Marco "The Phoenix"
Marco (マルコ, Maruko), also known as "Marco the Phoenix" (不死鳥マルコ, Fushichō Maruko), is the 1st division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. He owes his nickname to his Mythical Zoan Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Phoenix, an ability to transform into a phoenix at will.
Appearance[]
- Voice Actor: Bill Jenkins (English), Masakazu Morita (Japanese)
Marco is a lean yet muscular, blond-haired man with a rather sleepy look and some stubble around his chin. He wears a purple jacket and a light blue sash adorned with an elaborate golden-yellow belt around his waist. He has dark gray knee-long pants and black sandals, and on his left leg he wears what appears to be some sort of straw decoration, in a similar fashion to Arlong. While his chest was bare in his initial appearance, in his subsequent appearances he has the cross and crescent moon mustache symbol that resembles a dark blue silhouette of Whitebeard's Jolly Roger tattooed on it. His birthday is October 5th.
The Young Past Days[]
Marco was a member of the Whitebeard Pirates twenty two years ago as well and while how old he was is difficult to ascertain, he appeared for the most part very similar to how he looks in the present.
As a kid, Marco's signature tuft of hair was more curly. He sported a vertically stripped shirt, with black pants, and no shoes.
Gallery[]
Personality[]
Relationships[]
Friends/Allies[]
- Whitebeard Pirates
- Ward Newgate
- Straw Hat Pirates
- Fairy Tail
- Team Natsu
Family[]
Neutral[]
Rivals[]
Enemies[]
Abilities and Powers[]
As commander of the 1st division of the Whitebeard Pirates, Marco has authority over the lower-ranking subordinates. Following Whitebeard's death, Marco became the highest authority of the Whitebeard Pirates, and as such the crew was under his command as they retreated from Navyford.
He was one of the few men unaffected by the powerful Haki released by the Emperors Shanks and Tiger. He is a very experienced veteran, as he was shown as a member of the Whitebeard Pirates from the times of Roger D. Gol.
Marco is one of the strongest characters in the entire One Piece series, as he demonstrated in the war that he was on a similar level of fighting as the three admirals and even Whitebeard himself. He was fully capable of fighting Admirals Kizaru, Aokiji and Akainu equally. Marco is also most likely the strongest member of the Whitebeard Pirates after Whitebeard, given his position as the new authority of the crew.
Another indication of Marco's strength is that the Five Elder Stars considered him as one of the few people capable of stopping Teach. His name was stated seperately from the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates, thus being acknowledged as a particularly powerful individual even amongst them.
Physical Abilities[]
On top of his Cursed Fruit powers and Haki, Marco also possesses impressive physical strength and incredible reflexes. He kicked both Admirals Kizaru and Aokiji away great distances. He also appears to possess great stamina and endurance, as he had been pierced by several of Kizaru's laser beams and was still able to stand afterwards, despite being unable to regenerate due to the fact that his Cursed Fruit abilities had been disabled by Sea-Prism Stone handcuffs at the time (a noteworthy achievement, as a single laser beam had previously been shown to have been powerful enough to defeat one of the Eleven Supernovas, Hawkins Basil). He is also incredibly fast, as he protected Whitebeard from Kizaru's Yasakani no Magatama in mere seconds.
Marco's fighting style seems to be primarily based on strong leg attacks. He usually switches back to his human form to deliver his kicks, but can also enhance them with the cutting power granted by his hybrid form's talons, as seen when he attacked Akainu after the latter delivered the fatal blow to Ace.
Cursed Fruit[]
Marco ate a Cursed Fruit referred to as a Mythical Zoan type, which is an immensely powerful type of Zoan Cursed Fruit, said to be even rarer than Logia. His Cursed Fruit enables him to transform into a phoenix. It is because of this ability that he is identified as "Marco the Phoenix". While this fruit's power is a Zoan, due to the uniqueness of the phoenix, the additional powers it grants may be considered similar to those of Paramythia (the somewhat "superhuman" power that affects the user's body: regeneration) and Logia (the generation of blue phoenix flames that makes him seem somewhat intangible).
