One Piece’s remarkable collection of antagonists is one of many reasons the anime continues to be a smashing success. They color the series and challenge beloved heroes like the Straw Hat Pirates, all while leaving a strong impact on the plot. One such villain is Shiki, the Golden Lion.
Shiki is one of the strongest pirates in the series. He was strong enough to stand side-by-side with iconic pirates like Gol. D. Roger and Whitebeard and even regarded Roger as his rival at one point. His pirate crew, the Golden Lion Pirates, followed his leadership in planning to conquer the world.
Who Is Shiki?
Shiki is also known as the Golden Lion or the Flying Pirate. He was one of most revered pirates in One Piece history and fought for domination of the world’s seas during the era of Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard. He commanded what used to be the largest pirate fleet in the New World, the Golden Pirates, and was the first person to ever escape from the infamously inescapable prison, Impel Down.
The Golden Lion Pirates
Forty-four years before the start of the series’ present day, Shiki’s former crew, the Rocks Pirates, suffer defeat to the yet-to-be Pirate King Gol D. Roger and a Marine known as Garp. After this defeat, the crew, which also consisted of legends like Edward Newgate, popularly known as Whitebeard, Charlotte LinLin, a.k.a Big Mom, and Kaidou, scattered and formed iconic crews of their own.
When he left, Shiki formed his own pirate crew known as the Golden Lion Pirates. He created the crew with the singular aim of conquering the world, and for a time, his fleet of pirates was regarded as the mightiest in the entire Grand Line. They were strong enough to threaten the World Government and even go toe-to-toe with the Roger Pirates.
Shiki has a contrasting relationship with his crew. He is friendly and respectful towards those he’s closest to and considers his inner circle, like Dr. Indigo, but he treats his other subordinates very badly. He doesn’t accord them the same level of cordiality and has little to no regard for them. After Roger was captured and sentenced to death by the Marines, Shiki took the news badly and shot one of his crewmates in the leg just because he brought him the message.
Amongst his crew, Shiki is closest to Dr. Indigo and a large red gorilla named Scarlet, both of whom have been with him the longest. He usually engages in short skits and comedic routines with them in an attempt to entertain others, but the others often ignore their performances.
Aside from Dr. Indigo, Scarlet, and a handful of navigators, the rest of the crew is largely made up of mutated animals, the creations of Dr Indigo using the SIQ formula.
The Golden Lion And The Pirate King
Shiki and Roger met as young pirates, but even then, they never saw eye to eye on anything. Shiki believed the world should be conquered and controlled, but Roger didn’t desire control. He wanted complete freedom instead. This difference in ideology sparked up many confrontations between them over the years, most notably the infamous Battle of Edd War.
The pair had a difficult relationship. They started off as enemies and often challenged each others’ views on the world. But after their iconic battle, Shiki began to see Roger as a man he could respect and acknowledged him as his rival. On hearing about Roger’s capture, he despises his imprisonment and hates the fact that the execution will be at East Blue. East Blue is one of the weakest Seas and Shiki considers it as an insult to the Pirate King’s legacy so he angrily storms Marineford, the Marine headquarters.
The Battle of Edd War
After hearing that Roger had discovered one of the dangerous Ancient Weapons, Shiki went to him and proposed that the two team up and use the joint power of the weapon and the Golden Pirates’ immense numbers to subdue the world. Unfortunately for Shiki, Roger outrightly refused, and this refusal sparked one of the series’ most iconic battles: the Battle of Edd War.
With the pair being fierce pirates, the Battle, of course, happened at sea. The Roger Pirates were a powerful crew, but they were ultimately not a match for Shiki’s massive fleet. However, before Shiki could claim victory, the tide turned against him, and a wild storm blew in, destroying half of his armada.
The Golden Pirates could not recover from the loss, and Roger eventually won. The carnage was so severe that Shiki ended up with part of a steering wheel embedded in the middle of his head, giving him a rooster-like appearance. After healers inform him that removing it would kill him, he decides to leave it in and still bears it in his head years later.
The Battle of Edd War is one of the most crucial fights of Shiki’s life. It not only changed his appearance forever but also sparked his lifelong respect for Roger.
Why Was Shiki Imprisoned In Impel Down?
Shiki’s imprisonment happened as a consequence of Roger’s capture and execution by the Marines. Three years after the Battle of Edd War, Shiki received the news of his rival’s imprisonment and attacked Marineford, determined to give the Pirate King a more honorable end by killing him himself.
