He was huge. And the strongest man I've ever know. The whole world acknowledged him as the strongest. Of course anyone who didn't tried to defeat him and failed, so then they usually had to, eh? He could have done anything I think. He had the power to destroy the world, but all he wanted was a family. He took in dumb kids like me and my brothers to make us into something. It's for him that I wear this tattoo, eh? My Pops' mark.

Pops was a really famous pirate emperor, the strongest, the only man to tie with the Pirate King. So he used that reputation to protect islands. Foodvalten, Fishman Island -- we took them over, under our protection, because he said if anyone wanted to try to enslave fishmen or mermaids, then they had to go through him first. And that put a stop to a lot of it, because even the most hardy of idiots would think twice before incurring our wrath, eh?

There was a war though. An ex-nakama betrayed us. He ah... [Glances away.] Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach, he murdered Thatch for the power of a darkness devil fruit. And during the war he killed Pops and took his devil fruit too, so now he can cause earthquakes on top of the darkness. Teach wants to be the next pirate king, so it'll be a mess. Not to mention all the other pirates in the world who hate us and will try to take control.