This Cursed Fruit gives Marco increased physical attributes (as is with all Zoan type) and the rare ability of flight, as well as the possibility of launching aerial attacks. During the Battle of Navyford, Marco showcased his aerial maneuverability by traversing quickly across the battlefield and supervised the assault in Whitebeard's place. He can transform his feet into phoenix talons, with which he can slash his enemies.
Like other Zoan users, Marco is able to take a hybrid human-beast form. However, Marco's control over his transformations seems to be the greatest of any other Zoan user shown so far, as unlike most other Zoan users (Raffit, Chopper, and Onigumo, possibly being the only known exceptions), Marco can transform selective parts of his body without changing his whole appearance. In his most commonly seen human-beast form, Marco only transforms his arms into wings of fire (sometimes choosing to maintain his hands) so that he can fly and still attack with standard kicks.
The fruit's greatest attribute, however, is that by transforming into a phoenix of blue flames at will, Marco can regenerate any wounds with fire, much like how a phoenix is said to rise from its own ashes. Because of this, Marco is very resilient and can take a huge amount of damage in his phoenix form with no visible consequence other than the time taken to regenerate. He was thus able to block a barrage of simultaneous lasers from Kizaru, and even intercepted, with the help of Armament Haki, Akainu's magma punch, an attack that was so damaging it burned and eventually took the life of the fire Logia-user Ace; the latter feat suggests that phoenix flames are superior to Akainu's magma and Ace's fire, or this could have just been due to Marco's healing powers. These blue flames are not hot and they do not burn or spread like normal fire; instead, they are what allow him to heal, though there is a limit to the regeneration and are referred to as the "Blue Flames of Resurrection" (復活の青い炎, Fukkatsu no Aoi Honō).
Despite the fact that it cannot be used as a weapon, he can still summon the blue flames around his person, in his human form (possibly by partially shifting into his hybrid form or full-phoenix form), as seen when he engulfed his arm with the said flames as he prepared to confront Akainu.
Marco's Cursed Fruit gives him a resistance to damage similar to that of a Logia user. In his phoenix form, Marco is intangible just like Logia users as he is a bird made of a certain element (blue phoenix flames). However, unlike Logia users, his body in his human form is not intangible and is, therefore, not immune to damage from enemy attacks. This makes Marco more vulnerable while he is in his human form. However, while Logia users retain their injuries until they heal naturally, Marco can recover from any damage he accumulates in his human form by reverting to his phoenix, or hybrid phoenix form, or just by summoning blue flames around his body. He has even been seen recovering using mere scattered flames and turning into his human form simultaneously, proving that he is quite resilient and calm when prepared for an impact. This allows him to even recover from any injuries taken while touching Sea-Prism Stone, but only after he stops being in contact with it. This gives Marco a huge advantage that no Logia user has.
Other than the aforementioned weaknesses, Marco is also susceptible to the standard Cursed Fruit weaknesses like any user.
Gallery[]
Haki[]
- Main article: Haki
Marco was shown to be capable of using Haki proficiently during the Battle of Navyford. With his Armament Haki, Marco kicked Kizaru away after the admiral tried to kill Whitebeard. He also kicked Aokiji away to save Luffy D. Monkey's life. After the death of Ace D. Portgaz, he and Vista used their Armament Haki against Akainu but did not manage to hurt him even though their attacks did irritate the admiral.
Weapons[]
Marco was seen wielding a regular-looking katana when Whitebeard declared Merman Island his territory.
History[]
Past[]
Twenty-two years ago, Marco was seen on Whitebeard's ship when Shiki visited the Emperor to inform him of his plans. He was also present on Merman Island when Whitebeard claimed the island as his territory.
Ace's Arrival[]
Synopsis[]
Skypiea Saga[]
Jaya Arc[]
He initially appeared as a background character; when Rockstar asked Marco if anyone knew him, Marco answered, "Nope, never heard of him".