Aokiji is a powerful member of the Blackbeard pirates and here’s how he joined them.
Kuzan is a very memorable character in One Piece who was introduced to the fans before the 2-year timeskip for the very first time. Making his debut during the Water Seven saga, Kuzan was revealed to be an Admiral of the Navy. It was through him that it was made known to the fans that the Admirals are actually the greatest military force when it comes to the Navy. He played a significant role in the back story of Nico Robin and, later on, also took part in the Paramount War.
Among the Three Animals that were introduced before the timeskip, Kuzan was the most likable one by far and fans certainly grew an attachment to him, especially since he saved Robin. After the 2-year timeskip in One Piece, Kuzan has now joined the Blackbeard Pirates and is the 10th Titanic Captain of the crew. His journey leading up to this pirate crew has been long and quite interesting.
Kuzan And Sakazuki
Kuzan and Sakazuki were raised through the ranks of the Navy together and, as such, there was a certain level of friendship between the two. Even during their time as Vice Admirals, it was pretty clear that they had very different ideas of what justice was. Kuzan believed in Lazy Justice and his version of justice was very different from Sakazuki’s Absolute Justice. Whereas Sakazuki would kill and do the worst of things in the name of justice, Kuzan would think twice before acting.
After the Paramount War, Kuzan and Sakazuki were both recommended for the position of Fleet Admiral. Sengoku, the former Fleet Admiral, recommended Kuzan, meanwhile, a lot of support within the Navy was also building up for Sakazuki. Eventually, this led to a duel between the two friends on the island of Punk Hazard. The duel ended after 10 days and 10 nights of fighting and Sakazuki was declared the winner. Kuzan ended up leaving the Navy and eventually, he found his way to the Blackbeard Pirates. Although fans knew that he had joined the crew, his position on the group was made known only recently, and in the latest chapter, fans got a proper idea of how he ended up joining them.
How Kuzan Joined Blackbeard
Around a year after the conclusion of the Paramount War, Kuzan was seen drinking in desolation on an island. There, the Blackbeard Pirates attacked him and this was likely done because they wanted his Devil Fruit. It is no surprise that this group was hunting for powerful Devil Fruits and Kuzan’s Hie Hie no Mi, a Logia type of Devil Fruit that allows one to become ice and produce and manipulate it at will is certainly a very special fruit. To nobody’s surprise, he ended up defeating them within a matter of seconds and froze all of them. When Blackbeard heard of this, he immediately went to Kuzan and asked him to unfreeze his crewmates.
While most fans expected a fight to break out, the two ended up drinking together and grew very fond of each other. It was there that Kuzan revealed to Blackbeard that he actually doesn’t hate him all that much. What’s more, the two discussed the ideas of Road Poneglyphs as well as the fight with Sakazuki as well. Shortly after, the Blackbeard Pirates tried to discuss stealing his Devil Fruit again and that is precisely when Kuzan ended up freezing some of them once more. Blackbeard, instead of fighting him, proposed that he joined his crew. Kuzan told him that he did not think of himself as a pirate and that he would never join them, however, Blackbeard told him that they only need to have similar interests as pirates and not necessarily get along well.
Kuzan As The Tenth Titanic Captain
Soon after, Kuzan was seen joining the Blackbeard crew. Over the course of years, he then became an important member of the group and is currently serving as a member of the 10 Titanic Captains of the Blackbeard Pirates. The 10 Titanic Captains are powerful commanders under Blackbeard who are responsible for guarding the Admiral of the crew, Teach, himself. When it comes to strength, Kuzan is easily the strongest of the lot as he is a former Marine Admiral who even managed to fight Akainu for 10 days. As a member of the Blackbeard Pirates, he has been a part of several operations.
Recently, he was sent to Whole Cake Island where he ended up kidnapping Pudding and, possibly even taking a rubbing of the Road Poneglyph there. Furthermore, more recently, he was seen stopping Koby from escaping from the Pirate Island. When Garp came to his rescue, Kuzan interfered and ended up freezing Hibari. As such, Garp engaged in a fight with him. It was revealed to the fans that Kuzan was his very first student and now, fans are waiting to enjoy a fight between the master and the disciple. It goes without saying that Garp is deeply saddened by the thought of him becoming a pirate, however, he won’t go easy on him and this fight will be very interesting for fans to witness both from a fighting point of view as well as for the characters of Garp and Kuzan as there are interesting dynamics to explore there.
Src: gamerant.com
