The marine admirals are some of the strongest characters in all of One Piece,
with the likes of Garp, Akainu or Sengoku being more than capable of
fighting even Yonko-Level Pirates: Which actually makes you wonder:
What WOULD happen if the admirals had actually become pirates instead of marines?
And we are starting this video at lightspeed with Admiral Kizaru: or as he’s known in this timeline,
Captain Borsalino. In case you didn’t know, every admiral has a code name that translates
in japanese to a color and an animal: Kizaru meaning Yellow Monkey. However,
since Borsalino never becomes a pirate in this timeline, he never gets this code name.
So, what would this guy be like if not for the marines? Well, let’s take a look at his
inspiration: Every single admiral is based on a famous Japanese actor. In this case,
Borsalino is based on Kunie Tanaka, an actor well-known for playing thugs,
mobsters, and yakuza members. In addition,
his name, “Borsalino” comes from a French movie called…Borsalino, which is also about a mobster.
In fact, just look at this old flashback version of Borsalino and it’s even easier
to tell that this guy was clearly modeled on a gangster. Unlike other admirals,
he doesn’t go on and on about justice. It seems
more like he’s just an enforcer for the most powerful gang around: the world government.
But let’s say baby Borsalino didn’t want to be a square, working for “the man” - where would he
go? Well, it seems like an organized crime family would be the perfect place for him,
which would put him right at home on a crew like Capone Bege’s…Unfortunately the timeline
doesn’t work for that since Bege only set sail as a pirate a few years ago in the story. But
we do happen to have another great contender for a mafia family: The Donquixote Family.
That’s right - in this timeline, a young Borsalino looking for a job where he gets
free reign to beat people up would cross paths with none other than the Doflamingo Family.
Trebol and the other executives would make him an offer he couldn’t refuse: in just the
same way that the World Government gives Kizaru free reign to deal with pirates, Doflamingo’s
status as a Celestial Dragon also grants his crew a degree of immunity from consequences.
For the sake of argument, we’ll say that somewhere along the way, Borsalino will still get his
light-light fruit. After all, as underworld brokers, the Doflamingo family is pretty
good at procuring strong devil fruits. We can even say that Pica helps him get the Pika-Pika no Mi.
However, all this does raise a big concern…How can Borsalino be a subordinate on Doffy’s crew
if he’s so much stronger than Doflamingo? Well, it is a bit out of the ordinary for a
crew mate to be stronger than their captain, but does Borsalino really strike you as the
ambitious type? He was more than happy to sit back and relax while Sakazuki and Kuzan fought
over the Fleet Admiral position. As long as he has the power to do what he wants,
Borsalino seems more than happy to play second fiddle to someone else and not have to carry
all the burdensome responsibilities that come with being the top dog.
Doflamingo having a powerhouse like Borsalino working with him would totally alter the
landscape of One Piece. The beginning of the trajectory looks the same - they would
capture Dressrosa with ease and Doffy would be named one of the seven warlords. However,
Doflamingo wouldn’t be satisfied stopping there and working as an arms dealer for
the Yonkou. With the additional power afforded by Borsalino, he would expand
his empire and actually become a Yonkou with territory on par with Big Mom’s Totto Land.
I’d even theorize that with Doflamingo being pushed against stronger opponents
and having stronger subordinates, he himself would even grow much stronger
compared to where we saw him in the series. Once the Straw Hats arrived on Dressrosa,
Doffy would have both Borsalino and Fujitora on his side, allowing him to decimate the Straw
Heart alliance. Borsalino would even take out Sanji with a lightspeed kick.
For his status as a Yonkou Commander, Borsalino earns a bounty of $1 billion berries.However,
this bounty doesn’t even compare to the ones we’ll see later.
Fujitora the Purple Tiger - or Issho in this timeline - is a mysterious guy. I mean,
he’s clearly a samurai…and where are samurai from? Wano. And who did
we not hear from at all in the Wano arc? That’s right: Issho.
