What is the origin of Urouge's nickname, the Mad Monk?
The nickname 'Mad Monk' for Urouge, a pirate from a Sky Island, draws inspiration from two historical figures, Grigori Rasputin and Ji Gong. Rasputin, a Russian monk, was notorious for his love affairs, while Ji Gong, a Chinese monk, was known for his erratic behavior and non-adherence to Buddhist monastic rules. The films 'Rasputin the Mad Monk' and 'The Mad Monk' may have also influenced the nickname.
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What is the significance of Urouge's bounty of 108,000,000?
In One Piece, Urouge's bounty of 108,000,000 marks him as a Super Rookie. Bounties often serve as a measure of a character's strength, and Urouge's bounty significantly exceeds the East Blue average of 3,000,000, highlighting his prominence. The specific actions leading to Urouge's bounty are not disclosed.
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Why is Urouge referred to as part of the 'Worst Generation'?
Urouge is a member of the 'Worst Generation', a group of eleven Supernovas who reached the Sabaody Archipelago with bounties exceeding 100,000,000. His bounty later rose to 350,000,000. He navigated the perils of the Grand Line and defeated Charlotte Snack, a high-ranking member of Big Mom's crew. Notably, Urouge has not yet encountered Monkey D. Luffy.
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What is the story behind Urouge's constant grinning?
Urouge, a prominent character in One Piece, is recognized for his perpetual grin. This characteristic persists even in dire situations, such as severe injury or imminent death. Notable instances include his battle with a Pacifista and his prayers for Kaidou. However, his smile disappears when his crew nears Raijin Island and during his benedictions for Kaidou. Urouge's constant smile does not undermine his bravery, as he willingly confronts formidable adversaries.
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What is the role of Urouge as the high priest of the Fallen Monk Pirates?
Urouge, the 'Mad Monk', serves as the Pirate Captain of the Fallen Monk Pirates. His crew refers to him as the High Priest, reflecting his religious theme. Urouge, originating from an unidentified sky island, established the Fallen Monk Pirates. His reputation is built on his considerable strength, and his crew's voyages across the Blue Seas and the Grand Line.
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Appearance
Urouge is abundant in both height and width. His face somewhat resembles a smiling totem mask as he is nearly always seen grinning, even when he is unhappy; the only moments he is not seen smiling was when he was approaching Raijin Island, when he was confounded by the island spewing lightning nonstop, and again when he gives final benedictions to Kaidou's jumping off a sky island. Apart from his smile, he also has what appears to be a stitched-up scar vertically descending over, and falling short just above his left eye. On his chin he has a prominent, jet-black, and scruffy beard that extends upwards to the sides of his jaw and then converges with his equally-dark side-burns. He seems to sport the short and clean-cut sort of hairstyle generally sported by monks. He also has black tattoos going down his shoulders that somewhat resemble fire.
He dresses in similar robes to Divine Soldiers underneath the khaki robes he wears (which is also worn by the rest of his crew), which includes the white full-bodied garment with severed sleeves, that exposes tattoos patterned like flames on both biceps. He wears a pair of gold earrings, black gloves and a rather large red bead necklace. He also has a pair of large wings growing out from the middle of his back.[1]
In SBS Volume 64, Oda drew the Supernovas as children. Urouge is shown with the hairstyle and wings of the Skypieans', but as an adult, his wings are more like the Birka natives.[8]
Urouge's wanted poster as seen in One Piece: Stampede.
Personality
Urouge's most prominent personality trait is that he is almost always smiling. Even when defeated or when believing himself to be near death, he will still have a smile on his face, such as when he was heavily wounded by a Pacifista. The only times he has not been seen smiling are when his crew approached Raijin Island and when he prayed for Kaidou.
From what has been shown of Urouge so far he can be considered a brave man, as he was not afraid of fighting people with higher bounties than him, such as Killer. However, it is possible that he did not know his bounty or he knew that Killer had a high bounty because he notoriously attacks civilians. In spite of this though, he quit the battle when X Drake jumped in to halt the fight. Despite being brave he is not blind to danger either, for when he faced a Pacifista (who he believed was the real Kuma) and Kizaru at the same time, he wondered if that was his end. However, even when facing death, he could still laugh at what he believed was a joke, made by Basil Hawkins, about his fate.
