Kizaru

Origin

Creation

Borsalino (ボルサリーノ, Borusarīno) is an antagonist from the One Piece series that was created by Eiichiro Oda. The series first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump on August 4, 1997. He would later appear during the Sabaody Archipelago Arc that began in Volume 50.

He first appeared in One Piece Volume 52, CH. 504 "Pirate Frontline On The Move!!".

Personality

Kizaru is a very laid-back and easygoing person, speaking rather slowly and occasionally drawing out the last word of his sentences, which is strange considering this behavior is in direct contrast with his Devil Fruit power. He takes everything lightly regardless of the severity of the moment. In surprising, perilous and unexpected situations, he is apparently never shocked and even when a pirate fired a bullet at him, he seemed to be focused only on calling his subordinate. He even asked the offenders where his subordinate was. After uprooting a mangrove tree, he laughed to himself that the force he used was a tad excessive.

He is also completely calm and cool-headed, even in tense situations, such as when Basil Hawkins appeared unharmed by his attack, or when Silvers Rayleigh appeared. He speaks in a politely sarcastic manner and is very mocking towards his enemies, such as mocking Luffy for being too weak. He often taunts and belittles his foes in and out of battle, such as taunting Whitebeard about Luffy being too feeble to lead the charge towards the execution platform.

Unfortunately for the World Government, he can be quite absent-minded and irresponsible, judging by the fact he used a lot of power in a kick directed at the escaping pirates, knocking down the surface part of a Mangrove tree, and tried to call Sentomaru with a black Den Den Mushi, which is only used for intercepting communications. He also seems to prefer his own name, Borsalino, rather than his alias.

After Luffy sent a Celestial Dragon flying during the Sabaody incident, Kizaru volunteered to be dispatched by Sengoku to deal with the nobles' predicament, partly to fulfill his duty as an Admiral and because he was under the impression that a trip down to the Archipelago to expel the pirate threat would be mostly relaxing and was seemingly disappointed when Silvers Rayleigh came out to confront him.

If nothing else, Kizaru appears to be more lax than Aokiji, such as when Luffy, Jinbe and Law escaped from Marineford, he completely dropped the matter, his attitude regarding it being that of a carefree reaction.

However, while he never has expressed any sympathy for or against the philosophy of Absolute Justice, Kizaru's careless behavior displays a lack of mercy towards his enemies, particularly pirates whom he has targeted. Kizaru even decided to apprehend Silvers Rayleigh, who had retired from piracy over twenty years earlier, simply because, as a member of the Roger Pirates, his crimes could not be forgiven. Following the events of the Sabaody Archipelago, Kizaru arrested 500 pirates. Also, he sees the Shichibukai as nothing more than pirates, even if they are on the World Government's side. Even when Little Oars Jr. was bloody and dying after having lost a leg, Kizaru showed no mercy and simply offered to go ahead and shoot Little Oars Jr. through the head. As revealed by the author, his motto is "unclear justice."

Kizaru often comments that some of the abilities of his opponents are quite frightening. One instance was after he witnessed the Devil Fruit abilities of three Supernovas, he referred to them as monsters, although he was otherwise unfazed by them. Another was after he tried to directly attack Whitebeard, First Division Commander Marco intercepted his attack with ease which made Kizaru point out how scary the Whitebeard Pirates were. When Luffy was launched towards the execution platform and stood before all three admirals, Kizaru commented that this youth was "scary".

The most recent occurrence was when Benn Beckman aimed a gun at him, although in that case Kizaru said it sarcastically and still succeeded in getting in an attack while Beckman was shocked that he was not done yet. Since Kizaru always delivers such admissions of fear with a deadpan expression on his face and his usual lackadaisical tone of voice, it is never clear if he is mocking his opponents or if he is being serious.

It is shown, however, in his fight with Zephyr that he is somewhat capable of fear, as he seemed scared when Z decided to unleash the power of the Dyna Stone, and even possibly terrified when it was about to literally blow up in his face.

Powers & Abilities

As a Marine admiral, Kizaru is one of the strongest individuals in the Marines and the World Government.

