The marine admirals are some of the
strongest characters in all of One Piece, with the likes of Garp, Akainu or
Sengoku being more than capable of fighting even Yonko-Level Pirates:
Which actually makes you wonder: What WOULD happen if the admirals had
actually become pirates instead of marines? And we are starting this video at lightspeed with
Admiral Kizaru: or as he’s known in this timeline, Captain Borsalino. In case you didn’t know,
every admiral has a code name that translates in japanese to a color and an animal:
Kizaru meaning Yellow Monkey. However, since Borsalino never becomes a pirate in
this timeline, he never gets this code name. So, what would this guy be like if not for
the marines? Well, let’s take a look at his inspiration: Every single admiral is based
on a famous Japanese actor. In this case, Borsalino is based on Kunie Tanaka,
an actor well-known for playing thugs, mobsters, and yakuza members. In addition, his name, “Borsalino” comes from a French movie
called…Borsalino, which is also about a mobster. In fact, just look at this old flashback
version of Borsalino and it’s even easier to tell that this guy was clearly modeled
on a gangster. Unlike other admirals, he doesn’t go on and on about justice. It seems more like he’s just an enforcer for the most
powerful gang around: the world government. But let’s say baby Borsalino didn’t want to be
a square, working for “the man” - where would he go? Well, it seems like an organized crime
family would be the perfect place for him, which would put him right at home on a crew
like Capone Bege’s…Unfortunately the timeline doesn’t work for that since Bege only set sail
as a pirate a few years ago in the story. But we do happen to have another great contender
for a mafia family: The Donquixote Family. That’s right - in this timeline, a young
Borsalino looking for a job where he gets free reign to beat people up would cross paths
with none other than the Doflamingo Family. Trebol and the other executives would make
him an offer he couldn’t refuse: in just the same way that the World Government gives Kizaru
free reign to deal with pirates, Doflamingo’s status as a Celestial Dragon also grants his
crew a degree of immunity from consequences. For the sake of argument, we’ll say that somewhere
along the way, Borsalino will still get his light-light fruit. After all, as underworld
brokers, the Doflamingo family is pretty good at procuring strong devil fruits. We can even
say that Pica helps him get the Pika-Pika no Mi. However, all this does raise a big concern…How
can Borsalino be a subordinate on Doffy’s crew if he’s so much stronger than Doflamingo?
Well, it is a bit out of the ordinary for a crew mate to be stronger than their captain,
but does Borsalino really strike you as the ambitious type? He was more than happy to sit
back and relax while Sakazuki and Kuzan fought over the Fleet Admiral position. As long
as he has the power to do what he wants, Borsalino seems more than happy to play second
fiddle to someone else and not have to carry all the burdensome responsibilities
that come with being the top dog. Doflamingo having a powerhouse like Borsalino
working with him would totally alter the landscape of One Piece. The beginning of
the trajectory looks the same - they would capture Dressrosa with ease and Doffy would
be named one of the seven warlords. However, Doflamingo wouldn’t be satisfied stopping
there and working as an arms dealer for the Yonkou. With the additional power
afforded by Borsalino, he would expand his empire and actually become a Yonkou with
territory on par with Big Mom’s Totto Land. I’d even theorize that with Doflamingo
being pushed against stronger opponents and having stronger subordinates, he
himself would even grow much stronger compared to where we saw him in the series.
Once the Straw Hats arrived on Dressrosa, Doffy would have both Borsalino and Fujitora
on his side, allowing him to decimate the Straw Heart alliance. Borsalino would even
take out Sanji with a lightspeed kick. For his status as a Yonkou Commander, Borsalino
earns a bounty of $1 billion berries.However, this bounty doesn’t even compare
to the ones we’ll see later. Fujitora the Purple Tiger - or Issho in
this timeline - is a mysterious guy. I mean, he’s clearly a samurai…and where
are samurai from? Wano. And who did we not hear from at all in the
Wano arc? That’s right: Issho. For the sake of argument, though,
with no other leads to go on, we’re going to assume that Issho is from Wano
and it just hasn’t been revealed quite yet. After seeing the atrocities committed
by Orochi and Kaidou in his homeland, he cut out his own eyes and blinded himself.
