Towards all the diehard fans for one of the most well-known anime and also manga in this whole wide world that is ‘One Piece’ series, there are actually several pirates that are seen to be based upon real-life pirates throughout the particular series. Many of these characters have historical roots that make One Piece that much more fun.
Some of them which are quite obvious actually while some of them also are a bit less obvious, but still well known. For those who do not know, this might be a brand new and exciting fan knowledge for all of you. These are actually 5 of the One Piece characters who are based on real-life pirates.
1) Roronoa Zoro/Francois L’Olonnais
Picture: One Piece Gold
Roronoa Zoro, the master swordsman of the Straw Hat crew, is named after the French pirate Francois L’Olonnais. Pronounced in Japanese, the names sound very similar. It’s hard to find any parallels between L’Olonnais and Roronoa besides the name, as the swordsman doesn’t have the cruelty and lack of compassion for others, which the former had. L’Olonnais raided many towns – among all Maracaibo and Gibraltar in the Gulf of Venezuela. His crew hunted fugitives and tortured all the townsfolk until they revealed where any belongings or acquaintances were hidden. L’Olonnais was an expert torturer and spared no one. After a shipwreck, to escape the Spanish soldiers, after all his crew were killed, he smeared himself with the blood of the others, and played dead. The soldiers missed him and escaped into a canoe dressed as a Spaniard. He and his crew were captured by the natives who were siding with the Spanish. There were two versions of his death. Some people say he was cut into pieces and burned, and others say he was eaten alive.
2) Jewelry Bonney/Anne Bonny
Picture: One Piece Gold
Jewelry Bonney is named after and inspired by Anne Bonny, one of the most well-known female pirates in history. There are many tales of Anne Bonny’s rebellious attitude from the time she was a teenager. At sixteen, she abandoned her father’s household and married a pirate called James Bonny. During that time, she made many pirate friends and left her husband for Calico Jack Rackham, a small-time pirate, whom she later married, and they had a son that almost no one knows very much about yet. A few months later, Anne partnered with another famous female pirate called Mary Reid, with whom it is believed she also had a romantic relationship. Anne’s promiscuous lifestyle, tales of which can be found in popular lore, could be reflected in Jewelry Bonney’s gluttonous behavior. But contrary to her real-life counterpart, Jewelry is more inclined to help another pirate, like saving Zoro from what she believed to be his imminent death, when he interfered with a world noble. While no one escaped from the punishment of hanging, Anne was pardoned along with Mary, because they claimed to be pregnant, and also because of Anne’s father’s influence. After this, her fate was unknown.
3) Marshall D. Teach (Blackbeard)/Edward Teach
Picture: Anime News Network
Marshall D. Teach, who goes by the name of Blackbeard. Most of us have heard of the real Blackbeard, Edward Teach, best known for the epic showdown he lost against Lieutenant Maynard. Real-life Blackbeard got his name from his enormous black beard, described by one historian as “covering his whole face, suffered to grow to an extravagant length, up to his eyes. He was accustomed to twisting it with ribbons and turn it about his ears”. Apparently, he also enjoyed sticking lighted matches under his hat when he went into battle, just to be even more terrifying and inhuman. His fearsome nature became so legendary that after Lieutenant Maynard cut off his head, Blackbeard’s decapitated body supposedly swam around the ship three times before sinking.
4) Edward Newgate(Whitebeard)/Newgate Prison
Picture: Anime News Network
Newgate Prison was a London jail that remained in use for over 700 years. Most importantly for One Piece, this was where the much-maligned Captain Kidd was imprisoned before being hanged at Wapping in 1701. Newgate was one of the most infamous prisons in the public imagination. Not only was it a place many pirates would have been leery of but its presence in Whitebeard’s name also works with his famed stance that no one can live without a moral code. Newgate Prison was concrete evidence that England had a penal code, which calls to mind the social norms and morals that tie into Whitebeard’s personality. It’s a slightly more tenuous connection than others but given the status, size, and reputation Whitebeard achieves in One Piece. it is also one of the more intriguing possibilities.
5) Lafitte/Jean Lafitte
Picture: Anime News Network
A privateer went rogue, Jean Lafitte’s name actually fits his One Piece counterpart well. Lafitte in One Piece was a former law-abider as well, a policeman fired from the force for excessive violence. He later becomes a higher-up in Blackbeard’s crew, just as Jean Lafitte worked his way up the maritime ladder, starting low and ending up a captain. At one point, he even issued a retaliatory wanted poster. The governor of Louisiana offered $500 for Lafitte’s capture, so Lafitte turned around and offered $1,000 for the governor’s. But unlike in the One Piece version, the real Jean Lafitte went back to the right side of the law, at least temporarily when the war of 1812 broke out, he refused to join the British Navy and offered the governor his services and extensive crew. Possibly still upset about that whole wanted poster thing, the governor turned him down, but a man named Andrew Jackson didn’t, so Jean Lafitte went back to being a privateer, aiding in the war effort. In fact, he provided the ammunition for the Battle of New Orleans.
Sources: CBR.
