Squard

"Maelstrom Spider" Squard (大渦蜘蛛スクアード) is an infamous New World pirate captain who allied himself with the Whitebeard Pirates.

Appearance
Squard is a pale, slim man of average height. He has a bald top, but light-pink wavy hair that flows long downwards. He is often seen sticking his tongue out and has sharp teeth.

He wears a spider design on his forehead of which has a spiral at the bottom, with a diagonally-placed headband that attaches to it. He wears a dark grey, long coat with ruffled edges over a similar designed, lighter-colored shirt, and dark pants that almost reach his armpits, with some buckles and strings on the front, tucked inside boots, and with ruffled, lighter-colored edges as well. Around his neck he has a dark red tie. For footwear, he wears high-heeled black boots with loose white cloth coming down from the openings.

Personality
Squard is a person of loyalty, as he swore allegiance towards the Whitebeard Pirates and was willing to risk his own life to save his friend, Portgas D. Ace. He was also very hurt when he lost his faithful crew to Gol D. Roger, and felt lost and sad until joining forces with the Whitebeard Pirates.

However, Squard tends to hold grudges of his past. He developed a hatred towards the Pirate King for killing his old crew, and this hatred extended to Roger's son, Ace. Squard felt betrayed when he found out all of this, and due to this shock and hatred, Admiral Akainu was easily able to deceive Squard into thinking that Whitebeard was plotting to betray all of his allies. When Whitebeard kindly told him not to hold children accountable for the sins of their fathers, Squard discarded his philosophy of children inheriting their parents' sins.

Gol D. Roger
Before the Pirate King was executed 24 years ago, he killed all of Squard's loyal crewmates, all of whom fought by their captain's side faithfully. Their loss made Squard hate Roger deeply, a hatred that was well known to both Whitebeard and the Marines.

Edward Newgate
After losing his entire crew to Roger, Squard was taken in by Whitebeard, who treated him like a son, and saved him from the loneliness of losing all of his crew. Squard, in return, thought of Whitebeard as a father figure, but felt betrayed when thinking that Whitebeard was planning to sacrifice all of his allies to save Ace. When Whitebeard proved otherwise, Squard broke down in tears for his mistakes. He later attempted to redeem himself at the cost of his own life by charging head-first into battle, to which Whitebeard himself reprimanded him for.

Portgas D. Ace
Squard managed to befriend Ace, who was a member of the Whitebeard Pirates that Squard allied himself with. Of course this was before learning of Ace being the son of Gol D. Roger, which when he did, Squard felt betrayed and a fool for it. Seeing Whitebeard treat Ace as something special made the impact even harsher. To this end, he was fully prepared to believe Akainu's lies regarding Whitebeard's false betrayal. When Whitebeard claimed that Ace is no different than any other of his sons, Squard broke down in tears.

Abilities and Powers
Squard has managed to make himself an infamous reputation in the New World, and has managed to ally himself with Whitebeard. His strength or ability as a captain seems to be highly respected by Whitebeard, as he was Whitebeard's first choice in leading the counter attack against the Marines. He is also a veteran from Roger's time.

Squard is a swordsman, and he wields a normal sized katana and an oversized one, the latter of which he used to stab through Whitebeard's chest. Taking advantage of Whitebeard's trust, Squard managed to get one sneak attack on the great pirate, something that Marco claimed was usually impossible (albeit Marco also claimed that Whitebeard could have predicted the attack with ease in his younger days). Also, he quickly retaliated after Marco slammed his head down on the deck in an attempt to immobilize him, although this was not depicted in the anime. Also, in the anime, he may be a proficient Busoshoku Haki user, since he was seen being able to spar against Ace (a Logia user) in the flashbacks. As a testament of his skill he sustain no injuries from the war.

Past
While Gol D. Roger was still alive, he killed all the members of Squard's crew, which led Squard to carry an intense hatred towards the Pirate King. Sometime later, he was taken in by Whitebeard, Roger's enemy, at which time he was all alone. Squard befriended Ace, without the knowledge of Ace being the son of his greatest enemy, and rebuilt his crew.

Marineford Arc
Squard and his crew are first seen, along with a fleet of 42 other infamous pirate crews, allied with the Whitebeard Pirates, attacking Marineford to save Portgas D. Ace from his execution. When Whitebeard changed his strategy due to Ace's execution being moved to an earlier time, he tried to contact Squard to have him lead the New World pirate allies to attack the Marine battleships. However, according to Squard's crew, he had disappeared to an unknown location, leading Whitebeard to contact the Decalvan Brothers instead.



Squard appears on Whitebeard's ship, apologizing for being absent when Whitebeard needed him. As Whitebeard announces that he will now join the fray himself, Squard pledges his continued allegiance to Whitebeard, saying that he will continue to help him. However, to Whitebeard's surprise, Squard suddenly impales him through the chest with his blade.

Marco immediately attacks him and demands the reason for Squard's actions. Squard claims that Whitebeard had betrayed him twice: the first being when he did not tell him that Ace was the son of Gol D. Roger, the man Squard hates the most for having killed his first crew; the second being when he sold out his New World allies to the Marines for saving Ace.



Admiral Akainu, had in fact following the orders of Sengoku, deceived Squard, using his shock of knowing Ace's origins against him, and making him believe Whitebeard's betrayal. Having understood this, Whitebeard hugs Squard, telling him he loves him anyway, and begins his last attack against the Marines, leaving Squard on the Moby Dick tearful for his mistakes. Seeing Squard on the ground sobbing, Marco suggests that he redeem himself.

After Ace was rescued by Luffy and Galdino, he uses the black paddleship to charge towards the battlefield, so that the Whitebeard Pirates along with the allies could escape while he was fighting the Marines, stating that this is not be enough to redeem himself, but that he must at least do this, or he cannot go on.

When Whitebeard stops the ship, Squard seems surprised. When Whitebeard says that it's not the right way to have a son die before his father, Squard seems moved. Whitebeard then states that Squard shouldn't be so overconfident in himself, since his "pesky stab" hardly harmed Whitebeard at all.

He is later seen watching Akainu taunting Ace, telling him that Whitebeard ended up being wounded by his own ally (referring to Squard himself).

When the Blackbeard Pirates launched a barrage of bullets and blades at Whitebeard, killing him in the process, Squard was seen crying.

Post-War Arc
He, along with the rest of the crew, attended the funeral of Whitebeard and Ace at an undisclosed location somewhere in the New World.

Major Battles

 * Maelstrom Spider Pirates crew vs. Roger Pirates (unseen)
 * Whitebeard Pirates and their allies vs. the Marines and Shichibukai
 * Squard vs. Marine Officers
 * Squard vs. Admiral Akainu (before making a deal)
 * Squard vs. Edward Newgate (temporary betrayal)
 * Squard vs. Marco (temporary betrayal)
 * Squard vs. Marine Officers

Manga and Anime Differences
In the anime, an additional flashback about Squard was shown that did not present itself in the manga. After his crew was slaughtered by Roger, Squard was seen injured among the burning rubble, while the Oro Jackson departed. Squard then entered a depressed state, getting drunk in bars from time to time, calling out for Roger while throwing tantrums and causing massive damage.

During one of these incidents, Whitebeard approached Squard, and stopped his rampage, while adopting him as a son. Also, in the same episode, we see brief flashbacks of Squard's interactions with Ace, as Whitebeard hugged him and made him recall all those times of joy and pain that he experienced together with Ace.

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