Mendo

Mendo stands on the tall side and has tanned skin. His head is enormous, dominated by a heavy jaw that thrusts forward from his face, and an X-shaped scar marks his chin. Long black hair frames the whole. He is most often dressed in a robe bearing a crest on the upper right breast patch, a design that echoes the emblem of the Shimotsuki Family.

For a man who teaches the blade, Mendo is remarkably timid and rattles easily. The moment Zoro turned up at the dojo, Mendo assumed a challenger had come and ducked behind his own pupils. Once he grasped that this was the famous swordsman, he flipped into starstruck excitement just like his students and begged for an autograph. Underneath the cowardice, though, he genuinely loves his home and neighbors, joining them to face down the Amigo Pirates when his community was threatened.

Long before the main events, Mendo relocated from the East Blue to Little East Blue and opened his dojo there. Running a training hall, he carries at least a measure of swordsmanship, though given his nerves the lessons are probably more for appearances than for battle. When the Straw Hat Pirates landed, Zoro headed for the dojo and was first mistaken for a challenger; only when a villager identified the swordsman did Mendo and his students erupt with excitement and request an autograph. Later, as the Amigo Pirates arrived demanding the island's guardian Boss be surrendered, Mendo stood alongside the townsfolk. After Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Boss were beaten, the citizens prepared to fight on, and Mendo even took up a bamboo practice sword to show a flicker of courage. Once the enemy crew fell, he was seen drilling his pupils again as the Straw Hats sailed away.