Monkey D. Garp

Garp is a towering, tanned, barrel-chested old man with thick muscle that belies his years. A beard frames his face, and a scar rings his left eye, echoing the mark beneath Luffy's. His features blend those of his son and grandson, and his hair reads white in the manga, gray in the anime.

Among Vice Admirals only he and Tsuru wear distinctive shoulder pads, his done in gold and blue. His usual dress is a white Marine coat over a pale gray suit, dark blue shirt, and teal tie, with white loafers below. When he first appeared he hid his identity behind a dog mask, dropping it once his bond to Luffy came out; off duty he favors a red tropical shirt, shorts, and sandals.

Loud, boisterous, and prone to dozing off mid-sentence, Garp is an eccentric but fundamentally upright man who has given decades to the Marines while never abandoning his outlaw family. Much of his manner mirrors Luffy's, yet he turns deadly serious in a fight, as against Shiki or his own former student Kuzan.

For all his righteousness he carries a streak of hypocrisy. He takes fierce pride in the Marines despite knowing how corrupt the organization is, demanded his grandsons become splendid Marines, and beat them whenever they spoke of piracy, all while cherishing his own freedom and refusing orders he disliked. Aware of the World Government's tyranny and the Celestial Dragons' cruelty, he long kept a passive, easygoing stance toward it.

After Ace died at Marineford, the grief pushed Garp to step back from the front lines and pour himself into shaping new recruits. Though the public treats him as retired, he holds his Vice Admiral rank still, and his eventual mission to save Koby ended with him gravely wounded and imprisoned on Hachinosu, officially listed as missing in action.

Garp counts among the mightiest Marines ever to serve and is regarded as a living legend. In his prime he cornered Gol D. Roger time and again, one of the very few who could trade blows with the Pirate King, and the two are said to have nearly killed each other repeatedly. He was offered the rank of Admiral more than once and turned it down every time, an astonishing feat given he wields no Devil Fruit while most Admirals do.

His title "Hero of the Marines" came from the fall of the Rocks Pirates at God Valley, where he and Roger together brought down Rocks D. Xebec. His epithet "Garp the Fist" reflects raw striking power: he once felled the formidable Don Chinjao with a single punch, and even in old age his blows can devastate an island, earning him an Admiral-level bounty from Cross Guild. Beyond strength, he mentored prominent Marines including the future Admiral Kuzan and the SWORD members Koby and Helmeppo.