THE ULTIMATE ONE PIECE BOUNTY ARCHIVE
The Warlords’ Pact · Their hidden reasons
More Than a Frozen Bounty: How and Why Did They Become Warlords?
Becoming a Warlord first meant a frozen bounty: no more hunt, no more reward for whoever caught you. Some did the Government a priceless service, one blackmailed it, others were invited, and almost all kept a secret reason, against the rules of the system.
Here is how each one became a Shichibukai, and for what reasons, official and hidden.
For each Warlord: who wanted the title, them or the Government; how they got it; what they gained on top of a frozen bounty; and the reason they kept to themselves.
Each Warlord’s pact, and its secret side
A great service to the Government
They wanted the title’s privileges, and put a priceless offer on the table.Blackbeard
World GovernmentHe offered the Government a serviceHe hands Ace over to the Marines, and gets the seat Crocodile left empty (ch. 474).
WhyNothing asked in return, beyond the title’s privileges.
The hidden reasonGetting into Impel Down to free the worst Level 6 prisoners and make them his crew. Once done, giving up the title and becoming a wanted pirate again.
Law
World GovernmentHe offered the Government a service
HowHe sends the Government the hearts of a hundred pirates, in the Rocky Port Incident.
WhyNothing asked in return, beyond the title’s privileges.
The hidden reasonThe title opens Caesar Clown’s SAD factory on Punk Hazard to him: his aim is to bring down Doflamingo, a Warlord too and his former captain, who killed Corazon, then to bring down Kaido.
Blackmail
Only one forced the Government’s hand: his silence for the title.Doflamingo
World GovernmentHe blackmailed the Government
HowHe blackmails the Government (ch. 697): he knows of Mary Geoise’s hidden national treasure (ch. 761). His silence for the title.
WhyThe Government lets him become king of Dressrosa.
The hidden reasonSeizing Dressrosa’s throne by trapping King Riku, then, as Joker, selling weapons to countries at war and having Caesar Clown make SMILEs for Kaido.
At the Government’s invitation
The Government came for them itself. One of them said no.Kuma
World GovernmentThe Government invited them
HowSaturn sets the Government’s conditions: become a Warlord, then a mindless Pacifista, and never see Bonney again. He accepts, and takes the seat Hanafuda left empty (ch. 1101).
WhyCare for his daughter Bonney.
The hidden reasonAn officer of the Revolutionary Army, he plays both sides, and saves the Straw Hats twice against orders.
Hancock
World GovernmentThe Government invited them
HowA single Kuja raiding campaign is enough: rather than send a fleet, the Government offers her the title.
WhyAmazon Lily closed to every Government ship, as long as she answers its calls.
The hidden reasonNothing hidden: she accepted to protect her island. But she used it to help Luffy get into Impel Down.
Jinbe
World GovernmentThe Government invited them
HowA Government messenger invites him. Chew wants to refuse; Jinbe accepts after speaking with King Neptune (ch. 623-624).
WhyA pardon for his whole crew over the attack on Mary Geoise, and Arlong out of Impel Down.
The hidden reasonBringing fish-men and humans closer, the dream of Fish-Man Island.
Buggy
World GovernmentThe Government invited them
HowAfter the war at Marineford, a messenger bat brings him the Government’s invitation (ch. 593), on a reputation swollen by the Impel Down breakout and his past in Roger’s crew.
WhyNothing asked in return, beyond the title’s privileges.
The hidden reasonRenting out his mercenaries and weapons under the title’s protection, down to profiting from Doflamingo’s fall.
Ace
World GovernmentInvited, he refused
HowInvited in his Spade Pirates days, he says no (ch. 552).
WhyHe despises the system (Ace novel): he set sail to make a name for himself as a pirate, not in the Government’s service.
The price of refusingHe stays wanted, and his bounty then passes 100 million (ch. 552).
An entry no source tells
We know they got the title, without all the details.Crocodile
World GovernmentNo source says who made the first move
HowHe holds the title from his early twenties; no source says how.
Why?
The hidden reasonWatched less than he would have been without the Shichibukai title, he secretly builds Baroque Works, to overthrow Alabasta and find the trail to Pluton there.
Weevil
World GovernmentNo source says who made the first move
HowHe gets the title during the timeskip; no source says how.
Why?
The hidden reasonHe hunts Whitebeard’s former allies, with the Marines unable to step in, to get his hands on the legacy of the man he calls his father.
Moria
World GovernmentNo source says who made the first move
How?
Why?
The hidden reasonHaving lost his whole crew to Kaido, he builds a zombie army, kidnapping civilians and Marines without the Government, most likely unaware, reacting.
Mihawk
World GovernmentNo source says who made the first move
How?
WhyBeing left alone by the Government: the title held no other interest for him. At the abolition, tired of the Marines’ attacks, he joins Crocodile.
The hidden reasonNothing but his sword: his only goal is to find an opponent worthy of him. He almost never answers summons.
Hanafuda
World GovernmentNo source says who made the first moveFrozen bounty?How?
Why?
The hidden reason?
And for all of them, on top of a frozen bounty, the title’s privileges: plundering outside the Government, covering their crew, entering restricted areas.
