Kuro

Kuro
Statistics
Japanese Name:	クロ
Romanized Name:	Kuro
Official English Name:	Kuro
Debut:	Chapter 23; Episode 9
Affiliations:	Black Cat Pirates
Occupations:	Butler (former), Pirate Captain
Residence:	Syrup Village (former)
Alias:	"Klahadore" (クラハドール, Kurahadōru?)
Epithet:	"Kuro of a Hundred Plans" (百計のクロ, Hyakkei no Kuro?, English: "Kuro of a Thousand Plans")
Status:	Alive
Age:	33 (debut) 35 (after timeskip)
Birthday:	April 22nd
Height:	207 cm (6’9”)
Blood Type:	X
Bounty:	16,000,000
Japanese VA:	Kōichi Hashimoto
Odex English VA:	Joseph Murray
4Kids English VA:	Gary Mack
Funi English VA:	Kent Williams

Kuro of a Hundred Plans, also known by his alias Klahadore, is the primary antagonist of the Syrup Village Arc. He was the caretaker of Kaya until his defeat, and the captain of the Black Cat Pirates before that.

Appearance

Kuro is a tall and slim man with glasses and slicked black hair, though during his fight with Luffy strands fell off onto his face.

During his stay on Gecko Islands, he wore a black suit with two golden markings on it over a white shirt with a curious collar, with spiral-like protrusions on the edges, and a standard black tie. He also sports striped shoes (which he apparently kept from his life as a pirate). He would loosen up the tie and collar on the night before the planned raid on Syrup Village.

During his time as a pirate, he wore a standard black captain's coat with the Black Cat Pirates' symbol on the epaulets over a simple white shirt hanging over a pair of black pants reaching down to his knees, and his trademark shoes.

Whichever his persona he is using, he wears round glasses that tends to always slip off, until Luffy knocked them off when he dealt the final blow, where a previous punch shattered the lens and the final headbutt bent the frame; despite these glasses slipping off from time to time that required Kuro to shove them back into place, they are nevertheless his signature belongings, as he rejected a more fitting pair from Kaya.

Gallery

Kuro at age 30.

Kuro's color scheme in the manga.

Kuro's concept art from the anime.

Kuro's wanted poster in Movie 9.

Kuro in the East Blue Team in One Piece: Going Baseball.

Kuro in One Piece Unlimited Cruise.

Kuro in One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3.

Kuro in One Piece Thousand Storm.

Kuro in One Piece Bounty Rush.

Personality

Kuro is an extremely intelligent man (having the second highest IQ in East Blue, behind Benn Beckman), whose plans have never failed in the past. He is a master strategist and an accomplished fighter, but he was severely hampered by the fact that he simply did not have the patience to deal with a pirate's life on the run from the Marines. He came to desire a life of luxury and peace, giving up his infamy and name in his attempt to achieve it as he concluded he was not suited to be a pirate. Despite his intellect, he has a tendency to underestimate his opponents based on their seemingly harmless appearance, as he believed that Usopp and the Straw Hat Pirates were no threat, which became his downfall. His confidence in his plans tend to lead him to be reckless as well, as he believed that since the pirate attack was nigh, he saw no reason to restrain himself from his feral instincts by needlessly attacking Merry, thus resulting in the surviving Merry to report to Kaya of Kuro's true intentions.

— Kuro's desperate last words before losing to Luffy.

Kuro seems to be very proud of his plans, which had never failed before (hence his nickname, Kuro of a Hundred Plans). True to his epithet in both figurative and literal meaning, he conceived many well thought out plans and would achieve them by all means. When he relived his moments of piracy, he claims his plans were too great to be wasted on his crew. Because of his pride within his plans, Kuro is intolerant of any failures on his subordinates' part, and would kill them if they were to hinder his plans in any way. He valued his plots to perfection, as he refused Kaya's negotiations for leaving the village alone in exchange for handing over the estate and fortune he desired, insisting the attack and her death must occur for the sake of his plan. During the final moments before Luffy defeated him, Kuro lost his composure and screamed at the despair of his precious plan failing.

