Marco

Marco (マルコ, Maruko), also known as "Marco the Phoenix" (不死鳥マルコ, Fushichō Maruko), is a fictional character and ally from the One Piece series. He was the 1st division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. He owes his nickname to his Mythical Zoan ability to transform into a phoenix.

When he first met Portgaz D. Ace, he wanted to make friends with him. Marco told him to either leave the ship, or bear Whitebeard's mark to be one of his children. At the time of the Summit War, Marco fought alongside his allies to save Trace. He also joined in Monkey D. Luffy's fight against the admirals of the Navy.

The blonde commander was injured by Kizaru's light attack while he was distracted by the horrific sight of Whitebeard's failing health. In the aftermath, Marco thanked Shanks for giving Ace and Whitebeard proper burials. He is now the first mate of Buckrun Oscar, the new captain/commander of the Whitebeard Pirates.

"Interesting. Our abilities are similar yet different."
 * —Marco.

Appearance & Biography

 * Voice Actor: Kyle Phillips (English), Masakazu Morita (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)

Biography
1st Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. His nickname is Marco the Phoenix. One of the senior crew members.

He is a user of a Mythical Zoan "Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Phoenix", even rarer than the Logia Devil Fruit, that lets him transform into a phoenix. He can fly thanks to both beast form which turns into phoenix and human-beat form which transforms his arms to wings. He will regenerate with the blue flames of resurrection after any kind of attack.

With his great powers, he has earned the loyalty of Whitebeard and the rest of the crew. He is also a Armament Haki user.

Appearance
Marco is a lean, muscular, blonde-haired man with a rather sleepy look on his face and some stubble around his chin. Robin and Luffy believe that Marco's head looks like a pineapple.

The Young Past Days
As a kid, Marco's signature tuft of hair was more curly. He sported a vertically striped shirt, with black pants, and no shoes.

Marco was a member of the Whitebeard Pirates twenty two years ago as well, and while how old he was is difficult to ascertain, his appearance, for the most part, resembles his present self.

Pre-Timeskip
He wears an open 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.

Post-Timeskip

 * Hair Color: Blonde
 * Skin Color: Not Known
 * Eye Color: Black
 * Age: Not Known
 * Birthday: October 5th
 * Height: Not Known
 * Weight: Not Known

Personality
Marco is generally calm and level-headed in the face of adversity or challenge; the only emotional moments he has shown so far were directly related to Whitebeard's health (after his death). When Trace and Whitebeard were killed, Marco (along with the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates) was in tears.

In fact, having a foresight vision from his Observation Haki of his captain, Whitebeard, was about to get stabbed through the chest by a deceived Squard was enough for Marco to lose his usually unshakable cool-headedness that he immediately flew over to where they were to smash Squard's head against the Moby Dick's figurehead, before Squard could even do it.

He also demonstrates himself to be acute at detecting power, able to quickly notice the presence of Red-Haired Shanks' Conqueror's Haki before anyone else aboard the Moby Dick as well as the underlying potential of Monkey D. Luffy. He clearly cares for his crew as he warned them to stay back from Shanks' Haki.

Having been a member of the Whitebeard Pirates for at least twenty years, Marco has an extremely high degree of experience with exposure and combat inside the treacherous New World. After Whitebeard's and Portgaz D. Ace's deaths at Navyford, Marco took the position of commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, highlighting his level of intelligence and suitability in taking up a commanding position.

He appears to be somewhat playful, pretending to be hurt from Admiral Kizaru's attack with obvious sarcasm, though he can also quickly become serious.

Marco seems to appreciate raw talent, even if it comes from someone whom he had never met before (i.e. Luffy). Because of this, and based on the fact that Luffy intercepted Crocodile's attack on Whitebeard, Marco immediately took a liking to him.

Like many other characters, Marco has a distinct speech style. He tends to end his sentences in "yoi", for example: "arigato-yoi" (thanks yoi) or "mattero-yoi" (wait yoi). Like many catchphrases in the series, it has no actual meaning other than just being a distinct way of talking, i.e. a verbal tic.

Friends/Allies

 * Whitebeard Pirates
 * Subordinate crews
 * New World Pirates
 * Jimbei
 * Monkey D. Luffy
 * Impel Down Escapees
 * King Neptune

Neutral

 * Impel Down Convicts
 * Crocodile
 * Sengoku
 * Monkey D. Garp

Enemies

 * Navy
 * Sakazuki
 * Blackbeard Pirates
 * Marshall D. Teech
 * Edward Weevil
 * Bakkin

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 Four Emperors Shanks. He is a very experienced veteran, as he was shown as a member of the Whitebeard Pirates from the times of Gol D. Roger.

