Daddy Masterson

Masterson is a man of roughly average height with a lean frame, broad sideburns, a mustache, and a goatee. His look is styled after the cowboys and bounty hunters of the late nineteenth century: he wears the classic cowboy bucket hat, fingerless gloves, and a cloak hung with numerous guns, marking him plainly as a sniper. Little about him changed after his Marine days apart from the hat and the loss of his uniform. The Loguetown novel gives him only stubble in place of a full beard.

At first glance he seems stern, grave, and faintly mysterious, an impression created largely by his outfit and his deep voice. That severity softens when his daughter Carol is around, though his tone never actually changes; he merely speaks to her more gently. Masterson also abides by a personal code of honor. After losing a duel to Yasopp he insisted that, having been beaten, Yasopp was bound to end his life, and when the pirate refused he came to respect the man deeply, later passing that respect on to Usopp.

Masterson began as a Marine ensign who enlisted alongside Smoker, ranking among the elites and earning a reputation as a rising star at headquarters. Years later he dueled Yasopp, lost, and was spared rather than killed, after which he left the Marines so he could stay safe and raise his daughter, turning to bounty hunting against minor criminals. In the Loguetown Arc he delivered three captured criminals to Smoker for a signed release, then crushed a group of thugs out for revenge. He soon met Carol, who gave him goggles as a birthday gift, and ran into Usopp, who quarreled with her over them. Masterson challenged the boy to a duel, then set a test requiring Usopp to hit a distant weather vane with one shot of his slingshot. Usopp struck even the gem on the vane, earning the hunter's congratulations and encouragement to seek out his father, Yasopp, in the Grand Line. As a former Marine sniper, Masterson boasts superb aim and fires with great speed, reportedly wielding thirty flintlocks hidden under his clothes.