He also seems to like the glasses he wears very much, even though they tend to slip down his nose every so often. He pushes them up with his palms so he does not scratch his face with his Cat Claws, a symbol of remembering his murderous ways. Even despite the lens being shattered by Luffy's punch, he kept them on. The glasses are his signature belongings, and as such, he destroyed the new ones Kaya gave him (though it may be because he simply hated her).

Kuro follows the role of the diabolical mastermind and continues the series' tradition of noticeably cruel villains. He held himself in very high regard, having a standard for people no one but himself seemed able to live up to. He felt nothing for the lives of others, willingly sacrificing anyone he needed to achieve his ambitions.

During his three years as Kaya's butler, he acted as a benign, trustworthy and well-mannered—yet slightly snobbish—man who carries a hatred for pirates, and as such, looks down on Usopp. He later admits that, aside his hatred for Usopp and piracy, how much he despises this pseudo-personality; his hatred of piracy standing, the true reason is very different than that of his false persona. Kuro has proven himself to be a skilled actor, having created the personality of Klahadore, which was in stark contrast to that of his true persona, Kuro; he managed to maintain his act despite his deep hatred of Kaya and Usopp, enduring them with crocodile tears and verbal taunts, respectively, only revealing himself when he deemed it was no longer necessary. He differentiates his two personalities via his tone of speech: as Klahadore, he uses the formal pronoun "watashi" (私^?) to refer himself, while as Kuro, he uses the more arrogant "ore" (おれ^?); the anime exemplifies a possible split personality by "Klahadore" speaking in a lighter and a very formal tone while "Kuro" has a deeper and much colder voice. Either way, his sudden change made Merry and Kaya fear him greatly.

Kuro has proven himself to be quite a hypocrite. While discussing his plans regarding Kaya with Jango, Kuro would avoid using the word "kill" due to believing it to be barbaric, referring to her planned death as "accident" to make it sound more civilized; once his true intentions came to light and his patience with his crew waned, Kuro bluntly stated that he would kill, even directing such cruelty to Kaya when she confronted him. He later revealed that he never intended to let his crew leave Gecko Island alive despite his earlier claim that three years of inactivity had softened his heart (hence giving his crew five minutes to redeem themselves). Stating how much he detested piracy due to his belief that they are simply buffoons who robbed and killed out of greed and self-gratification, he has proven himself to be no better due to his plot to take everything away from Kaya while reveling on killing all the villagers.

Though able to restrain himself most of the time, to the point of appearing to be a civilized person who abhors senseless violence, deep down Kuro is a very bloodthirsty man, using death and brutality as means to punish any subordinates who failed him or even stand in his way during his attacks; this trait comes to full effect upon seeing a crescent moon, which drives him wild and even he finds it difficult to resist the temptations of violence brought on by the stage of the moon. During his time as an active pirate, he was open about his murderous nature, as his crew feared him for his ruthlessness at all times. On the night of the Marine attack, there was once again a crescent moon, which seems to have been the reason why Kuro was so brutal to the Marines on board. Even after yearning a peaceful life devoid of the needless violence associated with piracy, Kuro still found the sight of a crescent moon an irresistible lure to his old ways, leading him to unnecessarily attack Merry simply to satisfy himself; his habit of pushing his glasses up with his palm instead of his fingers, whether as a pirate or butler, is proof that he has not forgotten his killing methods. His desire for retirement did nothing to curb his enjoyment of killing, as he reveled on the thought of killing Kaya and Usopp for money and revenge, respectively. As a consequence, during the first opening of the anime a red crescent moon can be briefly seen in the scene with Kuro.

Relationships

Crew

— Kuro on his crew.

Kuro showing absolutely no remorse in killing his subordinates.

