Pandaman

His standout feature is the head, styled to mimic the panda he is named for and now and then stamped with the word PANDA, with no confirmation of whether it is a mask or his actual face. The rest of him changes dramatically between cameos: official pictures and Oda's contest entry give him a tall, muscular frame, yet plenty of crowd scenes shrink him down to slim or even scrawny so he stays buried in the background.

Most of the time he sports nothing but black trunks and lace-up boots, sometimes showing heart tattoos on his chest and bamboo on his arms, though he has also appeared dressed as a civilian, a pirate, or a Marine. Some cameos drop his body entirely, slipping only his name into the art in katakana or romaji, once even on a Poneglyph.

Canon establishes little about his temperament beyond a cowardly habit of forever running from debt collectors. The video games, by contrast, hand him the loud, hot-blooded bravado of a stock pro wrestler, ever ready to accept any challenge and forever working the syllable sasa into his speech, a wink at the word for bamboo. He is reportedly smitten with Pandawomanmi, though it stays unclear whether she feels the same or even realizes he is alive. He is also hounded without rest by the debt collector Tomato Gang, who brought in his bitter rival Unforgivable Mask to hunt him down and recover the money he owes.

Per Oda's contest write-up, the infant Pandaman was left in a bamboo thicket and raised by giant pandas, ridiculed for insisting he had glimpsed Princess Kaguya, and so he trained into a self-styled Devil Chojin. He is said to have grown rich and respected, even lording over his own island whose legend traveled as far as Foosha Village, before money troubles with Tomato Gang put him on the run. His move list names the Sasa no Ha Panda Drop and the Giant Panda Deathlock, and he is rated at 3,300,000 Chojin Power; in his playable Grand Battle roles he relies on wrestling holds and can even call up Panda Sharks.

He first brushed against the Straw Hats in the Baratie Arc, watching the dust-up between Sanji and Fullbody, and ever since he has haunted the background of nearly every spot they reach, along with several they never do. Going by the series timeline, his oldest appearance puts him aboard the voyages of Mont Blanc Noland, roughly four centuries ahead of the great pirate era, which leaves his real age a mystery. On the women-only Amazon Lily, Pandawomanmi turns up in his place instead. Built originally for the New Chojin Contest tied to the wrestling franchise Kinnikuman, his design deliberately channels a costumed heel wrestler, and his backstory openly nods to the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. The anime keeps him a purely ornamental presence yet frequently inserts cameos the manga lacked, and a single Boss Luffy Historical Special broke the mold completely by casting him as a cherished townsman named Pop whose troubles propelled the story. His leap-day birthday of February 29 was a fan suggestion playing on his knack for hiding.