Vinsmoke Niji

Vinsmoke Niji (ヴィンスモーク・ニジ, Vinsumōku Niji), also known as "Electric Shock Blue" (デンゲキブルー, Dengeki Burū) is a fictional character and deuteragonist from the One Piece series. He is the second son of the Vinsmoke Family, making him Sanji's elder brother. He is also a prince of the Germa Kingdom and a commander in its military arm, Germa 66.

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 * —Vinsmoke Niji.

Appearance

 * Voice Actor: Not Known (English), Atsushi Miyauchi (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)
 * Voice Actor (child): Not Known (English), Yūko Mita (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)

Appearance
Niji has blue-colored hair and curly eyebrows. Like all the Vinsmoke siblings, his distinctive curly eyebrows form a spiral that resemble the numeral 6. He has a similar build to his brother Ichiji, being slim with long legs and standing close to him in height. His hair is groomed into a very large, curved partition across the right side of his face, ending in three prominent spikes.

The Young Past Days
As a child, Niji wore a light blue shirt with the number "2" on it with white pants and brown boots, as well as a pair of smaller goggles and a smaller ascot. His hair was styled in the same manner as it is in the present, although it was much shorter. In the anime, the bottom of his head was also shaved short as a child, creating an undercut style.

Post-Timeskip
While commanding the forces of Germa 66, he wears a dark blue raid suit, including a black cape bearing a blue "2", dark goggles over his eyes, gold-colored gauntlets, and an aqua ascot around his neck. A set of horns extend upwards from his pair of orange and red earphones, and his belt bears a buckle with a prominent lightning bolt design. Outside of his raid suit, Niji wears a light-colored buttoned shirt with a tie, as well as dark pants belted with a slimmer version of the belt he wears with his Germa gear. For formal functions, he also wears a dark floor-length, single-shoulder royal cape with an upturned collar and a neck clasp.

During the Tea Party, Niji changed into a dark suit, comprised of a dark double-breasted jacket, a light cravat, dark pants, and dark gloves. He also wore a royal cape similar to the one he was wearing previously, but shorter, light-colored, and clasped together with two chains. When chaos broke out, he changed back into his raid suit.


 * Hair Color: Blue
 * Skin Color: Not Known
 * Eye Color: Black
 * Age: 21
 * Birthday: March 2nd
 * Height: 186 cm (6'1")
 * Weight: Not Known

Personality
Like most members of his family, Niji is proud of his royal status, looking down upon and even abusing commoners and servants. He also expresses disgust at his brother Sanji's displays of kindness towards such individuals. Accustomed to wealth and luxury, he does not see the importance of food as Sanji does, refusing to eat a plate of aligot for what he believes to be its unappetizing appearance, and planning to discard the food into the trash.

Since birth, Niji has lacked the ability to feel empathy and sympathy due to the genetic modifications done by his father. He had no qualms about inflicting pain on servants, as shown when he attacked the head chef and even sarcastically stated that he would have avoided her face if he had known that Sanji cared for her. He is outspoken and quick to anger, as he was easily provoked by Sanji's insults, and voiced his irritation at seeing that Sanji had failed to greet him and Ichiji upon their return to the Germa Kingdom. He has also exhibited petty and vindictive behaviors, as he was willing to throw a plate at an innocent chef's face simply because Sanji defended her. Furthermore, Niji's emotional detachment is so strong that he was unmoved by even the prospect of his own death, as well as that of his family. After realizing they had been tricked, Niji remained calm, saying simply that they set their sights too high before laughing at their quandary.

While on missions, Niji is serious and business-minded, making sure to collect Germa 66's commissions after performing their mercenary services. Unlike his sister Reiju, who displayed an interest in the philosophical issue of whether war or fractured peace was preferable, Niji dismissed her musings by stating that the Germa is only ever concerned with who was willing and able to pay them the most money. Despite his own cruelty, Niji did express slight disdain for Big Mom's habits of keeping humans trapped in books, showing that he does have some small degree of moral understanding.

Like his brothers, Niji shares a lecherous streak, as he became lovestruck and drooled when he first saw Nami. Later, he expressed disappointment at the barmaids Big Mom had sent to them, and expressed a desire to negotiate for Nami's release into their custody. Despite his lecherous tendencies, however, he does have a certain degree of self-control. Unlike Yonji, he is able to overlook Charlotte Pudding's beauty and point out that marrying into the Charlotte Family would not bode well for them.

Despite his arrogance and cruel nature, Niji does have a strong sense of appreciation and gratitude, as after Sanji saved his life, Niji wasted no time in repaying Sanji by saving some of his crewmates from being killed by the Big Mom Pirates, an act that strongly contradicts his engineered apathy. This is shown again when he showed concern for his sister when Big Mom targeted her and attempted to kill her. Niji even tried going back to save her before Ichiji told him to leave her behind. Niji also didn't hesitate to rush to his father's aid after he was struck down by Big Mom.

