I love his character design so much but yeah… the racism towards Jinbe was too much. Along with burning down school libraries. I know he’s a celestial dragon, it was just so vile.
🦋: Wow! I was WAY off lmao!! Anyway I’m gonna cheat a lil and count Arlong appearing in the SBS 111 and Brook attempting to fight Gunko, there… I still lost.
⚠️ Spoiler Warning for Anime Onlys. Manga Spoilers up to Chapter 1162.
These are some notes about one of my favourite supporting antagonist and how he shares similarities with other important characters.
Intro
Sasaki’s Character: Why I Find Him Interesting
Franky vs Sasaki
Fishman Identity
Kozuki Sukiyaki
Rimoshifu Killingham
Loki
Future Theories
One Piece Chapters
Sources
Intro
Even though Sasaki was overshadowed in Wano, I believe that there was potential for interesting character development and lore that we might see later in the story. So, I compiled a bunch of notes and theories mostly to do with his battle with Franky, his Fishman identity, and similarity with other characters.
Sasaki’s Character: Why I Find Him Interesting
I loved the “This is how dinosaurs hunted!” gag, it showed so many creative ways to use Zoan devil fruits which foreshadowed the goofiness of Luffy’s awakening… And I was a huge dino kid.
Anyway, I find Sasaki interesting because he’s a Fishman who was once captain of his own pirate crew called The Sasaki Pirates. He later gained a high position within the Beast Pirates and was best friends with Denjiro.
Sasaki’s POV of the Onigashima Raid is very unfortunate and hilarious to me. He had to search for his boss’s son, he got betrayed by his best friend, chained to a tree, almost decapitated by Big Mom, betrayed by his division, and fought a robot whose blueprint is inspired by the smartest man in the world. Btw this happened all in ONE night… The poor man only wanted to drink with his boss.
He has some good moments. The way he greeted Kyoshiro/Denjiro was way too nice especially for a Beast Pirate. He protected and tanked for the Armoured Division as they struggled with General Franky. And him getting flustered at his mistake was funny and cute.
Then there’s his blind loyalty to Kaido. He punishes anyone who betrays the crew even his own Armoured Division. His revenge on Denjiro for the betrayal is still unresolved so, I wonder if that will ever be brought up again.
I also wanted a backstory of how Sasaki joined the Beast Pirates and why he became so loyal to Kaido. I was expecting it because Franky’s previous battle in Dressrosa revealed Señor Pink’s backstory.
Franky vs Sasaki
TW: Kamikaze mentioned.
The battle between Sasaki and Franky was inspired by the Kaiju vs Mecha trope which emerged during post-WWII Japan. Movies like Godzilla and Ultraman reflected the fear of atomic bombings and the rapid industrialisation during the rebuilding of Japan.
Sasaki’s Hybrid Form looks like Godzilla, a creature awakened by atomic testing which was inspired by the real-life nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll. In 1954 this caused radiation damage to a fishing boat called The Lucky Dragon No. 5. Not only does Sasaki wear the Navy Officer Uniform and Cap, but also… there is something about a propeller monster diving into a USA inspired robot/shipwright and screaming “If I have to take BOTH of us out, so be it!”, that mirrors the Kamikaze attacks during WWII. He was also confronted by Yamato which is the name of a Japanese battleship.
This makes me think of the Ancient Weapons, and Tom’s speech to Franky about loving and being proud of what you’ve created no matter how it gets used. When Franky fought Sasaki, he confronted a monster that represents the unethical uses of weapons and aircraft. And he used General Franky, something that he created, loves and is proud of, to defeat him.
*This is probably not related but, I want to mention the real-life story of Sadako Sasaki. After becoming a victim of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, she folded 1000 origami cranes hoping to gain a wish for recovery. The Kozuki Crest is a crane/heron, and Franky built the Thousand Sunny. This could symbolise hope after destruction.
