 Goldie Roger, the pirate king who sparked the great age of pirates. His famous last words, which called pirates out to sea, etched into the hearts and minds of not just pirates, but effectively everyone in One Piece. But are his words his, or are they inspired by someone else? Hello my Nakamitachi, this is Joygirl and today we're going to be starting a new series of videos where we examine the gallery of One Piece characters and discuss the various real life influences which may have inspired Oda in his creation and development process. And if you'd like to see more videos like this then I do encourage you to subscribe if you haven't done so already. One of the reasons why One Piece is the widely enjoyed and celebrated series that it is, is due to Oda's exceptional development of his wide range of diverse characters. Oda dedicates a lot of time into his story and the characters who occupy the world he created. One way in which he achieves bringing his story to life is by drawing from real life inspirations to incorporate into his work. We have seen the mangaka do this with real life events, locations and of course the characters are widely known to have been influenced by real life people. And even more surprisingly Oda may have not only drawn inspiration from just one real life person, but several which does explain how characters become the interesting multifaceted and deeply developed characters that they are. So in this series we will go through different characters and the various influences Oda has drawn from to bring about the character of topic. And what better way to start our video series than by examining the first character we were introduced to in One Piece, the man responsible for kicking off the entire story, the pirate king himself, Gol D. Roger. The man hailed as the pirate king with his dying words heralded the great age of pirates. Well you may be surprised to know that these last words actually seem to have been inspired by the dying words of a real life pirate. Which brings us to the first real person that seems to have influenced Oda's creation of Gol D. Roger, Olivier Levasseur. Olivier Levasseur was a French pirate who operated during the late 17th to early 18th century. After joining the French Navy as an officer, Levasseur became the privateer for the French crown during the War of Spanish Succession. Once the war ended, rather than returning home to France, Levasseur founded hard to leave behind his adventurous life at sea and became a pirate instead. Having been born into a wealthy family, unlike many others, Levasseur's motivations for becoming a pirate doesn't seem to have stemmed from a desire for wealth. He is rather known to have loved his adventures as a privateer and developed a passion for piracy after joining the crew of an English pirate. Levasseur soon sailed off under his own name through which he built a solid reputation as a pirate. Known to be a formidable predator, he became known as Laboussé or the buzzard for his swiftness and ruthlessness. He was also known as Laboussé or the mouth due to his proficiency in verbally attacking his opponents. Laboussé or Laboussé was considered to be the epitome of what a pirate is. Right down to his appearance, with the pirate having worn an eye patch to cover one eye which had gone blind by the time his life of piracy came to an end. Levasseur's greatest exploit as a pirate which is also considered to be one of the greatest exploits in the history of piracy is his capture of the great Portuguese galleon Nossa Senhora do Cabo, or Our Lady of the Cape in English, also referred to as the Virgin of the Cape. In April 1721, the Portuguese flagship was moored in the harbor of St. Denis for repair works and thus unfortunately became a helpless target for Levasseur and Captain Taylor, another pirate whom Levasseur had joined forces with. This ship is known to have held a vast amount of treasures which had been accumulated over 10 years. It consisted of gold, diamonds, jewelry, spices, cloth, fine wood, amongst many others. And according to some, the pirates obtained so much treasure that they didn't even bother to rob any of the extremely wealthy passengers who were on board the captured vessel. Levasseur then claimed the ship as his own, giving it a new name, The Victorious. For the next few years, Levasseur would continue to engage in his exploits before requesting clemency in 1724. Amnesty had been offered to all pirates in the Indian Ocean who would be willing to give up piracy. However, one of the conditions of this deal was that the pirates would also have to turn over a large portion of their treasures. Levasseur rejected this condition and instead went into hiding with his treasures, settling down in the Seychelles. However, he was eventually discovered in Madagascar from where he was taken to the island of Reunion in 1730, where Levasseur was sentenced to hang for his crimes of piracy. This isn't the end of Levasseur's tale, however. As infamous of a pirate that he was for his exploits, Levasseur is most well known for his last moments. On the day he was to be hanged, Levasseur stood on the scaffold with the rope tied around his neck and moments before his execution, the proud pirate through a cryptogram consisting of 17 lines into the crowds, exclaiming, find my treasure, the one who may understand