Firetank Pirates

The **Firetank Pirates** (ファイア・タンク海賊団, *Faia Tanku Kaizokudan*; literally meaning "Fire Tank Pirates") is a group that appears in the *One Piece* series. They are an infamous and notable rookie pirate crew who are led by Capone Bege, originated in the West Blue, and arrived on the Sabaody Archipelago around the time the Straw Hat Pirates arrived there two years ago, along with other rookie crews.

The crew were once subordinate to Big Mam, one of the Four Emperors, and her crew on Whole Cake Island. They formed a temporary alliance with the Sanji Retrieval Team to overthrow Big Mam and they ended their alliance after escaping the Whole Cake Chateau.

"*.*"

—About the Firetank Pirates.

## Jolly Roger

The Firetank Pirates jolly roger is a triangular cartoon-like depiction of Bege's face with a cigar in his "mouth", wearing his trademark hat. There is a castle with three towers in the background with little flags atop each of the three towers. There are also two sets of three cannons each pointing forward on both sides of Bege's cartoon-like face and fortifying the castle. The castle motif appears to be based after Bege's Devil Fruit powers from eating the Castle-Castle Fruit, which has made him a human fortress.

Another common emblem the crew uses is a stylized "T" and "F" combined, which is seen tattooed on Vito, and imprinted on the sides of Gotty's shoulder armor and on Bege's Big Father form.

The ship's flag also has a rook with two cross bones, and two towers in the sides.

## Crew Members

The crew seems to have a high number of members, though only a few have been named so far. A mafia family changing their profession into piracy, many of them are dressed in suits, with coats strapped to their shoulders, and/or wearing fedora hats. Hence they, like Crocodile, have a look that is very much like the stereotype of Italian mafia. The members also ride on horses when launching a surprise attack from within their captain's fortress body.

### Main

#### Gallery

Capone Bege
(Captain)
## Crew Strength

"*You guys have already lost... in sheer military force.*"

—Capone Bege.
Every crew member of the Firetank Pirates are shown wielding firearms or artillery, ranging from revolvers to a prosthetic machine gun, with a majority of crew members wielding rifles. Many ride horses into battle and some fire cannons from their captain's body, via his Castle-Castle Fruit ability. By Bege's admission, their crew relies on heavy military force, enough to trump a group of Naval officers that surrounded them. Their principle tactic is ambush, hiding within their captain's body and using the element of surprise to attack and appear to surround their unsuspecting adversaries. They are experts in marksmanship and are highly skilled in volley fire on enemies. The Firetank Pirates are also skilled experts in stealth and infiltration as a few members disguised themselves as chefs of the Big Mam Pirates to secretly jam all communications and block off all routes to the wedding venue while placing a mirror in the wedding cake in preparation for Bege and Luffy's plans to assassinate Big Mam and save the Vinsmoke Family from being murdered. Vito is capable of performing a sneak attack on Bobbin, a very powerful member of the Big Mom Pirates, and successfully silenced him.

They were an extremely strong pirate crew as before they began piracy they were able to defeat four of the Five Families of the West and under Bege's ingenious leadership they were able to defeat infamous Pirate captains in the Grand Line as they made it all the way to the Sabaody Archipelago. In fact, until the failure to assassinate Big Mam, Bege's plans have always succeeded. They, like the Bonney Pirates, were completely unharmed by Kizaru's raid, though they did not encounter the admiral himself or the Pacifista. During their early travels in the New World, they suffered a rather big surprise when they were pulled towards a mysterious, gigantic black sphere, but managed to survive nevertheless. Having defeated mafia gangs and infamous pirate crews, they have gained great experience in battle, knowing exactly what to do when facing off against the Navy. After the time-skip, they have become allied with the Big Mam Pirates, with Bege earning the rank of "Rook", being in charge of security of the Tea Party, and he intends to use this to his advantage of assassinating Big Mom from behind her. The members are shown to be powerful enough to restrain Pekoms, a mink and a powerful member of the Big Mam Pirates, long enough for Bege to personally silence him. At Bege's strict adherence to cleanliness, they could force Charlotte Brûlée, a Devil Fruit user, and Diesel, who is powerful enough to massacre numerous factory worker equipped with firearms, into cleaning up and changing their clothes while still keeping them completely restrained. They could fight off a large number of Big Mam Pirates when rescuing Chiffon.

