the Donquixote Pirates' Pica Army.

Appearance
Gladius wears a full body black-colored coat in the manga, dark purple in the anime, with gold-colored metal rings on the arms and chest, and black and gold-colored metal gears on the elbows, and matching black boots. Gladius also sports a black ninja mask in the manga, chalk white in the anime, which is connected to a pair of blue goggles, covering half of his face, and a black top hat, all giving him a very steampunk theme. He has spiky light colored hair that seems to be condensed inside the top hat. In the anime, his elbows seem to be completely mechanical.

At age 17, his hair was shorter, and his mask was of a lighter color. He also wore a shorter coat, leaving it open. At age 23 his hair grew longer and spikier, and he wore a different coat, now zipped up.

Personality
Gladius is especially known for his short-temper, which causes him to trigger his Devil Fruit powers whenever he gets easily enraged. Like most of Doflamingo's underlings, he treats his "young master" with utmost loyalty as he got angry when he noticed Violet's betrayal, and did not hesitate to shoot Baby 5 while she was assaulting Doflamingo. He values punctuality as well as following and executing orders precisely, and despises those who do not live up to his standards. He seems to have a low tolerance for morbid scenes, as he nearly vomited when Trafalgar Law spoke of hiding within a mountain of corpses during dinner.

Despite, or rather because of, the loyalty he shows for his "young master", he does not seem to be able to distinguish him from Kin'emon in disguise.

Donquixote Doflamingo
Gladius has great respect for his captain, as he is quick to seek revenge for Violet's betrayal against him. Gladius also was overprotective enough to shoot Baby 5 when she was trying to kill Doflamingo, while the other members did not seem to care.

Baby 5
Gladius and Baby 5 have a rather strange relationship. On the one hand, Gladius did not seem to hesitate to go as far as shooting Baby 5 in order to protect his captain, and on the other, the two were seen a day later talking casually about Violet's betrayal. Baby 5 is easily scared of Gladius' outbursts, such since he trigger his Devil Fruit powers to explode his hat at the mere thought over Violet's betrayal.

Violet
Gladius seemed to trust Violet's abilities enough, in order to agree on her key role to defeat the Straw Hats. When the news about her betrayal arrived, Gladius seemed quite surprised, but was willing to act quickly and punish her for it.

Abilities And Powers
As one of the officers of the Donquixote Pirates, Gladius is presumably a powerful fighter. He possesses a great amount of durability, as he was struck by one of Luffy's Gear Second attacks, only to shrug it off and to quickly recover with no visible signs of harm at all and no permanent injuries whatsoever. He also appears to be very fast, easily capturing Kabu and Rambo, and afterwards Thunder Soldier, all known for their high speed.

Devil Fruit
It seems that when Gladius gets angry, his hair grows to the extent of tearing his hat up. This is a result of his Paramecia-class Devil Fruit ability, the Pamu Pamu no Mi, which allows him to make his own body or any inorganic object he touches to rupture and explode. Gladius also uses this ability for combat. He can use his ability on inorganic objects for a grenade-like effect that upon explosion sends shrapnel injuring his opponents as he did with his helmet. In Dressrosa, although the toys are changed people, they are still considered inorganic, thus enabling him to kill them with his ability. This was shown when he was about to blow up Thunder Soldier.

Weapons
Gladius has been seen using a pistol to shoot Baby 5. He is known for his skills in gunnery, as he taught Trafalgar Law how to use firearms.

His arms appear to be equipped with a firing mechanism which he uses in conjuction with his Devil Fruit ability to shoot rupturing bullets.

Past
Gladius was already a member of the Donquixote Pirates, at age 17, when Trafalgar Law joined the crew as a 10-years old. After Law had been with the crew for about a week, Gladius was seen having a meal with the other members of Doflamingo's family. The crew then learned that Law was sick with the Amber Lead Syndrome and that he was a survivor form the extermination of Flevance. While out on a raid, Gladius and Lao G explained to Baby 5 about the country of Flevance and how its people were inflicted with the Amber Lead Syndrome.