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 while holding his own. Marco is also most likely the strongest member of the Whitebeard Pirates after Whitebeard, given his position as the new authority of the crew.

Physical Abilities
On top of his Devil 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 his Devil Fruit abilities being 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 Worst Generation, Basil Hawkins). He is also incredibly fast, as he protected Whitebeard from Kizaru's Yasakani Sacred Jewel 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 Trace.

Devil Fruit

 * Main article: Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Phoenix

The Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Phoenix (トリトリの実 モデル：フェニックス, Tori Tori Mi, Model: Moderu: Fenikkusu; literally meaning "Fruit of the Bird-Bird, Model: Phoenix") is referred to as a Mythical Zoan-class Devil Fruit, which was eaten by Marco, is an immensely powerful type of Zoan Devil Fruit, said to be the rarest type, even rarer than Logia fruits. His Devil 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 classified as a Zoan, due to the uniqueness of the phoenix itself, 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).

This Devil Fruit gives Marco increased physical attributes (as is with all Zoan types) 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 (Chopper and Onigumo, possibly being the only known exceptions), Marco can transform selective parts of his body into phoenix form 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), while keeping his human feet, so that he can fly and still attack with standard kicks. He can also slightly change this form, transforming his feet into claws, to attack and slash his opponents more efficiently.

The fruit's greatest attribute, however, is that by transforming into a phoenix of blue flames at will, Marco can regenerate any wounds with the blue fire he generates, 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 Trace'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 and rexover, and they are referred to as the "Blue Flames of Resurrection" (復活の青い炎, Fukkatsu no Aoi Honō).

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.

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.

Other than the aforementioned weaknesses, Marco is also susceptible to the standard Devil Fruit weaknesses like any user.

Techniques

 * Flames of Restoration (再生の炎, Saisei no Honō): Marco changes into a phoenix and flaps his wings, restoring life while sending out a shockwave. It is used in Pirate Warriors 2 and 3 as his Level 1 Special Attack.


 * Pale Flames of Transmigration (転生の蒼炎, Tensei no Sōen): Marco changes into a phoenix, spirals around enemies to gather them into the air then charges into the ground from a very high altitude releasing a shockwave. It is used in Pirate Warriors 2 and 3 as his Level 2 Special Attack.


 * Phoenix's Great Flames (フェニックス豪炎, Fenikkusu Gōen): Marco shoots a powerful, fiery shockwave forward from his wings while airborne and only suffering from some slight manner of recoil. The kanji's original reading is "fuushichou", which is the Japanese term used for a phoenix (literally meaning "undying bird"). This was first used in the One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 as his Kizuna Rush Special Attack.

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 Monkey D. Luffy's life. After the death of Portgaz D. Ace, 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 Fishman Island his territory.

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
"The world hates us for what we are, you know... It makes us happy... Even if it's just a word..."
 * —Marco telling Ace why they call Whitebeard "Pops".

During the first few days Ace spent on Whitebeard's ship, Marco tried to befriend him. Marco explained to Ace the kind of fatherly relationship Whitebeard had with his crew members. In fact, it was Marco who told Ace to leave the ship and start from scratch again or bear Whitebeard's mark as one of his sons.

Thatch's Murder
After the murder of Thatch at the hands of "Joker" of the Blackbeard Pirates, Ace decided to search for Joker and make him pay for what he did. However, Whitebeard, who was feeling uneasy, told Ace not to go, something that Ace did not want to hear. Marco was one of the crew members who protested to Ace leaving the ship and going after the Blackbeard Pirates, but this was in vain.

Anime and Manga Differences
In the anime when he was first shown, he was replaced with a generic crewmember. This is a common mistake that occurs in transferring a scene from manga to anime and has been witnessed in One Piece before, in particular when characters are first shown without a formal introduction.

Appearance
Initially in the anime, Marco was given a generic crew member look of a black haired man with pale skin and different clothes. When he later became more formally recognized in the story, his appearance was changed to what is depicted in the manga, along with his light purple jacket, his black pants and his dark red tattoo. Later, starting with Opening 13 "One Day", he was given another color scheme. Once again his jacket was recolored in a much brighter purple, his pants were made dark blue, his tattoo blue and his skin a little brighter.

Notes & Trivia

 * Marco is the first person to be revealed to have eaten a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit.
 * In the 5th fan poll, he rose to 12th place from 122nd place, making him the second most popular member of the Whitebeard Pirates behind Ace.
 * Marco shares his birthday, October 5, with Monkey D. Dragon and Van Ogre.