Flying Pirates

Captained by Vander Decken IX, the Flying Pirates drifted above the ocean floor and menaced the residents of Fish-Man Island. Their name likely echoes the Flying Dutchman, the flagship handed down through nine generations of Vander Deckens. The crew acts as a secondary villain force throughout the Fish-Man Island Arc.

As fish-men who operate underwater, they hold a natural edge over humans when stripping ships of treasure. Two enormous beasts, Wadatsumi and Ankoro, simply smash vessels with their bulk, while Decken, a fish-man who surrendered his ability to swim in exchange for the Mato Mato no Mi, wields a strange targeting power. Infamous beneath the waves, the crew sealed a pact with the New Fish-Man Pirates that was billed as unstoppable. That alliance fell apart once Decken launched Noah at Shirahoshi and Hody Jones turned on him.

The crew scoured the seabed, with Ankoro swallowing approaching pirate ships, a habit Decken scolded since he preferred looting the cargo first. After failing to capture the Straw Hats, they entered Fish-Man Island and joined the New Fish-Man Pirates, aiming to topple the Ryugu Kingdom and force Princess Shirahoshi to wed Decken. When she refused him, Decken tried to kill her, only for Luffy to swat him aside again and again, prompting him to send the ark Noah after her, to his own crew's horror. Once the conflict ended, the Neptune Army arrested Decken, Surume banished Wadatsumi from the island, and the loss of the captain's Devil Fruit gutted whatever strength remained.