Issho, better known by his alias Fujitora, is an admiral in the Marines. He was conscripted through a World Military Draft during the two-year timeskip, being appointed to his rank (next to Ryokugyu) to fill the two admiral vacancies caused by Aokiji's resignation and Sakazuki's promotion. A proponent of "Humane Justice", Fujitora notably spearheaded a campaign for the abolishment of the "Seven Warlords of the Sea" system, which came to pass during the most recent Levely.
Fujitora was first mentioned by Sakazuki when the latter was discussing plans to deal with Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar Law on Dressrosa. His following mission and actions on Dressrosa made him the first admiral to physically appear post-timeskip and the secondary antagonist of the Dressrosa Arc.
Appearance[]
Fujitora is a blind man with only the whites of his eyes showing, though he usually keeps both eyes closed. He has an X-shaped scar centered on the left side of his forehead that stretches over both eyes, which was actually self-inflicted due to his decision to blind himself. He has short dark hair, a mustache, and a beard. He seems to be very tall, a trait shared with other admirals.
Like other admirals, Fujitora sports the standard Marine coat with his personal clothes underneath, wearing the coat on his shoulders like a cape with his arms not in the sleeves. His sleeves' cuffs are purple. While previous admirals and other high-ranked Marines wear the conventional suit and tie underneath their Marine coats, Fujitora opts for a light-purple yukata held up with a dark purple belt, all underneath a purple cloak, matching the color in his alias. Fujitora wields a shikomizue (a Japanese swordstick) that doubles as a cane for his blindness, and also wears geta sandals. He has white bandages wrapped around both of his forearms, with handguards on both hands.
Personality[]
Fujitora is a virtuous man who cares greatly about doing the right thing and detests evil. His blindness is a result of him intentionally inflicting damage on his eyes out of sorrow for all the evil he had seen, with him stating in Dressrosa that not having sight is a blessing. His Justice motto as a Marine is "Humane Justice" (仁義ある正義 Jingi aru Seigi?). His primary goal is to protect people, telling a subordinate that it is more important to take into account the number of lives to protect rather than the number of enemies against them. He takes care to never put innocent civilians in harm's way during conflict and will try to avoid causing collateral damage with his attacks; when he does inflict such damage, he makes sure to compensate the owner of the involved property. Fujitora will make the effort to keep civilians away from harm even when he himself is not involved in the proceedings, including doing things such as protecting them from the collateral damage of other fights and even proactively calling for extra medics to come to the Corrida Colosseum in the likely event that spectators were harmed by the combatants' attacks. As a result of his desire to protect civilians, Fujitora is proactive about hunting down and capturing pirates and other criminals. He will not step outside his bounds to do so, as shown when he came to the Corrida Colosseum which was a safe zone for criminals, but he did plot with his subordinates to arrest the criminals competing there as soon as they exited the arena's confines.
| “ | If you don't want Justice to be dishonored, keep it close to you at all times! If we lose credibility just by admitting fault, we didn't have any in the first place! | ” |
Fujitora's desire to eliminate evil also extends to rooting out corruption within the Marines and World Government. Crocodile's attempted takeover of Arabasta in particular drove him to question the government's choices and judgment, especially regarding the use of the Seven Warlords of the Sea as a check against pirates and criminals, when it often resulted in brutal and tyrannical pirates terrorizing people and shipping arms illegally under the blanket of government immunity. He strongly believed that ending the system would result in better outcomes for eliminating piracy and evil, despite its perceived threat to the balance of the Three Great Powers. He is willing to accept blame for the shortcomings of the Marines and World Government, to the point of prostrating himself before King Riku Doldo III along with his troops to apologize for the harm Doflamingo had wreaked upon Dressrosa and having it broadcast to neighboring islands. This resulted in a very tense and explosive conversation with his superior, Fleet Admiral Sakazuki over Den Den Mushi. As their conversation progressed, Sakazuki grew incensed that Fujitora's actions had caused the Marine's reputation, and justice by extension, to be shamed, since the admiral had publicly admitted that the government had failed in its duty. Fujitora then lost his composure and shouted angrily at Sakazuki, disgusted at the idea that justice was dependent on looking right rather than being right, one of the few times he has not been seen acting in a calm and dispassionate manner.