He then left Wano to wander the world, much like the character he’s based on: Zatoichi
the blind samurai portrayed by Shintaro Katsu. However, in this timeline, he first wanders,
directionless. But after finding and eating the gravity fruit, Isshin believes he has gained
enough power to take his country back. He vows to take revenge for his homeland and sets sail
as a pirate. His first step is to find fellow allies who are similarly invested in the fight for
Wano. It just so happens that several survivors from Wano were hiding out creating a new life
for themselves in the East Blue. In Shimotsuki Village, most of the citizens fear their ability
to do anything against Kaidou, but Isshin does rally a few people, including a tenacious
young swordsman with his eyes set on becoming the world’s strongest swordsman. That’s right:
in this timeline, Isshin’s first mate is none other than Roronoa Zoro, the great nephew of one
of Isshin’s former comrades, Shimotsuki Ushimaru. As the Fujitora we know has a love of gambling,
we think he also wouldn’t be past winning some more powerful crew mates through the pirate
gambling game known as the Davy Back Fight. After learning about the game from the
Foxy Pirates and easily defeating them, they use this game to recruit more strong
allies to advance on the forces of Wano. Once they finally sail on Wano, Kaidou’s forces
would see a fleet of ships approaching bearing an ominous Jolly Roger: a skull crashing
down to Earth like a meteor. The forces of the beast pirates would be caught
completely off guard as giant meteors crashed down upon Onigashima. The Beast
Pirates would be under siege by Issho, Captain of the Meteor Pirates. Using this as
their opportunity to attack, the Red Scabbards would also come out of hiding to serve as allies
in this sudden war on Kaidou and Orochi’s forces. After a hard-fought battle, a meteor
would plunge Kaidou into the depths beneath Wano to burn in the magma
of Mt. Fuji. For defeating a Yonkou, Isshin would earn a bounty of 3 billion
and be named one of the Four Emperors. Now we need to really stretch our imaginations and
ask the question: What if Kuzan was a pirate??.... Oh wait…he already is a pirate. As the Tenth
Titanic Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, Admiral Aokiji -or Blue Pheasant - now going by his real
name, Kuzan, is about as pirate as you can get. However, while we’re using our imagination,
let’s write a bit of an alternate history: In our imagined timeline, Aokiji doesn’t leave
the marines after his fight with Akainu. Instead, he leaves far earlier when his doubts about
whether the marines truly represent justice begin: after the Ohara Incident. After seeing the
innocent civilians of Ohara murdered by Akainu, he decides to leave the Marines in order to
seek the truth about what exactly the World Government was covering up. You see, Kuzan
is based on an actor named Yusaku Matsuda, whose most famous role is playing a private eye
in a series called Detective Story - perfectly fitting for someone who would want
to uncover the truth of the world. Here he rescues his old comrade Saul from his
Ice Time Capsule and together they set sail, hiding a young Nico Robin, the sole survivor
of Ohara. Using the resources of Elbaf, Saul still rescues the saved books
from Ohara and hides them away, and Kuzan and Robin explore the world in
secret collecting poneglyphs in order to uncover the true history. As Robin grows up, she
becomes officially recognized as his first mate. Kuzan is approached by Monkey D.
