Figarland Garling
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| Japanese Name |
フィガーランド・ガーリング聖 |
| Romanized Name |
Figārando Gāringu Sei |
| Official English Name |
Saint Figarland Garling |
| Debut |
Chapter 1086; Episode 1120 |
| Affiliations |
Five Elders; God's Knights; World Nobles (Figarland Family) |
| Occupations |
Co-Head of the World Government (Public); Warrior God of Science and Defense (科学防衛武神, Kagaku Bōei Bushin?, VIZ: "Godhead of Science & Defense"); Supreme Commander of God's Knights; World Noble |
| Residence |
Mary Geoise |
| Status |
Alive |
Portrayal
| Japanese Voice |
Kazuhiro Yamaji;Hiroyuki Kinoshita (young) |
| English Voice |
Funimation:Neil Kaplan |
Introduction
Saint Figarland Garling is one of the Five Elders who publicly head the World Government, holding the title Warrior God of Science and Defense. A World Noble who hails from the Figarland Family, Garling is the biological father of Shamrock, a commander of the God's Knights, as well as the pirate Shanks, of the Four Emperors. Garling became the "champion" of God Valley during the battle that took place there 38 years ago, and has since served as Supreme Commander of the God's Knights for decades prior to his promotion to Elder. After the Egghead Incident, Garling was named an Elder to succeed Jaygarcia Saturn, who was killed by Imu due to his failure to stop the escape of Monkey D. Luffy. Due to his role, Garling serves as one of the main antagonists of the Final Saga along with the other Elders.Saint Figarland Garling is one of the Five Elders who publicly head the World Government, holding the title Warrior God of Science and Defense. A World Noble who hails from the Figarland Family, Garling is the biological father of Shamrock, a commander of the God's Knights, as well as the pirate Shanks, of the Four Emperors. Garling became the "champion" of God Valley during the battle that took place there 38 years ago, and has since served as Supreme Commander of the God's Knights for decades prior to his promotion to Elder. After the Egghead Incident, Garling was named an Elder to succeed Jaygarcia Saturn, who was killed by Imu due to his failure to stop the escape of Monkey D. Luffy. Due to his role, Garling serves as one of the main antagonists of the Final Saga along with the other Elders.
Appearance
Garling is a tall, well-built man of advanced age, with a visibly wrinkled face and an aquiline nose. His pale-blond hair is long and very distinctively styled into a pair of unbent, side-facing spikes left and right on his head, alongside one extremely tall, forward-bent spike on top. Garling's facial hair consists of a mustache with a large beard linked to his sideburns (also forming spikes), which culminates in a large forward spike below his chin and makes it so that his hair-and-beard combo resembles a front-facing crescent moon; when seen from the front, his facial hair more so resembles a four-pointed star. In the anime, he appears to have a lack of facial hair below his mustache that separates it from his beard. As a God's Knight, Garling wore what resembled a variant of the typical World Noble suit, red in color with a thick, standing collar, which was mostly hidden underneath an ankle-length, hooded black coat adorned with golden knobs (bearing the World Government's five-circle insignia) on the upper arms; unlike other Celestial Dragons, however, he did not wear gloves with his outfit.
Garling's footwear consisted of black dress boots, and his eyes were covered by red circle-frame sunglasses. Upon being appointed as one of the Five Elders, Garling changed his wardrobe into a full dark-colored suit paired with a simple light-colored dress shirt and tie, plus a light-colored, collared cape draped over his shoulders. He also took off his shades upon greeting his fellow Elders in the Room of Authority, but continued to carry his saber in his left hand. Thirty-eight years ago, a much younger Garling had a similar appearance to now, his blonde head hair already matching its present-day size and shape (with two strands loose on either side of his face), though his facial hair was still absent beyond minor chin stubble. Garling was apparently considered quite attractive given that he had female fans swooning over him. Like other God's Knights, he eschewed wearing a bubble around his head. Similar to his current cloak, Garling wore a red cape with a white fur trim particularly thick around the collar, and below a three-button shirt of gold color: high-collared, adorned on the left by two disc brooches of lighter gold color (blue in the middle) with the government symbol, and cut off above his abdomen like a half-shirt, transitioning into a light-purple lower half that went past his waistline, was thickly and vertically striated in red and white next to each front hem, and held closed by a brown belt with two gold buckles (red in the middle, the government symbol on each). In addition, Garling donned brown gloves and plate-armor components, namely two dark-gray vambraces and pauldrons (the latter made of a circular cop and one lame each). Garling's lower wear consisted of white pants with dark-gray greaves and dark-brown, ankle-high boots.
