Tajio

Small in stature, Tajio has messy orange hair, dark brows, and glasses. He sports the standard Marine galley outfit paired with a little toque, the mark of his rank as a trainee cook.

Doubt weighs heavily on Tajio, who at first cannot believe he is capable of producing a decent dish. True to his Marine upbringing, he initially views the Straw Hats with suspicion, yet he readily drops that bias once he sees their good nature. He treats cooking as a serious calling, scolding Sanji for lighting a cigarette in the kitchen, and like the Straw Hat chef he longs to one day reach the All Blue, the very reason he enlisted.

Tajio had spent six months aboard a Marine vessel doing little beyond scrubbing dishes and peeling produce. On a fog-bound day when the fleet's captains expected curry, he knocked the pot onto the floor and was told to redo it from scratch, failing again and again. Startled by the Straw Hats' ship looming out of the mist, he tumbled overboard and was plucked from the water by Robin. After tasting Sanji's cooking and sharing his troubles, he was escorted back to his ship, where Sanji nudged him toward the realization that a head chef teaches by example rather than instruction. With that insight, and a subtle assist from Sanji, Tajio finally got the curry right. The captains praised the meal, his own chef offered cryptic approval, and Tajio watched the Going Merry sail off, vowing to grow into a cook as skilled as Sanji. He had earlier shielded the pirates by telling pursuing Marines he had seen no one.