At the higher end of the hierarchy within the Deadmen Pirates sits the Four Quartermasters; The four enforcers handpicked by Davy Jones, the Right Hand, and the Left Hand. However, only four may exist at once, and they tend to specialize in one specific thing. Today, we will be looking at the quartermaster who uses Weapons.
“I like ya, makes it a shame that I gotta kill ya. It ain’t personal, it’s just my job.”
-Hairo Bakura, AKA Bakura the Dragon
Hairo Bakura, AKA Bakura the Dragon, is the quartermaster of the Deadmen Pirates who uses weapons. He’s a muscular young man with lightly tanned skin, slate-gray hair, and brown eyes. He wears deep, navy blue cloth wraps around his torso and a harness attached to his sword’s sheath, which he wears on his back. He wears a deep, navy blue hachigane with a pristine, shiny silver plate on it, and he has two gauntlets made of the same silver metal and bright blue dragon scales. His pants are a light grayish-blue tied at the waist by a piece of dark rope, and he wears shin and knee guards made from silver and a bright blue metal with rope sandals around his feet. Bakura is a master at using weapons of any kind, but he mainly prefers weapons from his homeland of the Ryujin Dynasty. He is also the most liked by the crew out of the other quartermasters for being very friendly and incredibly laid-back, so he is usually found at the forefront of any merriment and almost always found incredibly drunk.
He is the crew’s shipwright, in-charge of fashioning whatever he can get his hands on into vessels. He takes great pride in his work, and is also responsible for helping to engineer the Slumbering Deep back before it was built. He’s too busy to engage in internal violence; He’s either too engrossed in his work to care or just simply doesn’t care. His nihilistic, carefree nature has led Davy Jones to both praise him for when he does fight, and also condone him for being too relaxed the rest of the time.
He can almost always be heard hammering away at something within the Slumbering Deep or out at the shipyard, always working on maintaining the headquarters or experimenting with new ship amalgamations. If he isn’t at the shipyard, he’s likely to be chatting with the crew in the mess hall while he devours his food. His nickname, Dragon, came from how the crew feels when he starts trying in battle and because he can literally eat his own bodyweight in one sitting before he sleeps it off. Despite his carefree nature, though, he does train whenever he can. Whenever he trains, he takes his personal sailboat out to hunt Grand Navy ships to practice on. He considers whoever is on board to be a bonus. His skill with weapons is so extensive that he can cleave massive ships in half with a single slash. He even slashed the sea and parted it just enough for a Grand Navy brig to fall to the ocean floor and break apart, the immense pressure killing all the marines on board. His final trick is an ability he calls Flow State, where everything around him greatly slows down, but in reality he’s moving super fast. This ability is the result of an intense fight-or-flight reaction, and, despite being something he can control, actually stems from a response to trauma.
Despite being incredibly friendly, always smiling and joking with everyone, his emotions are fake. He’s simply trying to fight in. Beneath that bright smile and genius mind is a nihilistic psychopath who doesn’t care about anything, even his own life. The Bakura only takes pride in his work as a shipwright as part of the act, it doesn’t make him feel anything. He can’t feel anything. He doesn’t care because he can’t. Even in the face of genocide, he doesn’t flinch. He’s been held at gunpoint, been tortured, been through hell itself, and yet he remained calm and didn’t even blink.
Bakura was not born a psychopath, though. Originally, he was a very bright, bubbly, and energetic kid, bursting with life. He was born on a small island under the protection of the Ryujin Dynasty, in a small fishing village with only a population of about a hundred people. Life there was somewhat rough, the people being poor and living mostly like tribal humans once had, but to inhabitants it was paradise. When Bakura was only a year old, a small group of pirates took control of the island and began extorting the people. These pirates would be swiftly dealt with by the Ryujin Dynasty, who would then put the island under their protection. This protection was declared when the Dynasty had found out the pirates were smuggling a rare herb that grows on the island, and saw an economic opportunity.
