Shiryu

Shiryu (シリュウ, Shiryū), also known as "Shiryu of the Rain" (雨のシリュウ, Ame no Shiryū), is both a fictional character and antagonist from the Fairy One Piece Tail series created by Hiro Mashima and Eiichiro Oda. He was the Head Jailer of Impel Down.

He was imprisoned on Level 6 death row for his excessive, murderous violence against prisoners and the abuse of his privilege. He was temporarily released to help Magellan quell the prison riot that was bring caused by Natsu, Luffy and Teach.

However, he chose to go against what he was ordered and instead assist the Blackbeard Pirates, ultimately deciding to be recruited to join them. Currently, he is one of the Ten Titanic Captains of the Blackbeard Pirates as captain of the Second Ship.

"I don't see much future for myself in this crypt. You're exactly the sort of person I've wanted to meet, for sometime."
 * —Shiryu, to Blackbeard.

Appearance & Biography

 * Voice Actor: Matt Thurston (English), Takayuki Sugō (Japanese), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Basque), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Catalan), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (German), Not Known (Greek), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (Castilian Spanish), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish)

Appearance
He is a rather large man, as tall as Blackbeard. He also possesses a prominent chin. Shiryu is usually seen smoking a cigar.

The Young Past Days
In a flashback, Shiryu was seen to have strap on devil-like wings similar to Magellan's and Hannyabal's, along with a black officer's hat with a red stripe that has white ear-flaps on the sides, and maroon gloves. He usually has the bill of his hat rather low. The strap-on wings are not present by the time he was released from his cell, in all likelihood stripped from him to indicate his rank and privileges were revoked for his excessive cruelty.

Pre-Timeskip
While imprisoned, he was allowed to keep his uniform (though without the wings) rather than wearing the prisoners' striped shirt. He also wears a long white, yellow, and black jacket over it, draped over like a cape. The kanji on the back of his jacket reads Goku (獄), which means "prison".

Post-Timeskip
After becoming the captain of the 2nd fleet, Shiryu remains in his Head Jailer uniform, but exchanged his white jacket for a dark colored one (white in the anime). The Impel Down symbols on his hat, collar and belt have also been exchanged for jolly roger skulls.


 * Hair Color: Not Known
 * Skin Color: Not Known
 * Eye Color: Black
 * Age: 42 (debut), 44 (after timeskip)
 * Birthday: June 11th
 * Height: 340 cm (11'2")
 * Weight: Not Known
 * Bounty: Not Known

Personality
"My apologies..."
 * —Shiryu, his sarcastic apology after murdering some guards.

Shiryu is extremely bloodthirsty who enjoyed killing people any time he can. He massacred numerous prisoners within the walls of Impel Down to the point that Magellan could no longer overlook his murderous behavior. He also struck down his subordinates right after being released from prison, while giving a sarcastic apology. He is fond of his blade and enjoyed testing it against others, even if they are far below his level of power. He would take personal care in maintaining his sword as shown after the timeskip.

He is also completely calm and cool-headed, even in tense and unexpected situations. He is also cautious, because he warns Blackbeard Pirates not to underestimate Magellan and he lectures them that they should have prepared themselves properly for the New World.

Shiryu is apparently very deceitful and treasonous by nature, as he offered to help Magellan fight for the prison if released, but instead betrayed his former superior and wreaked havoc, killing many subordinates; however, Magellan did refuse to retract Shiryu's death penalty no matter what, giving him very little choice outside of betrayal to escape it. He has since become a loyal member of the Blackbeard Pirates. Despite this, he once voiced (in a joking manner) an intent to leave the crew if Blackbeard failed to obtain Whitebeard's power but after Blackbeard's success, he remarked that he made a good decision in joining them.

Shiryu also believes that the Seven Warlords of the Sea are just pirates, claiming "once a pirate, always a pirate" when the Impel Down staff referred to Blackbeard as a traitor. Despite this, he was willing to aid the Blackbeard Pirates and even became a member himself. Shiryu believes in fate; believing that it was fate that brought Blackbeard to him, and that fate told him to join the crew. He has shown that he does not care much about personal details; when asked by Fleet Admiral Sengoku about what happened to Magellan; he told him to find out for himself.