Kuro had come to the conclusion his crew were nothing but puppets; that pirates were barbarians that stole from people out of greed and nothing more, and that they were buffoons who were nothing without his guidance and direction, and that his skill is wasted helping them to plot. He saw his crew as this since the very beginning. He would willingly sacrifice them all and by the time his plan was ready he had already long decided they should all die. This was proven to be true, as Kuro killed and injured many of his crew members. This disgusted Luffy and made him even more determined to stop Kuro.

Kuro had no problem in sacrificing Nugire Yainu, the shipwright of his crew, in order to deceive the marines that he was executed and revoke his bounty.

When the crew had a hard time against the Straw Hats (something that Kuro did not know at that time) Kuro became furious because his plan was about to be delayed and he accused Jango for the fact that his crew is not like it used to be. He did not hesitate to call them useless. Sham and Buchi were offended by their captain’s statement and thinking that their captain’s strength had faded attempted to commit a mutiny against him. However, Kuro proving them wrong gave them 5 minutes to get rid of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Originally, Jango was loyal to his former pirate captain, Kuro, as Jango was willing to take over captaincy of the crew, and return three years to instigate the plan, despite seemingly knowing of his captain's darker personality. Jango also was frustrated to see Kuro arriving at the shore. Kuro on the other hand viewed Jango simply as a buffoon like the rest of his crew and thought that he needed to die to preserve the secrecy of his agenda. Now, as a Marine, the Black Cat Pirates and Jango are enemies.

Enemies

Marines

His life as a pirate led him to become irritated at the idea that he was forever chased by the Marines, as well as those seeking his bounty. He then began to yearn for a peaceful life, without such bothers. He slew through a ship full of Marines, sparing only Morgan to use him as an unwilling accomplice to arrest and execute a decoy, thus allowing Kuro to escape the Marines' constant pursuit. Sometime after his defeat at the hands of Luffy, the Marines came to acknowledge that Kuro is still alive, and reactivated his bounty.

Jango, after becoming a Marine, is now an enemy of Kuro and the rest of the Black Cat Pirates.

Straw Hat Pirates

At first Kuro did not consider the Straw Hats as a threat, seeing them as mere children instead of genuine pirates. Even after seeing his crew defeated by them, he believed that it was due only to their own weakness until Luffy revealed his Devil Fruit powers. Likewise, he did not seem surprised at the very least when Zoro easily cut down the Nyaban Brothers and declared that he can easily kill the entire Black Cat Pirates in less than five minutes. Kuro's beliefs for the pirate’s life angered Monkey D. Luffy who had completely a different opinion about this matter. It was Kuro's contrasting believes and underestimation of Luffy's crew that led to his ultimate downfall.

Kuro mocked Usopp (who was at the time not a Straw Hat yet) when he called himself a pirate, calling his act a "Childish game", and viewed him as equal to an insect. Usopp disliked him for this, and came to hate him after realizing what he was planning. Kuro also (hiding his identity) bullied Usopp because his father abandoned him to become a pirate. Finally, Kuro was not bothered by the fact that Usopp heard his conversation with Jango, because he knew that the villagers would not believe him in case he tried to inform them about the pirates’ arrival. This was another factor of underestimation that led to Kuro's plan failing. However, Kuro did bear a grudge against Usopp for punching him, and once his intentions were known, he did not hold back and attempted to cut down Usopp in revenge, while delivering a hard kick to Usopp's stomach when Luffy stopped him from killing the young pirate.

It was due to Kuro's defeat by Luffy and Usopp that he suffered, for the first time, a failure in the plan he was so proud of, and the shattering of his dream of a peaceful, luxurious retirement when Luffy unceremoniously threw him off the island, where the Marines eventually learned of Kuro's deception, thus forcing him to endure constant pursuit of being a wanted man once more.

Kaya

— Kuro's true contempt for Kaya.

Kaya and Klahadore shopping, one of Kaya's supposedly happy memories with her servant.

As Klahadore he was forced into acting kind natured, to make himself out as Miss Kaya's trustworthy family butler and caretaker. He later admits how much he hated acting out this role for three years, and in the process betrays Kaya's feelings. At one point, he relives seemingly happy memories with her, breaking her heart as he states that he "endured it", and voiced his utter contempt for her.

