Kuro

**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.

## 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

*Main article: Cat 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.