Seven Warlords of the Sea

The **Seven Warlords of the Sea** (王下七武海, *Ōka Shichibukai*; lit. "Royal Seven Warriors (of the) Sea"), or the "**Seven Warlords**" (七武海, *Shichibukai*; lit. "Seven Military Seas"), is a group that appears in the *J-Stars* *FOPT* series created by Hiro Mashima and Eiichiro Oda.

They were a group of seven powerful and notorious pirates allied to the World Government. As a group, they were one of the Three Great Powers that kept the world in balance. In exchange for their allegiance, they were pardoned for their crimes and their bounties wee removed.

However, after two members had each attempted to perform a coup on a World Government country (with the latter member succeeding) as well as commit genocide, they were stripped of their titles and Marine Admiral Fujitora led a campaign to remove the Seven Warlords system.

He achieved this campaign goal during the most recent Levely, as the council of rulers voted to abolish the system; the five remaining Warlords at the time immediately had their bounties unfrozen and became enemies of the World Government once again.

"*The Seven Warlords of the Sea inhabit wild regions, and unlicensed pirates are easy targets for their marauding. The government allows the Seven Warlords to raid the seas in return for a cut of their haul. Other pirates call them "government dogs". But they're tough!!!*"

—Yosaku, explaining about the Seven Warlords.

## Overview

The Seven Warlords of the Sea were seven extremely powerful Pirate Captains who entered into the service of the World Government. The purpose of the Seven Warlords was to have the pirates deal with other pirates. They were also a great symbol of the government’s strength. In return for their alliance with the World Government, every member's bounty was frozen and they had significantly more leeway to commit crimes.

Although they worked for the World Government, the Seven Warlords themselves typically did not care about nor respect the Government (excluding Kuma Bartholomew, who was later modified into their puppet) or even the other Warlords, and were often considered by the Marines to be no different from any other pirate. On the other hand, they were known at large as "government dogs" and despised by other pirates, but were still feared and respected for their infamous reputation and strength which they gained before, and even after they became Warlords.

The Seven Warlords seemed to be a balance between the chaotic Four Emperors and the orderly Marines. The majority of the Warlords were composed of New World veterans, those who have met the Emperors or even fought against them.

### Contribution

The Seven Warlords were a significant and crucial part of the government’s strength. In the days before the Summit War of Marineford, the then Fleet Admiral Sengoku gravely dreaded the idea of entering into battle against Whitebeard with only one less Warlord after Jimbei was imprisoned.

The government made it a point to only select exceptionally strong pirates to be offered the Warlord position. Some of the Warlords had bounties well over 100,000,000 |berries. However, there was an enormous range in the bounties between the members due to differences in circumstances under which they were recruited, with Whitebeard Jr., who had a bounty of 480,000,000 berries, and Blackbeard, who had no bounty at all at the time.

It should be noted that these are their former bounties, and do not represent the current threat they could achieve as active pirates. Jimbei's bounty, for example, jumped from 250,000,000 berries to 438,000,000 berries after his resignation. Another example is Crocodile, who, with a bounty of 81,000,000 berries, was imprisoned in Level 6 of Impel Down, while Luffy with a bounty of 300,000,000 berries at the time was only imprisoned on Level 5.

Some of the Warlords possessed extremely powerful Devil Fruit powers. Some had powers that were borderline impossible to win against, such as Hancock’s ability to turn people to stone. Others had powers that could cause massive levels of destruction, even to the point of destroying an entire country, such as Kuma’s power to create a powerful air bomb, or Doflamingo’s power to create a massive constricting cage of strings that slash through anything in their path.

Other Warlords were exceptionally powerful combatants, even without Devil Fruits. Mihawk is known as the worlds greatest swordsman and wields on of the 12 Supreme swords, Night. Jimbei is the worlds foremost master of the fish-man fighting style.

## Relationships

Most Warlords seemed to have only limited knowledge of each other, such as Jimbei never meeting Hancock before her visit to Impel Down. However, some others, such as Doflamingo and Crocodile, converse as though they are familiar with each other. In fact, Doflamingo is knowledgeable of Kuma's participation in the Pacifista program, yet does not know of his past relationship with the Revolutionaries.

During these interactions, most of them are hostile, such as Jimbei and Crocodile snarling at each other over matters with Whitebeard.

At times, however, they might be courteous, such as Kuma offering to help Moria in fighting against the Straw Hat Pirates, though the latter angrily refused. Law used to be Doflamingo's subordinate, but eventually, after joining, Law openly betrayed and blackmailed his former superior to resign from the Seven Warlords, threatening not just the man but the balance of the seven once again.

### Relations Between Warlords

The terms that the Warlords were on with each other is best described as very unstable. They have very little (if any) respect for each other and will for the most part not accept help from one another, apparently due to a firm sense of pride. During the meeting of the Seven Warlords where only two members are absent (Hancock and Jimbei), it was stated that the very notion of them working together as a team is entirely unthinkable.

However, Kuma and Doflamingo do not disregard the notion of allying with another Warlord of the Sea: Kuma offered Moria assistance in defeating the Straw Hats or Team Natsu and Doflamingo offered Crocodile an opportunity for a partnership. Both offers were refused due to pride. Nonetheless, there are occasions that will compel the Warlords to temporarily cooperate such as Hancock Boa offering Jimbei sanctuary on Amazon Lily from the Marines' pursuit in the aftermath of the Summit War of Marineford.