As a sign of contempt, Kuro destroys Kaya's third-year anniversary gift without even trying it on.

Until his deception was revealed, Kaya had always been fond of Klahadore, even leading to dismiss Usopp's claims about Klahadore being a pirate as hurtful lies, while Klahadore made it look as though his mistress's safety and well-being is the utmost importance and refused to let her see Usopp, one factor that she disagreed on due to her friendship. When she discovered what Usopp had told her was the truth, she became upset and could do nothing as Kuro betrayed her feelings on purpose, upsetting her, yet she was unable to pull the trigger of the flintlock that she aimed at him; if anything, she found it very chilling when Kuro made it clear that he was not regretful at the very least in his attempt to kill Merry and made no attempt to deny it. Kuro also voiced aloud that he truly loathed her and desired nothing more than killing her.

Merry

— Kuro's apathetic response regarding his attempt at Merry's life.

At first, Merry is a fellow butler who deeply trusted Klahadore, as they both see their mistress' well-being as the most important factor, and were on friendly terms during the three years working together. They also both saw Usopp as an untrustworthy liar who only loves to cause trouble, and as such, Merry refused to believe Usopp's claim that Klahadore was a pirate attempting to steal Kaya's fortune, and even chuckling it off as ridiculous when Klahadore asked of it. However, when his colleague revealed his true colors, Merry's trust and liking instantly turned to fear and hate.

Kuro, in turn, showed no genuine sympathy for Merry from the beginning, and even attempted to murder him for no necessary reason, but instead for the sheer pleasure under the crescent moon. If anything, Kuro held contempt for his colleague, as when Kaya confronted him the next morning, the closest to regret Kuro expressed is his failure of killing Merry.

Syrup Villagers

Kuro managed to gain the villagers’ trust during the three years that he stayed on the island. When Usopp arrived at the village shouting for the pirates’ upcoming arrival, not only they did not listen to him but they also said that they wished him to be like Klahadore.

Kuro, on the other hand, shows no true compassion for the villagers that he had been friendly for three years, and plotted their massacre for his own benefits.

Others

Kaya's Parents

Three years before the start of the story, her father hired Kuro (under the pseudonym Klahadore) to live in the mansion as a butler (going as far as to save him from the streets in the anime), not knowing of Kuro's true identity. Sometime after this adoption, Kaya's parents died, according to Kuro, by accident and were not part of his plan to gain her riches; Kuro denied killing them when Jango suggested it. Under his Klahadore guise, he made it as though he felt indebted to the man for saving his life, and that if he let anything happen to Kaya, he could never face her father again.

Abilities and Powers

Tactical Skills

Kuro is a master strategist who has never once before failed in his village raids, due to him planning skillfully beforehand. He is the second most intelligent person shown at the time of his debut, and was skilled enough to have tricked the Marines into making them think he died with a decoy, thus deactivating his bounty and infamy.

Nicknamed "Kuro of the Hundred Plans" for his tactical genius, and he is shown to be well-versed in tactics: he has the patience and determination to carry out a three-years plan right down to the most minute detail, and managed to perfectly blend into his "alias" Klahadore (winning the respect of the townspeople, the care of his adoptive family and managing to convince Syrup Village that the liar Usopp was of malicious intent), demonstrating expert manipulation skills.

He is feared by all his subordinates, all of whom obey him out of his well-known ruthlessness to both foes and allies alike. Despite the Nyaban Brothers believing that his skills dulled over the three years as a butler (something he admits) and tried to kill him, he proved that he is still superior by easily overwhelming them at the tip of his claws. He also considered Zoro as "soft" in comparison for not successfully killing Buchi in one strike.

Finally, even though Devil Fruits are rare in East Blue, Kuro calmly came to acknowledge it as a fact when Luffy had demonstrated the powers of eating one, while many others (including the rest of the Black Cat Pirates) would be shocked to see what they believe to be a mere myth come to reality.

