Vinsmoke Ichiji

Vinsmoke Ichiji (ヴィンスモーク・イチジ, Vinsumōku Ichiji), also known as "Sparking Red" (スパーキングレッド, Supākingu Reddo), is both a fictional character and deuteragonist from the One Piece series. He is the eldest son of the Vinsmoke Family, making him Sanji's eldest brother. He is also a prince of the Germa Kingdom and a commander in its military arm, Germa 66.

"Understand this, royals are meant to act like royals!!"
 * —Vinsmoke Ichiji's arrogant royal behavior.

Appearance

 * Voice Actor: Not Known (English), Noriaki Sugiyama (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), Masami Suzuki (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
Ichiji has red-colored hair and curly eyebrows. Like all the Vinsmoke siblings, his distinctive curly eyebrows form a spiral that resemble the numeral 6. He is slim with long legs and stands at a comparable height to his brother Niji, being slightly taller. His hair is fashioned into three prominent cowlicks on the right side, and also curls upwards slightly at the roots, like his sister's. His right arm bears a prominent tattoo: the number "1" in the center of a stylized circle, surrounded by flames.

The Young Past Days
As a child, Ichiji did not wear glasses and he wore a red shirt with the number "1" on it with white shorts and brown boots. His hair was styled in the same manner as it is in the present.

Post-Timeskip
When commanding the forces of Germa 66, he wears a dark red raid suit, including white gauntlets, a red ascot, a white cape (bearing a red "1" on its left), as well as a pair of sunglasses. Outside of his raid suit, Ichiji wears a dark shirt with an upturned collar and a light cravat, as well as a pair of light-colored pants. For formal functions, he also wears a floor-length, single-shoulder royal cape with an upturned collar and a neck clasp. However, unlike his siblings, his cape is light-colored.

During the Tea Party, Ichiji changed into a light frilled dress shirt, as well as dark pants and dark gloves. He also wore a royal cape similar to the one he was wearing previously, but shorter and clasped together with two chains. After chaos broke out, he changed back into his raid suit.


 * Hair Color: Red
 * 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, Ichiji is proud of his royal status, looking down upon commoners and servants. Like his father, Niji, and Yonji, he expresses disgust at Sanji's displays of kindness towards such individuals, and labels him a "disgrace" to the family name. Despite being a prince of a highly imperialistic kingdom, however, Ichiji demonstrates little care for political affairs, and said so when his family discussed the mission on Broc Coli Island.

Since birth, Ichiji has lacked the ability to feel empathy and sympathy, due to the genetic modifications performed on him by his father. He is cold and brutal to the people he fights, caring only about his task and not their lives. He expresses disdain for the people who oppose him, commenting that the four hours he spent fighting on Broc Coli Island had been a waste of effort. He also expects his subordinates in Germa 66 to lay down their lives for him at any point, showing no emotion at their deaths. Ichiji has also demonstrated that even the prospect of his own death is not enough to move him. After Big Mam revealed her treachery, Ichiji reacted with nonchalance, speaking only to reprimand his father's tears as pathetic.

Unlike his more hot-headed younger brothers, Ichiji's usual manner is very calm and measured. However, when he is provoked, he reveals his capacity for extreme violence and brutality. During their childhood, Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji all enjoyed tormenting Sanji because of his relative physical weakness and his interest in cooking, but Ichiji appeared to enjoy it the most. His behavior during these encounters also demonstrates his aloofness, as he preferred to let Niji and Yonji do most of the attacking while he watched. However, when Sanji tried to retaliate against Ichiji during an episode of bullying, Ichiji proved to be the most vicious of the brothers, beating Sanji almost senseless and warning his younger brother to never touch him again. When a despairing enemy soldier tried to shoot him during the war on Broc Coli Island, Ichiji told the man that he did not care about his family or his country before killing the soldier with his own gun. Additionally, like his sister Reiju, Ichiji prefers to watch events unfold without interfering, forming his own opinions and speaking up primarily to have the last word in a conversation.

Like his younger brothers, Ichiji possesses a lecherous streak, as he became lovestruck when he first saw Nami. However, he is able to put his amorous tendencies aside and think rationally, as he reminds his brother Yonji that marrying into the Charlotte Family would require forfeiting their freedom after Yonji stated a desire to marry Charlotte Pudding himself.