General Franky was made in Karakuri Island and Sasaki wields a sword called Karakuri Rasento. Karakuri means mechanism or trick in Japanese. The word is also seen in Karakuri Ningyo which are ancient puppets that move with gears, spring, and clockwork inside them. They influenced Japan’s fascination with robots and were used for festivals, tea-serving, and theatre. This links to Tobi Roppo, a walking technique in Kabuki theatre.
Karakuri Ningyo is also the Japanese name of the little Automata creatures that Eneru meets on the moon.
Fishman Identity
I find it strange that Sasaki’s Fishman Identity was never mentioned in the main story and only in extra material. In SBS 103 Oda drew him as a child with gills and his Fishmen type was revealed in a Vivre Card Correction.
Sasaki covers some of his Fishman traits like his ears, gills, and webbings. Other Fishmen in the New World like Dellinger, Jack, and Kawamatsu also had to hide their Fishman traits because of the racism.
Sasaki is a Bluespine Unicorn Fishman. In Japanese it’s called a Tenguhagi.
In Kanji it’s written: 天狗剥
天狗 : (Heavenly Dog) Translates to the Tengu, a legendary creature in Japanese folklore. It looks like this 👺. The horn of the fish looks like the Tengu nose.
剥 : (Peel) Means Peel off. Refers to the food preparation of the fish.
Sasaki’s winged tattoos could be a reference to the Tengu wings. And of course his ability to fly like a “normal” Triceratops.
This leads me to the first character similarity…
Kozuki Sukiyaki
Kozuki Sukiyaki was the previous Shogun who wore a Tengu mask to disguised himself as Tenguyama Hitetsu.
He has knowledge on how to read the Poneglyphs and the location of Pluton. He also mentioned that Jack was able to swim underwater and uncover the Poneglyph from the outside because he’s a Fishman.
Sukiyaki and Sasaki were two characters I expected to see in the Yamato Cover Story but, they didn’t show up and I find that suspicious. Sasaki fought Franky, who has seen the Pluton Blueprints and he was last seen in Onigashima which is now sinking to Old Wano. Maybe he will play a part in the awakening of Pluton???
Rimoshifu Killingham
天: This Kanji is also seen in…
天竜人 : (Heavenly Dragon Folk) Tenryubito.
Funnily enough, I’m about to bring up another character I’ve been obsessed with and that’s Rimoshifu Killingham. A character who I believe could be a fishmen because of his height and sharp teeth.
Here are some similarities between Killingham and Sasaki:
References Japanese Alcohol.
Kirin Ichiban: Killingham’s Appearance looks like the logo.
Onikoroshi: meaning Demon Killer. Sasaki drinks from a sake bottle labelled 鬼守 which means Demon Protect/Defend.
They command armies of their own.
Killingham: The MMA Nightmares
Sasaki: The Armoured Division
Have Ryu Ryu (Dragon Dragon) no Mi Devil Fruits.
Killingham Model: Kirin
Sasaki Model: Triceratops
They are ignorant of History.
Denjiro asks Sasaki if he knows Wano’s history. After Sasaki is freed, he says that he doesn’t care for the History of Wano.
Killingham burns the Owl Library, erasing the History of Elbaph and Ohara.
Both have Sharp Teeth and pretty Eye Makeup.
They wear Orange Military-like Uniforms.
Their weapons have similar Tassel Charms.
A fishman being a Celestial Dragon is weird since Celestial Dragons are known to enslave them. However, there could be a secret Fishman family that trains future God Knights and servants of Imu. This is just a theory I have.
Loki
When Loki’s appearance was revealed, I thought that Loki was a mix between Who’s Who and Sasaki.
Pink Hair and Hidden Eyes: Who’s Who.
Winged Tattoos and Horn Shape: Sasaki.
So, I focused on the similarity between Sasaki and Loki:
Both chained to a tree.
Kind of have similar eye shapes.
Both were Betrayed by their own through mind control. The Giants are betraying Elbaph because of Imu’s Domi REVERSI, similar to how The Armoured Division betrayed Sasaki because of Tama’s Kibi DanGO.
