Borsalino

Admiral Kizaru (黄猿大将, Kizaru Taishō) is one of the three Admirals in the Marines. His name means "Yellow Monkey" in Japanese while his real name is Borsalino (ボルサリーノ, Borusarīno). He was first mentioned by Robin during the initial encounter with Aokiji.

Appearance
Kizaru is a middle aged man with a moderate amount of wrinkles on his face. He wears a yellow striped suit, with a Marine coat draped over it like a cape, his arms not in its sleeves. Kizaru also wears pure white shoes, golden amber-tinted shades, and a Black Den Den Mushi on his wrist. He is very tall, about the same height as fellow Marine Admiral Aokiji. He appears to be the oldest of the three Admirals.

The way Kizaru's character design is drawn resembles the famous Japanese actor, Kunie Tanaka.

Personality
Kizaru's personality appears a combination of the more laid-back Aokiji and the more ruthless Akainu.

Like Aokiji, Kizaru seems to be very laid-back and easygoing, speaking very slowly and occasionally elongating the last word of his sentences even in surprising and unexpected situations, but he's apparently never shocked. Even when a pirate fired a gunshot at him, he seemed to be focused only on calling his subordinate, and didn't even mind. He even asked the offenders where his subordinate was. After uprooting a mangrove tree, he laughed to himself that the force he used was a tad excessive. He's also very calm and cool-headed, even in tense situations, such as when Basil Hawkins appeared unharmed by his attack, or when Rayleigh appeared. Unfortunately, he can be quite absent-minded and irresponsible, judged by the fact he used a lot of power in a kick directed at escaping pirates, uprooted an entire mangrove tree, and tried to call Sentoumaru with a black Den Den Mushi, which is only for intercepting communications. He also seems to prefer his original name, Borsalino, rather than his alias, as shown when Sentoumaru called him and he said, "This is Borsalino". His laid back persona is likely to be the partial result of his Logia fruit (which grants him near invinciblity)... Logia types tend to be casual and possibly "Oh-that-surprised-me" attitude (similar to Luffy's reaction to hits and bullets much earlier in the series and his occasional "Because-I'm-Rubber" claims).

However, more in line with Akainu, he is shown to have a ruthless side: he gives criminals, in particular pirates, very little mercy once he has targeted them. He even planned to capture Silvers Rayleigh, who had given up pirating over twenty years earlier, simply because he was the first mate of the Jolly Roger Pirates. Following the events of the Sabaody Archipelago, Kizaru has captured 500 pirates out of spite. Also like Smoker and Sengoku, he sees the Shichibukai as nothing more than just pirates, even if they are on the World Government's side.

Marines
Sentoumaru seems to have a high level of respect and calls Kizaru "Uncle" (Kizaru no ojiki, a Japanese word commonly used to refer to a yakuza family "father" boss).

Enemies
Kizaru has shown very little mercy to pirates, as seen when he tried to capture the long-retired Silvers Rayleigh, and when he interrupted his mission to fight Basil Hawkins. He also despises the Shichibukai, even Bartholomew Kuma, who is said to be the most loyal of the seven.

Abilities and Powers
As an Admiral, Kizaru command's vast numbers of Marine troops that are under his rank. Most of all, he has the ability to order a Buster Call attack on any island. He was able to effortlessly defeat 4 of the Supernovas.

Devil Fruit
Kizaru possesses the power of the Pika Pika no Mi, meaning glimmer or light, a Logia-type Devil Fruit. As a Logia-user, he is able to let objects pass through him and reconstruct his body from energy particles. He's as fast as light. All of his attacks are based on the element of light, such as firing energy blasts from his finger tips or feet. His power is very destructive, causing huge explosions and easily destroying buildings.

Weapons
Kizaru has shown considerable skill with a sword as he is able to duel Silvers Rayleigh to a draw despite his loss of intangibility.

Sabaody Archipelago Arc
After the Tenryuubito incident at the Sabaody Archipelago, Kizaru spoke with Sengoku about handling the situation, and volunteered to deal with the rookies himself. The Marines outside the Human Auctioning House commented that Kizaru was bringing some type of "troops", which seemed to shock them, but they did not elaborate on what exactly that meant. This most likely was referring to the Pacifista who engaged several of the Supernovas shortly after Kizaru's arrival. Later, the Admiral arrived on Sabaody Archipelago at the Grove 27, riding on top of a fired cannon ball as it landed.