He appears to have a very strict disposition towards those around him, be they jailers or pirates, and has also shown himself to be very irritated and aggravated by the Blackbeard Pirates for not preparing themselves properly for the New World. Though Shiryu is one of Blackbeard's men, he is distrustful towards anyone who hasn't earned his respect.

He expressed skepticism in his captain once he initially joined the group, thinking himself and the new recruits from Level 6 of Impel Down should disband from the Blackbeard Pirates if Blackbeard failed to acquire the powers of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. He is also a very close and shady individual, and Blackbeard compared him in that regard to Kuzan; however, Burgess Jesus considered Kuzan untrustworthy due to his former background as a Marine, but not Shiryu, who acts the way he does because he's truly cruel-hearted.

Shiryu seems to like smoking, as when he got out of prison to help Magellan, the first thing he wanted was a lighter to smoke his cigar. He does have a perverted side, with Oda stating that he would use his Devil Fruit powers to spy on women's baths.

Friends/Allies

 * Blackbeard Pirates
 * Blackbeard
 * Burgess Jesus
 * Lafitte

Neutral

 * Seven Warlords of the Sea
 * Kuma Bartholomew

Enemies

 * Marines
 * Sengoku
 * Garp D. Monkey
 * Issho/Fujitora
 * Sentomaru
 * Straw Hat Pirates
 * Luffy D. Monkey
 * Jimbei
 * Fairy Tail
 * Natsu Dragneel
 * Whitebeard Pirates
 * Newgate Edward
 * Marco

Abilities and Powers
As former Head Jailer of Impel Down, Shiryu held one of the highest ranks in the fortress. He commanded comparable respect to the Chief Warden himself until his abuse of power led to him being stripped of his post and privileges. After the timeskip, Shiryu has become one of Blackbeard's "Ten Titanic Captains" that personally guard the Emperor, gaining great authority in the crew as captain of its second ship. Combat-wise, Shiryu is attested to be very powerful, not least by his new standing in an Emperor's crew.

During his time in Impel Down, Shiryu was said to be equal in strength to the Warden himself, and since the latter's bowel issues restricted his active time in the prison, Shiryu was deemed to be more dangerous. According to Ivankov, Impel Down was impregnable under the joint protection of Shiryu and Magellan, and had Shiryu been still on duty rather than imprisoned, Natsu, Luffy and Bentham would not have been able to go as far down into the prison as they had done in their mission to break Ace out.

Magellan was even willing to entrust Shiryu on his own with handling the adversarial presence of Blackbeard (at the time a Warlord of the Sea) and his crew in the prison. Prior in fact, the Chief Warden had deemed Shiryu himself such a powerful menace as to place him in Level 6 where only the most powerful, dangerous criminals are placed and held. How Magellan was able to imprison Shiryu is unknown. Despite this, Magellan was still able to overpower and imprison Shiryu.

Physical Abilities
He has extremely formidable speed, being able to cut down several Impel Down officers in a split second. He has shown himself to possess incredible superhuman endurance. This is best demonstrated when he took a Tremor-Tremor Fruit shock wave from Whitebeard (albeit not a direct hit), and later a direct hit from Sengoku's shock wave in his Daibutsu form, being sent back a great distance and then getting up with only a small amount of trouble.

Stealth Master
Shiryu has proven to have exceptional capabilities in stealth. When he planned to defect to the Blackbeard Pirates, Shiryu would infiltrate Impel Down's monitor room completely undetected where he'd sneak past the extremely high security of Impel Down and destroyed all the communication devices. He even snuck up on a security guard who was reporting to Magellan and killed him without being noticed.

After gaining the Clear-Clear Fruit's invisibility powers, his stealth prowess increased, enabling him to perform several sneak attacks on Moria Gecko and his zombies without being noticed.

Swordsmanship
Shiryu is extremely proficient in wielding his nodachi, having used it to kill numerous prisoners of Impel Down, all who were noted to be powerful and dangerous criminals. When his sword was returned to him after a long term imprisonment, Shiryu killed several of his fellow Impel Down officers in a split second, demonstrating extraordinary precision and dexterity in his swordsmanship.

Devil Fruit

 * Main article: Clear-Clear Fruit

The Clear-Clear Fruit (スケスケの実, Suke Suke no Mi, literally meaning "Fruit of the Invisible-Invisible"), a Paramecia-class Devil Fruit, which was soon acquired by Shiryu after his crew murdered its previous user, Absalom, gives him the ability to turn himself and whatever he is holding invisible. With this fruit, he is able to cut opponents without being spotted, taking them by surprise. He held this ability in high regard in terms of usefulness.

