Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HShzy_oAvtg

In this chapter we are introduced to some new and old members of the Revolutionary Army, and since they are particularly on topic at the moment, I thought I’d take the opportunity to go through an overview of them since there’s not as much stuff to talk about this chapter otherwise, and I feel we could use a good refresher on them.

To start things off, we need to understand how the Revolutionary Army is built, but much like a Yonko crew, they are basically distributed in a hierarchy of commanders and officers. At the every top you have the Supreme Commander Monkey D. Dragon, followed by his number two Sabo, and then five commanders beneath them ruling over the five armies in each of the five oceans, and each of the commanders has their own deputy officer.

TOP BRASS

To start from the top though, we have the legend himself, Monkey D. Dragon. 55 years old and from East Blue, he was raised in the Goa Kingdom much like Luffy or Garp, but it seems the corruption of that kingdom left a deep impression on him. Not much is known about his past or lineage aside from the fact that Garp was said to have some form of connection to Celestial Dragons, which makes the name “Dragon” that Garp seemingly chose for him all the more odd when you think about it. In his youth, he witnessed Roger’s execution in person, some even believing he is the one who caused it to rain at the end of the execution, and went on to found the Freedom Fighters Corps, a small militia attempting to stand against the government. However, after the incident of Ohara, Dragon decided to found the Revolutionary Army in full alongside his colleagues Ivankov and Kuma, which he would then begin to build up for the next two decades. During the period from 22 to 12 years ago, Dragon began sporting the scar-shaped mark on his face.

While we’ve never seen Dragon seriously in action, it’s almost certain that he has a devil fruit, being a fruit that allows him to generate and seemingly turn into wind, which could allude at a Logia Kaze Kaze no Mi or something along those lines. This particularly fits with his ship being called the Wind Granma, a ship that is completely covered in black, which fits the rumors of the Firescar man pretty accurately.

It’s also been confirmed that Dragon has a bounty, but there’s always been a rumor associated with it that claimed he has the highest bounty in the story as the “world’s most wanted criminal”, but this is simply a mistranslation. The accurate translation of his epithet is “the world’s worst criminal”, with “worst” being the same used in “worst generation”. That he does have a bounty has been confirmed though, so it could still be possible for his number to be insanely high, as after all Roger was said to simply be the pirate with the biggest bounty, and Dragon ain’t no pirate.

Also fun little fact it’s strongly confirmed that Dragon has Conqueror’s haki, as Ivankov attributed Luffy having Conqueror’s haki as being just like his father, but since it wasn’t outright stated, we can’t say entirely for sure.

Working under Dragon is Sabo, who acts as the number 2 of the Revolutionary Army and its Chieff of Staff, essentially acting like a Vice Captain. You obviously already know enough about his past with Luffy, his amnesia, and his joining the Revolutionary Army, but what interests us the most is his position in the current story, as after the Eight Nation Revolution inspired by Sabo’s declaration of war against the Celestial Dragons, he’s become revered in some places across the world as “Entei”, the “Flame Emperor”. Now Sabo has seemingly found out the biggest secret in the history of the World Government, being the existence of the hidden King Imu-sama, which might mean a major change in the Revolutionary Army’s focus now that he’ll share the information with Dragon. His current bounty is ß602,000,000, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it went further up after everything that happened.

Followingly we have the two co-founders of the Revolutionary Army alongside Dragon, the first being Bartholomew Kuma, who simply ranks as an officer. Born as the King of the Sorbet Kingdom in South Blue, of which he seemingly was a “Tyrant” to his people, he was deposed and had to escape as a pirate, becoming a Revolutionary after joining Dragon, and only finding a pardon from the Government by becoming a Shichibukai in exchange for his old friend Vegapunk turning him into a living bioweapon. However, this choice to sacrifice himself for the sake of becoming a weapon seems to have been for the sake of some grander plan as it has been alluded to, something that appears to tie with Kuma’s painful past that include fragments of memories of his suffering at Mary Geoise as a slave, likely something to do with the fact that he’s been stated to be part of an incredibly rare race of people. Coupled with his sudden return to Mary Geoise and the truth of his past that Bonney shouldn’t have learned about, there seems to be a deep and complicated past lying in the heart of this gentle giant.

On the other hand we instead have Emporio Ivankov, who makes up one of the five commanders that overlook each of the oceans of the world: he is the commander of the Revolutionary G-Army, which overlooks the Grand Line. Being eaten the Horu Horu no Mi Hormone Fruit, Ivankov can change the genders of others and even themselves at will, switching between being a man or woman whenever he or she most feels. Having been a founding member since the start, he’s one of the few people who knows Dragon and Kuma the best. We don’t even know if Ivankov had a bounty for certain, but given how he’s been jailed in Impel Down it’s almost certain he had one, we just don’t know the number.

COMMANDERS

Each of the Army commanders has a deputy commander serving under them, with Ivanov’s case being Inazuma, who you likely well remember from the Impel Down Arc, Ivanov’s right-hand and the user of the Choki Choki no Mi Scissors Fruit.

As for the other commanders, we first have Belo Betty, commander of the Eastern Army, a free-spirited woman as clear by her outfit and the user of the Kobu Kobu no Mi, the Cheer Cheer Fruit, which encourages people to rally after her flag. Her design is likely based on that of Marianne, the personification of the French Revolution, who was also depicted as a woman with exposed breasts leading the people. She’s got a ß457,000,000 belly bounty to her head.