- Known terms of the deal
- 7/12
- 7 Warlords out of 12 whose way to the title is known
- Frozen with their captain
- 14
- Subordinates’ bounties frozen by their captain’s pact, 882 million in all
- Pact refused
- Ace, the only known refusal
The Rocky Port Incident, behind Law’s Warlord title
During the timeskip, Law wants to reach a Poneglyph on Hachinosu, the pirates’ island. He means to hijack a smuggling ship and seizes the Rocky Port by mistake, a real passenger ship carrying a king and nobles. On the island he briefly allies with Koby and with Blackbeard, a former Warlord himself, rips out the hearts of a hundred pirates and sends them to the Government: that is his way into the Shichibukai, his 440 million bounty frozen. Koby comes out of it a Marine hero, Blackbeard the master of Hachinosu. Oda told the story outside the manga (volume 111 Q&A); in chapter 1081, Blackbeard reminds Law that those hundred pirates are still prisoners on the island. For Law, the title was only a means: joining the Warlords to bring down another, Doflamingo, his former captain.
Before the incident
Privileged with their captain: the subordinates and their frozen bounties
The pact did not only protect the Warlord: the rule, recalled by Fujitora in chapter 713, also covered those who served under them. Captain by captain, the crew who benefited, the bounties frozen along with theirs, the one the pact got out of prison, and the Warlords who had no one to cover.
- The captain
Donquixote PiratesThe whole crew
Caesar Clown, covered for working directly under Doflamingo, despite the gas that ravaged Punk Hazard and his escape from the prison ship (ch. 713).
- The captain
Kuja PiratesThe whole crew
- The captain
Buggy's DeliveryThe whole crew
The rule covers them: no scene says so for them.
- The captain
Sun PiratesThe whole crew
The whole Sun crew is pardoned at once for the attack on Mary Geoise.Arlong, out of Impel Down thanks to Jinbe’s pact (ch. 624): a pirate released, not a frozen bounty. It is in the East Blue, afterwards, that he earns his 20 million.
- The captain
Heart PiratesThe whole crew
Bepo’s 500 berries are undated; replaced after Wano, they were most likely in force under Law’s title.
Alone in enjoying the privileges
The title’s privileges, and the rules to remain a Warlord
Becoming a Warlord, and above all remaining one, meant enjoying privileges no other outlaw had, but also bowing to rules and constraints: serving the Government when it called, never shaming it, never turning against it.
The Warlords’ privileges
Their bounty frozen: no more hunt, no more reward, and past crimes pardoned.
Their subordinates’ bounties, frozen along with theirs (ch. 713).
Access to some of the Government’s areas: Impel Down for Hancock, the SAD factory on Punk Hazard for Law.
The right to plunder pirates and lands outside the Government, for a share of the loot (ch. 69 and 211).
To keep a bounty frozen
Keeping other pirates in check: Kuma is sent to Thriller Bark against Luffy’s crew.
Answering the call in times of war, as at Marineford.
Never losing in public: Moria’s defeat is kept secret, yet he is dismissed, then targeted; Hanafuda, dismissed at once.
Never turning against the Government, nor siding with its enemies: Jinbe and Law lose the title over it.
The ways to lose the Shichibukai title
Many did not remain Warlords until the abolition: beaten, dismissed or gone of their own accord, each saw their bounty stop being frozen in their own way. For the others, it was the end of the whole system that put an end to it.
- Beaten, then jailed
- Beaten, then dismissed
- Between dismissal and resignation
- An open break
- The abolition
Candidates for the Warlord title
The Government did not always wait for candidates to come: through the Marines, it went after promising, dangerous pirates itself, the kind of the Sabaody Supernovas. Accepting meant a frozen bounty. Refusing meant staying wanted, at the risk of seeing it rise.
- Ace
Invited back in his Spade Pirates days, Ace refuses (ch. 552). He stays wanted, and his bounty then passes 100 million, up to the 550 million of his last poster.
- Hawkins
An author’s choice: Oda first thought of making him a Warlord (One Piece Color Walk 7). In the story, nothing says it was ever offered to him.
Former Warlords put a price on the Marines
Mihawk and Buggy had their bounties frozen until the abolition; Crocodile had not been a Warlord since Alabasta. All three wanted again, they found Cross Guild (ch. 1058) and turn the system around: they are the ones putting bounties on Marines (ch. 1080), and bounty hunters now have other targets than them. Another way, perhaps, to find the peace of a frozen bounty again.
And among them, Fujitora. The admiral had told Doflamingo himself, inside the Dressrosa palace, that he would do everything to abolish the Warlords (ch. 735). At the Levely, he gets their end with kings Cobra and Riku, whose countries Crocodile and Doflamingo had ravaged (ch. 956). Those who lost the title now put a price on him.
Did you know?
Ch. 483
29. Beating Moria earned Luffy nothing
Defeating a Warlord should have raised Luffy's bounty. But the Government orders Moria's defeat kept quiet, so as not to tarnish the Warlords' prestige. No increase is decided, and Luffy keeps his 300 million.
- And 6 more facts around the Warlords’ bounties, out of 63 bounty factsAll bounty facts