Maya

Long blue tresses frame Maya's face, pinned partway up by lavender barrettes at the sides with side-locks threaded through big pink beads; Oda renders the shade a touch paler than the film does. Her usual outfit is a flowing pale-yellow top with a white-tasseled orange sash knotted at the waist, six gold bracelets across her wrists, and brown sandals. For the barrier ritual she changes into ceremonial garments.

Gentle and high-minded, Maya goes to great lengths for the people she cares about and is even ready to lay down her own life for them. Pirates and the dominating power of the Shichiseiken once filled her with dread, though her terror of pirates faded once the Straw Hat crew rescued Saga and her homeland. She also laughs in an unmistakable way, a drawn-out Aahoohoohoo. Her gifts are spiritual: descended from the island's ancient priestess, she can command the sacred orbs and channel Asuka's energy against the cursed sword, the very power she draws on to seal it. In her past she also wielded a blade in self-defense, though her lack of skill showed when an attacking pirate easily knocked it from her grasp.

Maya first met Saga after he washed ashore on Asuka Island, gradually coaxing the withdrawn newcomer to open up until the two became engaged. A year before the Straw Hats arrived, raiders assaulted the island; Maya's sword was struck from her grip, and Saga cut down her attacker before carrying her to the shrine housing the Shichiseiken. There she watched in horror as a wounded Saga bled onto the blade's casket, rose with his injuries mended, and slaughtered the pirates, the sword seizing control of him and, together with the Marines, subjecting the villagers to his rule.

When the Straw Hats reach Asuka Island, Maya performs a lakeside rite to charge the ancestral orbs, then flees in fright at the sight of the crew and warns her village. Zoro, now siding with Saga, chases her and her grandmother Izaya and seizes the orbs despite the efforts of Sanji and Lacos. That night she slips to her ancestor's altar and weeps, blaming herself for Saga's fall. After hearing the legend of the Red Moon from Robin and Izaya, she offers to sacrifice her own life to seal the sword, only for Luffy to return the orbs he recovered from the tunnels, after which the group sets a plan to place them in the towers of Komon, Tonroh, and Hagun.

Carried by Luffy to the central palace, Maya climbs to its top and prays for the power to raise a shielding ward across the island that saps the Shichiseiken's strength. Saga's repeated blasts of green flame knock her down and loosen the ward, and her cries go unanswered as he transforms and shatters the seal, the sword's power passing directly into his body and leaving a blade-shaped mark on his chest. She keeps praying, strengthening the barrier and helping force him to his knees, and as Zoro steps in for the final clash her renewed prayers set the Seven Stars of Asuka glowing and inflame the mark until Saga is struck down from the air. With the fight over, Maya cradles his head, feels him squeeze her hand and open his eyes, and weeps. She and the villagers load the crew with food, and from a cliffside she watches the Straw Hats depart, glad to hear Saga vow to once again become the sword of justice.