Koby

ℹ️️**Notice**This character is a crossover character and is therefore not canon

**Koby the Hero** is a Marine Captain who trained together with Helmeppo under Vice Admiral Garp's supervision. He is currently a member of the Marine special forces unit SWORD.

## Statistics

### Official English Name:

Koby (VIZ, Odex),Coby (Funimation, 4Kids)

### English VA:

Leah Clark

He was formerly an involuntary pirate ship caretaker for the Alvida Pirates until he was liberated by Luffy, being the first person Luffy befriended on his travels. He reunited with Luffy during the Post-Enies Lobby Arc, after becoming a fully-fledged Marine soldier. During the timeskip, Koby earned fame as a hero for his actions through the Rocky Port Incident. After a failed attempt to arrest Boa Hancock, he was a prisoner of the Blackbeard Pirates until he escaped with the help of Perona, his colleagues at SWORD and his mentor, Monkey D. Garp.

Due to his status as a hero, the Cross Guild has assigned Koby a 5-star bounty, worth 500,000,000.

He is Luffy's ally during the Romance Dawn Arc. He and Helmeppo are the central characters from the Diary of Koby-Meppo Cover Page Serial and supporting antagonists of the Post-Enies Lobby Arc. Koby is also a brief antagonist in the Marineford Arc.

## Personality

Koby was first introduced as the Alvida Pirates' hapless ship caretaker who lived in fear of both the ship's crew and captain. Two years of forced servitude had robbed him of all hope of escaping as well as his dream of becoming a Marine, leaving him with few goals other than avoiding being bludgeoned to death by Alvida's iron mace. Luffy was less than impressed with Koby's cowardice, describing him as "pretty stupid and useless...and kinda wimpy too". However, Luffy's boundless optimism and single-minded pursuit of his dream rekindled a similar conviction in the downtrodden ship caretaker, allowing him to defy his captors, even under the threat of a brutal death by Alvida's mace.

As the pair continued in their travels, Koby remained timid and cautious, often relying on Luffy to perform dangerous tasks and becoming alarmed by his companion's reckless behavior.

He was also shown to be perceptive, noting that it was "strange" for the citizens of Shells Town to be afraid of a Marine Captain and telling Luffy that he had "a bad feeling about this." Koby's naïve belief in the blanket integrity of the Marines was dashed when he witnessed the actions of Axe-Hand Morgan and his son, but it only strengthened his resolve to become, in his words, "a *real* Marine."

Under Garp's instruction, Koby's timidity has been replaced with confidence, although he remains polite, self-effacing, and apologetic if he feels he has done something overly ambitious (such as publicly stating his goal to become a Marine admiral). He continues to be an emotional, compassionate person who can easily be driven to tears for a variety of reasons, which led to Zoro jocularly calling him a "crybaby" during their reunion at Water 7.

Koby does not act with the reckless bravery that many characters in the series exhibit, but rather on moral compunction. He has put his life on the line at least twice for the sake of what he feels is right, most notably at the Summit War of Marineford where he brought fighting to a standstill by facing down Admiral Akainu and bought the precious seconds needed for Luffy to escape

Koby has an immense amount of determination. In the early days of his training as a Marine when he was still weak, he would trained relentlessly non-stop by punching battleships which could only be done by powerful Marines such as Garp and Kuzan due to acknowledging his lack of fighting talent. Despite his already exhaustive training session with Garp, he continued to train on a daily basis despite his hands would keep bleeding from the injuries.

For all he has done and is capable of doing, Koby is rather humble, as he denied Kyros' claim of him being a hero during the Rocky Port Incident and did not claim credit for stopping a torpedo that was aiming at the Dressrosa and Prodence Kingdom ships.  He felt ashamed for thinking Marines had come to rescue him and considered it thinking that the world revolved around him when trying to escape from Hachinosu, and was shocked when he discovered they had come for him.

## Relationships

### Marines

#### Monkey D. Garp

Garp is the mentor/instructor of Koby and Helmeppo; he keeps them out of trouble and ensures that they are not slacking off. If they do get out of hand, he knocks them around to ensure they know their place. Koby admires Garp, even though he maintains a highly brutal clutch on him because he would not be where he is without him. Garp was horrified when Koby shouted out to stop the massacre at Marineford during the Whitebeard War.