Dragon, leader of the Revolutionaries, but declines to join forces with them. Theirs
is a journey to seek knowledge, not to make war against the World Government, however, their
factions are friendly toward one another. However, there is another up
and coming pirate with a goal of learning the meaning of the D initial
and what happened during the Void Century: Joining together with Kuzan’s crew as
the ship’s doctor is Trafalgar Law. Due to their low profile and stealthy
operations, the Permafrost Pirates are able to gather the poneglyphs without bringing
too much attention to themselves. Their namesake comes from a combination of Kuzan’s icy abilities
along with permafrost’s association with finding well preserved fossils of extinct animals,
fitting for an archaeologist like Robin. Just imagine: a crew where Robin and Law’s
strategic minds can enact plans without Luffy there to completely ruin them instantaneously,
and with the muscle that Kuzan can provide where it’s needed if they do get into a fight.
This crew would probably actually be able to attain the One Piece…but later on the video,
they’ll have some serious competition for it. Kuzan’s Jolly Roger would be a shivering
skull, encased in ice. For threatening to reveal the true history, Kuzan
earns a bounty of 5 billion berries. Next up, we have an honorable mention, and it’s
Kuzan’s own mentor: Monkey D. Garp - No, he’s not an admiral, but only because he keeps turning down
the position. Garp AKA the Luffy’s grandpa AKA the Hero of the Marines really just makes sense as a
pirate: I mean, just look at this picture of him as a child - does this little wild boy riding a
tiger feel more like a marine or a pirate to you? Now, we’re not 100% sure what Garp’s motivations
for joining the marines were in the first place, but we do know why he refuses to become an
admiral. Ever since the God Valley incident, he’s harbored a hatred for the Celestial Dragons. So in
our new timeline, we’ll take it one step further - whatever happened at God Valley during the battle
against Rocks alongside Roger didn’t just convince Garp to hate the Celestial Dragons - it convinced
him to turn his back on the marines entirely. After God Valley, we know Roger was
inspired to seek out the poneglyphs, uncover the true history, and
find Laugh Tale. But this time, he has his best bro Garp traveling right alongside
him as a member of his crew. After Roger’s death, unfortunately he wasn’t in the
position to save Ace. In addition, his rebellious grandson Luffy might even be
inclined to become a marine in this timeline. But like so many of the Roger Pirates, Garp
would take up residence in a key point of the Grand Line, looking for and aiding the
potential Joy Boy. It’s probably not a coincidence that Crocus lived at the very start
of the Grand Line, Rayleigh at the halfway point, and both of them helped Luffy on his journey.
So, Roger would wait at Lodestar Island, the second to last island of the Grand
Line, waiting for Joy Boy to arrive. For his betrayal of the world government
and aiding the pirate king, Garp would earn a bounty of 5 billion berries. And what about another person from Roger’s era?
Before he was Fleet Admiral, Sengoku must have held the position of Admiral as well, which
makes us ask: What if Sengoku was a pirate? This one is the absolute wildest in the
lineup because out of every character who’s held the position of Admiral, Sengoku
is the least pirate of all. However, there are a few instances where we see Sengoku’s
faith in the marine organization tested. One of these moments is the death of Rocinante.
