Backstory Special: Kuro and Morgan's Past
Jul. 13th, 2014 05:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
we_areLet’s take a little peek into what happened to Kuro three years ago. I can’t say for certain that any of this backstory will have bearing on what is to come, though what the hell do I know? Oda never forgets. However, bearing or not, it’s a shame not to look at every nook and cranny of this massively complex world. Short as it is, there’s still some interesting information we can glean from it.
It opens like this:
Kuro can’t even be bothered to go look for Jango himself. Granted this is probably not too usual an occurrence as most captains of traditional pirate crews, you would think, would call people to them rather than finding them. It lends the position an air of dignity and authority. Though on Kuro it just looks snobby.
Just interesting to note here, he’s reading a book that seems to be titled ‘Wisdom’. This is of course telling, because while we know that he is smart and cunning, this confirms that he is book learned as well. He’s certainly an interesting pirate that uses intelligence based on booksmarts and still be quite powerful. There are probably many pirates on the seas who never had that luxury. In either case it certainly makes him stand out. Also, neat to think about, three years ago was when Ace set out to have adventures of his own.
Firstly, a room can tell a lot about a person’s personality. So let’s see what we can find here. Kuro is a learned man, or desires to be, as evidenced by the three books and the one opened on the table. It could well be a journal or log book of some sort, but from what we know of him, he’s also secretive, so perhaps he was taking notes, belying an analytical mind. A globe on a heavy wooden table seems to add to the academic nature of the room. But there are swords here as well, showing his dangerous side. The glass bottles seem a little weird to me. I don’t think they are full of booze, he’s not the type and anyway he has a lot of other decoration so I think that’s just what they are, decoration.
Though kind of stupid because if you think about it too hard (and I do) a huge wave or even rough seas would knock those bottles right off the shelf. But I think mostly what it shows is Kuro’s kind of lust for the delicate things in life that the sea won’t bother. He wants to be rich, yes, but he also wants to be refined.
You can also see how much he sets himself apart from everyone else. There is no doubt that this room is JUST Kuro’s. There is one bed, one chair. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this and he is the captain, after all, but it’s certainly a testament to Kuro’s loner nature.
Also, Jango wtfing over here. A captain doesn’t leave his ship.
This sheds a different kind of light on Kuro’s past. It’s entirely possible he got into the pirating business of his own free will. I don’t think he had a lot of support and definitely the trust issues stem from something—but I can see him getting into that kind of life to prove himself and prove himself better just by his intellect. Also I can see him trying to pirate his way into riches but nothing gauche. No. He’s always classy. (notice that there is no ‘poo’ on his shirt now) However, he’s trying to nope away from the consequences of his actions, just because he’s tired of being hunted down. He really wants a peaceful life but, yeah, doesn’t really wanna work for it the right way.
It’s an interesting parallel to Yasopp, who also noped away from his responsibilities to live a life he wanted. Though he doesn’t deny his old life either, as evidenced that he speaks of Usopp all the time. It’s difficult to run the parallel through to its conclusion because they haven’t met again, so there’s no telling what Yasopp really feels—but I can see some regret in him, especially judging by a part we’ll look at a little later.
At any rate the Navy attacks and the crew calls out for Kuro and tells him they are attacking. But Kuro and Jango aren’t done.
Jango knows what’s up. This emphasizes the fact that Kuro chose his own path in this. They are actively doing things that get them hunted and get the Navy mad at them. Kuro is smart enough to have been a pirate that kept under the radar, but he has no such interest in that sort of thing. He’s like a kid who breaks a toy and then bitches about it being broken. Also note, yeah, his organized little room? Shaking and shattering apart, the ink crashing on the floor just there. Kuro really wants to live in a world were things don’t break like that.
Man, the arrogance of this guy, though. Granted, he’s probably not wrong, but it was his name that drew them. Not the name of the crew or the actions of the others, but only because of him. Because obviously does all the work and everyone else are just nameless pawns… except for perhaps Jango who keeps the nameless pawns in line. And, of course, more noping away. It even seems that he thinks that just abandoning the name is going to be sufficient but—
Yeah, that’s not going to work and Jango understands that. There’s no way Kuro can just say he’s not Kuro any more. He’s still going to be hunted as long as he’s alive because actions=consequences, but Kuro is still going to have his own way no matter how drastic he has to get. But of course, everyone but Kuro pays the price for these actions.
The fact that the guy asks if they should blast the cannons seems a bit off. Doesn’t it seem like something you’d automatically do? Of course, on the other hand, the captain may have other plans in mind and it’s best not to cross Kuro, but I can see him using things like this as a basis for them all being incompetent fools.
However, he just asks for a boat. As we know, he goes over to cream the Marines there, but the fact that he does it all by himself is even more telling. He’s the only one strong enough to do this. He’s the only one capable. He’s going to do it all by himself.
Though he doesn’t tell the men any of this and they wonder why he’s over there, thinking maybe he’s going to turn himself in, and, after everything has been silent for a while, maybe he was killed. But then the very next panel after they are wandering about his death…
Yeah, they’re a pretty take action crew on their own right. Captain is dead? Time to board and hoard! None of them look even the slightest bit upset over the possibility of Kuro being caught and/or dead. My guess is that they only ask him what to do because if they don’t and screw up they’ll die.
