Caesar Clown

**Caesar Clown**,[5] who was referred to as "**Master**" by his subordinates,[1] is a demented scientist, a former colleague of Vegapunk,[5] the main antagonist of the Punk Hazard Arc, and the first main antagonist the Straw Hats face in the New World. He is the leading expert on chemical weapons of mass destruction[5]and has a bounty of 300,000,000 on his head.[7]

During the Dressrosa Arc, Donquixote Doflamingo declared Caesar to be his direct subordinate, meaning Caesar is a *de facto*member of the Donquixote Pirates, and thus protected from the law.[3] Upon Doflamingo's defeat and arrest, this protection is lost, and Caesar's criminal status is once again operational in full.[4]After a period as a hostage of the Straw Hat-Heart Pirate Alliance, he is currently in the custody of Big Mom, after Capone Bege was sent to retrieve and escort both him and Sanji to Whole Cake Island.[10] He was later liberated by the Fire Tank Pirates and is taking part in a rebellion against Big Mom.[2] Following the plan's failure and disbandment of the alliance, he was finally given back his heart and parted ways with his former captors.[11]

## Appearance

Caesar has a very gaseous look due to his Devil Fruit ability. He has very long, spiky, black hair, brown eyes (yellow in the anime), and two curly horns growing from the back of his head. He is rather tall (shown to be about the same height as Brook when standing next to him with his gas powers deactivated), and wears purple lipstick and dark makeup on his eyes. He has a small flat nose and long thin eyebrows. His arms are very thin in comparison with to rest of his body.[7]

Caesar wears a big light blue colored coat with "GAS" printed in pink on each side (in his first appearances this was not present). Under his coat, he wears a pair of diagonally striped yellow overalls which are striped cross with orange lines. The overall is cut off right under his knees, exposing his hairy legs. He also wears dark purple gloves with the initials "CC" in white on them.[12] Due to his constant gaseous form, he seems to not use shoes, remaining barefoot, though only when his powers were disabled, his feet solidified with the rest of his body along with a simple pair of shoes.[13]

Four years before his debut, Caesar had shorter hair that was more rounded, and wore a polka dot patterned shirt beneath his coat.[14]

During his third fight with Luffy, Luffy greatly damaged Caesar's face, which knocked some of his teeth out and bent his facial structure inwards, and seemingly breaking his nose.[15] As result, his pronunciation became a bit hard to understand.

After absorbing the Shinokuni, Caesar's entire body structure changed to a darker gas color matching that of the gas, becoming as comparably large as a giant, with his hair growing completely wild and overly long. He also grows a coral-shaped crown behind his horns. The word in kanji "Land of Death" (死国?) is written on the front of his chest.[16] Upon his defeat, he returns to normal.[17]

When under the service of Capone Bege, he disguised himself by wearing a blue shirt with an aqua scarf and suspenders while donning a spiky hairstyle that covered his horns. While part of the Sanji Retrieval Team-Fire Tank Pirates Alliance, he wore a yellow suit.

In the anime, Caesar's skin tone is shown to be a pale white,[18] while in the manga it is shown as a more natural tone.[19]

## Personality

Caesar is, in Smoker's words, "one very crazy bastard", and his actions on Punk Hazard validate the Marine vice-admiral's claim. A very cruel, arrogant, scheming, sinister, and overall very evil person, Caesar takes great delight in causing harm and destruction to anything and anybody around him. His psychopathic nature is displayed many times, such as when he set off a chemical weapon on Punk Hazard, killing or crippling most of its inhabitants and destroying its environment,[20] selling or creating weapons of mass destruction for similarly unscrupulous individuals such as Doflamingo,[20] performing sick experiments on children and drugging them with a lethal, addictive drug to ensure that they do not run away,[21] and trying to murder everyone on Punk Hazard (Trafalgar Law, the Straw Hats, Smoker's Marines, the children, and his own blindly following minions) so he could test out his new poisonous gas weapon-pet, Smiley – all of which he does without a shred of remorse or empathy for his potential victims.[22]

He also demonstrates tendencies of egomania when Luffy mentioned his Gasu Gasu no Mi had no effect on his immune system due to Magellan's Doku Doku no Mi, both being poisonous Devil Fruits of differentiating class, causing Caesar to become rapidly aggravated from the fact that Luffy compared his Logia powers to that of a "mere" Paramecia user. He was very surprised that his poisons did not affect Luffy due to the latter's immunity to poison given to him from his near-death poisoning by Magellan.[23] Proud of the unexpected power of his Koro gas weapon, he was rather unhappy when the Straw Hat Pirates forced him to counter it to save the poisoned Mink Tribe.[24]

