Holed’em

Holed’em

Holed’em is a Shinuchi of the Beasts Pirates, who resides in Bakura Town.

Due to his actions and role, he is a supporting antagonist in the Wano Country Arc.

Appearance

Holed’em is a large man with long brown hair, a square jaw, cat-like whiskers, and a pointed nose, and also appears to have black lips possibly lipstick. He does not wear a shirt, exposing his hairy chest and tattoos on his upper arms which resemble suns that have a wrench-shaped design inside of them. His most defining features are the lion head, forelegs, and tail protruding from his waist due to his SMILE fruit.

He wears dark pants, light brown boots, gloves, and a tall dark hat with an insignia on it, plus belt that encases the lion’s head and forelegs.

Personality

Holed’em is a brash and no-nonsense man who takes his job seriously and is quick to loudly rebuke his subordinates when they annoy him. He seems to have little empathy, as shown when he decided to try to use Tama’s abilities by force, and he is very sadistic, as he became gleeful when threatening to tear Tama apart. Like other members of the Beasts Pirates, he looks down on the lower-class people of Wano. He is also prone to underestimating and condescending people even when he has heard about their feats of strength, as he believed that Luffy only defeated Urashima by luck.

He seems to be quick to jump to conclusions, as he believed that Luffy, Zoro, and Kikunojo were accomplices of the thief Shutenmaru after simply seeing Luffy’s display of strength. He also holds grudges, as one of his main reasons for attacking Luffy was that the pirate destroyed his house.

Like many One Piece characters, he has a unique laugh: Gahahaha.

Relationships

Kamijiro

Kamijiro is the lion head on Holed’em’s stomach. Due to their conflicting personalities, Kamijiro frequently fights with Holed’em, overlooking the fact that the pain they deal to each other also hurts themselves.

Enemies

Kozuki Family

Due to Kaidou forming an alliance with Kurozumi Orochi, Holed’em and the rest of the Beasts Pirates are enemies of the Kozuki Family. He believes the Kozuki Family to be a “family of evil”.

Straw Hat Pirates

As they attempt to overthrow Kaidou, Holed’em and the rest of the Beasts Pirates are enemies of the Straw Hat Pirates. However, due to the isolated nature of Wano, he did not recognize their faces and assumed they were part of Shutenmaru’s group of bandits. When Luffy and Zoro were causing trouble in Bakura Town, Holed’em decided to use Tama as a hostage to force them to surrender. However, Holed’em’s plan backfired and when Luffy heard how Holed’em harmed Tama, Luffy quickly attacked him.

Tama

Due to her ability to tame animals, Holed’em decided to kidnap Tama. He even resorted to torture to force Tama to use her ability. He also threatened to kill Tama when confronting Luffy, Zoro, and Kiku.

Abilities and Powers

As a Shinuchi in the Beasts Pirates, Holed’em holds a high position within the crew and is capable of commanding lower-ranking subordinates.

Devil Fruit

Further information: Kamijiro

Holed’em ate a Lion SMILE (ライオンのSMILEスマイル, Raion no Sumairu?), giving him the ability to generate a lion’s head and forelegs on his waist, as well as a tail on his back. Kamijiro possesses great strength in his paws and jaw, with Holed’em stating that he could easily crush Tama with the latter. However, Kamijiro has a mind of his own, putting Holed’em at risk of being attacked by him. However, damage dealt by the lion will also hurt him, as he shares the same body as Holed’em.

Techniques

  • Shishi no Hi (獅子の火, Shishi no Hi?, literally meaning “Lion Fire”): Kamijiro possesses the ability to breathe a large stream of fire.

Weapons

Further information: Karakuri Sword

Holed’em carries a long sword with a star-shaped guard, he calls his blade the Karakuri Sword. He is seemingly proficient in using it, as he was confident in its power when attacking Luffy. However, he was unable to use it before Luffy took him out. In the anime, it was shown to be able to split itself up to function as a whip blade, which can be set on fire by Kamijiro for extra damage.

History

Wano Country Arc

After Gazelleman kidnapped Tama at Okobore Town, he reported to Holed’em that he had captured the girl who tamed their baboon, and Holed’em ordered Gazelleman to bring Tama to him. Gazelleman brought Tama to Holed’em’s quarters, and Holed’em was annoyed at the Gifter’s exhaustion after running. He then got mad at Kamijiro for staring at him, and the defiant lion responded by striking Holed’em in the groin, hurting both of them. Holed’em wanted to know how Tama managed to tame their baboon, and suspected that she had a Devil Fruit power despite her denial. He ordered a subordinate to get him some pliers so he could try pulling food out of her cheek.