During his three-years ruse as Kaya's servant, Kuro has shown to be a capable butler despite his absolute hatred of being under her servitude, accompanying her in various shopping and sailing trips, taking care of her when she fell ill, and conversing with her adequately. He organized the mansion's security by hiring the guards.

Physical Abilities

Along with his intellect, he is also a powerful and deadly pirate in the East Blue. Kuro can effectively enter a state of automatic blood-lust during any phase of a "crescent moon", leading to an increase in brutality. He has incredible physical prowess, as he has sufficient strength in his arms and hands to wield his overly large Cat Claws which consist of one full-sized katana blade per finger without any strain while still retaining his superhuman speed. Even after three years of not engaging in combat, he is still powerful enough to overpower the Nyaban Brothers. His inhuman speed is also due to his highly powerful legs. In fact, a simple stomp from him was capable of completely shattering Kaya's present, splitting the glass case cleanly in two. He is skilled in powerful kicks, as demonstrated when he kicked Usopp and Luffy; on both occasions he sent them both flying for a great distance from him, while cutting Luffy's lip. He has superior agility able to jump onto Luffy's outstretched arm and run down its length to reach Luffy.

Stealth Foot

The Nuki Ashi (抜き足, Nuki Ashi^?, literally meaning "Stealth Foot") is Kuro's silent movement technique to move at superhuman speeds, at about 100 meters in 4 to 5 seconds, almost looking like he teleported. He initiates this move by performing several quick foot movements to propel himself to another location, much like the Soru technique, except that the movements of his feet are more noticeable, suggesting that this skill is a rudimentary form of Soru. This is Kuro's signature skill in combat, with which he would utilize this blinding speed to deliver his attacks. His mastery of this skill is such that at full speed he is only able to be seen as a vague blur or by the damage his attacks cause; being capable of killing a group of 50 skilled assassins before any of them would even take notice. While the pinnacle of his speed is considered superhuman and matching that of the Soru technique, his weakness—being unable to tell what he is hitting—puts him at a setback against other superhuman-speed users who can tell what they are striking. He can partially counter this flaw by his indifference to what he strikes down, feeling remorseless in killing his subordinates. This is called Pussyfoot Maneuver in the Viz Manga and FUNimation dub and Stealth Walk in the 4Kids dub.

• Creeping Cat: Like the Nuki Ashi, except he has more control and moves about freely while appearing invisible. The downside is, he needs to revert to normal speed when initiating attacks, making him automatically visible at that point. The same thing also happens if, by any chance, the opponent(s) should manage to strike out at him while he's in this state. This is a technique name that comes from the English versions, as this is simply another use of the Stealth Foot in the Japanese version of the series. This move is one of his super attacks in the One Piece: Grand Adventure.

Weapons

Kuro brandishing his iron claws.

Captain Kuro uses weapons called "Cat Claws", a pair of furred gloves with full-length katana blades at the end of each finger. He combines these large iron claws with his impressive speed to indiscriminately slash everyone in his vicinity to death at random depths of cuts.

Captain Kuro often pushes his glasses up on his nose with the palm of his hand, a technique he has used since his days as a pirate: straightening them with the fingers would be impossible when the Cat Claws are worn. According to Jango, this proves that even after three years of peaceful life, that Captain Kuro has not forgotten how to kill. While carrying them to the beach where his former crew were situated, Kuro kept the claws in a duffel bag.

History

Past

Kuro breaks Morgan's jaw

As the captain of the Black Cat Pirates, "Kuro of a Hundred Plans" was reputed as an expert strategist who made elaborate plots to escape capture by the Marines and bounty hunters. However, he eventually grew tired of being on the run and so, three years before the start of the series, he hatched a plan to leave his crew and make the world believe he had died. As he told his first mate Jango that he would be the new captain, the crew came under attack by yet another Marine ship. In response, Kuro got in a small boat and sailed to the Marine ship, where he slaughtered every Marine onboard except Morgan, who survived with a broken jaw. Kuro had Jango hypnotize Morgan and their crewmate Nugire Yainu into believing that the latter was Kuro, and Morgan took Yainu to his base to have him executed as Kuro. With the world soon to believe that he was dead, Kuro went off on his own to attain wealth and peace for himself.

