Ryuma
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| Japanese Name |
リューマ |
| Romanized Name |
Ryūma |
| Official English Name |
Ryuma |
| Debut |
Chapter 448; Episode 342 |
| Affiliations |
Thriller Bark Pirates |
| Occupations |
General Zombie |
| Residence |
Thriller Bark |
| Epithet |
Legendary Samurai (伝説の侍, Densetsu no Samurai?);Sword God (刀神様, Tōjin-sama?, VIZ: "God of the Blade"); |
| Status |
Deceased |
| Height |
179 cm (5'10") |
| Japanese Voice |
Chō |
| English Voice |
Funimation:Ian Sinclair |
Introduction
Ryuma was a member of the General Zombies serving the Thriller Bark Pirates. His body came from the legendary Wano Country samurai Shimotsuki Ryuma, which was brought back to life after Gecko Moria infused it with Brook's shadow. Due to his affiliation and actions, he is a major antagonist in the Thriller Bark Arc. Ryuma was a member of the General Zombies serving the Thriller Bark Pirates. His body came from the legendary Wano Country samurai Shimotsuki Ryuma, which was brought back to life after Gecko Moria infused it with Brook's shadow. Due to his affiliation and actions, he is a major antagonist in the Thriller Bark Arc.
Appearance
Ryuma is a human zombie of average height. He has several bandages covering part of his skull face, which has no eyes and no nose, and wears a samurai gi with intricate designs more detailed than his original garb. He also wears geta instead of the zōri sandals of his past life, as well as a blue stomach band with a swirling design. Ryuma's mouth is partially covered by the blue scarf he wears, his black hair has turned white, and he keeps Shusui strapped to his right hip. In the anime, he bore Brook's voice due to possessing his shadow.
Gallery
Personality
As a zombie, Ryuma had mannerisms similar to those of Brook, such as his perverted nature and his distinct "Yohohohoho" laugh. These similarities existed because he had Brook's shadow animating his corpse. Though Ryuma had Brook's core personality, he possessed a slightly different outlook on things. He abandoned his past as a part of Brook, and every memory connected with it; because of this, while Brook cherishes his afro, Ryuma saw it only as an eyesore. Ryuma also saw it as a weakness of Brook's to be exploited in their duel. He also had a decidedly sadistic streak, behaving quite cruelly towards his "former master" Brook; when fighting him, Ryuma seemed to enjoy inflicting both physical and psychological pain, as well as toying with him when he could have won quickly and easily, being the far more powerful of the two. He seemed to retain a fondness for battle that was more in line with his body's samurai origins. He felt deep shame about himself after being defeated by Zoro.
Abilities And Powers
Ryuma's body retained the immense physical strength it had in life, which he used to maintain formidable swordsmanship even though his technique differed from how it was when he was alive. As Brook noted, Zoro and Ryuma were of the same build as swordsmen. If they were to have equal physical strength, their destructive power would be close enough to each other to cause any duel between them to end very quickly.
Swordsmanship
As a zombie that possessed Brook's shadow, Ryuma could perform all of Brook's sword techniques. However, because Ryuma had a much stronger body than Brook, the power of the techniques is amplified to a much higher level. The difference between the two was large enough that Ryuma could defeat Brook with only a fraction of his full strength. Ryuma possessed immense strength that allowed him to knock out Nami, Usopp and Chopper in one attack, using the blunt edge of his blade; if he had used the sharp edge, he would have killed them. Because of this immense power, he could pierce through walls at a distance with the air pressure from his stab, completely cut through the spire roof of a tower with a single slash, and destroy an enemy's sword after just a few clashes, all things that Brook cannot do.
Weapons
Ryuma possessed the katana Shusui, the same sword he wielded in life. As one of the 21 Great Grade Meito and a Black Blade, Shusui remained as powerful as it ever was, and was a great asset to Ryuma in battle.