Physical Abilities

Kizaru possesses tremendous superhuman strength. During the Battle of Marineford, he was able to pin down Whitebeard's massive bisento with just one leg.

He also possesses incredible superhuman durability, as he was able to withstand a powerful kick from Marco without injury.

Kizaru possesses immense speed and extraordinary reflexes, which are further enhanced by the Pika Pika no Mi.

Devil Fruit

Kizaru ate the Pika Pika no Mi (Glint-Glint Fruit), a Logia-type Devil Fruit that allows him to create, manipulate, and transform into light at will, turning him into a Light Human. Kizaru is able to travel at the speed of light either by dispersing into light particles or by travelling through the reflections created by his Yata No Kagami for more precise movements. This power is devastatingly effective on the battle field, Kizaru has used this ability to travel at light speed towards a target and materialize at the last moment to deliver a frighteningly powerful kick. His catch phrase is "Speed is weight. Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?" As a result, Kizaru is quite possibly the fastest man in the world.

Kizaru can also shoot concentrated blasts of light from either his fingers or feet, these blasts can range from being small scale piercing attacks which go through the human body at high hyper-sonic speeds or they can can cause a big enough explosion to level a large mangrove, and even a small town. He also has great accuracy and precision in firing his laser beams of light, as shown when he shot and destroyed the key to Ace's shackles whilst it was still in Luffy's hands at a far distance.

Furthermore Kizaru can reduce his weight to almost nil due to light's negligible mass, allowing him to float in the air, he can also shoot barrages of light beams at his enemies as seen in the War of the Best when he used this move to attack Whitebeard but was intercepted by the Commander of the Whitebeard pirate's 2nd division, Marco the Phoenix.

Kizaru can also form light into a solid state to make a sword, which he used to engage with Silvers Rayleigh in a sword fight.

As a Logia, physical attacks that are not enhanced by Busoshoku Haki will phase through his body. As seen on Sabaody Archipelago, bullets and swords pass harmlessly through him, however an explosion made by Scratchmen Apoo that occurred directly on his body did make his limbs and upper half of his body fly off. But the light man wasn't truly damaged, he shortly reformed his body by dispersing into light particles.

It should be noted that Kizaru can only move at light speed when in a complete light state or using the Yata no Kagami, he cannot trade punches and kicks at the speed of light, his overall combat speed is high-hypersonic and further enhanced when using Kenbunshoku Haki.

Haki

Busoshoku Haki: This power manifests an invisible armor around the body making their attack and defense much more effective, they can also project this power outwards for long range attacks, and this Armament Haki is the only known counter measure against Devil Fruit users, as it enables the users to hit their 'true forms' bypassing any elemental advantage a Logia Fruit user might have or any type of physical immunity a Paramecia Fruit user might have.

Kizaru has not been seen utilizing the enhanced version of this type of Haki - coating a selected limb with black Haki, hardening the skin into a state much stronger than steel which varies in durability according to the user's will power.

Kizaru has used this power in conjunction with Akainu and Aokiji to block a shock wave from Whitebeard which had previously destroyed the huge stone wall and would have gone on to destroy the execution stand at Marineford.

Kenbunshoku Haki: The user can also use this Haki to predict an opponent's moves shortly before they make them, thereby making the attack much easier to evade with enough skill. This prediction appears to the user as an image or brief "premonition" of what the opponent will do in the user's mind's eye, and the damage the user will take if the attack actually "hits". This power also allows the user to sense the presence even if they are concealed from view or too far to see naturally, people or animals have auras which surround them that the Kenbunshoku Haki user can see. Furthermore this type of Haki can be used to sense how powerful a being is and their emotional state.

Swordsmanship

Kizaru has shown extremely proficient skill in wielding his Ama no Murakumo light energy sword. He could duel Silvers Rayleigh, who is an immensely powerful swordsman, to a draw despite having his Logia intangibility negated by Rayleigh's Haki. In Film: Z, Kizaru could use his sword skills to fight on equal level with Zephyr, who is a very powerful hand to hand fighter equipped with the Battle Smasher, which is a powerful bionic arm embedded with Seastone which is especially effective in fighting Devil Fruit Users.