Afterwards, the Dynasty slowly began to develop the island in exchange for being able to farm the rare herb, a plant known as Dragonroot due to its fang-like shape and the intensity of its spiciness. When Bakura was four years old, a nobleman from the Dynasty had come to the island to try some of their calamari curry, a dish that the mainland struggled to replicate. Bakura was helping his dad at their small food shop when he had met the noble, a proud samurai named Kaito Tsuchiji, who came to try the calamari curry. Immediately, Bakura was captivated by the warrior’s red armor and large, bright red katana, and began asking Kaito dozens of questions. Kaito, delighted by Bakura’s eagerness, answered every question. However, Kaito watched how expertly Bakura chopped the squid while his focus was on the samurai, and realized the boy’s potential as a swordsman. Bakura was young and eager, and despite being only a child, showed coordination skills and precise talent with knives that most adults needed to practice rigorously to achieve.
When Kaito’s curry was ready, Bakura presented it to him with a smile, and despite the hardened warrior’s discipline, the samurai couldn’t help but smile back. He took one bite of the calamari curry and immediately felt the kick of the Dragonroot sauce, and he loved it. He loved it so much that he had two more plates and paid double for all three plates he had. To Kaito, it was the single best dish he had ever eaten, second only to his mom’s onigiri recipe he constantly cooked. However, each time, his gaze was fixed on how masterfully Bakura worked to prepare the curry, and after he had stuffed himself full, he asked if he could train Bakura to be a samurai as well. Kaito praised Bakura as he spoke to the boy’s father, saying how he recognized the young boy’s immense talent. Bakura’s father would then discuss this with his wife that night, and after lots of begging from Bakura, they agreed that he could go.
Many years would pass, Bakura training intensely under Kaito up until the old samurai died in his sleep when Kaito was eighteen. While it was a difficult loss for Bakura, thinking of Kaito as his grandfather, he would persist. Eventually, Kaito’s younger brother, Akiya Tsuchiji, would take Bakura in and finish his training to honor his brother who held the young boy in such high regards. At twenty, Bakura would complete his training, and rather than celebrating, he and Akiya brought sake to Kaito’s grave, where they each had a dish and left one for Kaito. Afterwards, Akiya would give Bakura the katana that Kaito had planned to give him when he finished his training; An elegant silver katana with an azure blue blade and grip made of fine, black leather. Bakura would name his katana on the spot; Seiryu, which translates to ‘Azure Dragon.’ He had chosen this name as a way to honor Kaito’s legendary move, ‘Ryukiru,’ or ‘Dragon Cut,’ which he could use to split a ketch down the middle.
After completing his training, he would finally go home to live with his parents again. He had always visited them in the past whenever he got a break in his training, but he still missed them regardless. When his home island came onto the horizon, he could see a faint orange glow under the night sky, and that’s when he realized what was wrong; It was a fire. His home was up in flames, the entire island was burning to the ground. He sailed as quickly as he could and found assassin ships all around his island. He was in complete shock, the scene before him was so horrifying that his stare became glassy and his eyes glazed over. The moment his ship crashed onto the rocks around the coast, he leapt from his ship immediately and charged into town. People were laying dead in the streets and assassins ran rampantly throughout town, ransacking and killing without remorse. Eventually, Bakura would rush to where his childhood home was to find it completely engulfed in flames, but before he could react, he was shoved to the ground with a knife to his throat. A Maestro had him pinned to the ground and took in his appearance. Everything was a blur to Bakura, but he very clearly heard the Maestro say that everyone was dead. That broke him inside, that his parents, his friends, everyone… They were all dead.
The next thing he knows, Bakura awakens in a cold, dark stone cell with his wrists cuffed up on the wall. Once he began to rustle around a bit, two masked assassins came into his cell. Immediately they began to beat him, screaming angrily at him, demanding to know where the Poison Lightning Curse was. He said he didn’t know, his voice empty and his eyes hollow. Regardless, the assassins continued to beat him and demand answers, saying that he was a samurai of the Ryujin Dynasty, he had to know where it was. Eventually, tears began to stream down his cheeks as the horror he witnessed as his island burned down began to flash in his mind, and he continued to tell the assassins he had no clue. For three days, he experienced this abuse from sun-up to sun-down all while being forcefully fed the bare minimum to keep him alive. After three days, the Maestro who had attacked his home walked in and told the assassins to uncuff him. They then dragged him to a deep, dark chamber full of horrifying torture devices. If he didn’t confess, he’d suffer in here until they got answers or he died. Still, Bakura said he did not know what they meant, and so he was tortured in the most inhumane ways the assassins could manage. He was tortured all day, every day, for three weeks straight before the Maestro would reappear with a mysterious, cloaked man.
