Zunesha

Zunesha
Statistics
Japanese Name:	象主（ズニーシャ）
Romanized Name:	Zunīsha
Official English Name:	Zunesha
Debut:	Chapter 802; Episode 751
Residence:	New World
Status:	Alive
Age:	Over 1000
Birthday:	December 18th
Height:	20 km (12.43 miles)
Japanese VA:	Ben Hiura

For other uses, see Zou (Disambiguation).

Zunisha is a Naitamie-Norida elephant that wanders the New World and carries the island of Zou on its back.

Appearance

Zunisha has the appearance of a massive elephant, comparable to an island in sheer scale; its legs are disproportionately and extremely long, such that it can walk on the sea floor while the rest of its body remains above the water. Its legs have two joints. However, it has comparatively small eyes which have sunken deep into their sockets, being barely visible at most times and giving the impression that it has no eyes at all. Its skin is heavily wrinkled, reflecting its old age, and its ears are tattered and frayed at the edges.

File:Zunisha Full Body.png

Zunisha's full body and leg structure.

File:Zunisha Anime Concept Art.png

Zunisha's concept art from the anime.

Personality

Zunisha does not mind carrying a civilization on its back, and in fact cares greatly about the Mink Tribe, as demonstrated when it warned Monkey D. Luffy and Kozuki Momonosuke that they would all be in danger if it fell.

Relationships

Mink Tribe

Zunisha has a commensal relationship with the Mink Tribe and the island of Zou; twice per day, it showers itself with seawater, which helps the minks acquire food in the form of fish and water via a filtration system, causing them to consider it a blessing. When Jack and his fleet were attacking it, Zunisha worried about the minks dying if it were to fall into the sea and begged Kozuki Momonosuke to allow it to fight before this happened. After Zunisha defeated Jack, the minks were surprised to learn that it possessed a will of its own in all the time that have lived there. The minks also tended to Zunisha's leg, which had been injured by Jack's attack, as they expressed gratitude to it for protecting them. Miyagi was excited to learn that Zunisha could understand his tribe and wanted to ask where it is going after traveling over a millennia.

Enemies

Jack

During his second attack on Zou, Jack decided to slaughter the minks by bringing down Zunisha. He planned to force the elephant to its knees in order to reach its head and kill it in sadistic ways; however, Zunisha was determined to protect the minks, and with Momonosuke's permission, it annihilated Jack's fleet with one swing of its trunk.

Abilities and Powers

Due to its gigantic size, Zunisha can carry a whole island on its back and walk in the New World sea for an entire millennium. It has immense longevity, having lived for at least a thousand years. It can suck up and expel massive amounts of sea water, and with it lots of fish, using its trunk. With a single swing of its trunk, it can wipe out entire fleets of ships and was able to swiftly defeat Jack; one of the Three Disasters who serves under the Beast Pirates.

Zunisha has extraordinary eyesight and can see faraway objects in great detail, as seen when Momonosuke saw through its eyes.

However, due to having lived for so long, it is not very durable, so its weak and aged skin can be heavily damaged by concentrated cannonfire.

History

Past

In the ancient past, Zunisha was sentenced to walk the seas for eternity and only act upon being ordered to do so for committing an unspecified crime. Since then, it has wandered the sea of the New World and lived for centuries carrying the Mink Tribe and the other lifeforms on Zou.

Seventeen days before the Straw Hat Pirates landed on Zou, Jack and the Beasts Pirates invaded Zou. Jack's massive presence was felt by Zunisha, who roared in pain.

Zou Arc

File:Zunisha Wipes Out Jack's Fleet.png

Zunisha wipes out Jack's fleet.

Jack and his men returned to Zou, with Jack intending to kill Zunisha. As Jack and his fleet's attack commenced, Zunisha began shaking and crying out. As Jack's fleet heavily damaged one of its legs, Zunisha begged Kozuki Momonosuke to give it permission to fight back. After Momonosuke explained Zunisha's past and how it could not act without permission, he ordered it to drive Jack away, prompting Zunisha to wipe out Jack's fleet with a powerful swing of its trunk before resuming its walk.

With Jack defeated, Tony Tony Chopper treated Zunisha's injured leg alongside Miyagi and many other minks.

Major Battles

• Zunisha vs. Beasts Pirates

Trivia

• Zunisha is the oldest living creature introduced in the series, with its lifetime predating even the Void Century.
• Zunisha's design was based on the painting The Elephants by the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí; its species name read backward is "ダリノエミタイナ象", which means "Elephant resembling Dalí's painting". The Elephants are notorious for being quite gigantic elephants with buildings on their back and extremely long legs similar to those of the animals on Long Ring Long Land.
• Zunisha's species is named "Naitamie-Norida". "Mie" and "Norida" together can mean "gone too far" in Japanese.
• Zunisha may be based on the "World Elephant" Hindu concept, which is that a turtle supports elephants which carry the whole world on their backs.
• The kanji 象主 means "elephant lord".
• "Zunisha" as a word may stem from "Ganesha", the elephant-headed Hindu deity.
• According to Miyagi, the Minks will one day have to leave Zunisha's back and move elsewhere. He also suggested that Zunisha may not just be randomly walking the ocean, but is heading somewhere.