Techniques
The named techniques that are used by Shiryu that involve the Devil Fruit are as follows:

Weapons

 * Main article: Raiu

Shiryu's weapon of choice is a nodachi called Raiu, qualified as a Meito. It was confiscated from him after Shiryu was imprisoned as a condemned criminal in Level 6. After Magellan released Shiryu to deal with Blackbeard, Raiu was returned to him.

The sword that Shiryu wields has a long blade with a square guard. Half of its sheath is white, while the other half is red.

Early Life
Though the guards of Impel Down have permission to kill prisoners for security reasons, Shiryu heavily abused that privilege by killing many prisoners for his own pleasure. When confronted by Magellan, Shiryu's abuse of his privilege was revealed and he was deemed to be a menace. For that, he was sentenced to death and placed in a cell on Level 6. As Level 6 prisoners' crimes are deemed too dangerous or embarrassing to be made public, Shiryu's crimes were not heard of by most prisoners, despite their brutality.

Post-War Arc
Blackbeard made his move after Leaving Marineford, taking out Bonney Jewelry in the process. While the crew was seen bickering amongst each other, Shiryu scolded the crew for being unprepared for the hardships of the New World. The Blackbeard Pirates' raft was brought close to the point of destruction, due to Wolf San Juan's size, and they seemingly got in contact with the Marines to trade Bonney for a battleship. Van Augur alerted Teach that the battleship had arrived but not for trade because Akainu was on board. Knowing that the deal would not happen, the Blackbeard Pirates fled, leaving Bonney behind to be arrested.

During the Timeskip
One year after the war at Marineford, the Blackbeard Pirates fought against the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates and ultimately won.

The Blackbeard Pirates used their captain's knowledge of Whitebeard's former territory to conquer it. After Blackbeard became an Emperor, the Blackbeard Pirates started hunting down powerful Devil Fruit users in order to absorb their abilities.

Shiryu was assigned to be the captain of the Blackbeard Pirates 2nd Fleet, while his fellows Burgess Jesus and Lafitte were also promoted to be captains of their own divisions.

Zou Arc
After Doflamingo's defeat, the Blackbeard Pirates stopped by Dressrosa but were unable to find Burgess. At a certain sea in the New World, Shiryu and Lafitte were contacted by Burgess via Den Den Mushi. Burgess informed them that he stowed away on a ship that led him to the revolutionaries' base on Baltigo, and had fallen unconscious because of severe injuries inflicted by Sabo. He then told them to inform Teach and get the Blackbeard Pirates to attack the island. The Blackbeard Pirates later attacked Baltigo, and the island was destroyed by the time the Marines and Cipher Pol arrived, but the Revolutionary Army was able to escape. However, the Blackbeard Pirates fled after briefly clashing with Cipher Pol and the Marines.

Levely Arc
After the events at Totto Land, he was seen listening to his admiral's comments about Luffy being too soon to be called an Emperor.

Wano Country Arc
Sometime after Absalom arrived at Blackbeard's island, Shiryu gained his Clear-Clear Fruit. When Moria and his zombie army went on a rampage on the island a few days later, Shiryu struck Moria from behind before revealing himself.

Canon

 * Shiryu vs. Magellan (unseen)
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Magellan (unseen)
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Newgate Edward
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Fleet Admiral Sengoku
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Bonney Pirates
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Whitebeard Pirates (under Marco) (unseen, during timeskip)
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Revolutionary Army (unseen)
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Cipher Pol & Marines (unseen)

Translation and Dub Issues
In Chapter 595, Shiryu's name was romanized as "Shiliew". However, in Chapter 925, it was later romanized as "Shiryu".

Notes & Trivia

 * The sarcastic apology Shiryu had gave to the guards he cut down, "Kiri-sute gomen" (斬捨て御免; literally meaning "authorization to cut and leave [the body of the victim]"), is an old Japanese expression for a samurai's right to strike down an individual of lower class who compromised their honor. In modern days, the term is still used as an advance apology of sorts, with the subtle humor in offering what amounts to an unsympathetic apology.
 * Shiryu's favorite food is rare beef steak.

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