## Ship

*Main article:* *Nostra Castello*
The Firetank Pirates' ship is the Nostra Castello. It has a fortress theme, having a castle instead of a cabin and equipped with cannons even on the figurehead.

During the timeskip, the design became more elaborate as tank tread were added to the sides that act as paddles.

## Hideout

During their ruse of an alliance with the Big Mam Pirates, the Firetank Pirates set up their hideout on the northwest region of Whole Cake Island. The base of operation is a castle placed on top of a mountain, with the front gates, which has the appearance of a mansion's front, at the base of the mountain. Inside are bathhouses for guests to clean themselves before meeting Bege, who refuses to meet up with anyone who is unclean, and a meeting room with a long table in front of sofas.

## History

### Past

Originating in the West Blue, the Firetank Pirates were originally a massive mafia led by Bege, heralded as one of the Five Families of the West. Due to Bege's sadistic nature they frequently attack leaders of rival mafias and destroyed all enemies who attempted revenge. After Bege grew weary of his dominance he set sailed for the seas as a pirate taking all the members of his mafia with him as his crewmates under his leadership. The Firetank Pirates, however, did not change their modus operandi, as they took down many infamous pirate captains while leaving their crews intact, which earn them notoriety as they traverse the Paradise half of the Grand Line and make it all the way to Sabaody Archipelago.

## Synopsis

### Summit War Saga

#### Sabaody Archipelago Arc

The crew was seen in a restaurant, along with the Bonney, and Hawkins Pirates. The crew later witnessed Jewelry Bonney stopping Roronoa Zolo from attacking a Noble. After Monkey D. Luffy attacked a World Noble, Capone Bege ordered the crew to go to Merman Island in order to not come in contact with Admiral Kizaru.

#### Marineford Arc

After witnessing most of the war on a screen at Sabaody, the Firetank Pirates travel to Navyford by ship, to witness Shanks and Rex ending the war, along with the beginning of the New Age.

#### Post-War Arc

After the Firetank Pirates enter the New World, their ship is drawn upward to a large black object. The crew screams in terror as the object lifts them out of the sea.

### During the Timeskip

One year before the current story line, the crew attempted to invade Big Mom's territory but were defeated. They then became subordinates of the Four Emperors and Bege married Big Mom's 22nd daughter, Charlotte Chiffon to officially seal the alliance.

### Dressrosa Saga

#### Dressrosa Arc

After the Firetank Pirates hear the news about Doflamingo's defeat, Bege orders his men to capture Caesar Clown, as Big Mam's flag is seen behind him.

### Yonko Saga

#### Zou Arc

Capone Bege and his men inside his castle went to Zou alongside Pekoms in order to capture Caesar and the Straw Hat Pirates. After Pekoms tried to let the Straw Hats go to repay them for saving his homeland, Bege had his men shoot Pekoms. Bege's men emerged from his body and captured the four Straw Hats and Caesar, who were brought into his body. Bege then showed Sanji the invitation for him to marry Charlotte Pudding.

Sanji refused to attend the wedding, but the Firetank Pirates told him the consequences for not attending, and Vito gave Sanji a shocking piece of information. The Firetank Pirates let Sanji give a note to his crew, but Sanji used this opportunity to free Nami, Brook, and Chopper from Bege's body. Sanji stole a rifle from one of Bege's men using it to hold Caesar Clown at gunpoint preventing them from going after his friends. Bege was then confronted by Cat Viper, who wanted to know what happened to Pekoms, and he raced away with Sanji and Caesar still inside him. On the way to Whole Cake Island, Vito showed Sanji a photo of his bride-to-be, making the latter lovestruck.

## External Links

* Firetank Pirates *One Piece Encyclopedia*

## Trivia

* The members of the Firetank Pirates tend to refer to their captain as "father", which is another reference to the American mafia.
* Until Chiffon's marriage into the crew, all the known Firetank Pirates members are named after bosses of well-known Italian-American mafia families.