Roger

Biodata

Power Progression

Personality

Roger values freedom and adventure over conquest. He repeatedly rejects offers to become another pirate’s subordinate and refuses Shiki’s ambition to rule the world. After completing his voyage, he chooses retirement rather than using his title and strength to seize territory 153 230 235 255.

His carefree manner coexists with fierce loyalty. He jokes, drinks, and enthusiastically tells adventure stories, but becomes desperate when his companions are killed. During the North Blue encirclement, he abandons defense to trade wounds with his opponents as he watches his crew fall 200 203 216.

Roger encourages others to experience the wider world, though he can be embarrassingly persistent. He spends an entire banquet persuading Bullet to sail with him, while respecting Katakuri’s decision to prioritize his family. His charisma also inspires his crew to support difficult decisions, including his intervention against Rocks at God Valley 165 203.

He retains a playful streak even during serious missions. While searching for Doringo, he practices theatrical entrance poses with his crew and jokes that a man named Gula might have a younger brother named Frieza, prompting Rayleigh to remind him that Dragon Ball is only a manga 226.

Abilities & Skills

Swordsmanship

Roger fights with a single sword, combining powerful slashes with Haki 235 236.

• Divine Departure: A named slash reinforced with Conqueror’s Haki. His all-out attack during the North Blue encirclement collided with several enemy techniques and helped create a vast crater and whirlpool in the sea 216.
• Overlord-level offensive power: Divine Departure left an enormous scar on Uranus’s head and knocked it downward several thousand meters 361.
• Close-combat limitation: Shiki’s rapid Two-Sword Style left Roger struggling to block successive attacks at Edd War 236.
• Later performance: After regaining his fighting form, he narrowly defeated Whitebeard in a prolonged spar 353.

Haki

Roger’s combat strength rests on Haki and swordsmanship rather than a Devil Fruit 236.

• Conqueror’s Haki: His clash with Rocks split the sky and produced arcs of lightning. At Edd War, his unleashed Haki destroyed the elemental lions created by Shiki’s Float-Float Fruit 153 235.
• Conqueror’s Coating: He coats Ace and Divine Departure with Conqueror’s Haki to strengthen his attacks 202 216 361.
• Armament Haki: He combines it with Conqueror’s Haki in sword clashes against Shiki 258.
• Special Observation Haki: He senses Katakuri’s strong attachment to family and Bullet’s comparatively subdued feelings about adventure 203.

Voice of All Things

Roger possesses the Voice of All Things, an unusual perception ability 165.

• He uses it to sense that Rocks is unfit to rule the world 165.
• During the North Blue encirclement, his grief and anger directly affect the sea, raising waves 216.
• Those waves are too weak to threaten the experienced fighters surrounding his crew 216.

Leadership and Persuasion

Roger commands a crew whose loyalty survives outside recruitment attempts and controversial decisions 109 165.

• Rocks fails to recruit members of the Roger Pirates at Lind’s wedding because of their strong bonds 109.
• Roger persuades Bullet to accompany his worldwide voyage, accepting that Bullet will return to Oran Island afterward 203.
• After escaping Edd War, he restores his crew’s morale by reaffirming their shared goal of reaching Laugh Tale 238.

Undead Existence

Adolf restores Roger’s soul to his preserved body using Reincarnation Art: Soul Entry 380.

• Roger remains undead rather than returning to ordinary life 380.
• His continued existence depends on Adolf’s support; Adolf’s death could send him back to the Underworld 380.
• Adolf states that Roger and Rocks can be summoned again after dying 380.
• Sustaining Roger, Rocks, and Buggy together is the limit of Adolf’s ability at that time 380.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Ace — Roger’s sword and the weapon used for Divine Departure. Uranus’s attack destroys it at God Valley; later chapters again identify his sword as Ace, without explaining its replacement 153 169 202 216.
• Oro Jackson — The Roger Pirates’ ship. The original is destroyed during the North Blue battle, and a new vessel built on Oran Island becomes their ship for the remainder of the voyage. Roger eventually leaves it to Shanks and Buggy 224 255.
• Captain’s hat — Given to Buggy when the Roger Pirates disband 255.
• Kogarashi — Temporarily lent to Roger by Shiki before their post-retirement duel on the Red Line 258.

History

Early Contact with Lind

Roger first meets Lind at sea in the supplied account. Both captains bring their ships alongside one another, and Lind visits with Shakky and Allison. When Roger admits that his crew cannot afford a stay on Oran Island, Lind offers to cover their expenses and asks to exchange Den Den Mushi numbers 72.

