Sabo (One Piece)

Sabo is a character from the One Piece anime and manga.

Sabo is the Revolutionary Army's chief of staff, recognized as the "No. 2" of the entire organization, ranking directly under Monkey D. Dragon himself.

Next to being the sworn brother of Monkey D. Luffy and Portgas D. Ace, he is of noble descent, the son of Outlook III, as well as via his parents the adopted brother of Sterry, the current king of the Goa Kingdom, whom Sabo has never recognized as such.

At a very young age, Sabo ran away from his noble parents in the Goa Kingdom to live alone in the kingdom's Gray Terminal, and he met and befriended Ace not long after. Five years later (12 before the present storyline), the two became friends with Luffy as well, and the three came to consider themselves "brothers", swearing an oath of brotherhood over sake. They also shared the dream to set out to sea as pirates and achieve freedom, Sabo initially planning to do so at age 17.

However, after having escaped his parents once more not long after they had caught him and taken him away from his adoptive brothers, Sabo had then already set sail on his own, but his boat was destroyed by a Celestial Dragon moments later.

Having been believed to have died during this incident, Sabo had in truth survived due to Dragon saving him, and he thus joined the Revolutionaries. He had lost most of his memories from that point forward but regained them upon learning of Ace's death at Marineford. He currently has a bounty of 602,000,000.

He acts as an ally of Luffy during the Dressrosa Arc.

In the Heroes Coalition fics, Sabo is a member of the Heroes Coalitions and is an honorary member of Team Redemption.

Appearance
Sabo was a ten year old boy at the time of Luffy's flashback, the same age as Ace at that time. He had round eyes, a missing tooth, and short curly blond hair. He wore a large black top hat with a pair of blue goggles wrapped around it, a blue jacket with the sleeves rolled up, a cravat and a pair of light blue cyan shorts held up by a belt with an elaborate flower-design buckle.

Before he entered into the Gray Terminal, he was seen with a gentle outfit with a white colored short-sleeved shirt and wearing blue colored shorts as usual.

As an adult, Sabo became taller and more muscular. He has matured greatly, with more pronounced facial symmetry and a scar he acquired over his left eye. This scar was inflicted when Saint Jalmack selfishly blew up the fishing boat Sabo used to set out to sea, leaving him with serious burns and critical injuries. He resembles Luffy enough to allow him to easily deceive opponents as perceptive as Diamante into thinking he was "Lucy" by simply wearing the same outfit, although Sabo is still taller than his younger brother. His hair has also grown noticeably longer since his youth, which he styled deliberately to cover up his eye scar.

While participating in the final round at the Corrida Colosseum in Luffy's place, he wore Luffy's cape, fake beard, and viking style helmet. In addition, he wore shades to conceal his eyes. He also drew an X-shaped mark on his chest.

Later, after the round, he returned to his original outfit, which resembles his old outfit from twelve years ago: a long black jacket with a buckle on the left sleeve, with a blue shirt and vest, a frilled cravat, and a simple belt holding a pair of loosen light-blue pants with black boots (said boots are shown in greater detail in Pirate Warriors 3, to be wrapped with buckles and with cloth bracings). He also wears a pair of brown gloves and the same top hat with goggles over the band.

Personality
Sabo is devoted to his dreams to the point that he agreed with Ace that the two of them had to kill Luffy so that he could not tell anyone about their treasure, though neither Ace nor Sabo knew how to kill a person nor had any experience, implying some degree of innocence despite their profession. He is very ashamed of being a noble, and even stated that he wished that he had not been born as one.

According to Luffy, Sabo is a nicer older brother than Ace. He acknowledged Luffy's powers, and even encouraged his improvement. He helped Ace and Luffy get along when they were fighting, thus being the nice, diplomatic one of the trio.

Sabo's dream involves traveling around the world as a pirate. This is in order to write a book containing the story of everything he would see and every place he would visit during his journey. One of the reasons behind all this could be the "segregation" that envelopes so much of the Goa Kingdom, a thing that could easily stir a freedom-loving spirit like Sabo's to ask himself what the world was really like outside the walls of High Town, and outside the island itself. However, he was ready to cast aside his dream for the sake of his loved ones. Sabo was loyal to his friends and, in this case his two "brothers", to the point that he would give in to the demands of his father, becoming miserable and "alone" in order to save both Luffy and Ace. After reawakening his memories, Sabo did not leave the Revolutionary Army to resume his dream as a free-sailing pirate, as he seems to remain convicted to the Army's causes.

Despite being the son of a noble, Sabo does not act like a stereotypical noble would act, nor does he consider himself to be a noble. He does not look down on the less fortunate nor does he put on airs about his status. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the citizens of noble birth in Goa Kingdom including his family, who see their status as more important than anything else and will do whatever it takes to raise their social standing or maintain their current status, as well as look down on anyone they consider to be inferior. Sabo rejects these values completely, and even went as far as to say that he feels ashamed of his status as a noble. This can be seen as the reason why he ran away from home and went to live in the Gray Terminal, forfeiting his noble heritage. Since a child becomes a full-fledged noble at the age of eighteen, Sabo intended to leave the Goa Kingdom at the age of seventeen, to escape the idea of being recognized as the thing he hated the most. He even refers to the nobles as "smelling worse than Trash Mountain, as they are people rotten to the core".

