Kuzan

**Kuzan**, better known by his epithet **Aokiji**, is a former Marine admiral and the first one to be revealed. He was nominated by Sengoku for the position of fleet admiral. However, after losing the position to Sakazuki, he resigned from the Marines and journeys around the New World on his own.

## Profile and Stats

* **Alias**: Aokiji (Literally meaning "Blue Pheasant")
* **Origin**: One Piece
* **Age**: 49
* **Birthday**: September 21
* **Classification**: Human, Former Marine Admiral, Logia Devil Fruit User
* **Gender**: Male
* **Height**: 303 cm (9'11")
* **Weight**: 260 kg (573 lb)
* **Skin Color**: Tan
* **Eye Color**: Black
* **Hair Color**: Black
* **Attire**: White buttoned-up vest with standing collar, long-sleeved navy blue shirt, white trousers, black dress shoes, yellow tie divided geometrically by black lines, sleep mask, and white Marine admiral's coat (golden epaulettes and blue cuffs)
* **Alignment**: Neutral
* **Status**: Active
* **Powers and Abilities**: Chilly-Chilly Fruit, Haki (Armament Haki), Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant, Immense Durability and Endurance, Immense Strength, Immense Speed, Enhanced Hearing, Master Strategist and Tactician
* **Notable Attacks/Techniques**: Ice Block: Partisan, Ice Block: Pheasant Beak, Ice Sword, Ice Ball, Ice Time, Ice Age
* **Weaknesses**: Kuzan cannot swim and becomes immobilized if more than half of his body is covered in water (though he can counteract this by freezing water). Armament Haki, Seastone, and a superior Logia-type Devil Fruit can nullify his logia intangibility, making him vulnerable like regular people. His regeneration is limited to his Logia body only, as he was unable to regenerate lower part of his biological left leg after fighting Sakazuki. He’s also very lazy and rarely takes fights seriously.

### Power Ranking

* **Class**: **Apex**
* **Attack Potency**: **City level**, likely **Mountain level**
* **Speed**: **High Hypersonic**
* **Lifting Strength**: **Class G**
* **Striking Strength**: Likely **Class PJ+**
* **Durability**: **Mountain level**. Logia Dispersion makes him difficult to kill unless circumvented
* **Stamina**: At least **Metahuman**
* **Range**: Extended **Melee**, at least Several **Meters** with projectiles and tentacles, his freezing can reach dozens of **Kilometers**
* **Intelligence**: **Genius** (Highly adept and battle-hardened combatant with decades of combat experience, very accomplished in the use of his Devil Fruit ability, should be an exceptional battle commander and possess admirably strategic intelligence and tactical ability given he formerly held the rank of Admiral)
* **Fighting Ability**: **Expert**

## Appearance

Kuzan is an incredibly tall, slim and muscular man, roughly of the same size as the other two admirals Sakazuki and Borsalino, the latter clearly taller than Brook (who was 277 cm (9'1") at the time he met Borsalino) but it seems that he is slightly shorter than Doflamingo who is 305 cm (10'0") tall. He has black, curly hair cut to chin length that fans out at the tips, tanned skin, grown facial hair, a thin mustache, a beard, and an altogether lean, long build.

His original outfit while in the Marines consists of a white buttoned-up vest with standing collar over a long-sleeved navy blue shirt and matching white trousers and black dress shoes, rarely accompanied by a matching suit jacket. He also wears a yellow tie divided geometrically by black lines and a sleep mask on his forehead. Lastly, Kuzan has a white Marine admiral's coat (golden epaulettes and for him being the ice user, blue cuffs) draped over him like a cape, as did the other admirals.

Since retiring, Kuzan's main outfit is similar to what he wore in his 20's. He wears a blue bandana and a dark blue trench-coat along with black pants and a white deep V-neck shirt. He also now wears black cowboy boots and travels with a knapsack carrying his belongings along with his old pair of green round sunglasses.

Following the duel on Punk Hazard, Kuzan received several burn scars spanning from the right side of his neck down to his entire right shoulder and onto his torso. His right hand is also heavily scarred and most noticeably he's lost part of his left leg, for which he now wears a prosthesis made of ice formed from his Devil Fruit ability.

## Personality

Kuzan is a very laid back man, showing no shock or surprise from almost anything. His lack of interest and "Lazy Justice" (as he describes his motto himself) often leads others to believe that he can not possibly be a marine of such a high ranking, which leads them to underestimate him, making him all the more dangerous (it is unknown whether this is a façade or if he is genuinely lazy). However, if he deems a situation worthy, he will take action, as shown when he created a passage to another island for Tonjit at Long Ring Long Land.

In accordance with the age difference between him and the other original admirals, Kuzan does not refer to himself with "*Washi*", the "I" typical for older men but the "I" more frequently used by younger men and teens, the rather rough "*Ore*"; altogether, his speech style is far laxer than that of Borsalino (who speaks exceedingly polite), containing a lot of ellipses and contractions, yet lacking the rude connotation of Sakazuki's speech, and being far calmer than that. He tends to begin addressing people with "*excuse me"/"I hate to interrupt, but…*".

He appears to be the most benevolent of the three original admirals, helping Tonjit at Long Ring Land to cross the ocean with the power of his Devil Fruit and even letting Nico Robin escape the Buster Call on Ohara. He seems to dislike the Seven Warlords, or at least Crocodile, as he said that the only reason he did not kill Luffy was that Luffy had defeated Crocodile.