Under her, her deputy commander is Ahiru, a young woman of color with a mechanical arm that can seemingly pack quite a punch. Her name “Ahiru” is the Japanese word for “duck”.

Morley is the commander of the Western Army, being a giant okama who goes by feminine pronouns in Japanese, something that was confirmed in the Vivre Cards as well. The name Morley is a pun on the sound effect Mori Mori, which is the sound that moles make while raising out of the ground, and she also wields a trident since “mori” can also mean trident in Japanese. Morley possesses the Oshi Oshi no Mi, allowing her to literally push any surface with ease, and it is actually these very powers that made the Level 5.5 of Impel Down over 100 years ago before Morley escaped, making her the first ever escapee in the prison’s history even before Shiki, the Government simply unaware. Even Ivankov isn’t aware of this fact. Morley has a ß293,000,000 bounty.

Morley’s deputy commander is Uciano, whose name is a very clear pun as “ushi” is the Japanese word for cow, seemingly being a cow mink. He seems to have limited understanding of our language, only speaking in small brief sentences.

Lindbergh is the commander of the Southern Army, a cat Mink with exceptional understanding of technology, even having developed a jetpack that allows him to fly. This likely ties in the origin of his name, having been named after Charles Lindbergh, a famous aviator who did the first solo transatlantic flight. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lindbergh has had some sort of connection with MADS before, but while he is a bit younger than their period, being 37 years old, there could still have been some connection with them. He has a bounty of ß316,000,000.

His deputy commander is Gambo, a large egg-looking man with a large mustache. As his name suggests, Gambo appears to have a thing for gambling, often making reckless bets.

Finally we have Karasu, the commander of the Northern Army. Karasu may look menacing and brooding, but he is actually said to be a very kind soul, loving to partake in charity work and helping others, but he does seem to struggle at communicating his feelings across properly, particularly with the mask speaker he is always wearing. What is most mysterious about his power however is the ability to turn his body into several crows, flying birds with no eyes or features, seeming more to be made of some form of substance. This has led to a lot of speculation of if he is a Logia, an awakened one perhaps, or some sort of Mythical Zoan or something else, but we don’t yet know enough to say. His bounty is of ß400,000,000. His name is pretty straightforward, as “Karasu” is the Japanese word for crow.

And his deputy commander is Jiron, a man who appears to have the weird ability to be able to eat solid things, eating a spyglass in order to get an advantage over a bet with Gambo. Whether this is due to cyborg augmentations or some power is unknown.

Beyond all the commanders and their deputy officers, Koala herself also qualifies as an officer of the Army, just not in any particular position much like Kuma, who herself possesses a yet unknown bounty. She joined the army at 14 years old and has been good friends in particular with Sabo and Hack, the latter being a member of the Army we saw during Dressrosa who serves as a Fishman Karate instructor, a knowledge he has imparted upon Koala.

Finally we only have the name of a couple other members, being Bunny Joe, the one who rescued Robin on Tequila Wolf, and Terry Gilteo, being chief of information and communications management.

BATTLE ROYALE FOR THE ONE PIECE

That forms all the members of the Revolutionary Army from top to bottom, who now pose a major threat to the world Government due to both their knowledge of Imu-sama’s existence and their military power in the race for the One Piece, particularly true if Dragon is indeed the Firescar man and may possess the final Road Poneglyph. This pretty much makes the Revolutionary Army the fifth and likely final playing team in the grand Battle Royale for the One Piece.

At the moment, both the Kid Pirates and the Heart Pirates have been kicked out of the running, though the Heart Pirates have managed to retreat at least, with the JP terminology used being different for the two, one being eradicated and the other simply defeated. But on the flip side, this has put the focus of the war down on the current new generation of Yonko, with Luffy having to face against Shanks and Blackbeard in his way, but now, shockingly enough, even Buggy!

As we are told, Cross Guild is making the Marines slowly more unstable, with the death of T-Bone making the news. Having been recently promoted to Vice-Admiral, T-Bone was known for his kindness and devotion to the people, as mentioned ever since his introduction, but he also always said that he’d be willing to die for others, so it’s likely that he offered his very life in exchange for the bounty to feed the people of the Pepe Kingdom.

This is driving up business for Cross Guild, but while Crocodile is interested in building up a military utopia like he tried to with Alabaster, and Mihawk simply wants to retire somewhere he can live his life out more quietly, Buggy instead decided to charge all of Cross Guild into the search for the One Piece. This is especially after seeing Shanks, who he always idolized and envied, deciding to hang back for the past two decades after what Roger told him after returning from Laugh Tale, likely having to do with the idea of being too early to fulfill his dream and there needing someone to be born, hence why Shanks may have been raising several different kids across the world in the hopes that one of them would become the Joyboy we’ve seen arise. But now Shanks is back on the move, and Buggy can’t help but feel like it’s some sort of fate that he doesn’t want to miss this, dragging all of Cross Guild into chasing after the one Piece.

Which brings our current battle royale to a grand clash between The Four Emperors, the Straw Hat Pirates, the Red-Haired Pirates, the Blackbeard Pirates, and now Cross Guild, and the Revolutionary Army as a fifth wild card as they begin to strike their Revolution to bring forth a big storm to change the world. More and more, the final clash of the series with these five powerful forces and the World Government seems closer at hand, as the war for the One Piece has already begun!