Sengoku

Sengoku the Buddha is a former fleet admiral of the Marines, succeeding Kong and preceding Sakazuki. Sometime during the timeskip, he became an Inspector General. He was also one of the major figures along with Kong, Whitebeard, Shiki, Monkey D. Garp, Tsuru and Silvers Rayleigh during the times when Gol D. Roger, the "Pirate King", was still alive, and still continues to be in the present, even after his retirement from the Marines. He raised both Donquixote Rosinante and X Drake like his own sons. Due to his actions and his position in the Marines, he is one of the main antagonists of the Marineford Arc.

Appearance

Sengoku is a tall, fair-skinned, and muscular man with a long, braided goatee and a mustache. He is usually seen alongside his pet goat. His cap covers his hair, which is set in a large afro. His afro was revealed after using his Devil Fruit powers and having his cap knocked off. Ironically, prior to the timeskip, despite already being an elderly man upon his debut (being 77 years old at the time, thereby making him a year older than Garp and Rayleigh, both men being from his generation), Sengoku displayed little to no physical signs of his actual age, with his hair still not having grayed after 20 years. He typically wears black-rimmed glasses and a white and gold full Marine admiral uniform that is adorned with medals. The most distinctive features of this uniform are a life-size seagull on top of his cap, and his oversized Marine coat which he wears like a cape. His coat has the kanji for justice, in blue, emblazoned on the back, and has unique colored cuffs, with his being white. Twenty years before the present storyline, when Sengoku was already an admiral, he did not cover his afro and sported only a mustache. During his orders to Saul to bombard Ohara, he wore less regal-looking attire than he does in the present storyline: a simple black tank top, blue jeans, and his glasses, which is unlike a typical admiral's formal suit. The only Marine-related attire he wore at the time was apparently his Marine coat, draped over like a cape. However, when he was fighting Shiki in Marineford, he was wearing a black double-breasted suit with a blue tie under his coat. Fourteen years ago, still as an Admiral, he is seen wearing a white suit with a floral button dress shirt underneath and begins to grow his trademark braided goatee, albeit much shorter than it is now. His epaulettes during his time as an Admiral were similar to Garp's, which were red and black, but he doesn't have black on it, and he never used red epaulets ever since he became Fleet Admiral. In his youth, he also did not cover his afro and he lacked a beard. As a child, Sengoku had his trademark afro, and he was seen wearing a karate uniform with a black belt tied on his waist. During the two-year timeskip, Sengoku aged with his hair turning gray, and has also grown sideburns. His former uniform is now replaced with a more casual wear during his retirement. He is wearing a dark blue shirt with red and green zig-zag patterns, orange tie with white marine shorts, and a Marine coat.

Personality

Sengoku appears to be an exceedingly proud, enlightened, and intelligent man who was loyal to the World Government and, up until the cover-up of the Impel Down incident, never questioned orders from them. He also will not accept any reason for letting a criminal go, and also has a habit of getting very irritated with failure. His motto is "Reigning Justice", in that he prioritizes upholding justice over all things, although he certainly does not shy away from actions that fall under the code of Absolute Justice. From his view, the Seven Warlords of the Sea are just pirates, though he notes how valuable they can be when the time comes. However, as the years went by, he appeared to be losing his faith in the government, shown after the Summit War of Marineford when he was furious at the order from the Five Elders to suppress the second escape incident in Level 6 of Impel Down to save face and keep the faith of the people, thus placing nations in danger. This eventually led Sengoku to resign from the Marines.

Abilities and Powers

Tactical Skills

An extraordinary master strategist with immense military experience, Sengoku is renowned for his tactical and strategic genius by Marines and pirates alike. He is mainly responsible for all the Marine maneuvers deployed throughout the Whitebeard War at Marineford, such as forwarding a plan to all Marines that Portgas D. Ace was to be executed ahead of the official schedule with the intention that the opposing pirate forces would intercept the message and lose their composure. He then conspired with Admiral Akainu in a plot to derail the alliance between Whitebeard's core divisions and the 41 independent New World pirate crews assisting by directing a 20-strong Pacifista division to target only the non-Whitebeard division pirates, and it was possible that the earlier transmissions regarding Ace's true parentage was not only an act of public justification but also to demoralize those pirates who were undermined by the Roger Pirates. With Akainu's persuasion, Sengoku's plan managed to drive one of those captains to attempt assassinating Whitebeard himself, and while the blow was not fatal, it did further debilitate Whitebeard's already hazardous condition. He operated his strategies while keeping close in mind the various powers of his greatest subordinates, especially the Marine Admirals: raising Marineford's siege walls in conjunction with Akainu's "Ryusei Kazan" to rout the allied pirate forces and destroying Whitebeard's flagship, the Moby Dick while protecting the brunt of the Marine garrison from the damage.

Physical Abilities

Even without his Zoan Devil Fruit powers, Sengoku has enormous strength, enough to effortlessly hold down an enraged Garp with only one hand. Sengoku is also a tremendously skilled hand-to-hand fighter. Combined with his Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit powers, he could knock away all the members of the Blackbeard Pirates, who are extremely powerful in their own right, sending them flying. Sengoku has extraordinary speed, even in his gigantic buddha form. He could launch an unexpected surprise attack on all the members of the Blackbeard Pirates.

Devil Fruit

Sengoku ate the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Daibutsu, a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit that allows him to transform into a giant golden Buddha and a human-Buddha hybrid at will. This power is the source of his nickname, "Sengoku the Buddha". A number of Marines claimed that they have never seen him use this power before the war. As a Zoan, Sengoku gains an immense boost to his already impressive physical abilities while in his Buddha form. With only a single indirectly connecting punch, Sengoku was able to make the Marineford execution platform collapse, despite the punch being cushioned and blocked by Luffy's Gear 3 inflated belly and Mr. 3's "stronger than steel" Candle Wall. He can also release an exceptionally powerful golden shockwave with a palm thrust, it is strong enough to send a majority of the incredibly strong Blackbeard Pirates, consisting of some of the most dangerous criminals in history, flying a fair distance away. In the anime, his golden shockwaves are strong enough to clash evenly with the tremor shockwaves created by the Gura Gura no Mi of Blackbeard.

Haki

It has been stated that all marines with the rank of vice admiral and above possess Haki, so as a former high-ranking officer as well as leader of the Marines, Sengoku can also use the ability. Sengoku is one of the very few people in the world who can use all three types of Haki.

Busoshoku Haki

Sengkou possesses the ability to use Busoshoku Haki, While he has not yet showcased his usage of it in the manga, he has been seen using it in Burning Blood.