History
Past
Five years before the beginning of the main storyline, a skeleton named Brook came to Thriller Bark. He was captured, and with the use of Moria's Devil Fruit powers, his shadow was stolen and implanted into Ryuma's corpse. After Brook was set adrift at sea, Ryuma became a General Zombie under the command of Absalom, but foremost Moria. When Brook returned to the island in search of his shadow and purified many zombies, he came across Ryuma and fought him for possession of his shadow. However, while they shared the same techniques, Ryuma had the stronger body and easily bested Brook at his own fighting style. Knowing that he could not kill Brook because that would destroy the shadow and leave himself lifeless, Ryuma let Brook go with a broken skull. Ryuma then continued his duties as a General Zombie for the next five years. While Brook trained himself during that time in order to defeat him, Ryuma grew in strength as well because they thought alike.
Thriller Bark Saga
Thriller Bark Arc
While doing his rounds on the night the Straw Hats came to Thriller Bark, Ryuma decided to chase after Usopp, Nami, and Chopper after they were chased out of Hogback's room by a Jack in a box. He caught up to them while they were peeking on Hogback making his latest creation in his lab, where he knocked them inside with a slash. After being ordered by Hogback to do away with the three Straw Hats, Ryuma attacked them with Hanauta Sancho: Yahazu Giri. As Ryuma walked past the trio and asked Cindry to prepare his night meal, the technique took effect, though Nami, Chopper, and Usopp were only knocked out due to being hit with the back of Shusui. Later, while sitting down and drinking tea in Hogback's lab, Ryuma was confronted by Brook, who challenged him to a duel.
After several bone-shattering strikes, during which he claimed that Brook's afro was just a weakness to be exploited, Ryuma easily defeated Brook with his own style before grabbing Brook's afro, which he decided to cut off as a final blow to the skeleton. However, just before Ryuma could cut off the afro, the entire island began shaking, which made Ryuma lose his grip and balance. When Franky arrived in the lab and began tending to Brook, Ryuma attacked both of them, but had his attack blocked by Zoro, who challenged him to a fight in Brook's stead. After proclaiming that he would be taking Shusui from Ryuma's corpse, Zoro attacked Ryuma, who blocked before responding with Aubade Coup Droit, blowing a hole in the wall behind Zoro. However, Ryuma observed that he had almost been cut in return as Zoro's counterattack slashed through the wall behind him.
As the battle intensified, with both Zoro and Ryuma using powerful techniques that damaged the floor and walls, Hogback's laboratory could not take the damage and the entire room caved in. Escaping from the wreckage before the structure gave way, Ryuma and Zoro continued their battle on the roof. As Ryuma and Zoro continued battling, the two found themselves facing each other on top of two ledges with only the top of the roof between them. With a mighty slash, Ryuma cut through the entire roof with his blade, but Zoro dodged the attack and, using the slashed-off part of the roof as a ramp, launched an attack from above at Ryuma. As he jumped towards Zoro and prepared to use Hanauta Sancho: Yahazu Giri once more, Ryuma was slashed in mid-air by Zoro's Hiryu: Kaen, which caused blue flames to spread from the wound. Ryuma landed on top of the roof while Zoro landed further down. Accepting defeat, Ryuma decided to give Zoro his sword, believing that the soul of the sword would be most satisfied to serve under the man who defeated its preceding owner. After admitting that it felt sorrow at letting Ryuma's body be defeated, Brook's shadow left the corpse and returned to its rightful owner as the corpse was quickly swallowed by the flames and burned to ashes.
Major Battles
Shimotsuki Ryuma vs. Brook (1st battle) Shimotsuki Ryuma vs. Brook (2nd battle) Shimotsuki Ryuma vs. Roronoa Zoro
Merchandise
Video Games
Playable Appearances
One Piece Treasure Cruise One Piece Bounty Rush
Enemy Appearances
One Piece Romance Dawn: The Dawn of the Adventure One Piece Bon! Bon! Journey!!
Trivia
His samurai gi has the kanji ryū (龍?, literally meaning "dragon") on its sleeves, most likely a reference to the dragon he killed in the past. Ryuma is the only one of Gecko Moria's zombies that is defeated in a way other than being purified with salt or having his shadow removed by Shadow's Asgard. Instead, he is set on fire, causing his body to be cremated, thus freeing Brook's shadow. Ryuma's favorite food is curry. Ryuma shares his favorite food with Brook, so it is likely that it being his favorite was influenced by him having Brook's shadow inside of him and it is possible that he had a different favorite food when he was alive.
References
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