In contrast to his former colleague, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, Kuzan has a sense of honor, as he keeps his word to not attack the Straw Hat Pirates after accepting a one-on-one battle with Luffy. Kuzan's moral stance is unknown, but it is likely that he follows Moral Justice. He is disgusted by Sakazuki's brutal actions in dealing with situations (such as the Ohara Incident), calling him a fool. While he may follow Moral Justice, he does understand the position his ranking puts him in, as he does not hesitate to do what is necessary for the needs of the Marines, as shown when he freezes Jaguar D. Saul after the Ohara incident, and attacked Luffy and Whitebeard during the Marineford War.

Kuzan was a faithful follower of the World Government. He always tried to follow orders but sometimes found his own ideals in opposition to his orders. Even as he followed his orders, he would sometimes exhibit a sense of mercy and honor that other World Government officials did not. Like many characters in One Piece (for example, Jaguar D. Saul and Smoker), after witnessing the senseless murder of many innocent people, Kuzan may have come to realize the depths to which the World Government will sink to accomplish their goals.

His relaxed demeanor while performing the more macabre of his duties is similar to that of Borsalino, making him one of the more complicated characters in the *One Piece* series. Despite not really wanting the position of fleet admiral, he was even more opposed to Sakazuki getting the position, and dueled his fellow admiral rather than letting him take it. After being defeated, Kuzan chose to resign from the Marines rather than stay under Akainu's command.

Aokiji during the Paramount War at Marineford grudgingly shredded his usual lax and friendly nature, for a more ruthless and aggressive personality, repeatedly targeting Whitebeard himself with his Chilly-Chilly Fruit, managing to severely injure "Diamond" Jozu and generally hampering any attempts at rescue or escape for the invading pirate fleets.

After the timeskip, having left the Marines and realizing just how truly corrupt the world is, government and military, it becomes clear that Kuzan seems to be only looking after his friends illustrated by his rescue of Smoker from Doflamingo's fury on Punk Hazard.

He has a recurring phrase, "Arara", meaning "Oh, my", which is frequently used when something surprises him.

## Abilities

**Chilly-Chilly Fruit**: A Logia-type Devil Fruit which allows the user to turn himself, as well as his surroundings, into ice. Most attacks are ineffective against the user because its user can simply shatter and reform the ice composing them on impact. Most of this Devil Fruit's attacks require Kuzan to contact his enemy directly to freeze them, yet Kuzan found ways like creating ice spears or ice tentacles to extend his combat range. His freezing powers are so vast that even Gray (who is extremely resistant to the cold), shiver from the sheer coldness of his Devil Fruit.

* **Ice Block: Partisan**: Kuzan creates several spears of ice and then hurls them at the enemy.
* **Ice Block: Pheasant Beak**: Arguably the source of Kuzan’s nickname. Kuzan releases a massive wave of ice in the shape of a pheasant in a single blast.
* **Ice Sword**: Kuzan picks up several thin objects, such as blades of grass, and throws them into the air. He then blows on them with an icy breath that freezes them into a large, jagged sword of ice. He does not always need to pick up objects to create the blade though.
* **Ice Ball**: Kuzan freezes his opponent in a giant sphere of ice from a distance.
* **Ice Time Capsule**: Using his powers, Kuzan sends a wave of ice along the ground, anything it hits is frozen in place. (Unnamed)
* **Ice Time**: Kuzan touches his opponent's body, then freezes them into a human ice statue. They can remain alive in a form of suspended animation for some time in their icy prison, but any decent hit will shatter them to pieces. If the ice is melted quickly and carefully the victim can return back to normal without any lasting repercussions.
* **Ice Age**: An attack used only near the ocean or another large area of water. Kuzan places his hand in the water, then in an instant freezes it (along with anything in/on it) completely solid. The actual extent of the ice can stretch for miles and last for over a week. The attack can still be conducted as long as the ice he controls is in contact with both himself and the area he wishes to freeze. This process is nigh-instant, can effect massive areas, and can take weeks to thaw.

**Haki**: There are normally two types of Haki regular people can tap into: the Observation Haki which allows individuals to sense the presence of others, and Armament Haki which allows individuals to create an invisible armor around them. There is however a third type of Haki, Conqueror's Haki, that only a few individuals can use. Kuzan isn't one of these people.

* **Armament Haki**: A form of Haki that allows the user to create an “invisible armor” around themselves. With that, they can protect himself from attacks, and if trained well, use it to deliver stronger attacks. Besides the increase of strength, it is the only form of attack that doesn’t involve Seastone that can hit any Devil Fruit user, being able to hit the user’s original body even if it’s a Logia user. It can also be imbue in weapons.

## Trivia

* The design for Kuzan's face is based on the late actor Yusaku Matsuda. The character that the actor played in the TV series and movie "Detective Story" (Tantei Monogatari) even had a similar hairstyle, clothing and wore the same sleep mask design. Kuzan's birthday is even based upon Matsuda's.
* His alias and other admiral aliases (Aokiji, Akainu, and Kizaru), are taken from Momotaro legends (Momotaro met Pheasant, Dog, and Monkey as friends to accompany him in his journey).
* Kuzan's given name can mean "Nine Mountains" if written in kanji (九山 (Kuzan?)), a phrase repeatedly named in post-timeskip One Piece.