Family

 * Vinsmoke Sora (mother; deceased)
 * Vinsmoke Judge (father)
 * Vinsmoke Reiju (older sister)
 * Vinsmoke Ichiji (older brother)
 * Vinsmoke Sanji (young brother)
 * Vinsmoke Yonji (younger brother)

Enemies

 * Big Mam Pirates
 * Big Mam
 * Charlotte Perospero

Abilities and Powers
As a prince of the Germa Kingdom, Niji has political authority over its subjects, and great influence over the World Government. He also holds a high rank within Germa 66, possessing authority over common soldiers who will die for him on command. A portion of Germa 66, under Niji and Ichiji's command, was able to end a two-year war in four hours, thoroughly annihilating the side they were hired to fight.

As a member of the Vinsmoke Family, Niji also has access to the advanced technology developed by his family as well as their extravagant wealth.

He was shown to have knowledge of swordsmanship in his youth, overpowering Sanji several times.

He seems to be proficient at impersonation, as he tricked Charlotte Mont-d'Or into thinking he was Charlotte Nusstorte when calling him from Nusstorte's Transponder Snail.

Physical Abilities
As a result of genetic enhancements, Niji possesses tremendous superhuman physical abilities. He has an outer skeleton that made him impervious to a blunt sword strike from Sanji, and one of Judge's aides said that he had developed the strength and agility of an adult man while he was a young child. Niji has immense strength, as one of his kicks generated enough wind force to knock a by-standing Cosette off her feet, despite Niji halting the kick in mid-air before it connected with Sanji. He managed to lift Charlotte Nusstorte, an enormous man, with only one hand. He is extremely durable, as he quickly fixed his broken jaw after taking a direct hit from Sanji's powerful kick and stood up to fight back almost immediately. He has tremendous tolerance for alcohol, as he and his brothers continued to drink large quantities unaffected while the barmaids all fell intoxicated.

When the Straw Hats were being attacked by the Charlotte siblings, Niji was able to knock back Charlotte Oven with a single electrified kick, successfully rescuing Chopper from his grasp.

He is shown to have a strong will as he was able to withstand a burst of Big Mam's Conqueror's Haki and remain conscious from her loud scream.

Electric Shock Blue
Niji possesses an ability that has given him the name Electric Shock Blue. Similar to Electro, Niji can electrify parts of his body to deal heavy damage to his opponents.

Attacks

 * Stealth (ステルス, Suterusu): Niji escapes his target's sight before quickly appearing right behind them. It was first used in his scuffle with Sanji.


 * Henry Needle (ヘンリー ニードル, Henrī Nīdoru; literally meaning "Electromotive Needle"): Niji electrifies his knee and knees his opponent in the back. It was first used in his scuffle with Sanji. The henry is the unit of electrical inductance, named after American scientist Joseph Henry.


 * Black Bug (ブラック バグ, Burakku Bagu; literally meaning "Compound Color Bug"): A combination attack between Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji. The three utilize their abilities and hit a single target with three synchronized strikes. It was first used to break Charlotte Perospero's Candy Wall to allow Caesar Clown to escape from the Big Mom Pirates.

Past
Niji was born as the second son and the third child of the Vinsmoke Family. At the time of his birth, the Germa Kingdom was still in North Blue. As a young child, Niji and his siblings were informed by their father that their bodies had been genetically modified, and their father instructed them to train hard in order to develop and take advantage of these superhuman enhancements. All of them succeeded in developing except for Sanji. Niji and his two other brothers were initially irritated with Sanji's poor progress, but they eventually took pleasure in bullying Sanji for his weakness as well as for feeding rats.

When Judge had Sanji locked in a dungeon and then claimed that he died in an accident, Niji wondered if Sanji had actually died. After finding Sanji, Niji and his two other brothers occasionally visited him just to continue with their bullying.

After Sanji left the family, Niji and his siblings often mused about Sanji. However, their discussions typically revolved around the numerous amusing ways that each of them could imagine as to how Sanji may have died while living on his own.

Canon

 * Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji vs. Sanji
 * Sanji Retrieval Team-Fire Tank Alliance vs. Big Mam Pirates
 * Niji vs. Charlotte Oven
 * Niji and Yonji vs. Charlotte Lingling (unseen)
 * Vinsmoke Family vs. Charlotte Nusstorte and his pursuit squad

Non-Canon

 * Ichiji, Niji, Yonji, and Reiju vs. Germa soldiers

Notes & Trivia

 * In keeping with the Vinsmoke Family's naming convention, Ni (二) means "two" in Japanese. This is a reference to Niji's position as the family's second-born son, despite being the third-born child.
 * In the Navy comic strip, Sola, Warrior of the Sea, there is a brief scene of Sola facing Germa 66. On Germa's side are three cloaked agents, one of whose cloaks bears the number "2"; the figure is likely a representation of Niji.
 * Niji's callous disregard of food and women are in total contrast to his younger brother Sanji's values, who values both.
 * Niji's attack known as Henry Needle referenced to a henry, which is the unit of electrical inductance, named after American scientist Joseph Henry.
 * He was ranked 93rd in the sixth popularity poll.