Gallery
Personality
Garling is an equanimous and confident man. While seemingly not as self-indulgent, cowardly, or ignorant of the world as lesser World Nobles, he is still no less arrogant and depraved, as he sees anyone beneath his own station as "trash". He is ruthless in his administration of punishment to those who break World Noble rules and customs, believing in particular that those nobles who protect people of lower status debase themselves into being even lower than trash; Garling was willing to execute Saint Mjosgard for that very crime (namely defending the Neptune Royal Family and/or the pirates who, in turn, protected them). Indeed, much like other Celestial Dragons, Garling is exceedingly cruel without the slightest regard for the lives of commoners, deeming them so worthless that the slaughter of an entire island's native population (and partaking therein) means little more to him than sport. Hence, he was an eager participant in the Native Hunting Competition on God Valley 38 years ago, where he slayed the country's king the very instant he started protesting about having his own subjects hunted to death. A younger Garling showed himself to be very confident in his abilities, claiming that his incurrence of a 10,000-point penalty during the aforesaid hunting contest (for starting early) was a good handicap to make things competitive. When the Rocks and Roger Pirates made landfall on God Valley, Garling was unperturbed and ready to take on the pirates despite both crews being the strongest of their time, highlighting his aplomb disposition. Upon joining the ranks of the Five Elders, Garling was quick to establish himself as an equal to the other four, immediately speaking to them in a non-deferential tone despite his newcomer status, and expressed confidence in the Elders' joint pursuit to better the world and re-establish order in the face of imminent global chaos and rebellion.
Abilities And Powers
As Supreme Commander of the God's Knights, Garling held authority over the rest of the group and could pass judgment upon his fellow World Nobles for behavior deemed intolerable, making him one of the most eminent Celestial Dragons. With his ascension to one of the Five Elders, Garling has become one of the five "Highest Authorities in the World" who wield unrivaled influence over world politics and government operations, second only to Imu's. Among other things, Garling's Elder status grants him the second-highest command (below Jewelry Bonney's) over all Kuma-model Pacifistas as well as the highest command over the Seraphim; additionally, the Vegapunk York, with her considerable scientific prowess, has been assigned as Garling's subordinate. If, as the Warrior God of Science and Defense, Garling himself has any scientific expertise like his predecessor Saturn is unclear. Little is currently known about Garling's combat prowess. However, given his leadership of the God's Knights whom Monkey D. Dragon (head of the Revolutionary Army) is wary of, plus him being deemed a worthy candidate to be one of the Five Elders (all of whom have proven exceedingly powerful), it can be assumed that Garling is quite dangerous, at least by World Noble standards. Garling is said to have been a "champion" of God Valley. On said island 38 years ago, he was the World Nobles' favorite to win their Native Hunting Competition in which, despite starting with a negative 10,000 points, Garling successfully took the lead prior to the contest's interruption. When both the Rocks and Roger Pirates (two of the strongest pirate crews of that era) arrived on God Valley, Garling was ready to take on the enemy with his fellow God's Knights; apart from his survival, what involvement Garling ultimately had in the God Valley Incident is still unknown. During the Native Hunting Competition, Garling was seen riding an aviator cap-wearing Super Spot-Billed Duck.
Immortality
According to Jaguar D. Saul, all God's Knights have a form of immortality, indicating that Garling possesses it.