Roger later arrives with his crew during the battle at Oran Island, intervening after Red Tiger and Golden Wolf severely injure Shiki. The Roger Pirates’ capable officers help shift the advantage among the high-level combatants toward Lind’s side 85 86.

He encourages Rayleigh to accept Lind’s proposed assassination job against a Celestial Dragon. Later, Roger and his crew attend Lind’s wedding with valuable gifts, resisting Rocks’s attempts to recruit them during the celebration 92 109.

Confrontations with Rocks

When Rocks offers him a position in the Rocks Pirates, Roger instead draws Ace and challenges him. Their battle nearly kills Roger but also leaves Rocks seriously injured and exhausted. Rayleigh carries the unconscious Roger back to the Oro Jackson 153.

Roger later explains that his intervention was intended to prevent the World Government from wiping out Rocks, Whitebeard, and other major pirates together. He considers the potential collapse of the pirate camp too dangerous to leave to chance 153.

At God Valley, his objective changes to stopping Rocks from ruling the world. Although the Roger Pirates have received one billion Beli through Rocks’s Dragon-Slaying Order, Roger believes Rocks’s rule could be as bad as—or worse than—the World Government’s 165.

Roger challenges Rocks and fights alongside Garp. Meanwhile, Rayleigh and Gaban quietly coordinate a staged battle with Lind’s officers rather than seriously attacking their forces. During the withdrawal, Roger drives both Rocks and Garp away with two slashes and races back to the Oro Jackson 165 168.

Search for Laugh Tale

After reaching Lodestar Island, the Roger Pirates discover a Blue Poneglyph and learn about the four Red Road Poneglyphs. Their search initially stalls because they cannot read the inscriptions. This changes after Sambel rescues Kozuki Oden from the sea and Oden eventually reveals his ability to decipher them 199.

With Oden’s help, they locate two Red Road Poneglyphs. Their attempt to copy Charlotte Linlin’s stone secretly is exposed, forcing Roger to fight her before the crew escapes with a rubbing. Linlin later confronts and beats Roger after training with Lind 199 202 203.

In Wano Country, Kaido allows them to copy the final stone. By Sea Circle Calendar 1490, Roger has all four rubbings, and Oden deciphers the route to Laugh Tale. Rather than sail there immediately, Roger decides to circumnavigate the Four Blues and begin a new journey from Reverse Mountain 203.

He recruits Bullet for the adventure and pays Lind 100 million Beli to publicize the voyage. The resulting newspaper coverage announces both the route’s discovery and Roger’s ambition to become Pirate King 203.

North Blue Encirclement and Crew Rescues

Saint Nusjuro leads the Five Elders and elite Navy, Army, and Air Force troops in surrounding the Oro Jackson. Roger fights Nusjuro and Shepherd Ju Peter while his senior officers hold off other powerful opponents. Several crewmates are captured, and others are killed 216.

Kuma secretly sends more than twenty Roger Pirates to safety, including Buggy, and also removes Oden from the battlefield. Roger and his remaining companions eventually reach Oran Island by swimming and reunite with their scattered crew. They spend six months recuperating there and obtain a replacement Oro Jackson 216 222 224.

Their first destination after recovery is Impel Down. Roger’s group overwhelms the lax defenses, captures Warden Columbus, and frees fourteen crewmates. Learning that Doringo has been taken by the Navy Science Defense Force, they seek information through Hunter’s Heart 225.

Gula’s divination leads them to Punk Hazard. By the time Roger arrives, Doringo has already escaped and the facility lies in ruins. Roger reunites with him and expresses interest in Doringo’s new Vampire Clan friend, Della 226 227.

Edd War and Becoming Pirate King

Roger rejects formal alliance membership because he wants to remain free to travel, though he participates in a secret non-aggression agreement during talks with Shiki and Zhu Feng 230.

After completing his adventures in the Four Blues and entering the New World, he is surrounded by Shiki’s Flying Fleet at Edd War. Roger refuses to join Shiki in world conquest, declaring his intention to become the freest man in the world. Their battle pushes both toward Overlord, but Shiki breaks through first 235 236 237.

Roger survives and urges his crew toward Laugh Tale, believing that completing the journey will produce his own breakthrough. He reaches the island in early Sea Circle Calendar 1495, becomes Pirate King, and advances to Overlord without a Devil Fruit 238 255.

