We hear a lot about the Lunarians in One Piece but we do not see a lot of them. How did they go extinct? No one knows but we get a glimpse of their powers from the Last-Standing Lunarian, King. First by rank of the Beast Pirates lead performers and Kaido’s right-hand man, King hails from the top of the Red Line and has been recruited by Kaido even before the Beast Pirates was formed. As a character, King makes the fans wonder, “Who is beneath that mask?” “What makes him so loyal to Kaido?” and many other questions. If you’re one of them, you might find your answers if you continue to read on.
Who Is King In One Piece?
Alber, who was bestowed the name “King” by Kaido upon their first meeting, is the only survivor of a legendary tribe known as the Lunarians. The Lunarians are said to be the strongest form of humanity to have ever existed. Being the last of his kind, the World Government sought the source of this power and made Alber, a teenager at the time, a research subject at Punk Hazard. Kaido, who was also there for the same reasons, was escaping when he found Alber and took an interest in him. This was where he was recruited, given the name “King”, and became Kaido’s right-hand man.
A huge character fully clad with armor and a mask to hide his distinct Lunarian features, he embodies the enigmatic aspect of One Piece. His majestic aura does not do enough justice to the powers he possesses. He is the most trusted subordinate with the highest strength after Kaido and has a bounty of 1,390,000,000 berries, which, we daresay, undermines his strength even more. By the attributes of his race, he emits fire from his body and makes exceptional use of it during combat. He has dubbed the nickname “Wildfire” for this very reason. He is so dangerous the World Government offers 100,000,000 berries to anyone with any information on him. His loyalty to Kaido, whom he believes will become the King of the Pirates, has remained unwavering throughout the series.
The Legendary Lunarian Race
The Lunarians are an ancient tribe that resided at the top of the Red Line. It is now home to the Celestial Dragons and called “Mariejois” due to their extinction. Usually recognized by their brown skin and white hair, the strength of the Lunarians is so immense that they were called Gods in their era. They possess speed and durability that are off the charts and a flame hotter than magma. Those flames are emitted from their bodies and can be used in combat. King is the only survivor of this legendary race. There are many fan-made theories concerning the extinction of the Lunarians and how and why they went extinct, but none of them has been confirmed yet.
King’s Devil Fruit and Abilities
King’s devil fruit is an Ancient Zoan type fruit, the Ryu Ryu No Mi (Dragon-Dragon Fruit), Model: Pteranodon. This fruit allows him to transform into a Pteranodon(A prehistoric reptile) or a Lunarian-Pteranodon at will. The powers that come with the fruit, along with the abilities King already has, make him a nearly unstoppable force in the One Piece series.
Upon transformation, more flames cover him and he gains the ability to fly at amazing speeds. He has wings that he can use both as shields and swords. The transformation also comes with an immense upgrade on his already impressive physical abilities and durability. His spear-like beak has immense penetrating power and he’s also able to sink in his beak and catapult forward with terrifying speeds. Almost like a slingshot, but better.
How strong is King Without The Ryu Ryu Fruit ?
Even without his devil fruit, his abilities already make him a formidable foe. By benefit of his race, he possesses super speed, massive physical strength, and incredible resistance to physical harm. His resistance is arguably stronger than even Kaido’s resistance. When Zoro attacked both him and Kaido at different times with the same move in Wano, it showed that while Kaido seemed to have taken slight damage from the attack, it had barely any effect on King. His strength is something that should be feared even more. Being able to corner Zoro, who is proficient in the three-sword style with a massive physical strength of his own, is no child’s play.
Being of Lunarian descent, King is able to create and control fire in either transformations or in base state. Although there are no confirmed drawbacks to the excessive use of these flames, they play a major role in his resistance. When he extinguishes his flames, his resistance drops in exchange for a significant increase in speed. As a swordsman, he is able to keep up with and even overpower the future greatest swordsman, Zoro. This demonstrates the level of proficiency in his swordplay. He wields a huge, sword-breaker-like single-edged blade that he uses to make opponents vulnerable for follow-up attacks. Combining all these with his excellent use of the Busoshoku Haki and Kenbunshoku Haki, who needs a devil fruit?
Who Is King Under The Mask?
Beneath the mask that King adorns is a mysterious, poignant character who rarely ever reveals his emotions. You can say his own motivations and inner conflicts drive him. Also, his undying loyalty to Kaidou is a result of thier recognition of each other. And he owes his life to him for saving him at Punk Hazard. He carries out the most ruthless of deeds for the sake of his captain. His loyalty to Kaido portrays his sense of duty and honor, which guides his actions.
As the story goes on, we see King as a very complex character whose pasts are untold. This makes him a very relatable character as it shows that even in the world of pirates, the strongest people also have their human qualities and inner struggles.
Loyalty to Kaido
After being rescued on Punk Hazard by Kaido, King was enchanted by Kaido’s strength and confidence in being the only one who could save the world and believed Kaido would one day become the King of the Pirates. One could say he is almost similar to Zoro in this sense. At one point, he even assumed Kaido was Joy Boy, which Kaido did not dispute. When Kaido asks him if he really thought he was Joy Boy, King replies that all he cares for is Kaido. He tells Kaido that the man who saved his life – would remain the strongest and he himself would not lose a single fight until Kaido became King of the Pirates. This is where Zoro succeeded, and King failed.
At first, one would think King is loyal to Kaido because he thinks Kaido is Joy Boy. But this is not so because even after Kaido puts forth the assumption that the one who is Joy Boy will probably be the one to defeat him, he responds that he will never appear then. This goes to show the level of confidence he had in Kaido’s powers. The major reason he remained loyal to Kaido is because he wanted to make sure the man who saved his life became the King of the Pirates and remained the strongest man alive.
Wano Arc
As the first in rank among the Beast Pirate’s Lead Performers, King’s impact on One Piece is undeniably huge, especially in the Wano arc. While taking on so many powerful characters, he shows his formidability time and time again. When informed of the incoming Big Mom pirates, King goes to intercept them as he doesn’t want them to enter Wano. After dodging their attacks, he pushes the ship back down the waterfall, which is the entrance to Wano, and endangers Big Mom in the process. Skipping to the Onigashima raid, Sanji rescues Momonosuke but is caught by King, who treats him like a playtoy. It was a very one sided-fight in favor of King.
Marco then joins the fray, and King takes on yet another opponent. While Marco tries to take on Queen, King slashes at his left wing with his sword. However, Marco is unfazed by this as he uses the remnants of that wing to form a fireball and launch it on him. He gets back up and continues to fight. Post-fight scenes, we can see an out-of-commission Marco. After a while, King figures out the plan to treat a heavily injured Zoro. And he tries to attack him but Marco intercepts him in the nick of time. Both King and Queen try to take out Marco for good but are then intercepted by a recuperating Zoro and Sanji, respectively. King overpowered Zoro for a long time till Zoro unlocked Haoshoku Haki and discovered his weakness.
Is King Alive?
To end a fiery and colorful battle with Zoro, King used his strongest attack, Imperial Flaming Wings, which had multiple Dragons on fire, to bring an end to Zoro’s life. But Zoro cut right through them all with his Three-Sword Serpent attack. In the end, Zoro uses his Dragon Damnation attack to slice through King, bringing an end to the battle. Zoro wins the battle, and we can see King falling to his death, but does he die? We can easily say he met his demise, but a World Government theory disputes this. Being a priority research project for the World Government, it’s safe to say King would be recovered and treated only to resurface in a later battle. Or become one of Gecko Moria’s zombies; you’d never know. All eyes are on Oda, the master of surprises, to show the fate of King, the last-standing Lunarian, later on.