For the sake of argument, though, with no other leads to go on,
we’re going to assume that Issho is from Wano and it just hasn’t been revealed quite yet.
After seeing the atrocities committed by Orochi and Kaidou in his homeland,
he cut out his own eyes and blinded himself. He then left Wano to wander the world,
much like the character he’s based on: Zatoichi the blind samurai portrayed by Shintaro Katsu.
However, in this timeline, he first wanders, directionless. But after finding and eating
the gravity fruit, Isshin believes he has gained enough power to take his country back. He vows
to take revenge for his homeland and sets sail as a pirate. His first step is to find fellow
allies who are similarly invested in the fight for Wano. It just so happens that several survivors
from Wano were hiding out creating a new life for themselves in the East Blue. In Shimotsuki
Village, most of the citizens fear their ability to do anything against Kaidou, but Isshin does
rally a few people, including a tenacious young swordsman with his eyes set on becoming
the world’s strongest swordsman. That’s right: in this timeline, Isshin’s first mate is none
other than Roronoa Zoro, the great nephew of one of Isshin’s former comrades, Shimotsuki Ushimaru.
As the Fujitora we know has a love of gambling, we think he also wouldn’t be past winning some
more powerful crew mates through the pirate gambling game known as the Davy Back Fight.
After learning about the game from the Foxy Pirates and easily defeating them,
they use this game to recruit more strong allies to advance on the forces of Wano.
Once they finally sail on Wano, Kaidou’s forces would see a fleet of ships approaching bearing
an ominous Jolly Roger: a skull crashing down to Earth like a meteor. The forces
of the beast pirates would be caught completely off guard as giant meteors
crashed down upon Onigashima. The Beast Pirates would be under siege by Issho,
Captain of the Meteor Pirates. Using this as their opportunity to attack, the Red Scabbards
would also come out of hiding to serve as allies in this sudden war on Kaidou and Orochi’s forces.
After a hard-fought battle, a meteor would plunge Kaidou into the depths
beneath Wano to burn in the magma of Mt. Fuji. For defeating a Yonkou,
Isshin would earn a bounty of 3 billion and be named one of the Four Emperors.
Now we need to really stretch our imaginations and ask the question: What if Kuzan was a pirate??....
Oh wait…he already is a pirate. As the Tenth Titanic Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, Admiral
Aokiji -or Blue Pheasant - now going by his real name, Kuzan, is about as pirate as you can get.
However, while we’re using our imagination, let’s write a bit of an alternate history:
In our imagined timeline, Aokiji doesn’t leave the marines after his fight with Akainu. Instead,
he leaves far earlier when his doubts about whether the marines truly represent justice begin:
after the Ohara Incident. After seeing the innocent civilians of Ohara murdered by Akainu,
he decides to leave the Marines in order to seek the truth about what exactly the World
Government was covering up. You see, Kuzan is based on an actor named Yusaku Matsuda,
whose most famous role is playing a private eye in a series called Detective Story - perfectly
fitting for someone who would want to uncover the truth of the world.
Here he rescues his old comrade Saul from his Ice Time Capsule and together they set sail,
hiding a young Nico Robin, the sole survivor of Ohara. Using the resources of Elbaf,
Saul still rescues the saved books from Ohara and hides them away,
and Kuzan and Robin explore the world in secret collecting poneglyphs in order to
uncover the true history. As Robin grows up, she becomes officially recognized as his first mate.
Kuzan is approached by Monkey D. Dragon, leader of the Revolutionaries,
but declines to join forces with them. Theirs is a journey to seek knowledge, not to make war
against the World Government, however, their factions are friendly toward one another.
However, there is another up and coming pirate with a goal
of learning the meaning of the D initial and what happened during the Void Century:
Joining together with Kuzan’s crew as the ship’s doctor is Trafalgar Law.