He has shown to have maniacal tendencies due to his sedulous research on weapons of mass destruction and his absence of emotion at the time of murdering people or provoking any type of suffering such as giving drugs to the children so they would suffer severe withdrawal and return to his research facility for more "candies" filled with the stimulant, and showing no regret or sorrow for his actions.[25]

He is also very sadistic, as he exploited the blind trust of his wounded subordinates to test a newly developed gas and ordered the Yeti Cool Brothers to assassinate Brownbeard when he thought he was no use to him anymore: he further provoked a partially-paralyzed Brownbeard by revealing the truth about the gas explosion four years ago, in order to create an opportunity to have his subordinates shoot him down.[15] He also used the restricted drug NHC10 to maintain his control of the children he kidnapped, knowing that they will be unable to escape due to the agonizing withdrawal symptoms,[25] and that by his own calculations, they will die in five years after he started his experiments with them, which he deems a necessary sacrifice for his science.[21] Law found this aspect of Caesar disgusting.[26] Caesar also seems to enjoy cocktails, as he is often seen holding a cocktail glass.

He appears to have a grudge against Vegapunk,[14] as well as a cautious disposition, as shown when he hid from the Marines instead of trying to engage them immediately, as well as trusting Monet's deduction that the Straw Hats might be more powerful than their bounties claim, and waiting for Joker's approval to make his actions look like accidents, before starting attacks. Caesar is also a rather economizing person, as he did not want to *waste* the poison by clearing it off, but rather, collected, saved and compressed it into Smiley.[22]

He also appears to be able to act or lie on several occasions, often being seen feigning emotions when lying to his subordinates and to the children, a trait that was quickly noted by Monet when he attempted to show false concern for his subordinates facing Smiley.[22] However, with the blind trust of his subordinates and some crocodile tears, he was able to deceive them easily, leading them to believe that Vegapunk was responsible for the Punk Hazard explosion four years ago.[14] Caesar also is very ill-tempered and quick to anger when things do not go his way, such as yelling at his subordinates to let the gas come in to kill the intruders and his own men and again when Monet pointed out that Vergo would die and Caesar just yelled, unconcerned about his potential disloyalty. Upon losing the upper hand against Luffy during their last fight, Caesar lost his composure and ordered his subordinates to let in the Shinokuni gas, while outwardly exclaiming that they can easily be replaced. He then goes as far as personally killing the ones present simply to test out his newly acquired power, revealing his true colors in the process.[16]
He is a very prideful person, going as far to say that his work four years ago on the weapon that caused the Punk Hazard incident was not a failure, but instead was a great success, implying a superiority complex. Due to his pride in his own work, he tends to blush when his work is praised, even by the enemy, but turned to indignity when that praise turned towards Vegapunk. He was also shocked to see Smiley not listening to him and eat the candy despite Caesar saying to wait and Caesar said it was alright while Monet noted he was not listening to him.[22] He also does not take kindly to insults, as when Law called him stupid, Caesar lashes out by punching Law's heart. Similarly, when Bege called him an idiot, Caesar angrily corrected Bege by saying he is a genius. Unlike most Logia users, Caesar keeps his Devil Fruit ability activated all the time and is either completely or partly turned into gas.

Caesar has an odd habit of being easily shocked by things that leave him dumbfounded, often doing a comical face-fault, such as when Luffy survived his second Gastanet attack and appeared behind him unharmed. He did so again when Luffy was about to attack him from behind in their second fight together, which seems to be a running gag on his part.[27]Upon Luffy declaring that he does not want to see Caesar's face anymore out of anger, the scientist cried in fear right before he was sent flying by Luffy's Gear Third attack.[16]

Caesar is also very cowardly when his life is threatened in any way. When he was about to lose to Luffy he attempted to beg the Straw Hat captain to spare him and even make him his subordinate. He also repeatedly begged Doflamingo to save him and even later begged the Straw Hats to protect him from Big Mom on more than one occasion.

