Guardians

Operating chiefly by night, this unit is the Mokomo Dukedom's main combat body once darkness falls, mirroring the Inuarashi Musketeer Squad that covers the daylight shift. For years they served Nekomamushi, and since Carrot claimed the throne they answer to her instead. Nearly every Guardian encountered so far is male, and though the bulk of their patrols run through the night, daytime watch over the Whale Forest still falls to them. Whenever Nekomamushi stood inactive, authority passed to their captain, Pedro. Rendered into kanji, their name carries the sense of Chivalrous Squad, a term that can also work as a softened nickname for the yakuza.

Above all, the unit exists to protect the Road Poneglyph sheltered inside the Whale Tree, a charge they have upheld across many generations. Any pirate crew posted on the island, the Heart Pirates included, must stay under Guardian watch and is barred from leaving the Whale Forest. Being minks, its members are warriors from birth able to wield Electro, and in a fight they favor spears, machetes, axes, and clawed weapons. Their stealth is remarkable too: when Luffy, no slouch at Observation Haki, stepped into the forest, they encircled him from the branches overhead without him sensing a thing, revealing themselves only as they pulled back on Pedro's signal.

From the moment Nekomamushi and Inuarashi began feuding, the Guardians took Nekomamushi's side as keepers of the Poneglyph, trading off with the Musketeers on a schedule that ran from six in the evening until six the next morning. When Jack led the Beasts Pirates into the dukedom hunting for Raizo, the unit held out across five consecutive nights and began pulling ahead until Jack loosed Caesar Clown's Koro gas, leaving the minks poisoned and strung up until Sanji's group came to their aid. Prominent figures include the deceased captain Pedro along with fighters like Roddy and Blackback, and Pedro later signed on with the team sent to rescue Sanji. Through the Wano campaign the Guardians rode alongside Nekomamushi in search of Marco, made it to the Fire Festival, and shifted into Sulong form atop Onigashima to shatter Kaidou's reinforcements.