While trying to get to Roger, he killed numerous Marine soldiers before facing Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, Luffy’s grandfather. The officers stood their ground against Shiki, and after a tense battle that ended in half of Marineford being wiped out, they were able to defeat and imprison him in Impel Down.
How did Shiki Lose His Legs?
Following his defeat at Marineford, Shiki is in chains on Level 6 of Impel Down, an impenetrable prison. After some time, he became determined to leave and decided to sever both his legs to escape his Sea Stone shackles.
After cutting them off, he used his Fuwa Fuwa no Mi Devil Fruit to levitate himself away from Impel Down, becoming the first person ever to escape the prison. He later retrieved his swords, Oto and Kogarashi, and grafted them onto the bleeding stumps of his legs.
The Fuwa Fuwa Devil Fruit
The Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, or Float Float fruit, is one of the legendary Devil Fruits native to the One Piece anime. This one, in particular, is a Paramecia-type fruit that grants its user the ability to fly and make anything they touch float as well. Shiki is the current wielder of the powers of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, and that’s actually how he got his alias: the Flying Pirate.
Shiki can freely control the movements of any non-living matter he touches through a telekinesis-like technique. He often uses these powers in combat by throwing objects at his opponents or using them to form shield-like structures to protect himself from attacks. Even though Shiki cannot use the powers of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi cannot on living matter like people, animals, or plants, it can still inflict massive damage in battle. Shiki also used his Devil Fruit to construct a large island base in the sky called Merveille.
Shiki’s Powers And Abilities
Shiki’s most notable abilities come from his Fuwa Fuwa no Mi Devil Fruit, but that’s not all the Golden Lion is capable of. He was once a master swordsman, and his phenomenal prowess was on par with legends like Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard.
Before his imprisonment in Impel Down, he wielded a pair of double-edged swords known as Oto and Kogarashi, which he used to tear through a whole Marine army before he fell at the hands of Sengoku and Garp. He still uses them to fight, but since he attached them to his legs, he now strikes enemies by using a series of kicks to send powerful long-range slashes.
Shiki also has an impressive amount of physical strength and endurance. In his prime, he was able to take down multiple Vice Admirals without incurring any major injuries. After cutting off his legs, he shrugs off the pain and easily adapts to using his swords as make-shift prosthetic legs. When he faced the Straw Hat Pirates, he fended off both Sanji’s kicks and Zoro’s slashes with ease and matched Luffy’s powerful Gear 2 attack.
He is also an exceptional strategist and very intelligent. He was able to gather and manage over 50 divisions of the Golden Lion Pirates and established a secure aerial base that went undetected for years.
One Piece Film: Strong World
Shiki is the main antagonist of the non-canonical standalone One Piece Film: Strong World. The film explores Shiki’s time as Admiral of the Golden Lion Pirates and his plan to invade the world using dangerous, genetically modified animals. It also features his first direct interaction with the Straw Hat Pirates. Before this, he initially had a run-in with them in the Little East Blue Arc after one of his creations, a giant mutant beetle called Boss escaped from Merveille. Shiki hired the Amigo Pirates to bring the beetle back, but they were interrupted by Luffy and his crew. He never retrieved it and never knew of the Straw Hats’ involvement.
In Strong World, Shiki emerged from his 20-year wait in Merveille and unleashed his enhanced animals on East Blue and Marineford as a warning to his enemies: the Marines and the World Government. He later ran into Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates coincidentally.
Shiki and The Straw Hats
After Nami detected an incoming storm, Luffy sent a warning to Shiki, and they were both able to safely avoid it. Shiki then shot his navigator and boarded Luffy’s ship, the Thousand Sunny, to meet the crew that saved him, particularly Nami, whom he intended to kidnap. After kidnapping her, he tried to convince her to join his crew as a navigator, but she refused, only conceding after Shiki defeated and threatened to kill the Straw Hats.
Shiki allowed Nami to send a farewell message to her crew with a Tone Dial but was unaware that she was actually plotting against him. During his Sakazuki ceremony, the recovered Straw Hat Pirates attacked him and were able to destroy his base. In the moments before he fell to Luffy’s Gear 3 attack, he remarked that he was once again fated to be defeated by a man from East Blue, a nod to his former rival, Gol D. Roger. We do not know about his whereabouts following this defeat, and he is yet to make an official appearance in the canonical One Piece plot.
