Silvers Rayleigh

Silvers Rayleigh, also known as the Dark King, is a major character in the manga and anime series, One Piece. He is the former right-hand man of the legendary Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, and later Monkey D. Luffy's Haki master and teacher. He is also Shakuyaku's husband.
After Roger's execution, Rayleigh retired and settled on Sabaody Archipelago. Despite his retirement as a pirate, his bounty wasn't simply forgotten or removed due to pirate-carried crimes years ago, especially the Roger Pirates. He met Boa Hancock and her sisters, Sandersonia and Marigold, and helped them to find their way back to Amazon Lily by calling Gloriosa. He pretended to become a slave to steal money to made customers of the Human Auction House cancel orders and demanded refunds. As Luffy and his crew try to escape, Rayleigh holds off Kizaru until Bartholomew Kuma arrived and send the Straw Hats flying toward other islands after he revealed to Rayleigh that he works for the Revolutionary Army as a spy. After Whitebeard's death, Rayleigh came to Amazon Lily for Luffy and met the former Shichibukai Jinbei as well reunite with Hancock, her sisters, and Gloriosa. He trains Luffy to learn Haki in Rusukaina, the northwest of Amazon Lily.
After Hancock lost her status as a Warlord due to both Doflamingo and Crocodile, Rayleigh and Shakky saved Hancock from Blackbeard and the Marines as well as they will guard Amazon Lily and the Kujas in Hancock's absence, when she has decided to leave her home for her reunion with Luffy. After Hancock left Amazon Lily to reunite with Luffy, Rayleigh and Shakky return back home at Sabaody after succesfully protected Amazon Lily from the persistently Marines and witnessed of Vegapunk's message broadcast of the World Government's true nature although he is already aware of it when he declared old legends has no rights to interfere with the younger generations' fun.
He was voiced by Keiichi Sonobe and the late Kazuyuki Sogabe when he was younger in the Japanese version of the anime, and by David Wills in the 4Kids dub and Bruce Carey and Bradford Hutson in the FUNimation dub in the English version of the anime.
==History==
===Past===
Before Roger formed his crew, Rayleigh met Roger after he stole a ship due to his house burning down and needing a place to live. Roger said that it was a fated meeting and asked Rayleigh to join him. At first, Rayleigh declined, but some time later, he formed a bond with Roger and became his first mate. This is similar to when Luffy first met Zoro.
In the New World, at someplace in the sea called Edd War, Buggy freaks out at the potential conflict between two infamous pirate crews the Roger Pirates against the Golden Lion Pirates. Rayleigh was present and he held Buggy back. When Roger rejected Shiki's offer to become his right-hand man, Rayleigh was seen preparing for battle along with the other Roger Pirates. A battle between the two crews ensues, and a change in the weather allows the Roger Pirates to sink half of Shiki's ships.
Twenty-six years before the start of the story, Roger fell ill from an incurable disease, leading the Roger Pirates to take one final journey together. They ventured into the Grand Line together and conquered it. A year before his death, Roger disbanded the crew in secret, and one by one the crew disappeared. Before he handed himself over to the Marines, Roger told Rayleigh that "He would not die". Unwilling to watch the execution of his closest friend, Rayleigh toasted a drink to the man with a laugh as the blades passed, and downed a glass as his first act in the Great Age of Piracy, the Age of Dreams. Rayleigh stated that he laughed none the less upon hearing the message Roger had left the world.
Six years later, Rayleigh was saved by a young Hatchan from drowning in a shipwreck. Since then, Rayleigh has been on good terms with Hachi. He, along with Shakuyaku and Nyon, also helped protect the Gorgon Sisters after they escaped from slavery from the World Nobles. Eventually, Rayleigh became a coating mechanic on Sabaody Archipelago and at some point formed a business partnership with Shakuyaku. Later, Silvers married Shakuyaku, the couple never had children.
At some point, he reunited with his former apprentice Shanks, now Captain of his own crew when they arrived at the Archipelago. Rayleigh noted Shanks lost his Straw Hat and his left arm, inquiring as to why and Shanks told him about Monkey D. Luffy, a boy who had the same nature as Roger. From this, Rayleigh yearned to meet the boy.
He then went missing for six months before Luffy's arrival on the archipelago.
