South Bird

These birds wear strikingly bright feathers, mostly arranged in trading bands of purple and green. Their bills stretch long and slender, recalling those of a hornbill, and like most birds they stand on three toes facing forward with one pointing back. A specimen from Jaya is usually about the size of a small child, but the Skypiea variety grows several times bigger, the result of generations feeding on the land's distinctive nutrients.

A South Bird cannot swivel its head elsewhere without great strain, so its neck has evolved extraordinary flexibility, letting the body twist and shift almost independently of the fixed head. Each one utters a deep, unmistakable cry of "Jyo," and through some unknown means this call lets them direct swarms of insects such as moths, hornets, and mantises. Centuries of being hunted seem to have soured Jaya's South Birds toward people, and they readily turn their insect allies loose on anyone trying to capture them. The Skypiea birds behave very differently, friendly enough to bond with humans, honor them, and even rescue them with nothing to gain. Jaya's woods also hold North, Eastern, and Western Birds, near-identical creatures distinguished mainly by their crests, which respectively resemble a heart, the letter E, and the letter W, and these variants are close enough to interbreed in any pairing.

South Birds were already familiar on Jaya in the days of old Shandora, and the ancient Shandia cast golden idols shaped after them. When Mont Blanc Noland first reached the island, their calls were among his earliest impressions of it. After the Knock-Up Stream hurled half of Jaya, Shandora included, up into Skypiea, a population settled into the region that became Upper Yard and grew enormous over the centuries. When the Straw Hat Pirates set out to ride the Knock-Up Stream, Mont Blanc Cricket urged them to capture a South Bird for navigation, since the stream offered nothing for a Log Pose to lock onto. The hunt proved grueling, as the birds drove the crew off with clouds of insects, until one grew too brazen and Nico Robin pinned it with her Hana Hana powers. Chained to the Going Merry, it sulked and even tried to mislead them by turning its head aside, to Luffy's amusement, yet it still guided them to the stream and on to Skypiea. The crew freed it there, and it pecked an apologetic Nami before flying off. In Upper Yard a great flock of the larger Skypiea birds later saved Gan Fall, Pierre, and Chopper from shark-filled waters, honoring Gan Fall's legacy as the island's former God. Another trailed Zoro for his lunch and ended up unwittingly carrying him straight to the ruins of Shandora. Remarkably, when the Straw Hats departed, their original South Bird raced back to the Merry rather than be left behind. It eventually returned to Jaya, fell for a North Bird, and the pair raised an Eastern Bird and a Western Bird together.