The Maestro told the man he would not confess, and that they could not find him the Poison Lightning Curse like he had hired them too. The Maestro sighed, saying that he did not want to tell them where Taijo was. At this point, Bakura had been so physically and mentally broken that he no longer screamed when he was tortured, he only stared forward with a blank, hollow expression. He hadn’t felt anything physical or emotional for a while now, but when he heard that this man hired them to massacre his home for a Sea Curse, Bakura’s eyes instantly went bloodshot and he ripped the steel cuffs off the stone wall. In the blink of an eye, both assassins and the Maestro dropped to the ground, their heads twisted off, and Bakura had the man on the ground. However, the man quickly shoved the now berserk Bakura off and ran, but Bakura chased him all the way outside to find snow falling, shimmering under the silvery moonlight. But he also saw something else; A fleet of Grand Navy ships.
The man threw his cloak off to reveal he was Navy Vice Admiral Corey Shaw, and from his back he drew a beautiful, azure katana. He didn’t draw any normal katana, either, he drew Seiryu. Bakura stood there in shock, finding it impossible that the people who were supposed to protect and uphold the law were behind the massacre of his home. Corey then raised Seiryu and shouted the order to open fire, and soon mortar shots began to rain down on the island, bombarding it relentlessly. Soon, smaller ships began to hit the shores as marines charged onto the island, killing any assassins in their wake. Five Majors would rush Bakura, but he snapped out of his daze and began tearing them apart in a savage frenzy, slaughtering them like animals as he tore them apart with his bare hands. By now, he was screaming with blind fury so hard that drops of blood would spray from his mouth as well, however it was hard to tell as he chased Corey, who ran and used his landing forces as a shield. Regardless of how many marines got in his way, Bakura would massacre them in a bloody, savage display of pure and total rage. Eventually, though, Corey would turn and slash Bakura with Seiryu, and he would drop to the ground as the Vice Admiral continued to slash him until he lay flat on his back, bleeding onto the cold, gravelly shore before blacking out.
When he woke up again, he was in a prison cell inside the Grand Navy base in the Chimera Sea. A Navy Captain came up to the bars and said that he’s glad Bakura is awake. He then begins to read off a short list of charges that he would be executed for; Killing 600 Grand Navy Marines, killing a Maestro, and attempting to murder a Vice Admiral. The Captain then asked what he’d like for his last meal, because his execution was in exactly one day. With hollow joy and an empty smile, he glared at the Captain with lifeless eyes and told him he’d rather starve. The Captain didn’t say anything and left.
Later that evening, Corey would walk into his cell and sit on the floor in front of Bakura, who was shackled to the wall. Corey would quietly taunt him before he began to explain his plan; He had caught wind of a rumor that an outlaw from Ryujin Dynasty named Taijo, who possessed the Poison Lightning Curse, had washed ashore on his home island and that his people were oblivious to who Taijo was, so they took him in. He said how he wanted that curse, and so he secretly hired the assassins to find Taijo, kidnap him, then bring him to their hideout where he’d kill Taijo with a Devourer and take the curse. Then, he would bombard the island and kill the assassins. He then said this was all going to be put under the ruse that the assassins had caught wind of where the Poison Lightning Curse was and went to claim it themselves, then Corey would find the island in shambles and begin to hunt the assassins. The next report would then be that he found them and the curse at their hideout, then he’d have ordered the island to be bombarded as he went in to kill the curse user and claim the Poison Lightning Curse for himself. But since Taijo was never found, he had to change the part about the curse to say they never found it. Bakura would begin to thrash angrily, going back into his frenzy before quickly tiring out. Before he left, Corey told Bakura he hoped he enjoyed those chains because they drain your energy. After that, he would leave Bakura in his cell in a dazed state.