==Personality==
Rayleigh is light-hearted, casual, and fun-loving, much like his captain Gol D. Roger was supposed to have been. In the past, he was shown to have been intolerable to the antics of the younger members arguing, and took the position of crew disciplinarian very seriously. However, he has turned his personality around in his older years, figuring that he did not have too much time left and it would probably be wasted being strict. Also, with the crew long disbanded and his captain having faced execution, there was not anybody around to continue disciplining. 
Though he often has a serious air, Rayleigh enjoys going with the flow and appearing in unexpected places and unexpected ways, especially given his status and age. Speaking of age, he often comments on it and how his body "does not work the way it used to", usually right before doing something incredible. Unlike those that classically behave in this manner, however, the Dark King is not often headstrong, looking before he leaps and taking time to plan before taking action, which is not to say that this saves the old man from all acts of spontaneity.
Even when entering into an unfortunate, unplanned, or just plain surprising situation, however, such as engaging a Marine admiral in combat or having his ship sink in the Sea King infested waters of the Grand Line, Rayleigh remains completely calm, pushing forward through adversity with no hesitation.
He, like Whitebeard, seems to have enjoyed talking about the past and its great times, as well as the good old days of their near bygone era. Despite this, he appeared reluctant to get into the darker topic of the Void Century. He is typically open and talkative, such as when it came to the mysterious Void Century. He was willing to divulge the whole truth to Nico Robin if she wished, but she declined his offer.
As stated by Shakky, he loves alcohol and women, which he proved when he is first introduced saving Keimi from being mistreated by Disco while holding a hip flask. He prefers to be called "Ray-San". Despite once being enemies with the Whitebeard Pirates, Rayleigh seems to have great respect for their captain, like Roger and shed a tear for Whitebeard's passing.
==Abilities and Powers==
In his younger days with Gol D. Roger, Rayleigh commanded the rest of Roger's crew as First Mate. He would do several duties while supervising the rest of the crew. Amongst these duties was disciplining the young apprentices Buggy and Shanks over their constant arguing about pointless things, such as which of the two polar regions is the colder one. After Gol D. Roger's crew disbanded, Rayleigh became a coating mechanic in Sabaody. He specializes in coating ships with Yarukiman Resin, a process which enables ships to travel to Fishman Island.
Rayleigh is extremely powerful, easily one of the strongest characters introduced. Shakky vouches for his strength by saying that he is "100 times stronger than all of you boys", referring to the Eleven Supernovas. Indeed, when Vice Admiral Garp was informed Rayleigh may be on Sabaody Archipelago, he told his men not to confront him nor should Fleet Admiral Sengoku be informed. Garp reasoned that the Marines should not confront two legends, Whitebeard and Rayleigh at the same time.
Due to his phenomenal strength, he was able to fight Admiral Kizaru equally. However, Rayleigh himself has admitted that he is not as young as he used to be and can tire in battle. Jinbe, a former Shichibukai who was used to seeing Whitebeard, was later shocked to see Rayleigh in person. Eustass Kid himself states that Rayleigh was "a legend". Blackbeard, one of the Four Emperors, was shocked to see him at Amazon Lily and chose to retreat rather than fight. However, Rayleigh later revealed he didn't think he would actually defeat Blackbeard in a fight.
Another glimpse of his strength is seen when he seemingly snatches off Camiei's exploding slave collar and tosses it into the air before it could self-destruct. He also has a large amount of stamina, as he was able to swim to Amazon Lily from another ocean and was also still able to kill several Sea Kings despite swimming such a long distance. His ability to swim also definitely shows that his strength is natural, not based on a Devil Fruit.
He has also shown to be very fast when he was able to intercept Kizaru's attack before he was about to kill Roronoa Zoro.
Rayleigh is well-documented for his cunning: he has managed to evade the grasp of the expansive World Government for over 20 years now and had quickly learned to exploit the slave-trading business on Sabaody Archipelago for personal gain (getting himself caught and sold to a wealthy bidder, before revealing his true strength and robbing his "master", then rinse and repeat). Calm and level-headed at virtually all times, he was the individual to break up arguments and disputes aboard the "Oro Jackson", as First Mate and the right-hand man to Gol D. Roger himself.
Rayleigh knows the "True History" of the world from his time with Roger. However, he has also stated that, as a pirate crew lacking the knowledge of scholars of Ohara's caliber, they could have interpreted that information differently than the Ohara scholars.