At age 22, Sabo has retained much of his old personality, although he appears to have adapted many mannerisms from Luffy, including his brother's tendency to mispronounce the names of others. Moreover, his tendency to hang up the Den Den Mushi in the middle of a call rather annoys his comrades. He has also displayed an immensely fierce protective streak towards Luffy, to the point where he will disregard everything he is currently doing if he feels that Luffy is in any sort of danger, including his duties in the Revolutionary Army. This is largely contributed by Sabo's inability to save Ace from death before the timeskip, a fact that Sabo still regrets to this very day. This is ironic considering that Ace himself had gained a very similar protective-streak after Sabo's presumed death.

Abilities
As the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army, Sabo has command over all other lower ranking members and answers only to the leader himself. His bounty of 602,000,000 proves that the World Government views him as an extremely dangerous threat.

According to Ace, who initally planned for Sabo to become his navigator, Sabo also has some experience in navigation.

Physical Abilities
Even as a child, Sabo already exhibited very high levels of physical capabilities from the very intense training he endured in the harsh environment of Mt. Colubo. He and Ace together were able to topple Porchemy when the two of them arrived to save Luffy. Sabo was able to beat Luffy in sparring matches fifty times in one day, as well as defeat Ace twenty four times and lose twenty six times.

He was fast enough to grab a knife from a pirate without the pirate being able to stop Sabo. He was good at thieving as well, since he and Ace were able to rob numerous people to get their money and valuables. He also was exceptionally skilled in stealth and could jump out of a window several stories up without injuring himself.

After joining the Revolutionary Army, Sabo was personally trained by Hack and Monkey D. Dragon and attained tremendous physical prowess by adulthood. Sabo is shown to have extraordinary agility as he easily dodged an attack from a Fighting Fish, as well as tremendous strength, clashing with Jesus Burgess, a pirate known for his titanic strength and a captain of the Blackbeard Pirates first ship, who is also a personal bodyguard to the Yonko Blackbeard, with little effort. He later destroys the entire arena of the Corrida Colosseum, which was tough enough to resist all the previous battles between the New World gladiators with Haki enhanced physical strikes. A simple grip allowed him to crush Vice Admiral Bastille's skull and helmet.

Sabo also has tremendous skills in hand-to-hand combat, which were honed since childhood from sparring matches with Ace and Luffy. As a child, Sabo was already skilled enough to completely overwhelm Luffy, a Devil Fruit user, and fight on equal footing with Ace. Even after losing his memories from amnesia, Sabo still retained his fighting skills as shown in the anime. Out of all the children Revolutionaries who were soldiers-in-training, Sabo alone excelled in the rigorous combat training regimen of the Revolutionary Army, being capable of keeping up with Hack, a powerful expert in Fishman Karate and eventually defeat Hack while still a child. In addition to basic hand-to-hand combat skills, Sabo also gained mastery of the Ryusoken martial arts. By adulthood, Sabo could knock away Burgess, an enormous man with a single kick when Burgess attempted to kill an exhausted Luffy to steal the Gomu Gomu no Mi. He could fight on equal level with Fujitora, a Marine Admiral and an immensely powerful swordsman, and emerged with only a few bruises. Later, Sabo single-handedly defeat Burgess, an immensely powerful wrestler who is one of the most powerful members of the Blackbeard Pirates with only minimal effort.

Ryusoken

 * Further information: Ryusoken

In his adulthood, Sabo has become a master of the Ryusoken fighting style, which revolves around the use of grips, which he refers to as "claws". His grips are strong enough to break armor, great swords, artillery, and even skulls with ease and remaining unharmed. He claims that his fingers are like the claws of a dragon. He also uses Haki to increase the strength of his fingers. In contrast to Luffy, who readily chooses to target his adversary, Sabo seems to prefer destroying his opponent's weapon first before going head to head against them. This difference in battle approach was what allowed Diamante to notice that Lucy was not actually Luffy when Sabo came to fight in Luffy's place in the coliseum.

Devil Fruit

 * Further information: Mera Mera no Mi

Sabo is the current user of the Logia-type Devil Fruit, the Mera Mera no Mi, which originally belonged to his brother Ace before his death. With it, Sabo is able to become the element of fire and control the flames from his body at will.

After eating the fruit, Sabo was instantly able to utilize it to the point of using Ace's signature technique, the "Hiken", which was strong enough to shatter the bottom floor of the Corrida Colosseum, exposing the underground facility. He did later show difficulty of controlling his fruit however, which is typically displayed by new Devil Fruit users. While facing against Issho's Marine platoon, Sabo has been shown imbuing his weapon with fire, showcasing that he quickly attained control of his Devil Fruit power. He also mentions that he still has not grown fully accustomed to his new ability just yet, since he still has a habit of dodging attacks, despite now being a Logia-user.