While Caesar does at least attempt to fulfill commissions made by other people, he is not averse to giving up on them and will abuse his money and privileges on a hedonistic lifestyle of women and alcohol instead, especially if the projects given to him are proven to be too difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish (i.e. gigantification). He would even continue to lie to his investor in order to embezzle more money for such purposes. When he was under Doflamingo's protection, Caesar did not care about what he did to other people because he viewed himself as safe from them, even from that of a Yonko. Upon losing Doflamingo to the Marines, however, Caesar came to fear the consequences, especially since one of his clienteles is none other than Charlotte Linlin, one of the Yonko, and he became desperate with lies and thoughts of escaping, even admitting (to himself) that the given project was outright beyond his own limits (which he normally was so arrogant about).[28]

However, Caesar's prideful and arrogant attitude can at the very least be scratched, as he started crying in anger when Nami and Chopper referred to him as "human scum" and "the worst" during the operation to ruin Big Mom's Tea Party.[29]

He has a distinct laugh of "Shurororororo" (Shuhohoho in Viz media translation).

## Abilities and Powers

Caesar has authority over all the former test subjects on the island as he saved them from the gas, and he uses their blind-trust to manipulate them. However, after Caesar revealed that he does not care about his subordinates, he lost their faith.[16]

Caesar is also shown to be highly crafty and cunning, easily facilitating an escape from a Marine battleship escort after he was arrested and then returning to Punk Hazard, as well as ensuring that his affiliate Trafalgar Law would not renege on their partnership by having him use his own "Ope Ope no Mi" to remove his heart and place it in Caesar's safekeeping in exchange for allowing him to stay on Punk Hazard (while also demonstrating an act of goodwill by allowing Law to take the heart of Caesar's secretary Monet himself). This reveals the level of caution Caesar has around other individuals of comparable or greater power than himself.[22] He is also very aware of the consequences of murdering Vice-Admiral Smoker and his G-5 Marines on site. He also was able to escape when he was captured and kept himself hidden for a long while. He also purposely enraged a partially paralyzed Brownbeard in order to prevent the subordinates present from suspecting him, and have them shoot down Brownbeard without being the wiser.[15]

### Physical Abilities

In direct combat, Caesar has also proven to be a very powerful fighter, using his Devil Fruit abilities to quickly maneuver out of dangerous situations and being durable enough to take several Haki-imbued Gear Secondstrikes from Luffy, only to emerge relatively unharmed.[23] His durability extends to being seemingly unfazed by either the boiling hot or the sub-zero temperatures which compose the "Burning Lands" and the "Ice Lands" zones on Punk Hazard respectively. He withstood a blow from Luffy that left a big dent in his face and still retained consciousness. He is also very stealthy, being able to administer a muscle relaxant to Brownbeard without the latter noticing. Caesar is also physically strong, able to easily carry around a large and tall mirror which the Straw Hats and the Fire Tank Pirates would use to escape. Caesar also assured his confidence in carrying Brûlée, who is a very tall woman while bringing along the mirror. Caesar has a strong will being able to withstand a burst of Big Mom's Haoshoku Haki.[54]

### Scientific Expertise

Caesar is an outstanding scientist with immense scientific and chemical expertise, as he was Vegapunk's second-in-command and had a particularly high expertise in creating dangerous biological and chemical weapons that the Marine's Science Division including Vegapunk greatly feared. Caesar was able to cause a chemical weapon explosion from one of his experimental weapons that rendered Punk Hazard a barren wasteland. He was able to turn normal humans into giants, a feat that even Vegapunk could not accomplish, though Caesar has resorted to illegal and inhumane methods that Vegapunk considers unacceptable (by forcing vast amounts of dangerous drugs down their systems), and the fact that the children used would expire within five years from the continuous experiments,[21] which led the Marines to refuse to acknowledge him to be superior to the head scientist.[14] He also uses the highly restricted drug NHC10, though his authorization on its usage is illegal, as he is a criminal, and he used it as for its addictive means instead of medicinal purposes. He is also in the possession of another unnamed drug, that relaxes muscles and makes it unable for the person, who the drug has been injected into, to talk or stand.[15] All this earned him recognition as the world's leading expert on mass murdering weapons for biological warfare. His expertise in creating and designing weapons for biological warfare is so great that Capone Bege recruited him in his plot to assassinate Big Mom. Caesar was able to create the KX Launcher, a weapon with poison strong enough that could potentially kill a Yonko, and managed to prepare three for the Fire Tank Pirates to use within a fairly short period of time.