Others include the cover up of the Impel Down escape and even the entirety of the Shichibukai
system. Could these be enough to make Sengoku, the quintessential honorable marine, quit, though? No - but he could pretend to
be a pirate as a SWORD member, a la X-Drake. Fooling absolutely no one, Sengoku
would set sail as the Captain of the “Actual Pirates.” He would frequent places popular
with pirates in order to gather secret intel for the marines. [It would be really great
if we could get the “How do you do fellow kids” meme here but with Sengoku in place of
Steve Buscemi and replace kids with pirates] But should you call him on his bluff, be
ready to face down against the One-Eyed Buddha - his ancient zoan form, but wearing
an eye patch like a true pirate would. To help keep his cover, the marines have
given him a very convincing bounty of 10,000 berries. Which is absolutely nothing
compared to the last admiral on our list. Back to the current admirals, though, we have
the latest admiral we’ve met in the series: Greenbull, real name: Aramaki, based
on a character from the samurai film Ronin-Gai named…Aramaki. He seems to
use his new position as an admiral to run amok with his powers. He’s a devotee
of Fleet Admiral Akainu and is more than happy to use violence to try to subjugate Wano
under the authority of the World Government. Had Aramaki just been a pirate, I could
definitely see him being a pirate like Eustass Kid. He enjoys harming the weak or
the innocent just because he can. Due to his survival of the fittest mentality, he also
might get along well with the Beast Pirates, but we have a feeling that without a zoan fruit,
Kaidou just wouldn’t have him on his crew. Instead, in order to reign Aramaki in,
the government would probably give him a position as a Shichibukai. Much in the way he
was conscripted into the marines as an admiral, this way the government would still
get to utilize his power while giving him some free reign to commit the acts
of violence he really seems to enjoy. If you’re sailing at sea and happen
to sea a forest coming toward you, you should probably turn around: It might
just be the Wildwood Pirates. You can tell for certain by their Jolly Roger: a skull
overgrown with foliage and ivy. Their captain: the Forest Man Aramaki, who had a 1 billion berry
bounty before becoming a Warlord of the Sea. Of course, Aramaki might fit
in better as the subordinate of our next marine turned pirate: Sakazuki. The current Fleet Admiral is an
adherent to Absolute Justice. He hates pirates with every fiber of his
being and wants nothing more than to live in a world without them. So what could
every convince him to become a pirate? Well, based on Sakazuki’s childhood picture,
it seems like he had a very difficult and violent past. My guess is that his hatred
of pirates is rooted in his childhood - he probably suffered greatly at the hands
of pirates at some point. But what if he fell into the cycle of violence and crime
instead of trying to rise above it? After all, his likeness, Bunta Sugawara is known for
playing raw, masculine, violent characters. What if Sakazuki became the pirate… to end all
pirates? Many pirates seek the One Piece for wealth, fame, or power…but not Sakazuki.
He wants to find the One Piece with the singular aim of destroying it - that way it will
never inspire another pirate to set sail again. And he’d have a good shot at doing
it, too. There’s an SBS quote from Oda that once said that if Akainu
was the protagonist of the series, he’d find One Piece in a year. No need
for a two year timeskip for this guy. But wait! That’s actually a misconception
based on a mistranslation of that quote: what Oda actually said is that with
a protagonist as strong as Akainu, he’d finish *writing* One Piece in a year.
Hold on. Isn’t that even crazier? I mean, how much time actually passes throughout a
year of publication time during One Piece? The raid on Onigashima was published
over the span of like two real-life years! Would Sakazuki just
sail up on all the emperors, claim the Road Poneglyphs, and head
to Laugh Tale all in like a night? Maybe so, especially if he recruits
similarly ruthless crewmates: we could absolutely see people like Shiryu, Lucci, and Aramaki joining Akainu - people who hide
their bloodlust behind the banner of justice would fit right in with his crew, the Bonsai
Pirates - named for Sakazuki’s favorite hobby. Sakazuki would sail for Laugh Tale, his
ship flying a Jolly Roger bursting from the top like a volcanic eruption -
similar to how any pirate-inhabited islands they passed would look once he was
through with them. For spreading violence, carnage, and fear throughout the One Piece
world, Sakazuki would be named a Yonkou, but he would have no interest in the title or
holding any territory: only seeking the One Piece. He would be fated to once again face down
Kuzan, but this time not at Punk Hazard, But: at Laugh Tale. One of them fighting to
uncover the true history - the other fighting to destroy it forever. But we all know how
this fight would turn out. Sakazuki would prove victorious, earning a 10 billion berry
bounty and the title of the Last Pirate King, burning every last remnant of Joyboy’s treasure. Akainu really is an absolute monster - no
wonder Luffy couldn’t do anything to him at Marineford. But I wonder if things would
have been different if Luffy had already had all his haki and Gear 5 powers at Marineford,
which lucky you for, you can find out right now in this video right here. Shanks for
watching, and i see you in the next one.