As noted by himself, however, Fujitora is pragmatic and has had to align himself to some degree with parties he opposes for the sake of protecting innocent people. This dynamic drove many of his actions during his time in Dressrosa; at first, despite his opposition to the Seven Warlords system and suspicion over Doflamingo's activities, Fujitora agreed to aid the Warlord in opposing the Straw Hat Pirates for the sake of protecting Dressrosa's populace. However, he later changed his mind after Doflamingo trapped Dressrosa in his "Birdcage", as he believed that the Straw Hats stood the best chance of saving Dressrosa as well as showing the failure of the Seven Warlords system. In both instances, he made clear that he would pursue the downfall of both the Donquixote and Straw Hat Pirates after the necessity of working with them came to an end. Additionally, Fujitora will uphold the letter of the law for the World Government even if he does not care for it, such as letting Caesar Clown go free due to being the subordinate of a Warlord. While he will obey his superiors' command in most instances, Fujitora has been known to exploit loopholes as he sees fit, such as when he went to Mary Geoise while being banned from going to Marine bases and invoking the loophole when notified of Sakazuki's disapproval.
Just as he does not hesitate to pinpoint and work against evil deeds in the Marines and World Government, Fujitora also has no issue with acknowledging good deeds done by pirates. He has rather bluntly stated that the World Government was to blame for Doflamingo's atrocities whereas Luffy, a pirate, was the hero of Dressrosa. When the Dressrosa citizens got in the way of his pursuit of the Straw Hats, Fujitora recognized the honesty and good intentions of Luffy towards the civilians. In fact, it was Luffy's attitude and actions that first caused Fujitora to regret blinding himself, as he wondered what Luffy might look like; he even thanked the pirate for saving Dressrosa. A few days earlier, when Luffy had exposed the Donquixote Pirates' cheating at roulette against Fujitora, the admiral was greatly appreciative of his kind deed and declined to exchange introductions so that he might remain ignorant of who helped him should their positions result in conflict. Additionally, as shown during the war on Dressrosa, Fujitora may choose to not relentlessly pursue people who are considered enemies of the Marines if they do not pose a threat to innocent people, especially if doing so would threaten innocents around them, or if there are more pressing matters at hand.
Despite his desire to prevent collateral damage, Fujitora has been shown to use tremendous displays of force against opponents, particularly at the very beginning of his battles. While confronting Trafalgar Law alongside Doflamingo, Fujitora immediately started the fight by summoning a large meteor to strike their location, saying it was only a "little test". When Doflamingo's thugs tried attacking him and Luffy after their swindling was exposed, Fujitora immediately chose to send them to "hell" and slam them deep into the ground with his gravity. However, Fujitora's displays of force can at times be completely reckless, as best shown when he summoned another meteor during his fight with Sabo only to have it sliced apart by Doflamingo's "Birdcage" and destroy more of the surrounding area than he intended. Additionally, his attempt to summon a meteor against the Straw Hats on the Thousand Sunny whilst also piloting a battleship through the air led to the meteor being redirected and striking his ship. However, even when he encounters a bad situation, Fujitora has been shown keeping his calm, at worst only getting flustered. In the aforementioned battleship attack, Fujitora was shown sitting calmly and eating noodles even when the crew's counterattack put the rest of his subordinates in a panic, and he remained calm throughout Doflamingo's Birdcage game despite the mass hysteria inflicted, even putting his trust in others to resolve the great problem without hesitation.
Fujitora loves to gamble and play casino games, having been shown playing roulette in his first appearance and making big wagers including going all-in in the last round he played. In fact, his obsession with gambling is at such a point that he has been shown to treat life the same way as a game of chance, having made allusions to betting and rolling dice when speaking of the conflict in Dressrosa and showing a great reverence for the forces of fate. Most notably, he treated his trust in the Straw Hat Pirates to take down Doflamingo as simply another one of his bets, though with the stakes now being life or death rather than monetary. Later, when faced with the choice of whether or not to follow his orders to go after the Straw Hats and Law, a choice with merits on each side, Fujitora decided to make this decision by rolling a die and assigning an outcome based on where it landed. When the die's outcome had him leave Luffy alone for two consecutive days despite the low odds, Fujitora stated that something was certainly on the pirate's side.
Fujitora generally acts humble in conversation, as shown when he downplayed Doflamingo's words of praise for his abilities when the two of them first met. Additionally, despite his great status, his casual mannerisms are no different than a normal older blind man, and many of the people who saw him at Dressrosa did not know who he was. However, during combat he is shown to take pride in his status as a Marine Admiral and his reputation as a "monster", hating it when people take pity on him due to his blindness. When Luffy informed him of the attacks he would perform ahead of time during their battle and explained that it was out of respect for the admiral's character, Fujitora briefly lost composure and started laughing, though also expressed disappointment at the pirate's illogical behavior. Fujitora is also prideful when it comes to upholding his morals, as he refused to apologize to Sakazuki for his actions following the Dressrosa conflict even though Sengoku said such an apology would likely be enough to get his punishment lifted.
