Simon

Simon the Divine was the captain of the Simon Pirates and the main antagonist of the video game, One Piece: Great Hidden Treasure of the Nanatsu Islands.^[1]

Appearance[]

Simon wore an elaborate, pure white suit with gold edges and a cape-like design. Underneath the suit he wore a purple shirt. Simon also wore a monocle over his right eye, as well as a thick golden neck brace, and what appears to be a gold disk behind his head. He wore polished, black shoes. He also held a gold-covered book in his hands.

Simon had black hair, which was covered by a small golden helmet, except of a black antennae, which stuck out partially on the front. He had a black goatee and what appears to be black sideburns. Overall, Simon was portrayed as a gentleman.

Gallery[]

Simon's full body.

Simon's wanted poster on the back cover of the official guide of the game.

Personality[]

Simon was an extremely self-centered and megalomaniac person, seeing himself as someone who far exceeds humanity. This was partly fueled by the fact that he falsely believed he had been born with his special ability, rather than eating a Devil Fruit. He even looked down on Devil Fruit users, calling them "imperfect". ^[2]

Simon's ambition was to become the king of the world. He saw the world as a place where the strong ate the weak and grew even stronger, while kings and the government would not protect the weak. He claimed the reason for this was because humans try to control other humans, but that he alone was different. He believed that if he controlled the world as the king, everyone would be able to live in peace. This also included the idea of equality between races, and his crew indeed consisted of both humans and fish-men. However, his idea of peace seemed centered around the idea that everyone would be equal as long as they praise and obey him.^[2]

In truth, Simon simply saw both humans and fish-men equally beneath himself. Despite claiming he would make everyone happy if he ruled the world, he did not care about people struggling due to his crew's actions, as he was willing to blackmail the Straw Hat Pirates using Nefertari Vivi as a hostage. He also betrayed his promise to free her without a second thought, claiming that someone like him would not make promises with mere humans. When he was cornered, Simon was shocked and confused as to why anyone would defy a chosen one like him.^[3]

Simon did not even truly care about his crew, seeing them as nothing but useful servants. When he felt threatened, he was willingly to simply run away and abandon his fortress and subordinates.^[3] He was also ruthless, as he even killed his own crewmate after the latter was defeated by the Straw Hats.^[4]

Upon being made to realize that he too was a Devil Fruit user, Simon became disillusioned that he was not unique, and angrily denied it. He bitterly accepted the fact that he was indeed one after being defeated by the Straw Hats, but became delusional in thinking he can become Shushibaruba and use its powers to rule the world, when in fact he was merely devoured by the ancient creature like any Devil Fruit users would have been.^[5]

Like many other characters in the series, Simon has a distinct laugh: "Fuhahaha" (フハハハ^?).

Abilities and Powers[]

Simon was considered to be quite strong, as he was said to be a candidate for the Seven Warlords of the Sea.^[6] He managed to amass a large crew full of loyalists, and effectively ruled the Nanatsu Islands.^[1]

Devil Fruit[]

Further information: Pasa Pasa no Mi

Simon ate the Pasa Pasa no Mi, a Logia-type Devil Fruit that permits him to create, control, and become pieces of paper. With this ability, Simon can create and telekinetically manipulate the paper that he creates from his own body for various purposes. For combat, he can fire out paper projectiles at enemies to do slashing damage. Additionally, he can use the paper to have supernatural traits to inflict various elemental attacks such as explosions, electricity, and poison, giving him great versatility in battle. Since paper is a lightweight material, Simon has the ability to turn himself into paper in order to fly.^[7]

History[]

Past[]

When Simon was a young boy, he was seriously injured in an accident caused by a bandit named Ko. In order to save Simon's life somehow, Ko impulsively fed him the Pasa Pasa no Mi. As a result, Simon transformed into multiple sheets of paper, and when he reassembled, his injuries were cured. However, Simon was unconscious during the event, and never knew that he had been fed a Devil Fruit. Instead, Simon started to believe that he had been special from birth and eventually grew ambitions of becoming the king of the world.^[8]