Urouge seems to be respectful toward people's plights, as he did not stop Kaidou when the Emperor attempted to commit suicide and instead prayed.[9]
Abilities and Powers
As one of the Worst Generation, Urouge is a powerful pirate, having managed to traverse and survive the dangers of the Grand Line and earn a bounty of 108,000,000 by the time he and his crew reached the Sabaody Archipelago.
After the timeskip, Urouge was strong enough to defeat Charlotte Snack, one of Big Mom's Four Sweet Commanders and one of the strongest members of the Emperor's crew with a bounty of 600,000,000, although he was later defeated by Charlotte Cracker, another Sweet Commander in the Big Mom Pirates (although he was possibly exhausted from his first fight with Snack).[10] However despite his defeat, Urouge managed to survive and retreat.
Physical Abilities
Befitting his physique, Urouge has enormous strength, able to wield a large and heavy pillar as a makeshift mace, despite his size, he is deceptively fast with extremely sharp reflexes, able to keep up with Killer's tremendous agility and also hold his own against his fellow Supernova who has a significantly higher bounty in a fight before having their fight interrupted by X Drake.
Devil Fruit
Urouge ate a currently unnamed Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows him to convert damage inflicted onto him into physical strength, which results in expanding muscles and enlarged body size.[11] Using this ability, he was able to exceed a Pacifista's body size[12] and actually damage it with his punches, although he was still vulnerable to its lasers and a kick from Admiral Kizaru.[13]
Attacks
Inga Zarashi (因果晒し,Inga Zarashi?, literally meaning "Karma Exposure"): After transforming to his gigantic, muscular size, Urouge punches his target multiple times with immense force. This was first seen used against a Pacifista.[14] This is called Karmic Punishment in the Viz Manga, Retribution in the Funimation dub and Karma Exposure in the Funimation subs.
Weapons
Urouge's choice of weapon appears to be a large piece of a pillar with a hexagonal base which he uses as a makeshift mace to pummel opponents. When not in use, it is mostly seen being carried on his shoulder.
History
Past
Born in an unidentified sky island, Urouge somehow became a pirate and started the Fallen Monk Pirates, but they eventually ended up in the Blue Sea, how this happened and why is currently unknown. Urouge would later come to become a pirate known for his great strength and his crew traveled through the Blue Seas, where their captain made himself a reputation. He then traveled to the Grand Line and became an infamous enough pirate to earn a high bounty of 108,000,000 before reaching the Sabaody Archipelago.
Urouge was later told by his crew that a World Noble was coming their way. Though he referred to the nobles as "nasty little things," he consented along with the other pirates and civilians to lower themselves to their knees to avoid any trouble. He respected Roronoa Zoro for standing up and almost trying to kill one of them, while he himself preferred to "sit it off". He also pondered the strength of the Straw Hat Pirates' Captain, to have such an incredible person as Zoro with such a high bounty serve under him.[15]
When reading of Portgas D. Ace's planned execution, Urouge did not lose his eternal smile but seemed disturbed.[16] When the news of Monkey D. Luffy attacking a World Noble spread, he called the Straw Hats "troublesome" but seemed impressed by their actions.[17]
Urouge tried to sneak off to avoid confronting AdmiralKizaru but was attacked by a Pacifista. His strength seemed to prove no match for the cyborg and was thrown into the fight between Kizaru and Basil Hawkins. Upon noticing the Admiral, Urouge began to panic but Hawkins assured him that death was not in Urouge's future. Drake then rushed in to help him, knocking the Pacifista back with a strong kick. Using his devil fruit abilities, Urouge's muscle mass expanded, growing large enough to match the Pacifista in height and muscle mass.[18] Urouge began to fight back. With his new strength, he was able to land powerful blows to the Pacifista and cause enough damage to hold it off. However, just as he began to gain the upper hand, it shot a laser beam through his shoulder.