it. Sparking a great treasure hunt that has lasted through the ages. To this day, no one is said to have been able to decipher Levasseur's code and thus his treasure remains hidden. Levasseur's last moments seem to be a clear inspiration for Goldie Rogers. The similar call to find his treasure and the clues left behind in the form of polyglyphs was likely drawn from Levasseur's final words and the cryptogram he left behind. Aside from this, it seems Oda has taken some other elements of Levasseur's character, the real life pirate's keen sense of adventure, as well as his notoriety as a strong and fierce pirate. And adding a personal interpretation, Levasseur's epithet, Labouche, reminds me of Bush, as in Rogers' Bushino's hair or mustache, which may have very well been another one of Oda's homage to the notorious pirate. But moving on to another pirate Oda may have drawn inspiration from, Henry Avery. Henry Avery was an infamous English pirate who operated in the late 17th century and despite having only led his crew as captain for around one year, led a very successful expedition which would earn him the epithet, Pirate King. Not much is known about Avery prior to his life as a pirate, though it is thought he served in the Royal Navy. In 1694, he orchestrated a mutiny where he was elected the captain of the new pirate ship, Fancy. The expedition which catapulted his infamy was the capture of the Gunch Isawaii, which is a ship that was part of the grand mogul of India's convoy of ships known to be the greatest of the fleet. The Gunch Isawaii was forced to surrender when a cannon exploded on board, heavily damaging its deck. The loot aboard the Gunch Isawaii included 500,000 combined pieces of gold and silver and was valued at an estimated amount up to 600,000 pounds, which if converted into modern currency would be worth a whopping 400 million US dollars. This ship may have been the richest ship ever taken by pirates and made every the richest pirate in history, but along with the wealth came risk and danger, great enough to match his riches. Because as a result of Avery angering the grand mogul, it understandably resulted in the pirate gaining the highest bounty placed on his head, an amount which in today's age would be worth around 700,000 dollars. It is known that many on board suffered at the hands of the pirate, but despite his brutality, Avery was considered a good captain by his crew and is dubbed to be one of the noble pirates in history. For their troubles, the crew each received 1000 pounds, more money than what most sailors made in their lifetime. On top of this, each man received an additional share of gemstones. Avery then disbanded the fleet and disappeared with his remaining treasure in the Caribbean, notably the Caribbean was then known to be the New World. Whilst many of his crew and contemporaries were captured and forced to face their crimes, Avery changed his name and avoided capture, both the pirate and his treasure never found. Avery's success as a pirate inspired many to follow his footsteps and influence the next generation of pirates, which came to be known as the Golden Age of Piracy, dating from the late 17th to early 18th centuries. Some notable pirates who were part of this next generation include Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts, Calico Jack, Samuel Bellamy and Edward Low amongst others, many of whom were children at the time of Avery's reign of piracy. Names which sound very familiar for us One Piece fans and ones we will explore in future videos. Going back to the character in focus of this discussion, it seems that Goldie Roger was also partly inspired by Henry Avery. For one, the notion of Avery as a noble pirate despite his brutal actions is similar to the mixed perspectives towards Roger in the series. On one hand, Oda depicts him as a likeable and good pirate and yet we have witnessed many who despise the late pirate king. Furthermore, the titles of King of Pirates and the richest pirate parallel Roger's own epitome as well as his treasure the One Piece being considered the world's greatest treasure. And much like his real life counterpart, Roger inspired many to venture out to sea, sparking the great age of pirates which sounds awfully similar to the real life Golden Age of Piracy. Another real life individual who may have formed part of Goldie Roger's character is Roger North. Roger North, though not a pirate, was a sailor who accompanied explorer Sir Walter Rayleigh in the search for El Dorado, the so-called City of Gold. It seems that Oda reversed the roles between Roger North and Walter Rayleigh in that in One Piece, Roger is the captain whilst Rayleigh accompanied Roger as his first mate. Nonetheless, despite this difference, the endeavor to search for El Dorado, the paradise of riches, seems to match Roger and his crew's discovery of both Chandra, the City of Gold, as well as Laftel, the final island on which the One Piece can be found. So there you have it, the inspirations behind the character Goldie Roger. And that brings us to the end of today's discussion. If you'd like to know more about One Piece characters and their real life inspirations, please subscribe and click that notification bell so that you can be notified when we have a new video just like this one. This is Joygirl and I'll see you again soon.