Due to their low profile and stealthy operations, the Permafrost Pirates are
able to gather the poneglyphs without bringing too much attention to themselves. Their namesake
comes from a combination of Kuzan’s icy abilities along with permafrost’s association with finding
well preserved fossils of extinct animals, fitting for an archaeologist like Robin.
Just imagine: a crew where Robin and Law’s strategic minds can enact plans without Luffy
there to completely ruin them instantaneously, and with the muscle that Kuzan can provide where
it’s needed if they do get into a fight. This crew would probably actually be able
to attain the One Piece…but later on the video, they’ll have some serious competition for it.
Kuzan’s Jolly Roger would be a shivering skull, encased in ice. For threatening
to reveal the true history, Kuzan earns a bounty of 5 billion berries.
Next up, we have an honorable mention, and it’s Kuzan’s own mentor: Monkey D. Garp - No, he’s not
an admiral, but only because he keeps turning down the position. Garp AKA the Luffy’s grandpa AKA the
Hero of the Marines really just makes sense as a pirate: I mean, just look at this picture of him
as a child - does this little wild boy riding a tiger feel more like a marine or a pirate to you?
Now, we’re not 100% sure what Garp’s motivations for joining the marines were in the first place,
but we do know why he refuses to become an admiral. Ever since the God Valley incident, he’s
harbored a hatred for the Celestial Dragons. So in our new timeline, we’ll take it one step further -
whatever happened at God Valley during the battle against Rocks alongside Roger didn’t just convince
Garp to hate the Celestial Dragons - it convinced him to turn his back on the marines entirely.
After God Valley, we know Roger was inspired to seek out the poneglyphs,
uncover the true history, and find Laugh Tale. But this time,
he has his best bro Garp traveling right alongside him as a member of his crew. After Roger’s death,
unfortunately he wasn’t in the position to save Ace. In addition,
his rebellious grandson Luffy might even be inclined to become a marine in this timeline.
But like so many of the Roger Pirates, Garp would take up residence in a key point of the
Grand Line, looking for and aiding the potential Joy Boy. It’s probably not a
coincidence that Crocus lived at the very start of the Grand Line, Rayleigh at the halfway point,
and both of them helped Luffy on his journey. So, Roger would wait at Lodestar Island,
the second to last island of the Grand Line, waiting for Joy Boy to arrive.
For his betrayal of the world government and aiding the pirate king, Garp would
earn a bounty of 5 billion berries.
And what about another person from Roger’s era? Before he was Fleet Admiral, Sengoku must have
held the position of Admiral as well, which makes us ask: What if Sengoku was a pirate?
This one is the absolute wildest in the lineup because out of every character who’s
held the position of Admiral, Sengoku is the least pirate of all. However,
there are a few instances where we see Sengoku’s faith in the marine organization tested. One
of these moments is the death of Rocinante. Others include the cover up of the Impel Down
escape and even the entirety of the Shichibukai system. Could these be enough to make Sengoku,
the quintessential honorable marine, quit, though?
No - but he could pretend to be a pirate as a SWORD member,
a la X-Drake. Fooling absolutely no one, Sengoku would set sail as the Captain of the “Actual
Pirates.” He would frequent places popular with pirates in order to gather secret intel
for the marines. [It would be really great if we could get the “How do you do fellow
kids” meme here but with Sengoku in place of Steve Buscemi and replace kids with pirates]
But should you call him on his bluff, be ready to face down against the One-Eyed
Buddha - his ancient zoan form, but wearing an eye patch like a true pirate would. To
help keep his cover, the marines have given him a very convincing bounty of
10,000 berries. Which is absolutely nothing compared to the last admiral on our list.
Back to the current admirals, though, we have the latest admiral we’ve met in the series:
Greenbull, real name: Aramaki, based on a character from the samurai film
Ronin-Gai named…Aramaki. He seems to use his new position as an admiral to
run amok with his powers. He’s a devotee of Fleet Admiral Akainu and is more than
happy to use violence to try to subjugate Wano under the authority of the World Government.
