Jimbei

, also known as , is a fictional whale shark Fish-Man in the anime and manga series One Piece, created and written by artist Eiichiro Oda. The character made his first appearance in the 528th chapter of the series, which was first published in Japan in Shueisha's ' magazine on January 19, 2009. He is the tenth member of the Straw Hat Pirates and the ninth to join, serving as their helmsman. Jimbei dreams of equality between humans and Fish-Men — he is from Fish-Man Island near the sea floor, and hopes to one day bring Fish-Man Island society to the surface under the sun.
Jimbei is originally introduced as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. He is imprisoned by the World Government after he refuses to support the execution of his friend and Monkey D. Luffy's brother Portgas D. Ace. Originally Jimbei was a member of the Sun Pirates, which was formed to protect formerly enslaved Fish-Men and Mermen from being re-enslaved. Jimbei joined the Seven Warlords to obtain a World Government pardon for his crew members. This included those who were once enslaved, but also the Fish-Man supremacist Arlong who went on to do great harm to Nami's hometown.
Luffy frees Jimbei, who resigns his position as Warlord of the Sea. Throughout the story Jimbei serves as a commander under three successive Emperors of the Sea in order to protect Fish-Man Island: Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Straw Hat Luffy. He currently has the third-highest bounty in the crew after Luffy and Roronoa Zoro.
Creation and conception
Jimbei is based on an honorable yakuza gangster. Though he did not appear in the story until Chapter 528, Jimbei was first mentioned in Chapter 69. Jimbei was originally designed to look like an with a gallant but hotheaded personality suitable for a yakuza boss. He was originally supposed to be an actual antagonist, similar to Franky. In this conception Jimbei would have been Arlong's shadowy boss As an early member of the Straw Hats, Jimbei was going to be a Helmsman named "Saigo" and described as a good friend of Roronoa Zoro.
Abilities and powers
Jimbei's abilities include Fish-Man Karate & Jujutsu, super strength, water manipulation, Armament and Observation Haki. A master of and , he is capable of manipulating water as if it were a tangible cloth. Jimbei can communicate with fish, an ability more usually associated with merfolk, allowing him to enlist the help of whale sharks.
History
Sun Pirates
After growing up in a rough part of , Jimbei became a soldier in the nation's royal army. Jimbei's mentor Fisher Tiger frees many of those enslaved in the World Government's capital of Mery Geoise, turning him into a wanted outlaw. Fisher Tiger forms the . Jimbei, the members of the Arlong Pirates and the Macro Pirates unite under Fisher Tiger's Sun Pirates. Arlong and Jimbei considered Fisher Tiger a big brother, although they were not biologically related. The Sun Pirates were made up of fish-men and mermen and attacked any pirate ship they saw, but no matter who is on it, they would never kill directly. Their Sun insignia was created to cover up the mark of the Celestial Dragon's enslavement, "Hoof of the Soaring Dragon". Fisher Tiger reveals upon his deathbed that he was actually enslaved and escaped, later returning to free other enslaved peoples, including Boa Hancock and her two sisters. With the Sun insignia, the World Government was unable to claim the slaves due to mass confusion over whether they were Sun Pirates or not.
The Sun Pirates were made up of several Fish-Men and mermen. was a sea bream-type fish-man who was the crew's founder. After he died from blood loss following an ambush by the Marines, he was succeeded as captain by Jimbei. is a goatsbeard brotula-type merman who is the crew's doctor and became first mate during Jimbei's leadership. Aladine would later marry , 's 21st daughter who is a hybrid of a human and a hammerhead shark-type merman. , a sawshark-type fish-man and fish-man supremacist. Arlong's powerful jaws have rapidly re-growing teeth capable of rending stone. His favorite weapon is the sword-like with its six tooth-shaped blades. There are three Arlong Pirates officers: is a manta ray-type fish-man who also uses "Fish-Man Karate", and is a Japanese whiting-type Fish-man who spits water as if they were firing bullets. , often called , is an octopus-type fish-man first introduced as the first mate of the . Being half octopus, he can spit large quantities of black ink and use suction pads to stick to walls. He fights using six swords, holding one in each arm-tentacle. After his crew is defeated by the , he escapes from captivity and opens a floating takoyaki restaurant. He becomes close friends with , a kissing gourami mermaid, and , her pet starfish and master. Hachi makes things right with the Straw Hat Pirates and reunites with Jimbei on Fish-Man Island. The final faction of the Sun Pirates was composed of the former , formed by , and .
While originally Jimbei and Arlong saw humans similarly, Jimbei would go on to clash philosophically with Arlong. Jimbei believed diplomacy could resolve the inequality between Fish-Men and humans. Big Mom initially refuses to accept Jimbei's request to leave her crew for the Straw Hats, leading to Jimbei to proclaim, "a man who would be crewmate of the future king of the pirates cannot afford to tremble in the presence of a mere emperor!!! ... As of this moment, I quit the Big Mom Pirates! I appreciate all you have done for me." After cutting ties with Big Mom, Jimbei and the Sun Pirates save Luffy, Sanji, Nami, Chopper, and Brook from Big Mom's empire. Luffy tells Jimbei to reunite with his new crew in the Wano Country. Jimbei keeps his word and joins the Straw Hat Pirates as the crew's helmsman when he reaches Wano. Emperors of the Sea Big Mom and Kaido form an alliance to take down the Straw Hats, but are defeated by the Straw Hats' Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance. Jimbei becomes recognized as one of Emperor of the Sea Monkey D. Luffy's Senior Officers.
Thematic influence on One Piece
Jimbei first appears in the Impel Down arc, which stands in as a metaphorical hell modeled after Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. The World Government tolerates the enslavement of Fish-Men, mermaids, and mermen, especially by the World Nobles. In one instance a World Noble even attempted to enslave Princess Shirahoshi of Fish-Man Island. One analysis highlights this incident as showing the banality of evil in One Piece regarding the theme of slavery during the 1500s. The highest Jimbei ever placed in a popularity poll was sixth place in the sixth Japanese Jump popularity poll, after Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji. Jimbei ranked as the 18th most popular character in the next popularity poll, the first to be held worldwide. Another noted how Jimbei saving Luffy’s life at Fish-Man Island with a blood donation despite the taboo on Fish-men donating blood humans as "One of the series’ most memorable and striking images".<ref name="Valenzuela" />

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