After Koby was captured by Blackbeard, Garp went to Hachinosu to rescue his apprentice much to his shock and surprised that Garp and the rest came just to rescue him. Garp acknowledged Koby's potential and determination as he entrusted Koby to stop Pizzaro's devastating attack on the Marine Ship.

#### Helmeppo

After his father's termination from the Marines, Helmeppo lost access to the luxurious life that he once held under his father's rank. He was forced to become a chore boy alongside Koby, and despite Koby's good-natured attempts to befriend him, he refused any of it. After being kidnapped by his own father and held hostage, Helmeppo disowned his father and started changing, becoming braver and less of a spoiled brat. Eventually, Koby and Helmeppo become good friends. Now they are working together. In addition, Helmeppo seems to care for Koby, and he rushed to help him after being defeated by Luffy.

After Koby had been captured by the Blackbeard Pirates, Helmeppo wanted to go save his friend as soon as possible, pleading with his superiors to do so.

### Straw Hat Pirates

#### Monkey D. Luffy

Koby was one of the first people Luffy met on his journey. He traveled briefly with Luffy, acting as a temporary navigator after Luffy had helped him escape from his servitude to Alvida. He later joined the Marines following the incident with Captain Morgan. The two also encountered each other at Water 7. Although they are now on opposite sides and will inevitably have to fight, Koby and Luffy still consider each other friends, since Luffy helped Koby muster up the courage to become a Marine.

They were both happy to see each other again at Water 7 though he was surprised to learn of Luffy's father. However, during the Battle at Marineford, Koby chose to fight Luffy only to be swiftly defeated by a punch to the face. Despite that, this has not damaged their friendship, as Koby still admires Luffy's strength. Koby would frequently speak praises of Luffy in front of the other Marines such as X Drake despite his status as an infamous pirate.

#### Roronoa Zoro

Koby also met Zoro while he was imprisoned in Captain Morgan's Marine base. At first, Koby was afraid of Zoro's bad reputation. However, after finding out Zoro had a kind personality, Koby started to admire him. Both of them were glad to see each other again at Water 7. However, Zoro acknowledged that Koby was better friends with Luffy than with himself.

### Enemies

#### Alvida Pirates

Koby was forced to serve as a chore boy under Alvida and her crew for two years after he had accidentally boarded their ship. Because of his cowardice, he would do whatever he was ordered to do without question. He was often mocked by the pirates in Alvida's crew. Alvida would often ask Koby who was the most beautiful woman in the world and, if he did not reply that she was, he would be punished. When Luffy showed up, he explained to Koby that he was willing to die for his dream. After Koby had realized that he should also be willing to die for his dream, he found the courage to openly defy Alvida and express his true feelings towards her. This angered Alvida, and she was about to kill Koby, but Luffy stepped in and quickly defeated her.

#### Boa Hancock

After the dissolution of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Koby was sent to capture Boa Hancock, who herself was preparing to fight back. He demanded Hancock to surrender, only for her to angrily refused and turned most of the Marines and Vice-Admiral Yamakaji to stone leaving Koby to be defenseless and weak. He seems currently unaware, however, of her affiliation with Luffy.

#### Marshall D. Teach

Koby was captured by Blackbeard and his crew after the invasion of Amazon Lily. According to Blackbeard, Koby helped him oust Ochoku and take over Hachinosu during the Rocky Port incident, but the details of such event are still unknown. When Blackbeard held 800 marines soldiers hostage against him, Koby surrendered and turned himself to Teach in exchange to release the Marine hostages. Blackbeard intended to use Koby to negotiate with the Government to legalize Hachinosu as a country for criminals, which Koby contemptuously rebuffed. When Blackbeard learns the true agenda of SWORD, Blackbeard confident of wanting to see Koby get disavowed due to the World Government not wanted to lose a popular Marine.

## Trivia

* A young Seia is modeled after his young version