With him down, the Pacifista turned its attention towards Drake. As Urouge rose to get his second wind, Kizaru reminded him of his presence, and proceeded to attack him from behind, kicking him at the speed of light through three buildings.[19] Urouge was knocked out cold from this attack, severely wounded and bloodied.[20] He was able to escape from the Admiral due to the Straw Hats distracting Kizaru.[21]
Marineford Arc
Urouge watched Ace's execution televised at Sabaody Archipelago, meaning that he managed to escape capture by the Marines.[22]
Urouge and his crew later went to the New World. They followed their Log Pose to Raijin Island that was spewing lightning, with no way to have a ship docking there. On a small boat, Kasa approached the Hanjomaru and offered the pirates some umbrellas.[24]
During the Timeskip
Sometime during the two-year timeskip, Urouge and his crew wandered into Big Mom's territory. Even though Urouge defeated one of the former Four Sweet Commanders named Charlotte Snack, he was later sought after by Charlotte Cracker while Big Mom called a storm in a fit of rage. Urouge was swiftly defeated by Cracker and forced to flee like the other members of the Worst Generation.[10]
Dressrosa Saga
Dressrosa Arc
After Luffy and Law's alliance defeated Donquixote Doflamingo, Urouge and his crew were still recovering from their injuries and travelled to the the ruined sky island, Ballon Terminal, in order to avoid others.[2] However, his crew discovered that EmperorKaidou was also on the island and about to jump to his death. Urouge questioned Kaidou's motives for suicide but chose not to interfere due to Kaidou's seriousness. Urouge instead began to pray as the Emperor jumped.[9]
Wano Country Saga
The following events are Non-Canon and therefore not considered part of the Canon story.
One Piece: Stampede
Urouge and his crew attended the Pirates Festival on Delta Island. He participated in the main event, the Treasure Race, safely sailing up the Knock Up Stream and landing on the central Treasure Island, where all the pirates raced for Gol D. Roger's treasure, all the while battling other Worst Generation members. When Buggy ended up exposing himself after snatching the treasure, Urouge and his crew chased after the Warlord. However, the Treasure Race was cut short, when someone threw a galleon at the island, destroying it, and sending everything plummeting back to the surface. When Urouge realized that the one who did this was Douglas Bullet, he was quite surprised. In the end, he gave into Bullet's taunting, and together with the other Worst Generation members (except for Zoro and Law) attacked the Demon Heir. At first the Worst Generation pirates managed to deal a few good blows on the veteran, but when the opponent revealed his Gasha Gasha no Mi powers, the battle quickly ended in their defeat.
Later, after Bullet was defeated, his crew along with the other Worst Generation pirates and several other crews attempted to breakthrough the Marines encirclement surrounding the island. They were able to successfully escape thanks to Sabo and Ann's illusion of Ace creating a blazing barrier to protect them.[25]
Urouge vs. Charlotte Cracker (unseen in the manga, seen in the anime)
Anime and Manga Differences
A flashback of Urouge's attempted invasion of Totto Land is added in the anime. The flashback started with Urouge emerging victorious from his fight against Snack. Cracker confronted Urouge shortly afterwards and gave him a brutal beating.[26]
Translation and Dub Issues
In the Funimation dub, before the timeskip, his name was pronounced "Or-rue-ju". However, after the timeskip, his name was pronounced "Or-rue-gay".
Urouge is likely based off Grigori Rasputin, a Russian monk and healer who was known for his frequent love affairs with women. The epithet "Mad Monk" may be based off the film Rasputin the Mad Monk.
Urouge could also be based off of Ji Gong, a Chinese monk with supernatural powers known for his bizarre and erratic behavior, who did not follow Buddhist monastic rules by consuming alcohol and meat. Ji Gong's epithet comes from the 1993 Hong Kong film The Mad Monk.
Urouge has the lowest bounty of the Super Rookies and member of the Worst Generation. However, his number of "108" is seen as a mystical number in Eastern religion (similar to Zoro's 108 Pound Cannon attack). In particular, Japanese Buddhists believe that all men must resist 108 temptations before achieving Nirvana. In contrast, he is the oldest and tallest of the Super Rookie and member of the Worst Generation, at age 47 and 388 cm.
In the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th fan polls of most popular characters, Urouge was ranked 24th, 48th, 50th, and 70th, respectively.
Urouge's birthday, August 1, comes from his pirate crew's name, 'Fallen Monk Pirates' (破戒僧海賊団,Hakaisō Kaizokudan?), since 8-1 can be derived from Ha-i.[5]
108,000,000.[1]
