One Piece 1082: Why T-Bone may be still alive 

Before the World Government managed to appease him by offering him a seat within the Seven Warlords of One Piece, the all-powerful Dracule Mihawk was renowned as the "Marine Hunter" as he made a habit of attacking Navy officers.

Taking inspiration from this, the Cross Guild started to hunt Marines, even putting bounties on their heads. With this, they are seriously threatening the World Government's influence.

According to the latest One Piece chapter, the first major victim of the Cross Guild's Marine-hunting activity was T-Bone, a Navy officer who was first featured during the Water Seven Arc.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to Chapter 1082 and reflects the writer's personal views.

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One Piece fans were shocked to hear that a civilian killed Vice Admiral T-Bone

Everything to know about T-Bone in One Piece

T-Bone as seen in One Piece's Water Seven Arc (Image via Toei Animation, One Piece)

Prior to joining the Navy, T-Bone was a royal knight. He was introduced in the series during the Water Seven Arc, where he was featured as a Marine Captain assigned to escort the CP9 agents during their travel on the Puffing Tom.

A very honorable person, T-Bone absolutely abhors needless violence and values life very seriously, with regard to both the soldiers under his command and innocent civilians. While traveling on Puffing Tom, he tore his mantle to pieces to treat his injured subordinates.

T-Bone even went back to warn his men about Sanji, Franky, and Usopp's trap rather than chasing the Straw Hats, or simply saving himself. He later protected his subordinates again from a Sea King who attacked their detached wagon.

A testament to his might, T-Bone is renowned as the "Ship-Cutter" for being able to slice large ships as if he was cutting steaks. T-Bone indeed showcased attacks, including flying slashes, powerful enough to cut through metal trains and large boats, even killing a Sea King with one blow.

A strong-willed and brave man, T-Bone, completely indifferent to the storm around him, decided to stay back and confront "Pirate Hunter" Zoro, despite recognizing the latter and knowing about his reputation for strength.

The ensuing battle was short but intense. Zoro's power and speed far surpassed those of T-Bone. With a Three Sword Style technique, Zoro promptly overcame T-Bone's slash, destroying his blade and defeating him.

Despite the occurrence, the two developed mutual respect. Zoro praised T-Bone's capabilities, acknowledging him as a strong swordsman. He even apologized to him for not being able to stop and save him from the sea where he had been knocked out.

T-Bone was among the officers selected to partake in the Paramount War. As such, he fought against the Whitebeard Pirates and their allies in Marineford. After the time skip, he earned himself a promotion to the rank of Rear Admiral.

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One Piece 1082 disclosed that T-Bone was the first Marine to be hunted

T-Bone in his most recent appearance in the One Piece series (Image via Toei Animation, One Piece)

In a continuous comedy of errors, Buggy's underlings mistook the events and assumed that he created the Cross Guild, recruiting Crocodile and even Dracule Mihawk as his subordinates. However, this couldn't be farther from the truth.

Mihawk and Crocodile are indeed the true founders and rulers of the Cross Guild. Not interested in becoming a Yonko, Mihawk decided to use Buggy as the figurehead leader of the group, with the intent to alienate any unwanted attention from himself.

Believing in the facade, the World Government declared Buggy one of the Yonko, given his alleged status as the leader of the Cross Guild. The new organization's battle might and political influence immediately proved to be dangerous, as the Cross Guild decided to issue bounties on Navy officers.

The Marines now had to not only worry about pirates but also bounty hunters and civilians. Indeed, One Piece 1082 revealed that T-Bone was killed by someone who wanted to collect the bounty that the Cross Guild issued on him.

The event was published in the newspaper. T-Bone, who had recently been promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral, was adored by both civilians and Marines. Thus, news of his death shocked the world. However, the Navy refused to comment on the details of the incident.

Sengoku and Tsuru were shown discussing the occurrence. They remarked on the Cross Guild's risin­g threat and convened that T-Bone's killer likely acted to receive money from the organization. The culprit was later shown at Buggy's base, where he was being praised for his deed.

The person who seemingly killed T-Bone was an old man. Indeed, he acted to collect the bounty from the Cross Guild and used it to feed his family members, who were dying of starvation. The killer was welcomed into the ranks of the Cross Guild as a new member.

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Why T-Bone's death doesn't make any sense

T-Bone as seen in One Piece's Marineford Arc (Image via Toei Animation, One Piece)

One Piece fans were shocked to see that the one responsible for T-Bone's death was a frail old man who doesn't seem to be a fighter at all, much less one strong enough to kill a powerful Marine officer.

Considering his defeat at the hands of Zoro in the latter's Enies Lobby incarnation, T-Bone was more or less as strong as the "Pirate Hunter" was before the Arabasta Arc.

At the time, Zoro was strong enough to simultaneously beat more than a hundred assassins and several Baroque Works agents. He not only annihilated them all by himself, but he did so without using his strongest techniques, meaning that he could have done even more.

While the feat is impressive, Zoro performed it almost 1000 chapters ago, and about 250 chapters before beating T-Bone. The current T-Bone should be able to replicate such a feat.

This seems hardly refutable, given that, even at the time of his loss against Zoro, T-Bone was already a man capable of cutting ships and defeating a Sea King with one blow. T-Bone has now become a Vice Admiral, meaning that he can use Haki to further enhance his skills.

With T-Bone's current strength logically allowing him to beat hundreds of average assassins, let alone civilians without particular fighting capabilities, it really seems inexplicable how such a trained fighter could have been killed by a trembling old man.

Fans are now speculating that such a thing never happened. The most evident cue may be the fact that T-Bone's alleged killer not only lacks the strength to carry out the act but the drive as well. It's hard to imagine the feeble old man shown in One Piece 1082 having the wickedness to kill anyone.

Moreover, T-Bone was known for his goodwill. A man who deeply believed that the Navy's duty was to protect innocent people, his motto was "Do 100 good deeds every day."

One Piece author Eiichiro Oda directly showed the terrible conditions of the old man's family in a dedicated panel. Knowing about T-Bone's kindness, fans are theorizing that the officer allowed himself to be apparently killed, to let people collect his bounty and use it to survive starvation.

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Final Thoughts

Granted, the full extent of the Cross Guild's requirements to collect a bounty is yet to be revealed. It's possible that they demand that the person who claims the bounty has to show them the corpse of the supposed target.

However, this doesn't inherently debunk the theory of T-Bone still being alive. His skeletal appearance makes him unironically similar to a corpse, which means that a goon may have very well mistaken T-Bone (who could be faking his death) for a deceased person. This could be possible assuming that the check wasn't performed by an Observation Haki user.

Ultimately, it is still remotely possible that the old man killed T-Bone by tricking him into eating some poisoned food or something along those lines.

Being poor to the point of starving, a person may be willing to do anything, especially to save not only himself but his family as well. However, it's clear that T-Bone's alleged killer simply doesn't seem like someone who could kill an individual, regardless of the means.

Nevertheless, T-Bone's death wouldn't make much sense. It seems absolutely impossible for a frail and seemingly harmless old man to be the killer of a trained Marine officer, who, being a Vice Admiral, could even use Haki.

Moreover, such an event would be heartbreaking. T-Bone was depicted as a good person, who put his life on the line to protect his subordinates. In comparison, current Fleet Admiral Akainu killed his own men simply because he didn't deem them determined enough.