When he did so, he tried to call someone on his Den Den Mushi, but seemingly got no reply. One of on-looking pirates wanted to try his luck and shot at Kizaru, but though the shot passed directly through the Admiral, it didn't affect him in the slightest. Kizaru then tried to ask the group of pirates a question, looking for someone named Sentoumaru, whom he called his "subordinate". When the pirates ran away from him in fear, he created a large explosion with his Devil Fruit ability, uprooting an entire Yarukiman Grove. Sabaody soldiers commented on his carelessness upon this, and even Kizaru noted that he overdid it.

He later confronts Basil Hawkins, saying he wants to ask him a question. After the pirate looking over his odds, Kizaru attacks him, but does not harm Hawkins after he redirects the attack elsewhere, drawing a shocked impression from the admiral. Before long, Urouge and X. Drake unintentionally join Hawkins side, while Kizaru is joined by one of several Pacifista running amok on the island.

He used his powers to kick Urouge through several buildings, and blinded Basil Hawkins, then almost killed him. Scratchman Apoo joined the fight, and seemingly cut off Kizaru's arm and made it explode by using his musical ability. Kizaru then reconstructed his body, and took down the 3 remaining Supernovas (Apoo, Hawkins and Drake) with seemingly no effort. Afterwards he got a call from Sentoumaru, asking him which of the three culprits is he going after first. He then appeared where the Straw Hats were, immobilizing Zoro and getting ready to kill him with his Pika Pika no Mi powers until his attack is redirected by Silvers Rayleigh. He moves to try and follow the escaping Zoro, Usopp and Brook, using Yata no Kagami, but it stopped by Rayleigh cutting the beam of light with a sword. Kizaru forms a sword of light with his technique Ama no Murakumo, and fights Rayleigh, leaving his subordinates to deal with the Straw Hats. However, when Bartholomew Kuma suddenly appears, Kizaru questions why he's on Sabaody instead of at Marine Headquarters. When Kuma teleports the Straw Hats, Kizaru asks him why he let them escape from their hands to which Kuma refused to answer.

Current Events
It has been revealed that during the Sabaody incident, he captured 500 pirates. With the date of Portgas D. Ace's execution drawing closer, Kizaru has arrived to lead the battle against the Whitebeard Pirates.

He has been recently seen at Marine Headquarters, along with other high-ranking marines gathered there, all preparing for war. Kizaru was recently seen watching over the execution platform of Portgas D. Ace with his fellow Marine Admirals.

Before the power of Whitebeard is shown to the marines, Kizaru is shown saying he has a bad feeling about what is going to happen next. Like always, Kizaru is shown saying this in a calm and cheerful way. Even when the power of Whitebeard is shown, Kizaru's facial expression is still calm. He seems happily astonished at witnessing Whitebeard's power. However, the other Admirals seem to be more serious.

Major Battles

 * Kizaru and a Pacifista vs. Basil Hawkins, Urouge, X. Drake, Scratchmen Apoo
 * Kizaru, Sentoumaru, and PX-1 vs. Straw Hat Pirates and Silvers Rayleigh

Trivia

 * The model of Kizaru's face is the Japanese actor, Kunie Tanaka. Along with that, Kizaru's clothes and real name, Borsalino, are apparently based on a movie character that Kunie Tanaka played in his youth. The character, Borsalino, from the old Japanese film Truck Yarō (トラック野郎), wore a suit and shades similar to Kizaru's design.
 * According to Hawkins:
 * In a battle against Kizaru the chances of defeat were 100%
 * In flight (retreating) the chances of success were 12%
 * On the defensive side circumvention chances were 76%
 * Survival; probability of death was 0%
 * Hawkins came to the conclusion that facing an admiral with just ten men was unwise.
 * Kizaru's techniques, Yata no Kagami, Ama no Murakumo and Yasakata no Magatama are taken from the three legendary treasures of Japanese mythology.
 * Kizaru and Aokiji used a sword made of their respective elements in battle.
 * Kizaru is a confirmed character in One Piece: Unlimited Cruise
 * Kizaru is currently ranked the 47th most popular character in One Piece.
 * Kizaru was first animated (and so his voice was first known) in the video game One Piece: Unlimited Cruise and then in the anime.
 * Kizaru is the only one of the three admirals that wasn't shown as vice admiral (if he was one).

Related Articles

 * Marines