Both incidents are inspired by the Board Games, Reversi and Go that use black and white stones. Tama controlled the White pieces in Onigashima and Imu is controlling the Black pieces in Elbaph.
This is where my other crack theory of Loki having a Unicorn Zoan devil fruit came from. Because Sasaki is a Bluespine Unicorn Fishman.
I also thought that Sasaki could be Mosa (Shaggy), the mystery person Loki was talking to. However, I heard that Mosa speaks in a feminine and polite manner. And I like the Shirahoshi theory better.
Future Theories
Basically, I think Sasaki could have connections to Ancient Weapons, God Knights, Celestial Dragons, and Royal bloodlines. The characters I’ve mentioned have Ki in their name: SasaKI, SukiyaKI, LoKI, KIllingham. Franky romanised is Furankī as well. I just think it’s a funny coincidence.
I just wonder, who were the Sasaki Pirates? Did he know something? Does it have something to do with him being a Fishman? How did he join Kaido? Where is he now?
Blackbeard’s Next Move: Another theory I have is that maybe Blackbeard will interact with the defeated Beast Pirates. Blackbeard has a habit of stealing from and defeating weakened Yonko crews, especially after the Captain (who were members of the Rocks Pirates) has been defeated.
Stole the Gura Gura no Mi Devil Fruit and defeated Marco after Whitebeard’s Death.
Kidnapped Pudding and Defeated Cracker after Big Mom’s Defeat.
And now that Kaido is defeated, Blackbeard could defeat the other Beast Pirates and kidnap Alber/King. Shanks thought Blackbeard was going to Wano. I think that Blackbeard heard that the Beast Pirates got taken by the marines and changed plans.
I also have a theory that the Onigashima skull was a Domi Reversi Davy Jones. This is because after God Valley the remaining Rocks Pirates - Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom were all drawn to Wano for some mysterious reason.
One Piece Chapters
356: Tom’s Speech to Franky.
978: Introducing the Tobi Roppo.
982: Sasaki is chained to a tree and Denjiro asks if he knows the History of Wano.
990: Sasaki is freed from the tree.
998: Tobi Roppo Zoan Fruits are revealed.
1004: Tama uses Kibi Dango on the Armoured Division.
1018: CP0 Agents playing Go.
1019: Franky vs Sasaki.
1040: SBS childhood of the Beast Pirates.
1053: Tenguyama Hitestu reveals himself to be Kozuki Sukiyaki.
1055: Sukiyaki shows Robin and Law Old Wano.
1130: Loki debuts and is chained to a tree.
1149: Killingham sets the Owl Library on fire.
1151: Giants are flipped by Domi Reversi, Killingham’s Man-Beast Form is revealed.
Sources
https://youtu.be/RCJIX2_r8ao?si=IGf4tVc-bTLQ3sEs
“How WWII Created Godzilla and Mecha Robots.” Video about how WWII influenced the Kaiju vs Mecha trope.
*I’m not a Japanese expert and some of the official translations need to be released. I tried my best to research and double check some things. So, if I got something wrong or left something out, please feel free to correct me.
I love how One Piece references historical moments. I just did some digging into the historical relations between Japan and Portugal.
When Portuguese traders went to Japan in the mid-16th century, they introduced them to Playing Cards. The Portuguese were also known to have Dragons illustrated on their Ace Cards (Ace of Swords). This inspired Japan to make Hanafuda Cards.
In One Piece, Portgas D. Ace defeats Hanafuda and visits Wano. And Kaido (a Dragon) is captain of the Beast Pirates, who are named after Playing Cards and Games.
Also, in Hanafuda there are 12 suits that represent the months. The ninth suit is the Chrysanthemum, also known as Kiku 菊 - きく. This represents September.
So I drew Page One, the Son of Hanafuda, teaching Hanafuda to Kiku. This was the extra cover story.