Though, really, guys—Think a little more. A Navy ship that was chasing you now suddenly isn’t and is quiet? Though it could be they think, too, that the Kuro name/personage is all that matters to the Navy and not the crew he’s attached to. Kuro definitely gave them enough indications that this was the case.
I love the distinctive faces that Oda draws. All the pirates are different. Some… way different from others. But my focus in this particular moment is on far right guy. Just keep him in mind for now.
At any rate, they are stopped in stunned silence because they see the carnage that Kuro has wreaked on the Marines, all by his lonesome.
And you gotta admit, that’s impressive. They aren’t just unconscious (or ‘in the dungeon’) they are dead. He basically ripped his way through them. I can also see him using the silent step here, causing some to accidentally hit another, judging by the bloodiness of some of the swords here. Kuro himself is pretty untouched. Also I really love the detail of the sickle moon in the background. Such great atmosphere.
One Marine, however, is not quite as dead as he should be.
Oh ho ho. Yaoi ships have sailed for less~! But seriously, yep, that is Axe-Hand Morgan, as is confirmed by Oda in the c. 50 SBS. Essentially it says that here Morgan is a chief petty officer who strong armed his way up to captain and that Kuro saw in him a kindred soul. Aka, an asshole who thought everyone was beneath him with a ton of pride… but needs the people underneath him to back him up. Without their help he’s basically nothing.
Also yeah, Oda never forgets. It’s such a neat connection to see because we met Morgan about thirty-three chapters ago and haven’t really seen anything of him—But that’s one thing that’s essential about this story is that people are tied together beyond anything to do with Luffy. It’s a huge complex world, alive and breathing and that’s what makes it so fascinating.
At any rate, Kuro hypnotizes this guy into believing he’s Kuro.
The “Captain Kuro” here, really does look like the crewmate that I pointed out earlier. The “far right” guy. But even if he’s not, there is no doubt that this guy is one of Kuro’s crew, being sacrificed for Kuro’s ambition. Now Morgan is an interesting case, because, instead of repeating what Jango says, he merely “!”. This could be a really strong indication that Morgan is a strong enough guy mentally not to be affected by Jango’s hypnotism. If that’s true, I can also see that he is a smart enough guy and ambitious to use this to broker his own power and not let anyone in on the scam.
Going with that theory, it can even be thought that his constant exclamations of “I’m great” meant that he was trying to convince his subordinates just as much as himself because—yeah this was a victory he didn’t earn.
If he really was hypnotized by this, it’s kind of sad in a way. Believing you’ve captured such a notorious pirate, it’s somewhat understandable to believe your own greatness, even if you can’t remember how you did it.
However, I’m firmly in the camp of him not being hypnotized and just going with it, using the situation to his advantage. He pressed hard to make sure no one was out of his control and so that everyone believed without question the story he was spinning.
Regardless of what actually happened, it’s interesting to me that he ended up in a job in a town—away from the open sea and even a little fortress. Almost like he didn’t want to be in that sort of place any more than Kuro did, and was establishing himself at that base, even going so far as raising a statue to himself. Like Kuro, he also wanted a stable, land based life based on everyone respecting him/giving him money/following his orders. But a fortress is not a complete protection from pirates and very little is protection from Luffy.
There’s not really much more to be said about this little backstory that hasn’t already been discussed elsewhere. Suffice to say that Kuro himself is sort of an example of a failed pirate. In the end, he really doesn’t know what a pirate means or how to be one, not in the traditional or the idealistic sense. He’s basically gone through his existence treating his subordinates like they were his personal servants rather than men of their own right, paying them with shares of treasure but fostering no connections and trusting them only so far as to uphold his most basic of plans. Which is, as we’ve said, the exact opposite of Luffy.
And for as strong as he thinks he is, he’s really not. Sure he can take down a single Marine ship and hapless villages, but Krieg could crush him mercilessly in sheer numbers alone, and against Arlong? Forget it. But even Buggy would have creamed him by the sheer virtue of you can’t cut a bara bara man.
Jango is an interesting character, too. He certainly knows his way around the sea and isn’t afraid of telling Kuro like it is, which I think Kuro respects and it is why Jango is first mate. That and he’s also a little afraid of Kuro. But yeah, Jango knows what’s what. If we go with the trend as goes the captain as goes the crew, which means, the crew reflects the captain’s personality and vice versa, we can see the KuroNeko pirates are a pretty self serving bunch who work together usually only when desperation calls for it. Jango is not like that as he seems to care for the crew and their well-being. Maybe even more than his own.
So I think that there is something about first mates, too. That they act as a foil to the captain. While they follow the captain’s goals and desires, they are the opposite voice to what the captain wants, keeping him or her on an even keel. We’ll explore this concept as the analysis goes on and see what we make of it, but for now, arrivederci!
Yay, she returns!
Date: 2014-07-13 11:49 pm (UTC)Looking forward to the Baratie arc!