Had Aramaki just been a pirate, I could definitely see him being a pirate like
Eustass Kid. He enjoys harming the weak or the innocent just because he can. Due to his
survival of the fittest mentality, he also might get along well with the Beast Pirates,
but we have a feeling that without a zoan fruit, Kaidou just wouldn’t have him on his crew.
Instead, in order to reign Aramaki in, the government would probably give him
a position as a Shichibukai. Much in the way he was conscripted into the marines as an admiral,
this way the government would still get to utilize his power while giving
him some free reign to commit the acts of violence he really seems to enjoy.
If you’re sailing at sea and happen to sea a forest coming toward you,
you should probably turn around: It might just be the Wildwood Pirates. You can
tell for certain by their Jolly Roger: a skull overgrown with foliage and ivy. Their captain:
the Forest Man Aramaki, who had a 1 billion berry bounty before becoming a Warlord of the Sea.
Of course, Aramaki might fit in better as the subordinate
of our next marine turned pirate: Sakazuki.
The current Fleet Admiral is an adherent to Absolute Justice.
He hates pirates with every fiber of his being and wants nothing more than to live
in a world without them. So what could every convince him to become a pirate?
Well, based on Sakazuki’s childhood picture, it seems like he had a very difficult and
violent past. My guess is that his hatred of pirates is rooted in his childhood - he
probably suffered greatly at the hands of pirates at some point. But what if
he fell into the cycle of violence and crime instead of trying to rise above it? After all,
his likeness, Bunta Sugawara is known for playing raw, masculine, violent characters.
What if Sakazuki became the pirate… to end all pirates? Many pirates seek the One Piece for
wealth, fame, or power…but not Sakazuki. He wants to find the One Piece with the
singular aim of destroying it - that way it will never inspire another pirate to set sail again.
And he’d have a good shot at doing it, too. There’s an SBS quote from
Oda that once said that if Akainu was the protagonist of the series,
he’d find One Piece in a year. No need for a two year timeskip for this guy.
But wait! That’s actually a misconception based on a mistranslation of that quote:
what Oda actually said is that with a protagonist as strong as Akainu,
he’d finish *writing* One Piece in a year. Hold on. Isn’t that even crazier? I mean,
how much time actually passes throughout a year of publication time during One Piece?
The raid on Onigashima was published over the span of like two real-life
years! Would Sakazuki just sail up on all the emperors,
claim the Road Poneglyphs, and head to Laugh Tale all in like a night?
Maybe so, especially if he recruits similarly ruthless crewmates:
we could absolutely see people like Shiryu, Lucci,
and Aramaki joining Akainu - people who hide their bloodlust behind the banner of justice
would fit right in with his crew, the Bonsai Pirates - named for Sakazuki’s favorite hobby.
Sakazuki would sail for Laugh Tale, his ship flying a Jolly Roger bursting from
the top like a volcanic eruption - similar to how any pirate-inhabited
islands they passed would look once he was through with them. For spreading violence,
carnage, and fear throughout the One Piece world, Sakazuki would be named a Yonkou,
but he would have no interest in the title or holding any territory: only seeking the One Piece.
He would be fated to once again face down Kuzan, but this time not at Punk Hazard,
But: at Laugh Tale. One of them fighting to uncover the true history - the other fighting
to destroy it forever. But we all know how this fight would turn out. Sakazuki would
prove victorious, earning a 10 billion berry bounty and the title of the Last Pirate King,
burning every last remnant of Joyboy’s treasure.
Akainu really is an absolute monster - no wonder Luffy couldn’t do anything to him
at Marineford. But I wonder if things would have been different if Luffy had already had
all his haki and Gear 5 powers at Marineford, which lucky you for, you can find out right
now in this video right here. Shanks for watching, and i see you in the next one.