Kuro came to Syrup Village having donned a destitute appearance, and was taken in by the wealthy father of Kaya. Kuro gave the fabricated backstory that his previous employment on a ship was terminated due to a slight mistake on his behalf, and that he was left to wander around without money until he came to the wealthy family who took him in, for whom he (falsely) claimed felt deeply grateful for. Kuro worked for Kaya's family under the alias of "Klahadore" for the next three years, and Kaya's parents died of natural causes sometime in that span. Kuro plotted to have Kaya leave him her wealth in her will and then kill her with the help of his old crew, and he worked to gain the trust of the villagers to ensure no one would be suspicious of him being willed Kaya's inheritance.

East Blue Saga

Syrup Village Arc

Usopp angrily attacks Kuro for making fun of his father.

Kaya summoned Kuro to her room and told him that she wanted to see Usopp again, but Kuro refused, saying the young man was too much of a bad influence for her. Later, Merry alerted Kuro that there were intruders on the mansion grounds, and Kuro went out to find Usopp, the Usopp Pirates, and the Straw Hat Pirates outside Kaya's window. While interrogating Usopp, Kuro degraded his father being a pirate, causing Usopp to become angry and punch him. Usopp's attack only reinforced Kuro's insults, and after Kaya told Usopp to stop, Kuro told him and his group to get off the grounds immediately and never come back. Later, Kuro brought Kaya her lunch, and she said he should have not chased him away. Kuro responded that he wished to protect her from people with a bad reputation to repay her late parents, though he had no intention of changing his approach toward Usopp even despite Kaya's wishes.

Kuro then went to the beach to meet with Jango, who confirmed that the Black Cat Pirates were prepared to begin their operation to assassinate Kaya. Kuro ordered for Jango to hypnotize Kaya into willing her wealth to him before staging a murder that could be framed as an accident, and to have the rest of the Black Cat Pirates attack the village at that time. Suddenly, the Straw Hat captain Monkey D. Luffy called out to the duo from atop the cliff nearby, and Kuro saw that he and Usopp had spied on their meeting. Jango hypnotized Luffy into falling asleep and caused him to fall off the cliff, causing them to believe the pirate to be dead, and Kuro said there was no need to take out Usopp as he knew that none of the villagers would believe the liar's words. Kuro then went to his old crew's ship and reunited with them for the first time in three years, saying they would destroy Syrup Village and gain great wealth the next morning.

Kuro slashes Merry.

Kuro returned to Kaya's mansion that night and heard from Merry about Usopp's attempt to tell Kaya about his treachery. Kuro then found a new pair of glasses that Kaya had gifted to him to celebrate his third work anniversary, and he stomped on them as he grew bloodthirsty upon seeing the crescent moon. As Merry was left shocked by his action, Kuro stated that he wanted everything Kaya owned and decided to drop his act as he unsheathed his claws and slashed Merry. The next morning, Kuro waited at the steps of the mansion for his crew to arrive, but they failed to show up on time and so he was forced to head to the coast to check on them, to his great annoyance.

Kuro traps the Nyaban Brothers.

