Shiryu

**Shiryu** (シリュウ, *Shiryū*), also commonly known as "**Shiryu of the Rain**" (雨のシリュウ, *Ame no Shiryū*), is a fictional character and antagonist of the *One Piece* series. He was the Head Jailer of Impel Down until he was imprisoned for his excessive violence towards the prisoners. Due to the riot caused by Monkey D. Luffy and the arrival of Marshall D. Teech, he was temporarily released to help quell the riot. However, instead of dealing with the pirates, Shiryu assisted Teech and ultimately decided to join his crew. is currently the Captain of the Second Ship of the Blackbeard Pirates.

"*My future here is no future at all. I've been waiting to meet a man like you.*"

—Shiryu.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Matt Thurston (English), Takayuki Sugō (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)

### Appearance

Shiryu is a rather large man, as tall as Blackbeard. He also possesses a prominent chin. Shiryu is usually seen smoking a cigar.

#### The Young Past Days

In a flashback, Shiryu was seen to have strap on devil-like wings similar to Magellan's and Hannyabal's, however the strap-on wings are not present by the time he was released from his cell, in all likelihood stripped from him to indicate his rank and privileges were revoked for his excessive cruelty.

#### Pre-Timeskip

While imprisoned, he was allowed to keep his uniform, along with a black officer's hat with a red stripe that has white ear-flaps on the sides, and maroon gloves, rather than wearing the prisoners' striped shirt. He also wears a long white, yellow, and black jacket over it, draped over like a cape. The Japanese kanji on the back of his jacket reads **Goku** (獄), which means "prison".

#### Post-Timeskip

After becoming the captain of the 2nd fleet, Shiryu remains in his Head Jailer uniform, but the Impel Down symbols on his hat, collar and belt have also been exchanged for jolly roger skulls.

* Hair Color: Light Brown
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Black
* Age: Not Known
* Birthday: October 5th
* Height: Not Known
* Weight: Not Known

## Personality

"*My apologies...*"

—Shiryu, sarcastically apologizes to his fellow subordinates after having murdered them as he "tests" his sword after his long-time imprisonment.
Shiryu is extremely bloodthirsty who enjoyed killing people any time he can. He massacred numerous prisoners within the walls of Impel Down to the point that Magellan could no longer overlook his murderous behavior. He also struck down his subordinates right after being released from prison, while giving a sarcastic apology. He is fond of his blade and enjoyed testing it against others, even if they are far below his level of power. He would take personal care in maintaining his sword as shown after the timeskip. He is also completely calm and cool-headed, even in tense and unexpected situations. He is also cautious, because he warns Blackbeard Pirates not to underestimate Magellan and he lectures them that they should have prepared themselves properly for the New World.

Shiryu is apparently very deceitful and treasonous by nature, as he offered to help Magellan fight for the prison if released, but instead betrayed his former superior and wreaked havoc, killing many subordinates; however, Magellan did refuse to retract Shiryu's death penalty no matter what, giving him very little choice outside of betrayal to escape it. He has since become a loyal member of the Blackbeard Pirates.

He's also a smoker. When he got out of prison to help Magellan, the first thing he wanted was a lighter to smoke his cigar.

Shiryu also believes that the Seven Warlords of the Sea are just pirates, claiming "once a pirate, always a pirate" when the Impel Down staff referred to Blackbeard as a traitor. Despite this, he was willing to aid the Blackbeard Pirates and even became a member himself. Shiryu believes in fate; believing that it was fate that brought Blackbeard to him, and that fate told him to join the crew. He has shown that he does not care much about personal details; when asked by Fleet Admiral Sengoku about what happened to Magellan; he told him to find out for himself. He appears to have a very strict disposition towards those around him, be they jailors or pirates, and has also shown himself to be very irritated and aggravated by the Blackbeard Pirates for not preparing themselves properly for the New World Region.

Though Shiryu is one of Blackbeard's men, he is distrustful towards anyone who hasn't earned his respect. He expressed skepticism in his captain once he initially joined the group, thinking himself and the new recruits from Level 6 of Impel Down should disband from the Blackbeard Pirates if Blackbeard failed to acquire the powers of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. He is also rather a very shady individual, and Blackbeard compared him in that regard to Kuzan; however, G. Zass Burgess considered Kuzan untrustworthy due to his former background as a Navy, but not Shiryu, who acts the way he does because he's truly cruel-hearted.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Blackbeard Pirates
	+ Marshall D. Teech
	+ G. Zass Burgess
	+ Doc Q
	+ Raffit
	+ Stronger
	+ Van Ogre
	+ San Juan Wolf
	+ Vasco Shot
	+ Catarina Devon
	+ Avalo Pizarro

### Enemies

* Gol D. Roger
* Monkey D. Rex
* Red-Haired Pirates
	+ Shanks
* Whitebeard Pirates
	+ Edward Newgate
	+ Portgaz D. Ace
* Straw Hat Pirates
	+ Monkey D. Luffy
* Jimbei
* World Government
* Bonney Pirates
	+ Jewelry Bonney

## Abilities and Powers

As the former Chief Guard of Impel Down, Shiryu had command over lower ranking employees of the fortress. However, due to him abusing the power of his station, he was stripped of his rank and privileges.