After Law was made an official member of the crew, the Donquixote Pirates spread their influence as they traveled to the Grand Line. They participated in various activities such as looting, making business deals, and collecting bounties. He was instructed by Doflamingo to teach Law how to use gunnery in combat.

He participated in Doflamingo's takeover of Dressrosa. After Monet opened the gates to the palace, he and the other high-ranking members of the Donquixote Pirates invaded the palace.

Punk Hazard Arc
Gladius first appeared when Vergo called Doflamingo. As Baby 5 attacked Doflamingo, Gladius eventually shot her in order to get her to calm down.

Dressrosa Arc
Gladius was talking with Baby 5 about Violet's betrayal and what they should do about it. His top hat began to expand as he became more angry about it, until Baby 5 told him to calm down and not explode. His hair ultimately burst through it and he angrily expressed his disgust of people who do not follow orders.



When the palace was under attack, Gladius intercepted Thunder Soldier, Kabu, and Rampo after they escaped from Lao G. The two dwarves tried to attack him, but the officer caught them and blew them up. He then went after Thunder Soldier, stating he can't outrun him as a toy. He tackled the toy soldier from behind and, while explaining his ability, inflated the soldier's head. Right before it exploded, Luffy knocked Gladius away with a Jet Stamp, saving Thunder Soldier from certain demise. Upon seeing Violet, Gladius ranted about her betrayal and exploded his helmet, hurting her with the helmet's shards.

Luffy, Thunder Soldier, and Violet escaped through a window. After losing sight of them, he ran into Kin'emon, disguised as the young master. Fooled by the disguise, Gladius informed him about Kanjuro's whereabouts.

After realizing that he was tricked, Gladius went to the second floor to search for Luffy and his group.

By the time he found Luffy's group, they already began their assault in the suit room. When Gladius arrived at the room, he was surprised to see Doflamingo's head separated from his body. After Pica entered the room in his stone form, Gladius was once again shocked to see Doflamingo still alive.

It was then revealed that the decapitated Doflamingo was only a copy made of string. After the real Doflamingo appeared and had Pica threw his enemies out of the palace, Gladius stood next to Doflamingo as he initiated his "Birdcage" plan.

After Pica relocated the palace to the Flower Hill, Gladius was seen gathered in a meeting with some of the other officers and lower-rank subordinates at the top of the palace.

He was later seen on the second level of the new King's Plateau guarding the palace alongside Machvise, Baby 5, Lao G, and Dellinger. Once Luffy's allies reached the second level, Gladius told the lower-rank troops to not lose sight of the enemy.

Gladius and his four fellow officers later joined the fray. When Chinjao tried to climb up to the third level, Gladius knocked him down with Landmine Punk.

While Robin, Rebecca, and Bartolomeo were flying over the second level, Gladius attacked them with explosives. While Robin and Bartolomeo were falling, Gladius jumped into the air after them but was caught in Robin's clutches. They later landed on the third level. Gladius and an army of giant toys then faced off against Robin and Bartolomeo.

Gladius launched rupture bullets at his foes, but Bartolomeo blocked it with his barrier. After Bartolomeo used his ability to create a stairway to the fourth level, Gladius launched explosives at Luffy as the latter was making his way up there. Bartolomeo protected Luffy by jumping into the line of fire. After Robin knocked away the toys in the vicinity, she declared that she would not allow Gladius to lay a hand on Luffy.

When the headcrackers became human and were revealed to be Family troops, Gladius was surprised that Sugar had been knocked out again. Gladius then comforted the soldiers by lying to them that they (the Family officers) were going to turn them back into humans once the battle was over, despite knowing that he had completely forgot about them due to Sugar's power.

Major Battles

 * Gladius vs. Kabu and Rampo
 * Gladius vs. Thunder Soldier (interrupted by Monkey D. Luffy)
 * Gladius and Headcrackers vs. Nico Robin, Bartolomeo, and Cavendish

Anime and Manga Differences
In the anime, Gladius' mask seems to cover his whole face. Also, the color of his mask and gloves are white in the anime, while in the manga they both are dark-colored to match his general attire.

Trivia

 * Gladius means sword in Latin, and usually refers to a Roman short sword roughly two feet long.

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Gladius Гладиус