Retirement

A month after reaching Laugh Tale, Roger announces the Roger Pirates’ dissolution at the Oran Grand Hotel. He explains that he has traveled the world, completed his adventure, and has nothing further to pursue. He neither reveals Laugh Tale’s secrets publicly nor establishes a territorial empire 255.

Before departing, he enrolls Shanks and Buggy at Oran Elementary School, leaves them the Oro Jackson, gives Buggy his captain’s hat, and entrusts both boys to Bullet 255.

Shiki interrupts his departure and takes him to the Red Line for a duel. Despite Roger’s breakthrough, Shiki overwhelms him and returns him to Rayleigh badly injured, requiring another hospital stay 258.

Years later, Roger tells Lind that he feels compelled to surrender and start the Great Pirate Era. Lind challenges his reliance on prophecy and persuades him to return to his wife instead. Roger resumes training with Bullet and subsequently wins a narrow spar against Whitebeard 351 353.

Execution and Legacy

Roger later fights Uranus, proving that its defenses can be damaged by an Overlord’s Conqueror’s Coating. Although he wounds its head, Uranus retaliates with a headbutt that sends him flying tens of thousands of meters 361.

The World Government subsequently announces his capture and promotes his Pirate King title before staging his execution in Loguetown in September, Sea Circle Calendar 1498. Roger remains in good spirits on the platform, and his final words about his treasure ignite a new era of piracy 366.

Lind brings Rouge to Oran Island, where she safely gives birth to Roger’s posthumous son, Ace. The resulting surge in piracy contributes to the World Government’s establishment of the Seven Warlords of the Sea system, though the major powers soon curb the initial frenzy 366 367 368.

Resurrection and Return to Battle

Buggy preserves Roger’s body in a crystal coffin beneath Cross Guild. Adolf later brings Roger’s soul there and restores it to the body, allowing him to awaken as an undead being 380.

Roger subsequently joins Zhang Liang and other top fighters in attacking Uranus’s exposed wound. Their combined assault tears the weapon in half 390.

Relationships

• Rayleigh — Senior crewmate and confidant. He carries Roger away after the near-fatal duel with Rocks, supports his strategic decisions, and accompanies the rescue of their captured companions 153 225.
• Gaban — Trusted senior fighter who joins Roger at God Valley and helps carry out the Impel Down rescue 165 225.
• Lind — Friend, host, and supporter. He promotes Roger’s voyage and Pirate King achievement, while later persuading him to abandon his proposed surrender 72 203 255 351.
• Kozuki Oden — Crewmate whose ability to read Poneglyphs makes the route to Laugh Tale accessible to the Roger Pirates 199 203.
• Bullet — Temporary traveling companion and later sparring partner. Roger accepts his promise to return to Oran Island after the voyage and eventually entrusts Shanks and Buggy to him 203 255 351.
• Shanks and Buggy — Boys raised aboard Roger’s ship after being picked up during the God Valley Incident. Roger arranges their schooling and leaves them his ship; Buggy later preserves his body 199 255 366 380.
• Portgas D. Rouge — Wife and mother of his son Ace. Lind arranges her protection after Roger’s execution 366 368.
• Ace — Posthumous son, born safely on Oran Island under the Oran Empire’s protection 368.
• Rocks — Rival whom Roger first opposes to protect the pirate camp and later challenges to prevent his world domination 153 165.
• Shiki — Rival and would-be recruiter. Their conflict at Edd War centers on Roger’s refusal to surrender his freedom or join Shiki’s conquest 235.
• Whitebeard — Fellow legendary pirate and friendly rival whom Roger narrowly defeats after returning to training 351 353.
• Garp — Temporary ally against Rocks at God Valley and an opponent during the North Blue encirclement 165 216.
• Adolf — Resurrector and sustainer of Roger’s undead existence 380.

Notable Quotes

“I have no interest in this world domination you’re talking about, and I certainly won’t join your Flying Fleet. I’m going to become the freest man in the world!” 235

“I’ve traveled around the world, found Laugh Tale, and become the Pirate King. There’s nothing left for me to pursue.” 255

Trivia

• The “Hidden Emperor” nickname spreads after Lind arranges newspaper coverage arguing that Roger deserves recognition above the Five Emperors despite lacking their territorial holdings 196.
• Oran Island’s medical technology does not completely cure Roger’s terminal illness, but extends his expected lifespan to approximately that of an ordinary person 351.