At some point, Simon founded the Simon Pirates and discovered the truth about the treasure of the Nanatsu Islands, which could grand him immense power. In order to obtain the treasure, he had his crew start establishing a presence on the islands. His subordinates then started luring pirates to the islands using the treasure as bait, as Simon needed Devil Fruit users to collect the six eyes of the treasure and to awaken the Shushibaruba.^[9]

Great Hidden Treasure of the Nanatsu Islands[]

Simon confronted the Straw Hat Pirates at the Fortress of Zilpah on Hi Island, during their attempt to free Nefertari Vivi from the Simon Pirates. He taunted the crew and spoke about his ambitions, then ordered Din take Vivi away. When the Straw Hats tried to stop Din, a battle ensued between Simon and the crew. While the Straw Hats managed to hold their own against Simon, it was meaningless as during this time Din had managed to escape with Vivi. Simon then forced the crew to continue collecting the six treasures of the Nanatsu Islands, which they would then hand over to Simon in exchange for Vivi.^[2]

When the Straw Hat Pirates had successfully gathered the six treasures, Simon received them at the Fortess of Zahado on Mu Island. Simon had the crew hand over the treasures in a chest, which was then examined by Niphtal. After Niphtal verified the the treasures as real, Simon revealed that he had no intention of honoring the deal and returning Vivi. However, the Straw Hat Pirates, having foreseen this, put their plan into motion. The Laotour Bandits created a flood inside the fortress through the ventilation system, and the treasure chest exploded, having been rigged by Usopp. Simon tried to suppress the fire using the special symbol one of his pages, but this was sealed by Usopp firing paint at the page. This effectively rendered Simon unable to use his ability for risk of being burned. Ko then arrived and declared his intention to settle things with Simon himself, but at the last minute Zabal arrived and defeated Ko. Simon then took the chance to escape with the six treasures while Zabal stalled the Straw Hat Pirates. On his way to escape, Simon was confronted by Gad, who tried to convince Simon not to abandon his crew, but Simon angrily rebuffed him. He then successfully escaped the fortress.^[3]

After losing his fortress on Mu Island, Simon traveled to the small rock at the center of the ring formed by the Nanatsu Islands. There, he entered the temple where the six treasures could be placed in order to bring forth the "unseen island". The Straw Hats confronted him inside the temple, but it was too late as Simon finished placing the six treasures and Na Island began descending from the sky.^[10] After Na Island had settled in the sea, Simon entered the Ku Sivan ruins on the island. However, he briefly stepped outside after Niphtal's robots Zau Ra Zau and Kau Ra Kau were defeated by the Straw Hats at the entrance to the ruins. When Niphtal asked Simon to protect him and the crew, Simon chose to dispose of him instead. He then struck Niphtal multiple times and threw him into the sea.^[4]

Simon finally confronted the Straw Hat Pirates and Ko inside the Nu Sivan Kuru chamber in the depths of the ruins where the seventh treasure, Shushibaruba, was hidden. Simon had purposefully lured the Straw Hats to the chamber, as he needed to feed Devil Fruit users to Shushibaruba in order to awaken it from its egg-like state.^[9] However, Ko warned Simon that he would also be eaten by Shushibaruba due to being a Devil Fruit user himself. When Simon denied this, Ko revealed that he had fed Simon a Devil Fruit when he was a child.^[8] Simon was enraged by this revelation and refused to accept the truth, deciding to feed Luffy and Chopper to Shushibaruba anyway. He engaged in battle with the Straw Hat Pirates, but was defeated. Upon his defeat, Simon became unhinged and deliberately made contact with the Shushibaruba egg. Accepting the fact that he was a Devil Fruit user, Simon declared that he would become Shushibaruba himself and rule the world with its power. However, Shushibaruba merely devoured Simon and thus awakened into its developed state.^[11]

During the final phase of its battle with the Straw Hat Pirates, Shushibaruba takes a form resembling Simon with some of his consciousness seemingly remaining within the monster. However, it is eventually defeated by the Straw Hats and likely destroyed along with the remnants of Simon.^[12]

Translation and Dub Issues[]

His epithet, "the Divine" (神懸り, Kamigakari^?) more specifically refers to someone who is divinely possessed. However, it is also a pun on the fact that "god" (神, kami^?) and "paper" (紙, kami^?) sound alike in Japanese.

Trivia[]

• Simon is the first character to want to become the king of the world.

References[]

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