### Physical Abilities

His strength is said to be equal to the Chief Warden Magellan. However, since Magellan's work hours are limited due to his diarrhea, Shiryu was considered more dangerous. Ivankov noted that Impel Down was completely impenetrable due to the prison being under the protection of both Shiryu and Magellan, and even claimed that if Shiryu was still on duty as the Chief Guard instead of being imprisoned, Luffy and Bentham would never have survived in their mission to break Trace out of Impel Down. In fact, Magellan himself deemed Shiryu to be such a powerful menace that he had Shiryu imprisoned in Level 6 where only the most powerful and dangerous criminals are placed. He has extremely formidable speed, being able to cut down several Impel Down officers in a split second. He has shown himself to possess incredible superhuman endurance. This is best demonstrated when he took a Tremor-Tremor Fruit shock wave from Whitebeard (albeit not a direct hit), and later a direct hit from Sengoku's shock wave in his Daibutsu form, being sent back a great distance and then getting up with only a small amount of trouble. After the time-skip, he is officially became the Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates 2nd ship and one of the **Ten Titanic Captains** who are the most powerful members of the Blackbeard Pirates that personally guard the Emperor, Blackbeard.

### Stealth Master

Shiryu has proven to have exceptional capabilities in stealth. When he planned to defect to the Blackbeard Pirates, Shiryu could infiltrate Impel Down's monitor room completely undetected and sneak past the extremely high security of Impel Down to destroyed all the communication devices. He even sneaked up on a security guard who was reporting to Magellan and killed him without being noticed.

### Swordsmanship

Shiryu is extremely proficient in wielding his nodachi, having used it to kill numerous prisoners of Impel Down, all who were noted to be powerful and dangerous criminals. When his sword was returned to him after a long term imprisonment, Shiryu killed several of his fellow Impel Down officers in a split second, demonstrating extraordinary precision and dexterity in his swordsmanship.

### Weapons

Shiryu's weapon of choice is a nodachi. It was confiscated from him after Shiyru was imprisoned as a condemned criminal in Level 6. After Magellan released Shiryu to deal with Blackbeard, the sword was returned to him.

## History

### Past

Though the guards of Impel Down have permission to kill prisoners for security reasons, Shiryu heavily abused that privilege by killing many prisoners for his own pleasure. When confronted by Magellan, Shiryu's abuse of his privilege was revealed and he was deemed to be a menace. For that, he was sentenced to death and put on death row in Level 6. As Level 6 prisoners' crimes are deemed too dangerous or embarrassing to be made public, Shiryu's crimes were not heard of by most prisoners, despite their brutality.

## Synopsis

### Summit War Saga

#### Impel Down Arc

When the jailers reached Level 6 after their failed attempt to flood the floor with knock out gas to capture Monkey D. Luffy, Emporio Ivankov, and Inazuma, Shiryu informed them that they had escaped, along with Jimbei and Crocodile, stating that Impel Down had gone downhill without him. He told the jailers to pass word to Magellan that he would be willing to lend him a hand fighting against the escapees. Magellan, after hearing about the Blackbeard Pirates' intrusion into Impel Down, reluctantly agreed to release Shiryu to fight against the unwelcome Warlord, adding that Shiryu's sentence had merely been postponed and that he would not receive anymore chances. However, the moment he was given back his sword, he attacked the jailers who were sent to release him.

He was later seen at Level 1, speaking to Teech and his crew, much to the shock of the guards who were defending against the intruding crew. Blackbeard invited him to join his crew, but Shiryu apparently left the Blackbeard Pirates to their own devices.

Later, Shiryu, was seen slaughtering the guards, destroying the monitor room, disabling the giant Transponder Snail that was responsible for visual reception, and severing all contact lines to the outside of the prison, while stating that he did not want Magellan to come down to where he was.