Weapons
Garling's trademark weapon is a large, single-edged saber with a circular, golden knuckle-bow guard, a hilt wrapped in purple leather and/or wire, a buttoned pommel also in gold, and a solid-black sheath accented with two golden bands near the guard. Garling already possessed this blade 38 years ago on God Valley, but his skill with the weapon remains unknown, as he has only been seen using it to slay God Valley's king and later slaves.
History
Past
Garling is a member of the Figarland Family of the World Nobles and, 39 years ago, fathered twin sons: Shamrock and Shanks. 38 years ago, Garling (already part of the God's Knights) partook in the Native Hunting Competition hosted on God Valley, where he executed the former king of the island for protesting the game and having his own countrymen culled for sport. This action led to Garling receiving a 10,000-point demerit for killing before the timer started, but Garling did not care and saw it as a suitable "handicap" to improve competition. Following an announcement about how many points the different hunting targets ("Rabbits") awarded and the prizes awaiting the winners, Garling was quick to enter the contest and amass 100,000 points by going for the high-value Rabbits. Once both the Rocks and Roger Pirates had made landfall on God Valley in a surprise assault, an irritated Garling issued the order to pull back the Marines and have them guard the Celestial Dragons instead, noting that the God's Knights were to handle the pirates instead. Though details on his involvement in the God Valley Incident remain unknown, Garling was eventually declared a "champion" of God Valley. However, his son Shanks somehow ended up in a treasure chest that was found by the Roger Pirates and was thus raised by them as an apprentice until Roger's execution. Shanks later went on to become a very powerful and infamous pirate and became recognized by the World Government as one of the Four Emperors. Garling's other son, Shamrock, followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a member and commander in the God's Knights himself, with his authority only second to Garling, who is Supreme Commander of the God's Knights.
Final Saga
Egghead Arc
Following the most recent Levely, Garling acted as a judge against Saint Donquixote Mjosgard, who was accused of abetting the escape of the pirates suspected of Saint Charlos's attempted murder. Garling chose to execute Mjosgard for protecting "trash" and was subsequently seen lounging in a chair at the execution site in Mary Geoise, with cheering Celestial Dragons around. Later, Garling calmly listened to Vegapunk's pre-recorded worldwide message as the scientist spoke about the One Piece. Following the events of the Egghead Incident, Garling received "orders" to become the new Warrior God of Science and Defense among the Five Elders (unbeknownst to the other Elders), effectively displacing Jaygarcia Saturn in his duties. After arriving in the Room of Authority, Garling proclaimed that York was now under his purview, before alerting his fellow Elders to prepare themselves for an imminent wave of chaos and uncertainty regarding the future of the world.
Translation And Dub Issues
While he was called God Valley's "ruler" in Chapter 1086's initial VIZ translation, Garling's ōja (王者?) designation does not typically refer to a literal king, rather denoting a kingly figure or "champion"; additionally, Garling was said to "have participated/been active" (活躍した, katsuyaku shita?) on God Valley. This was later revised in the VIZ translation to instead call him a "dominating figure" who "distinguished himself" at God Valley, which is more in line with the actual circumstances revealed 9 chapters later.
Trivia
According to Oda, if Garling were to grow out his head and beard hair more, it would join together and form a full circle. Having replaced Saturn, Garling stands as the only one of the current Five Elders to not be named after a planet. However, his hair and beard do resemble a crescent moon when viewed from the side (the moon being the first of the seven celestial spheres, closest to Earth, under the Ptolemaic model). Likewise, from the front his hair and beard resemble a four-pointed star. Additionally, Garling is currently the only one of the Five Elders not yet confirmed to have Devil Fruit powers. Garling's name and status as "champion" of God Valley may be a nod to US Brigadier General Ernest Albert Garlington, who as a First Lieutenant participated in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre against unarmed native people and received the Medal of Honor for "distinguished gallantry". In Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #49 (2024), to the question of how great Garling's combat abilities are, Oda responds by simply noting that he is strong, and there is a reason for his strength.
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