Derived from his scientific expertise, he invented massively destructive weapons, the most prominent one being a pet slime named Smiley, a mountain-sized lump monster that constantly emits some kind of smoke or vapor and has been "fed" the Sara Sara no Mi, Model: Axolotl (which gave the once inanimate lump life and form), which Caesar would unleash when trespassers become too much of a threat. He can control Smiley by using verbal commands, demonstrated when he ordered the Smilies to attach themselves to Luffy, and they obeyed.[23]

Caesar is also the only person who knows how to produce a substance called SAD, a rare and valuable substance that is an essential ingredient for the creation of Artificial Zoan Devil Fruits called SMILE,[55] another feat that Vegapunk has failed in. Because of this, Doflamingo values Caesar's work greatly, as he apparently employs the scientist's expertise to cater the military expansion demands of one of the Yonko.

### Devil Fruit

Caesar has eaten the Gasu Gasu no Mi,[7] a Logia-type Devil Fruit[9] that grants him the ability to change into a vaporous form, allowing him to float and go inside places that no normal solid being can. He was seen demonstrating this ability when hiding inside some beakers when he was informed that the Marines were nearby.[56] Even in his intangible gaseous form, he can become dense enough to hold objects, like his cocktail glass. It is unknown if this is because he can control the density of his gaseous form. He seems to prefer keeping his Devil Fruit ability active, as he is always either completely or partly gaseous. Caesar can absorb other gases, and he merged completely with the Shinokuni gas to greatly enhance his size and powers, while gaining Shinokuni's petrification properties, able to petrify anyone he touches[16]

He can generate a destructive gas beam that can incinerate metal and even the fearsome Fighting Fish while on the way to Green Bit. Caesar stated that he has done numerous experiments on his power, thus granting his gases poisonous and explosive qualities.[23] He can also remove oxygen in a certain area around himself to nullify fire-based attacks or asphyxiate his opponents.[57]

### Weapons

He was seen using a dual-barreled flintlock to threaten Law when he learned of his past associations with Luffy. He was also shown using various weapons in conjunction with his Devil Fruit abilities; like explosive red and blue castanets filled with volatile gas called "Gastanets" which he claps together to create a massive explosion,[23] using matches to ignite a gas he calls "Miok Gas" to cause an explosion in the immediate area, and a sword hilt, bearing some similarity to a Bunsen burner, that he concentrates oxygen in to use a technique called "Blue Sword".[27] He also used a syringe to inject a muscle relaxant into Brownbeard stealthily to prevent his subordinates' trust from being compromised. In One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, he throws out large pieces of candy that cause random status effects on enemies during one of his combos.

## TMNT X Pokemon

Caesar became an ally to the Turtles after Luffy recruited him to help them bring down Shredder and the Foot once and for all.

## Trivia

* Caesar is one of a very few character whose family name comes after the private name.
* Caesar seems to have a king theme, as:
	+ Caesar was the title for the Roman emperors, derived from the cognomen of Julius Caesar.
	+ *Clown* can be romanized both as *Clown* and *Crown*.
	+ He is the self-proclaimed *King of Shinokuni (Land of Death).*
	+ In his Shinokuni form, he obtains a crown.
	+ Him being captured by Law and Luffy mirrors what happened to the real-life Julius Caesar, as they both were held for ransom and the pirates' negotiations did not go as planned.
* Like Magellan, Caesar's sinister face, wild hair and horns make him resemble a stereotypical image of a demon; particularly Baphomet, a pagan deity-turned-devil most commonly depicted as a humanoid goat.
* In his first appearances his coat did not show "GAS" written twice on the front as it does from Chapter 666on.
* He shares some similarities with Indigo both the scientist profession, the clown theme (Caesar only in the name) and Voice actor.
* Caesar is the first antagonist to have his own signature soundtrack in the anime, called "Master's Laughter" (Mの冷笑?).
* In the 5th fan poll, Caesar ranked 37th, making him the most popular member of the Donquixote Pirates behind Doflamingo, and over ranking executive Sugar.
* Caesar may be based in part off of the infamous Josef Mengele, a member of a team of doctors who conducted deadly and inhumane experiments on prisoners of Auschwitz in Nazi Germany. Mengele created a kindergarten and play area for his child test subjects and treated them far better than others in the camp, providing better food and living conditions. He gave the children sweets and referred to them kindly, yet was known for his sadistic tendencies and complete lack of empathy towards all test subjects.
* He also shares his name with real-life pirates, Black Caesar and Henri Caesar.