A while after the Blackbeard Pirates' encounter with Magellan, Shiryu came and saved them with an antidote, stating that they would have died if he had not helped them. Blackbeard once again invited Shiryu into his crew. Shiryu accepted the offer, saying that he was waiting for a man of Blackbeard's stature and the alternative was being sentenced to death. With Shiryu on their side, the Blackbeard Pirates made their way to Level 6 where Blackbeard had the inmates fight each other and later took the survivors to join his crew before leaving the prison.

#### Marineford Arc

Shiryu was seen again when he came with Blackbeard to Navyford. He was spotted along with the other members of the Blackbeard Pirates on the execution platform where they were watching the events unfold on the battlefield. He and the others came to Navyford because they wanted to witness Whitebeard's death. When Sengoku demanded to know what happened to Magellan and Impel Down, Shiryu replied by telling him to find out himself as he had joined Blackbeard. Their conversation was cut short when Whitebeard attacked, but the entire crew escaped unscathed.

When Whitebeard managed to injure Blackbeard, despite the latter canceling out the Devil Fruit power of the former, Shiryu participated in attacking Whitebeard along with the rest of the Blackbeard Pirates, slashing him with his sword. After Whitebeard died, he and the rest of the crew proceeded to aid Teech in assimilating Whitebeard's Devil Fruit power by covering the two pirates in a dark blanket. Despite Teech emerging successful, Shiryu vocally stated beforehand that there was a chance that Blackbeard could fail, musing whether or not the crew would go on or go about their separate ways if that happened. As Blackbeard took control over the former powers of Whitebeard, he wanted to shake Navyford to its core, making it sink. As Sengoku would not allow this to happen, he angrily transformed into his Buddha form and attacked the Blackbeard Pirates with a giant shock wave. He blasted away all the Blackbeard Pirates, except for the captain. It seemed that he did not receive too much damage, as he was able stand up quite easily. He left with the rest of the crew when the Red-Haired Pirates came to Navyford to end the war.

#### Post-War Arc

Blackbeard made his move in the New World, taking out Jewelry Bonney in the process. While the crew was seen bickering amongst each other, Shiryu scolded the crew for being unprepared for the hardships of the New World. The Blackbeard Pirates' raft was brought close to the point of destruction, due to San Juan Wolf's size, and they seemingly got in contact with the Marines to trade Bonney for a battleship. Van Ogre alerted Teech that the battleship had arrived but not for trade because Akainu was on board. Knowing that the deal would not happen, the Blackbeard Pirates fled, leaving Bonney behind to be arrested.

### During the Timeskip

One year after the war at Navyford, the Blackbeard Pirates fought against the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates and ultimately won.

The Blackbeard Pirates used their captain's knowledge of Whitebeard's former territory to conquer it. After Blackbeard became an Emperor, the Blackbeard Pirates started hunting down powerful Devil Fruit users in order to absorb their abilities.

Shiryu was assigned to be the captain of the Blackbeard Pirates 2nd Fleet, while his fellows G. Zass Burgess and Raffit were also promoted to be captains of their own divisions.

### Four Emperors Saga

#### Zou Arc

After Doflamingo's defeat, the Blackbeard Pirates stopped by Dressrosa but were unable to find Burgess. At a certain sea in the New World, Shiryu and Raffit were contacted by Burgess via Transponder Snail. Burgess informed them that he stowed away on a ship that led him to the revolutionaries' base on Baltigo, and had fallen unconscious because of severe injuries inflicted by Sabo. He then told them to inform Teech and get the Blackbeard Pirates to attack the island.

#### Whole Cake Island Arc

The Blackbeard Pirates later attacked Baltigo, and the island was destroyed by the time the Navy and Cipher Pol arrived. However, the Blackbeard Pirates fled after briefly clashing with Cipher Pol and the Navy, also while the fate of the revolutionaries remained unknown.

## Battles

### Canon

* Shiryu vs. unnamed, faceless Impel Down prisoners (more of a massacre than a battle)
* Shiryu vs. Magellan (past battle, unseen, was locked up in Level 6)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Newgate
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Fleet Admiral Sengoku
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Bonney Pirates
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Whitebeard Pirates (under Marco) (unseen, during timeskip)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Revolutionary Army (unseen)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Cipher Pol & Navy (unseen)

## Notes & Trivia

* The sarcastic apology Shiryu gave to the guards he cut down "Kiri-sute gomen" (斬捨て御免; literally meaning "authorization to cut and leave [the body of the victim]") is an old Japanese expression for a samurai's right to strike down an individual of lower class who compromised their honor. In modern days, the term is still used as an advance apology of sorts, with the subtle humor in offering what amounts to an unsympathetic apology.