Despite his strength, however, Rayleigh seems to have a penchant for getting into shipwrecks. Whether this is due to poor navigation skills or mere bad luck is up to interpretation.
Another noticeable trait of Rayleigh's is his incredible perceptive and deduction capability. This is shown when he was (within a matter of moments) easily able to deduce what had happened after ending up at the slave auction stage on the Sabaody Archipelago.
Rayleigh is also an expert in the coating business, with his current line of profit performing such operations for various pirate ships heading down to Fishman Island, as well as understanding the mechanics of the deep-sea currents.
===Swordsmanship===
He is also an accomplished swordsman, though has admitted to having degraded in skill somewhat from his younger and healthier days. Also, he is shown casually using an air-based projectile to cut the ground to stop the marines from advancing. 
Rayleigh reports that it has been quite a while since he has had to use his blade, though this is just moments before going toe-to-toe with Admiral Kizaru, so his skills do not seem to have dulled in any way. Rayleigh also managed to cut and draw blood from Kizaru's face, who is a Marine Admiral and Logia user, by imbuing his powerful Busoshoku Haki into his sword. 
In the anime, he is shown throwing bullets with enough force and accuracy to destroy cannonballs fired at him. 
===Haki===
Rayleigh can utilize Haki the same way Shanks, Luffy, and Whitebeard can. He can use all 3 types of Haki: Kenbunshoku Haki, Busoshoku Haki, and Haoshoku Haki. Rayleigh also shows great knowledge of Haki, and made use of all three types while teaching Luffy about them, and training him in the basics.
====Haoshoku Haki====
Rayleigh has mastered Haoshoku Haki to the extent that he can render a specific target completely unconscious. He can do this without the aid of eye contact, nor adversely affect anybody else near the initial target. He disabled an entire hall room with this power, save for the Straw Hats, Kid Pirates, Heart Pirates, Keimi, Hatchan, and Pappu. Rayleigh later commented that the pirates still standing were no ordinary rookies. Only very strong and determined individuals can resist being knocked unconscious. One of Trafalgar Law's crewmen was very close to being knocked out. Even Law and Eustass Kid were sweating slightly after enduring the blast. he is one of a select few people powerful enough to "infuse" his body in Haoshoku Haki, as seen during the raid on Amazon Lilly by thin streams of black lightning emanating from his body to scare off Blackbeard into sparing Hancock.
====Busoshoku Haki====
Busoshoku Haki allows Rayleigh to create a force similar to an invisible armor around himself. Rayleigh can bypass the powers of a Devil Fruit user, touching the "substantial body" beneath whatever protection the fruit provides as seen when he used Busoshoku Haki to kick and redirect an attack from Admiral Kizaru. and he was also able to hurt Luffy with a haki-imbued flick while teaching him the basics of Haki. As stated by Rayleigh just before initiating Luffy's training, it is possible to make your "invisible armor" strong enough to be used offensively. He can also use the advanced application of this type of Haki, as shown when he repelled and injured a giant elephant by emitting his Busoshoku Haki, He is also able to use a high-grade version of this technique, where he can channel his Haki into his opponent or objects, letting him destroy his opponent or objects from the inside out, he was seen using it when he destroyed Camie's collar from the inside out by channeling his Haki into it.
====Kenbunshoku Haki====
This type of Haki can allow Rayleigh to sense the emotions and nature of others. It appears that it is also possible for the user of this Haki to sense the strength of others as well. This was shown when Rayleigh used this Haki to sense that there were five hundred creatures on Rusukaina who were stronger than Luffy at that time. Rayleigh also used Kenbunshoku Haki to dodge an elephant's attack without directly seeing the elephant.
The strength and mastery Rayleigh has over this kind of Haki is also shown by the fact that he can sense people all over the Island he is currently on while most people can sense only in their immediate vicinity.
===Weapons===
Rayleigh possesses a straight-bladed sword with a katana-styled hilt-guard that is slightly longer than half of Rayleigh's height.
It does not seem to possess any special powers in and of itself, though its wielder is capable of imbuing the weapon with his immense haki and using it to perform incredible feats.
During his attack against the Marines who tried to chase down Luffy after the time skip, it was seen he was holding a katana.
==Gallery==
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