Saint Manmayer Gunko

For all her years, no trace of aging shows on Gunko, who stands at roughly average height. Her long blue hair tends to read as short, hidden away under a cap or jacket, and her eyes do not match, one cyan and the other red. Bandaging wraps both her knees and the lower portion of her face. The outfit she favors includes a black newsboy cap fitted with golden goggles, a black double-breasted jacket whose sleeves run far past her hands, a pink cape, and boots topped by cylindrical fittings. Should Imu seize control of her, the irises take on his layered pattern and the hair grows out, a change onlookers found frightening.

Her earlier selves bore little resemblance to this. The seven-year-old Shuri kept short hair above a pale uniform and dark cape, often with a running nose. By fourteen her hair had lengthened and a dark skirt joined a jacket much like the present one. At twenty-one she already looked close to her current form beneath a dark hood and mouth mask, and by thirty-nine the mouth bandages she still wears had become a fixture.

Fitting her station, Gunko is haughty, merciless, and fixed on finishing any task without delay. That pride was on full display as she battered Loki, frustrated and puzzled that anyone would refuse a Knight of God's seat so many crave. Yet she still defers to the chain of command, addressing her superior Shamrock with respect. Under the arrogance lies a hair-trigger fury: she savaged a giant merely for dismissing her question and floated killing Loki over a perceived slight. Her low regard for ordinary people edges into sadism, and she coolly watched children burn, reasoning that replacements existed. Despite all this, a prudish streak left her blushing and turning away when one of her fellow knights appeared wearing nothing but undergarments, and she savors fine food, growing giddy over a dish conjured from dreams.

A strange fixation on Brook trails back to a history the two share. His song New World ranks among her favorites, played as a ritual after she eats. Meeting him again, she demanded he serve as her personal musician and struck out when he refused, while visibly flinching as she did, betraying something buried. When recollections of a younger self walking beside Brook returned, triggered by a child crying for his father, she dropped her assignment outright to search for him. The obsession may stem from her Covenant corrupting an innocent love of his music. As the girl Shuri she even had a quirky laugh, a soft "dehehe."

Set above the world's laws as a World Noble, Gunko may behave as she pleases short of defying Celestial Dragon law, wielding enough influence to call a Marine Admiral down on whoever she dislikes. As a Knight of God she rarely needs one, overpowering several Straw Hats unaided. Her strength flows from the Aro Aro no Mi, classed as Paramecia, a fruit that lets her produce and steer bandage strips tipped with arrowheads. She can fling them, hold them aloft, bind an enemy's limbs, strangle a throat, or coil them into forms such as massive gauntlets and boots that boost her strikes, and she can even soar atop a bird shaped from them. By laying out a path for a blow to trace, she heightens its speed and force, and she can deflect an attacker's strike back at them. Trained with the sword by Brook, she once bested five princes. Her pact with Imu renders her practically immortal, mending instantly even after explosives tore off her upper body, and it permits Imu to commandeer her. She uses the Abyss for travel and summoning, and her Haki broke over Elbaph like dark lightning.

Her birth came seventy-seven years ago, when she entered the world as Shuri to the rulers of the Esperia Kingdom, King Reuven and Queen Candelle. In her youth she kept close to Brook, who led the royal guard, cherishing his songs and honing her swordwork under his eye. After a strange smog wrecked the kingdom's instruments and claimed hundreds of lives, her mother among the dead, Esperia could no longer meet the Heavenly Tribute, and war with the World Government erupted. As the castle fell to Marcus Mars and an unnamed figure, Shuri was turned into a demon and forced to cut down her own father. She afterward made her way to Mary Geoise, lost contact with Brook, had her mind wiped, and was renamed Manmayer Gunko in Imu's service. In later years she rose to Devoted Blade of God and, on God Valley, took part in the Native Hunting Competition.

During the banquet honoring the Straw Hats on Elbaph, Gunko and Shamrock descended on Aurust Castle to recruit Loki, beating him after he refused. They turned next to seizing the island's giant children as hostages, with Gunko calling in fellow knights Killingham and Sommers to herd them. After Jinbe doused the flames closing on the children, she confronted the Straw Hats directly, shrugging off Usopp's explosive that blew her apart and turning Brook's and Jinbe's attacks against one another. She snatched Colon as a hostage, ordered Brook into servitude only to be spurned, and brought down the legendary Scopper Gaban by holding his son's life over him. Colon's cries for his father roused her dormant memories, and as she reached toward Brook, Imu took over her body, unleashing his own powers and twisting giants into demons. Brook's mention of her name and her father let her briefly surface, just long enough to set the Straw Hats loose, before Imu reasserted his grip. In the final clash with Loki and Luffy, she and Imu were frozen in ice by Loki's Niflheim, her fate left unresolved.