Although aware of the great evil in the world, Fujitora has shown himself to be quite trusting and thus will typically accept anyone's answer to events he is unsure of due to his blindness. This was best shown when he was willing to believe Doflamingo's thugs when they told him where the roulette ball landed, allowing them to nearly swindle him out of all his money. However, if tipped off that he is being tricked, he will not respond kindly to those who trick him. Fujitora's willingness to give people the benefit of the doubt even extends to his interactions with pirates, as he gave Law the opportunity to inform him that the Straw Hats were his subordinates, despite those around him clearly knowing that that was not the case. Additionally, although he brought up the suspicions he had regarding Doflamingo committing illegal activities in secret, Fujitora had no intention of pressing the Warlord over it before investigating further.
Abilities and Powers[]
Overview[]
As an admiral, Fujitora has command over the thousands of Marines ranked beneath him, his status being just below the fleet admiral's. Among other things, he holds the authority to call out battleships however he sees fit and to initiate a Buster Call on any island he deems to be a threat, as well as pass on to lower-ranking government agents the same privilege.
Combat wise, Fujitora (along with his fellow admirals) is thought to constitute the World Government's "Greatest Military Force", making him one of the world's most powerful people. As noted by Doflamingo and himself, Fujitora and Ryokugyu are known as "powerful monsters" in the Marines. Fleet admiral Sakazuki had confidence in Fujitora's ability to deal with Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar Law, both members of the Worst Generation and the latter (at the time) a Warlord of the Sea. From just a brief display of his powers, Fujitora earned the prompt admiration of Luffy, who could easily ascertain his strength. Yet another such display sufficed to intimidate Law and even the normally unshakable Doflamingo.
Greatly attesting to his power, Fujitora was able to fight Sabo—the Revolutionary Army's chief of staff and "No. 2" in strength, who had not long beforehand acquired a powerful Logia ability—to more or less a standstill, emerging from such battle without a scratch. By Sabo's own reckoning, Fujitora had not gone all out but merely stalled for time, due to not seeing his then-foe as a true enemy. Additionally, Fujitora was capable of soundly defeating Jack, a top commander of one of the Four Emperors with a bounty of 1 billion, in a naval battle (albeit with the presumed assistance of other powerful Marine figures). During the latest Levely alongside Ryokugyu, Fujitora once again did battle with Sabo, plus three Revolutionary commanders, and though he ultimately failed to prevent them from from completing their objective, this was most likely due to the fact he couldn't use the full extent of his powers due to the battle occurring in the Domain of the Gods. Days afterwards, Fujitora appeared in good condition, apart from being slightly bandaged up.
Despite being blind, due to his other acute senses and Kenbunshoku Haki, Fujitora can handle himself perfectly well in combat, even against very powerful enemies, with Law noting that his blindness seems to not hinder him much at all. He has excellent hearing, having heard Nami's lightning from kilometers away when neither Doflamingo nor Law next to him did. He also stated that he is able to sense the movement of clouds.
Physical Abilities[]
Fujitora's physical strength and fortitude are immense, befitting an admiral. He was able to defend against and repel powerful attacks from the likes of Roronoa Zoro, Sabo, and Luffy as well as clash with them (including the latter when using Gear 2 and Gear 3) with little to no visible effort. He could also withstand a kick from Doflamingo without issue using his sword. Incredibly resilient, Fujitora could guard against a Haki-imbued Gear 3 punch from Luffy without using his own Haki while remaining unhurt by the blow. Fujitora has extraordinary reflexes and, coupled with his skill in Kenbunshoku Haki, can casually and precisely counter very swift and unexpected physical threats. For example, he perfectly timed his defense against an extremely fast-falling meteorite that he had summoned on his very location, deflecting a piece of it with casual ease, and calmly warded off an unexpected "flying slash" from Zoro. When Doflamingo surprise-attacked him with a kick, the admiral showed no concern whilst easily blocking it. The admiral's own movement speed is likewise impressive, as he could lunge forward to strike Luffy in their fight, being too quick for the pirate to react.
Swordsmanship[]
Fujitora wields a shikomizue (a sword blade in a cane-like mounting) in tandem with his Devil Fruit ability, channeling his gravity powers through the sword. The sword is a Meito, though its name is yet to be revealed. Usually, Fujitora wields his weapon in a reverse-grip style, the blade pointing in the direction opposite to his thumb. Despite his blindness, the admiral has shown to be extremely skilled with his blade, able to deflect or block incoming attacks, even extremely strong ones or surprise attacks, with little issue using simple parrying maneuvers, demonstrating lightning-fast dexterity all the while. Fujitora's swordsmanship, combined with his Devil Fruit powers, allowed him to repeatedly and evenly clash with Sabo wielding his flame-shrouded staff and exhibit no trouble in doing so.