Kuro went to the clearing near the north coast to find his crew fighting the Straw Hats and Usopp, to his great shock and anger. He questioned the crew's competence in being held up by these opponents, and this offended the Nyaban Brothers Sham and Buchi, who decided to kill Kuro. The duo were under the impression that they were now stronger than Kuro after he spent three years as a butler, but Kuro was able to use Stealth Foot and hold his claws to their necks in a matter of seconds. Kuro gave his crew five more minutes to kill their opponents, saying he would kill all of them if they failed. Luffy then emerged from under the Bezan Black's fallen mast, and Kuro was surprised to see he was still alive. Kaya then came to the clearing to confront Kuro, having learned of his treachery due to Merry managing to survive. Kaya said that she would give Kuro anything he wanted if he left the village, but Kuro told her she needed to die in order to keep anyone from going after him. Kaya then pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Kuro, but he was able to weaken her resolve and cause her to drop it by degrading her and the memories they shared the past three years. Usopp raced to attack Kuro, but Kuro dodged him with his speed and looked forward to repaying Usopp for punching him the previous day. Before Kuro could attack, however, Luffy punched him with Gomu Gomu no Pistol and knocked him down.

The three children from Usopp's pretend pirate crew⁠—Ninjin, Piiman, and Tamanegi⁠—then arrived and hit Kuro in the face with a shovel, bat, and frying pan, but Kuro got up without issue and kicked Usopp to the ground. He was intrigued to see that Luffy had a Devil Fruit power and decided to take him on, tasking Jango with making Kaya write the will and killing her along with the Usopp Pirates. As the three children led Kaya into the woods with Jango on their tail, Kuro and Buchi stood in the way of Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, and Usopp. Zoro managed to defeat Buchi and take a weakened Usopp to the woods, and Luffy attacked Kuro to keep him from stopping them. Kuro used his speed to dodge Luffy's attacks before asking the pirate why he wanted to save the village, and Luffy simply replied that he wanted to protect his friend that lived there.

Kuro continued to dodge Luffy's attacks and managed to run on the pirate's outstretched arm and kick him in the face, with the toe of his shoe being sharp enough to draw blood. This caused the Black Cat Pirates to cheer and chant his name, and Kuro had to remind them that this plan was to allow him to leave behind the name "Captain Kuro" for good. He then resumed attacking Luffy to ensure his plan's success, but Luffy was able to intercept his right-hand claws with a boulder and use it to break them off; Luffy then hit Kuro in the head with the boulder. Kuro's crewmates kept cheering him on as he got up, but Kuro then revealed that he would be killing all of them to pin Kaya's death on them and ensure that no one would know about his double life.

File:Luffy Defeats Kuro.png

Luffy takes down Kuro and ruins his plans.

Kuro told Luffy that it was the way of a pirate captain to use one's subordinates as pawns for their own gain, but Luffy pointed out that even with so many men under his command, Kuro was still incapable of beating even Usopp. Kuro attempted to attack Luffy with his Stealth Foot, but Luffy was able to keep up with it and hit Kuro into the cliff face. Kuro then decided to show Luffy the terror of a real pirate by activating his ultimate move Shakushi, and ran at a blinding speed as he attacked everyone around him, including his crewmates, indiscriminately. However, when Kuro slashed Luffy in the chest, Luffy was able to grab onto his jacket and throw him to the ground. Kuro got up and prepared to attack again, but Luffy unexpectedly managed to wrap his arms and legs around his body. Luffy headbutted Kuro before stretching his neck far back and headbutting him again with Gomu Gomu no Kane, which knocked Kuro unconscious and caused his broken glasses to fall to the ground. Luffy then threw Kuro toward the Black Cat Pirates, who took their captain to the Bezan Black and sailed away.

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The following events are Non-Canon and therefore not considered part of the Canon story.

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Loguetown Arc

Kuro's extra appearance when Luffy's first bounty came out.

Sometime after his defeat and escape from Syrup Village, Kuro once again became the Captain of the Black Cat Pirates. After Luffy received his initial 30,000,000 bounty, Kuro was alerted to the fact by one of his men. In response, Kuro was silent and left the bounty poster on his table as he sat and pondered.

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Concludes non-canon section.

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Aftermath

While Kuro's whereabouts are currently unknown, it seems the Marines have become aware that he is still alive, and as such have had his bounty reactivated.