Haki

 * Further information: Haki

Sabo can utilize and has shown mastery over two types of Haki.

Busoshoku Haki
Sabo has shown incredible mastery of Busoshoku Haki, which he can imbue into his arm or his pipe. His Busoshoku Haki is strong enough to shatter Burgess's Haki infused right arm armor, as well as Diamante's sword. His mastery of Busoushoku Haki is superior to Bastille's, as seen when the Vice Admiral attempted to cut him down with Haki enhanced sword strikes; not only did Sabo manage to block his Same-kiri Bocho, he even managed to destroy the entire blade with relative ease.

Kenbunshoku Haki
Sabo is also highly skilled in the use of Kenbunshoku Haki, shown in the anime where he dodged multiple bullets that were fired at him.

Weapons
As a child, Sabo's preferred method of combat was stick fighting using metal pipes (as well as having slight traces of bo-staff styles). After the timeskip he continues to use a similar metal pipe, effectively battling against and defending himself from attacks by opponents as strong as Diamante, a top executive of the Donquixote Pirates, and Burgess, the captain of the Blackbeard Pirates first ship. When used in conjunction with Busoshoku Haki, Sabo was able to easily break Diamante's weapon. After obtaining the Mera Mera no Mi, Sabo can ignite the two ends of his pipe.

Trivia

 * On the cover of Chapter 596, Sabo was shown as a young man. He was portrayed as tall and muscular like Ace, and was still wearing the same attire he wore as a child but made bigger to fit his size, and was carrying a bo staff. He was bare chested like his brothers. He seemed to have longer hair, and his eyes were hidden by his hat's brim. Ace's tattoo is written as "ACE" instead of the original "ACE". This suggests that the  was a tribute to Sabo, as the cover is a "what if" image of Ace, Luffy, and Sabo together as adults.
 * When Sabo made his first full appearance as an adult, however, he was wearing a shirt, long pants, gloves and his hair was longer than this reimagination.
 * Sabo's character is first hinted at in Chapter 558 where a third sake cup can slightly be seen in a flashback of the boys' brotherhood initiation.
 * Sabo's appearance is similar to that of the character Artful Dodger from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. He too was part of a gang of child thieves. His signature appearance included a top hat and an adult's waistcoat with the sleeves rolled up.
 * Sabo's fate was hinted at twice. Once during a conversation between Ivankov and Dragon during Episode 504, and again on the cover page of Chapter 668 as three cups of sake were placed before the grave of Ace with a newspaper article about Luffy pinned to the grave. It was later revealed that Sabo was the one who placed it there.
 * Sabo makes his animated debut in the present storyline in the 3D2Y special, rather than the anime.
 * In the 6th Japanese Fan Polls, Sabo ranked as the ninth most popular character in One Piece, making him the most popular of the Revolutionary Army.
 * Compared to Luffy and Ace, Sabo is the tallest out of the three brothers, measuring in at 187 cm (6'1½"), making him 2 cm (½") taller than Ace, who stood at 185 cm (6'1") before his death.
 * Sabo's role in the story thus far has mirrored that of Ace's during the first half of the series to a certain extent.
 * Both characters are introduced in the present timeline during an arc that features a Shichibukai as the main antagonist, and both of whom were deceiving a kingdom, in regards to Alabasta and Dressrosa respectively.
 * Both Ace and Sabo protected Luffy from a villain (or villains in Sabo's case) that he could not fight at the time. (Smoker, Fujitora and Burgess respectively)
 * Before departing, both Ace and Sabo left Vivre Cards and entrusted Luffy's safety to his crew. Although these events are slightly different, as Ace had given a Vivre Card to Luffy in order for him to find him in the future - and Sabo gave Luffy's crew a Vivre Card to help them find Luffy, and kept one for himself.
 * Sabo also shares some similarities to the Straw Hat Pirates' chef, Sanji.
 * Both have fire powers, Mera Mera no Mi for Sabo and Diable Jambe for Sanji.
 * Both were born into families of the high society (Sabo a Noble and Sanji a Prince) before leaving that life behind.
 * Both of their own fathers (Outlook III and Vinsmoke Judge) view them as a disappointments.
 * Both escaped from their families to have a different life.
 * Both returned to their family to prevent their loved ones from getting killed and were threatened by their fathers if they did not cooperate (Luffy and Ace for Sabo, Zeff for Sanji).
 * Both had pirates involved in their return to their families (the Bluejam Pirates in Sabo's, and the Big Mom Pirates in Sanji's).
 * He is the only known revolutionary to use Haki.
 * Sabo's favorite food when he was 10 was ramen. The voice actress for 10-year-old Sabo, Junko Takeuchi, is well-known for voicing the character Uzumaki Naruto whose favorite food is also ramen.