Family

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

Enemies

 * Big Mam Pirates
 * Big Mam
 * Charlotte Perospero

Abilities and Powers
As a prince of the Germa Kingdom, Ichiji has political authority over its subjects. He also holds a high ranking within Germa 66, giving him authority over common soldiers as well as the ability to order them to sacrifice themselves in his defence. A portion of Germa 66, under Ichiji and Niji'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, Ichiji has access to the advanced technology developed by his family, including a personalized raid suit. He also has access to their extravagant wealth.

Physical Abilities
Along with the rest of his siblings, Ichiji was enhanced with genetic modifications that give him tremendous superhuman abilities. When Ichiji was a child, Judge's aide stated that his strength and agility was on the level of an adult man. He developed an outer skeleton that enhanced his durability; his face made a metallic noise when Sanji punched it, and the force of impact hurt Sanji's fist. He also possesses immense physical strength. As a child, he was able to overpower and defeat an adult Germa soldier during a training regimen. By adulthood, he was able to grab the arm of an enemy soldier and twist it around so the soldier was pointing his gun at himself, keeping the gun stationary as he talked, although the enemy soldier was weakened from fighting. He has tremendous tolerance for alcohol, as he and his brothers continued to drink large quantities unaffected while the barmaids all fell intoxicated.

Ichiji 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. Ichiji is also extremely proficient in hand to hand combat. While still a young boy, he could overpower an adult Germa soldier during training, which Judge's aide described as magnificent. By adulthood, he punched Charlotte Perospero with extreme speed and power.

Sparking Red
Ichiji possesses an ability that has given him the name Sparking Red. He can generate small explosions while he punches his target, which are powerful enough to break Perospero's "Candy Wall", and to make the "special Paramythia/Logia" type Mochi-Mochi Fruit user Charlotte Katakuri split in half.

Attacks

 * Black Bug (ブラック バグ, Burakku Bagu): 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 Mam Pirates.


 * Sparking Figure (スパーキング フィガー, Supākingu Figā): Ichiji punches his target and creates a powerful explosion. It was first used against Charlotte Katakuri when he blocked Caesar's escape, and it was powerful enough to split him in half.

Past
Ichiji was born in the Germa Kingdom on the same day as his younger brothers, while the Kingdom was still in North Blue. When Ichiji and his siblings were very young, Judge informed them that he had enhanced their bodies with genetic modifications, and instructed them to train so that their bodies would develop superhuman abilities. The siblings excelled at their exercises, except for Sanji who continually lagged behind. Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji were initially irritated with Sanji's poor progress, but they eventually took pleasure in bullying their brother for his weakness as well as for giving food to rats. During one of their bullying sessions, Sanji attempted to punch Ichiji to get his food back, but Ichiji retaliated by beating him viciously.

When Judge had Sanji locked in a dungeon and informed the kingdom that he died in an accident, Ichiji expressed indifference, since Sanji had been "useless" anyway. However, Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji eventually learned the truth that Sanji was still alive and occasionally visited him in the dungeon to continue bullying him.

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

Canon

 * Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji vs. Sanji
 * Ichiji vs. a Germa soldier
 * Sanji Retrieval Team-Fire Tank Alliance vs. Big Mam Pirates
 * Ichiji vs. Charlotte Perospero
 * Ichiji vs. Charlotte Katakuri (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, Ichi (一) means "one" in Japanese. This is a reference to Ichiji's position as the family's first-born son, despite being the second-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 "1"; the figure is likely a representation of Ichiji.
 * The colors of Ichiji's clothes are inverted, relative to those of his siblings. For example, instead of a light shirt with dark trousers, he wears a dark shirt with light trousers. This contrast is then flipped during the Tea Party, as he is the only Vinsmoke sibling with a light shirt and dark trousers. Unlike his siblings, who wear dark cloaks with both their Germa raid suits and their royal attire, Ichiji's cloaks are light colored.
 * The anime, however, does not appear to have preserved this distinction in relation to the Vinsmoke siblings' childhood attire, with all four brothers depicted wearing white trousers and colored shirts.
 * However, this seems to be corrected in Episode 800 as he is seen with the inverted clothing as he does in the manga.
 * He was ranked 57th in the sixth popularity poll.