Koby

Koby is a Marine Captain who trained together with Helmeppo under Vice Admiral Garp's supervision. He is currently a member of the Marine special forces unit SWORD.

He was formerly an involuntary pirate ship caretaker for the Alvida Pirates until he was liberated by Luffy, and he was the first person Luffy befriended on his travels.

He is Luffy's ally during the Romance Dawn Arc. He and Helmeppo are the central characters from the Diary of Koby-Meppo Cover Page Serial and supporting antagonists of the Post-Enies Lobby Arc. Koby is also a brief antagonist in the Marineford Arc.

Appearance

In his first appearance, Koby was a small, timid, chubby boy with pink hair and round-frame glasses.

Due to the passage of time and Garp's training, Koby has grown thinner and taller, standing close to Luffy in height. He has also gained a cross-shaped scar above his right eye, presumably earned under Garp's heavy-handed tutelage. His hair has grown longer and shaggier since his growth spurt, but it has retained its pink color.

Koby wears a standard-issue Marine jacket, pants, and neckerchief as well as a brightly patterned bandanna worn tied across his forehead. Koby's glasses are still present, but he has adopted the habit of wearing them pushed up on his forehead, occasionally using them for reading.

After the timeskip, Koby has grown even taller, reaching Garp's shoulders. He now wears a scarf, a senior officer's Marine coat with the word "justice" on it, a merit on his jacket, and a new bandanna. The scar on his forehead also has grown wider.

Personality

Koby was first introduced as the Alvida Pirates' hapless ship caretaker who lived in fear of both the ship's crew and captain. Two years of forced servitude had robbed him of all hope of escaping as well as his dream of becoming a Marine, leaving him with few goals other than avoiding being bludgeoned to death by Alvida's iron mace. Luffy was less than impressed with Koby's cowardice, describing him as "pretty stupid and useless...and kinda wimpy too". However, Luffy's boundless optimism and single-minded pursuit of his dream rekindled a similar conviction in the downtrodden ship caretaker, allowing him to defy his captors, even under the threat of a brutal death by Alvida's mace.

As the pair continued in their travels, Koby remained timid and cautious, often relying on Luffy to perform dangerous tasks and becoming alarmed by his companion's reckless behavior.

He was also shown to be perceptive, noting that it was "strange" for the citizens of Shells Town to be afraid of a Marine Captain and telling Luffy that he had "a bad feeling about this." Koby's naïve belief in the blanket integrity of the Marines was dashed when he witnessed the actions of Axe-Hand Morgan and his son, but it only strengthened his resolve to become, in his words, "a real Marine."

Under Garp's instruction, Koby's timidity has been replaced with confidence, although he remains polite, self-effacing, and apologetic if he feels he has done something overly ambitious (such as publicly stating his goal to become a Marine admiral). He continues to be an emotional, compassionate person who can easily be driven to tears for a variety of reasons, which led to Zoro jocularly calling him a "crybaby" during their reunion at Water 7.

Koby does not act with the reckless bravery that many characters in the series exhibit, but rather on moral compunction. He has put his life on the line at least twice for the sake of what he feels is right, most notably at the Summit War of Marineford where he brought fighting to a standstill by facing down Admiral Akainu and bought the precious seconds needed for Luffy to escape.

For all he has done and is capable of doing, Koby is rather humble, as he denied Kyros' claim of him being a hero during the Rocky Port Incident and did not claim credit for stopping a torpedo that was aiming at the Dressrosa and Prodence Kingdom ships.

Abilities and Powers

In his first appearance, Koby lacked any fighting skills. According to Alvida, the only reason she kept him around was because he happened to be good at navigation. He gained some fighting skills when he trained under Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp alongside Helmeppo.

After two years, he reached the rank of captain. As a Marine captain, he has command over the lower-ranking Marines and is in charge of his own ship.

He has some knowledge of swordsmanship, as he was seen practicing with Helmeppo and Bogard.

Physical Abilities

Due to his harsh training regime under Garp as well as further training after two years, Koby possesses immense physical strength and speed. He has shown himself to be an excellent swimmer. He can move incredibly fast even when underwater, as he caught up to a torpedo within seconds. With his strength, he was capable of redirecting the large torpedo underwater with his bare hands. However, he is no match for the former Warlord, Boa Hancock and the Yonko Marshall D. Teach.

In Episode of Luffy, he shattered a gigantic metal disk with a single punch and performed Rokushiki techniques with great ease.

Rokushiki

Since his training with Garp, Koby has become strong enough to use at least one of the Rokushiki, the Soru technique. He has used Soru against Luffy twice: once at Water 7 and once at the Summit War of Marineford, although the technique did not help him win either fight.

In One Piece: Gigant Battle! 2 New World he is also capable of using the Geppo and Rankyaku techniques.

After the timeskip, Koby has mastered his Rokushiki techniques. In Episode of Luffy, he shows to be able to use a technique similar to Rankyaku, but is done with his arms.

Haki

Kenbunshoku Haki

During the Summit War of Marineford, Koby awakened an ability known as Kenbunshoku Haki. Koby was shown hunched over and crying intensely on the battlefield, saying that the voices in his head were disappearing one by one as the combatants around him were slain, much like what Aisa felt during the Skypiea Arc.

After the timeskip, Koby has developed his Kenbunshoku Haki to the point that it is on a very advanced level. He was able to notice a torpedo heading toward the Dressrosa-Prodence Kingdom ship underwater from his own ship a ways off, which shocked Helmeppo, as he did not notice the torpedo despite having Kenbunshoku Haki as well. On top of that, Koby also managed to sense Kyros's great strength even though he just met him.

Busoshoku Haki

Koby possesses the ability to use Busoshoku Haki.