During Boa Hancock's visit at Impel Down's Level 6, Jimbei stated that he did not know much about her, possibly suggesting that only some of the Seven Warlords are familiar with each other or even have personally met all the other members. Despite this, all of the Warlords of the Sea (including former) introduced prior to the timeskip fought at the war between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Marines.

## Synopsis

### *Fairy One Piece Tail*

#### During the Timeskip

A pirate who killed Z's group of Marine trainees and took Z's arm was invited to become a Warlord. It is unknown if he actually accepted it or not.

Within the next two years, the World Government filled its three open Warlord positions.

The Supernova Law Trafalgar was accepted as a Warlord of the Sea after he sent the hearts of 100 pirates. The other vacant position was occupied by Weevil Edward, a man who claimed to be the biological son of Whitebeard.

##### *3D2Y*

World Government requested Seven Warlords's intervention on World Byrnndi and his crew. Only Hancock Boa, Buggy and Mihawk Dracule positively answered, facing the members and the captain of the World Pirates.

#### After the Timeskip

##### *Fish-Man Island Saga*

###### *Return to Sabaody Arc*

After two years, Kuma was relieved of his task to guard the Sunny by Franky. The heavily injured Warlord departed, now a mindless servant like the rest of the Pacifistas with no more free will left.

Hancock and her crew later picked Luffy up from his training and brought him back to Sabaody Archipelago. As Luffy, Natsu, Lucy, Happy, and Franky departed to find the others and assist on Fairy Tail's revival, Hancock and her crew held back the Marines.

##### *Dressrosa Saga*

###### *Punk Hazard Arc*

Law took refuge in the island of Punk Hazard illegally, forming an alliance with Doflamingo's subordinates Caesar Clown and Monet. When the Straw Hat Pirates arrived on the island, Law asked to form an alliance with them in order to take down Kaido of the Four Emperors. Doing so would require them to take out Doflamingo's SMILE production that served Kaido by destroying the SAD Factory on Punk Hazard.

Despite being discovered by Caesar and his subordinates, and having to deal with one of Doflamingo's top officers Vergo, Law, the Straw Hats, and a the G-5 platoon led by Smoker and Tashigi successfully destroyed the SAD production and captured Caesar.

With Caesar as a hostage, Law gave Doflamingo the ultimatum to step down from the Seven Warlords if he wanted Caesar back. Doflamingo used his connections in the highest echelon of the World Government to manipulate the news to claim that he had left the Seven Warlords, despite not actually having done so.

###### *Dressrosa Arc*

With Doflamingo seemingly going along with their deal, Law and the Straw Hats went to Dressrosa not only to return Caesar, but to permanently cripple SMILE production by destroying the SMILE Factory on the island. However, Doflamingo revealed his deception, and Admiral Fujitora, who had been sent to assist him, revoked Law's Warlord title for working on equal terms with the Straw Hats.

However, Law revealed that he had only allied with the Straw Hats to take down Doflamingo to avenge his deceased mentor Corazon. After Law was defeated by Doflamingo, the Straw Hats joined with a dwarf militia to depose Doflamingo and destroy his SMILE Factory. They succeeded in liberating Dressrosa from Doflamingo's control by freeing all the people he had transformed into toys, forcing Doflamingo to trap everyone on the island and start a "game" to eliminate all of his enemies.

Due to his Warlord position, Fujitora was left unable to go against him despite his illegal activities, but the Straw Hats and Law gained enough support from the people on Dressrosa to battle and take down Doflamingo and his crew. When Doflamingo was finally defeated, he was arrested and put on a ship going to Impel Down. Law's bounty was raised, confirming his removal from the Seven Warlords.

##### *Four Emperors Saga*

###### *Levely Arc*

After Kuma finished his mission to protect the Thousand Sunny, he became a slave to the World Nobles.

###### *Wano Country Arc*

Mihawk was sitting in his castle as Perona learned from a newspaper that Moria was alive. As Perona was leaving, Mihawk mentioned an interesting topic that was brought up at the Levely.

During the Levely, due to the actions of Crocodile and Doflamingo having brought tragedy to two government-allied kingdoms, the representatives of the World Government's member nations voted to officially dissolve the Seven Warlords system. The remaining five Warlords had their statuses revoked. With the exception of Kuma who is under the custody of the World Nobles, the Marines deployed fleets to attack the fugitive Warlords of the Sea.

## Real-Life and Manga Differences

They are loosely based on the privateers of the old European naval superpowers. The privateers were approved pirates, considered heroes in their homeland and pillagers in others. Their main goal was to plunder ships and towns of rivals and enemies of their allied nation. Historically, Sir Francis Drake and Don Miguel Enríquez were among the most successful, with their earnings surpassing the equivalent of a hundred million dollars by modern standards and their political influence reaching the royalty of their time.

## Etymology

* The Japanese name for the Seven Warlords of the Sea literally means "Royal Seven Warriors (of the) Sea", while the Japanese abbreviation for the Seven Warlords literally means "Seven Military Seas".

## External links

* Seven Warlords of the Sea *One Piece Wiki*
* Seven Warlords of the Sea *Villains Wiki*