Black Cat Pirates

The Black Cat Pirates roamed the East Blue under Kuro, a captain whose reputation rested on meticulous raids rather than brute force. After he staged his own death, his former right hand Jango inherited command while the band kept plundering. A feline theme runs through everything about them, from Kuro's bladed Cat Claws to the ear-shaped hairstyles worn by the rank and file. Jango breaks the pattern, styled after a sphinx with a pharaoh's braided beard rather than a house cat.

As the antagonists driving the Syrup Village Arc, the crew existed mainly to serve Kuro's exit strategy. He wanted out of piracy for good, and his plan called for the band to storm a sleepy village as a diversion while he claimed the fortune of a sickly heiress named Kaya. Few of them could match real fighters; against ordinary townsfolk they were deadly, but Luffy and Zoro outclassed them with ease. Their plundering leaned on Kuro's cunning and on Jango's hypnotism, which could pump up a member's raw strength. Loyalty was thin, since most followed their captain only out of fear and many never even believed Devil Fruits were real.

Kuro led first, infamous for cutting down his own subordinates with a reckless fighting style, and he secretly intended to massacre the entire crew to erase witnesses to his disguise as the butler Klahadore. Jango served as the second captain and the hypnotist, later pardoned and folded into the Marines. The ship guards Sham and Buchi, billed as the Nyaban Brothers, defended the vessel with clawed gloves and coordinated attacks, carrying a shared bounty. In the end Luffy toppled Kuro, Zoro beat the brothers, and Usopp dealt with Jango.