As Holed’em was pulling on Tama’s cheek, he received a report that the yokozuna Urashima had been attacked, but did not care. However, Urashima was then sent flying into Holed’em’s house by Monkey D. Luffy, and an annoyed Holed’em confronted Luffy, putting Tama into Kamijiro’s mouth and threatening to crush her.

After Holed’em accused Luffy’s group of being accomplices with the thief Shutenmaru, Luffy managed to attack Kamijiro in the blink of an eye and free Tama. Soon afterwards, Luffy turned around to attack Holed’em, and Holed’em had Kamijiro breathe fire at the pirate as he prepared to strike Luffy with the Karakuri Sword. However, the flames were ineffective against Luffy, who struck Holed’em in the face with a powerful Red Hawk punch, defeating him. Kamijiro remained conscious as Holed’em laid unconscious on the ground.

When he woke up later, Holed’em saw Kaidou in Kuri and shook in fear, wondering if Kaidou had come to execute him. He was then stunned to see his captain destroy the ruins of Kuri Castle.

Several days later, Holed’em ordered his men to set Mt. Atama on fire in order to kill Shutenmaru. Holed’em heard about important events happening at the Flower Capital and ordered his men to turn on the Picture Tanishi to watch a broadcast. Holed’em also commented that he wished he could show Shutenmaru dying in a fire to the whole country. Holed’em later watched the broadcast of Yasuie’s execution.

Prior to the Fire Festival, Holed’em confronted the Okobore Town citizens concerning the continued thefts from Paradise Farm. Tsuru approached Holed’em, claiming that she would help him, but the Okobore Town citizens took the blame for the thefts. Holed’em then burned Okobore Town to the ground.

Major Battles

  • Holed’em and Kamijiro vs. Monkey D. Luffy

Filler Battles

  • Holed’em vs. Ashura Doji

Anime and Manga Differences

In the manga, Holed’em only ordered his men to set Mt. Atama on fire. In the anime, Holed’em fights Ashura Doji personally and starts the fire during their clash.

Merchandise

Video Games

Playable Appearances

  • One Piece Treasure Cruise

Trivia

  • Hold ’em is one of the three main types of poker (the other two being draw and stud). Particularly, Texas hold ’em is sometimes simply called “hold’em”. This follows the Beast Pirates’ naming theme of card games.
  • Holed’em’s design is based off of Daltanious, the eponymous character of the anime series Future Robot Daltanious which Eiichiro Oda watched as a child. In fact, the designs of SMILE users overall originated from Oda’s desire to pay homage to this character.
    • Additionally, Holed’em is ranked by Oda as his favorite Gifter design.
  • Holed’em’s favorite food is eggplants.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 915 (p. 5) and Episode 901.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 914 (p. 15-16) and Episode 901, Holed’em makes his debut.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Vivre Card – One Piece Visual Dictionary (Card #1276), Information about Holed’em is revealed.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 915 (p. 4-7) and Episode 901.
  5. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 917 (p. 6-7, 9-10) and Episode 905.
  6. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 916 (p. 17-19) and Episode 904.
  7. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 915 (p. 5-7) and Episode 901.
  8. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 916 (p. 11) and Episode 904.
  9. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 916 (p. 19) and Episode 904.
  10. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 917 (p. 16) and Episode 905.
  11. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 916 (p. 18) and Episode 904.
  12. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 917 (p. 16-17) and Episode 905.
  13. One Piece Anime — Episode 905.
  14. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 916 (p. 10-11, 17-19) and Episode 904.
  15. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 917 (p. 6-11, 13-17) and Episode 905.
  16. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 91 Chapter 918 (p. 2-3, 15) and Episodes 906–908.
  17. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 92 Chapter 922 (p. 6-7, 14-15) and Episode 913.
  18. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 93 Chapter 941 (p. 8-9) and Episode 938.
  19. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 93 Chapter 942 (p. 10) and Episode 940.
  20. One Piece Manga and Anime — Vol. 95 Chapter 959 (p. 8-9, 14) and Episodes 959–960.
  21. One Piece Anime — Episode 938.
  22. SBS One Piece Manga — Vol. 98 (p. 118), The meaning of Holed’em’s name is revealed.
  23. 23.0 23.1 SBS One Piece Manga — Vol. 99 (p. 152).

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