Major Battles

• Kuro vs. Marines (including Morgan)
• Kuro (as Klahadore) vs. Usopp (Kaya's mansion)
• Kuro vs. Merry
• Kuro vs. Sham and Buchi
• Kuro vs. Monkey D. Luffy
• Kuro vs. Usopp Pirates
• Kuro vs. Black Cat Pirates
• Kuro vs. Monkey D. Luffy

Anime and Manga Differences

Kuro contemplating on killing Kaya in the anime

In the manga, right after slashing down Merry, Kuro continued to attack all over the room, leaving scratch marks all over; in the anime, he instead left the room and went straight for Kaya, seemingly toying with the idea of killing her then and there himself, but holding enough composure to refrain from doing so.

In the manga, when Kaya arrived to the battlefield, she announced her arrival in which Kuro at first tried to welcome her before taunting her of his attempt at Merry's life and causing her to drop her pistol by attacking her emotionally; anime, when she approached from behind, he nearly attacked her in the thought of someone trying an ambush against him, only to realize his mistake when Usopp saved her, while pulling the pistol out of her hands when she was emotionally wounded.

In the manga, Kuro is not seen or mentioned again after his defeat by Luffy. In the anime, Kuro was last seen in a cameo appearance on board of his ship, as the captain again, when his crew informed him of Luffy's 30,000,000 bounty.

While the anime thus establishes that Kuro returned to his life of piracy, it appears that he has managed to keep his existence a secret from the Marines. When the inside of Fullbody's ship was seen in the same episode, Kuro's wanted poster was seen with a red X through it, meaning that he is still believed to be deceased.

Translation and Dub Issues

"Kuro" can be written in kanji as 黒, meaning "Black". "Kuro" is also a way of saying "claw" in Japanese.

His alias has been translated in different ways. The English adaptations use the name Klahadore while fansubs used the term Kurahadol.

Also, in the original version, Kuro's epithet is "Of a Hundred Plans", while the English version changes it to "Of a Thousand Plans". His epithet, in the original Japanese version, is another way of saying "all means", which is a testament of him achieving his plans by all means.

Merchandise

Video Games

Playable Appearances

• One Piece: Become the Pirate King!
• Grand Battle!
• Grand Battle! 2
• Grand Line Dream Adventure Log
• Treasure Battle!
• One Piece: Going Baseball
• One Piece: Grand Battle! Rush!
• One Piece: Grand Adventure
• One Piece: Unlimited Cruise
• One Py Berry Match
• One Piece Treasure Cruise
• One Piece Bounty Rush

Enemy Appearances

• Set Sail Pirate Crew!
• One Piece: Treasure Wars
• Aim! The King of Berry
• One Piece: Round the Land
• Dragon Dream!
• Treasure Wars 2 Welcome to Buggyland
• One Piece (Game Boy Advance)
• One Piece: Pirates Carnival
• One Piece Romance Dawn: The Dawn of the Adventure
• One Piece: Pirate Warriors
• One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2
• One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3

Support Appearances

• One Piece: Gear Spirit
• One Piece: Gigant Battle
• One Piece: Gigant Battle! 2 New World/
• One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2
• One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3
• One Piece: Dance Battle
• One Piece: Burning Blood

Non-Playable Appearances

• Grand Battle! Swan Colosseum
• One Piece: Super Grand Battle! X

Trivia

• His butler attire features two strange symbols on the sides of his jacket. When asked, Eiichiro Oda explained that these symbolized dung.
• In the 4th Japanese fan poll, Kuro is ranked the 29th most popular character in One Piece.
• To date, Kuro is one of the three major antagonists from the "Super Rookies" saga (the others being Krieg and Foxy) to have no canonical roles outside of his debut arc; discounting his non-canonical cameo in Episode 45, his fate after encountering the Straw Hat Pirates remains completely unknown.
  • Apart from Alvida, he is also the only East Blue pirate captain Luffy fought whose defeat was not considered a factor in Luffy's first bounty, as the Marines still believed him dead, and Usopp swore the few civilians who knew the truth (Ninjin, Piiman, Tamanegi, and Kaya) to secrecy.
• Kuro's favorite food is bananas.