As the sun began to rise, Bakura knew his time was up, but he didn’t care. He didn’t have anything left, he couldn’t even feel anything anymore, he was completely numb to the world around him. Despite that, he smiled, but it was more like an automatic response since there was no emotion behind it. That was when he heard cannons firing and the thunderous boom of mortars, and he realized it was quite hot in here despite having been freezing yesterday. That’s when the wall to his cell exploded, and in stepped a tall, young man; Davy Jones. Green flames licked up the walls outside the cell as the sounds of chaos and fighting echoed in the background. Davy Jones stepped inside and freed Bakura, getting him up onto his feet and telling him he heard about how he was going to be executed in the Agora for his rampage. Davy Jones tossed Bakura a sword he pulled from a dead marine and told him to go nuts, but to be back on the ship when he shot out the signal flare.
Immediately, Bakura’s murderous frenzy erupted as he mowed down everyone in his path, slicing deep gouges into the solid stone walls as he diced up every last marine in his path. He kept carving his way into the base until he slashed the wall to Corey’s office into pieces and came crashing through. In an instant, Corey brought Seiryu up and blocked the attack. Corey would then slash and cleave the room in half, the slash traveling up the base and slicing a watchtower in half. Bakura met Corey’s attacks with equal strength, his slashes cleaving deep into the base. Eventually, as chaos erupted around them, the floor beneath them gave way and they began to plummet down to the ground, but the two continued their clash on a piece of falling debris, dashing around on it and clashing blades over and over. Corey strikes Seiryu against Bakura’s cutlass so hard the blade explodes into metal shrapnel that flies at Bakura and digs into his flesh, and in that brief moment, he blocks some shards with his hand and swipes his bleeding hand at Corey, throwing blood in the Vice Admiral’s eyes and blinding him just long enough for Bakura to stab the shattered nub into Corey’s side and kick him off the falling debris piece. In that brief moment, Bakura grabs Seiryu right before the debris hits the floor.
The impact was so loud and so hard that both Corey and Bakura’s ears rang, and the force sent the walls around them collapsing, revealing the morning sun illuminating a fleet of Deadmen Pirates vessels firing at a fleet of Grand Navy warships. Corey stumbled to his feet, but fell back to one knee as he pulled the broken sword from his side. As he gazes up, he sees Bakura looming over him, Seiryu clenched in his hand. However, his gaze falls to Davy Jones, standing behind Bakura a little bit. Horror crosses his face for a brief moment before Davy Jones disappears back into the darkness, and once the pirate is gone, Corey jumps to his feet in anger and rushes Bakura in an attempt to fight him with his bare hands.
Suddenly, the ground below Bakura shatters as he rears Seiryu back. His bloodshot eyes fixate on Corey as he flexes and tenses his muscles so hard that the cuts on his body begin to split wider and bleed even more. Then, in a single motion, everything goes silent as Bakura cleaves the air in front of him so fast, there is barely time to register the attack. A mighty, thunderous boom rings out as Corey and slashed in half, along with everything else in front of Bakura. The base begins to crumble and collapse around Corey as the sea splits open and the fleet of Grand Navy ships explode in wreckage. After this, he collapses, barely able to move, but he is quickly picked up by the Left Hand, who hauls up out to the docks where he hijacks a Navy caravel and sails back to the Flying Dutchman, where Davy Jones is waiting.
After arriving on the ship, Richter quickly gets to work stabilizing Bakura and patching him up. Bakura, however, sits there in a daze, that hollow emptiness returning to him. Once again, he felt absolutely nothing. His consciousness would fluctuate as they sailed, but eventually he would stabilize. Once he was stable, Davy Jones would come in and outstretch his hand, smiling at Bakura and welcoming him to the crew. Since, at this time, the previous Weapons Quartermaster had died in battle and the spot was open, Davy Jones would give it to Bakura after witnessing him cleave an entire fleet apart in one slash. From that day on, Bakura would be the new Weapons Quartermaster.