How Did One Piece's Cross Guild Come Together? Eiichiro Oda Has an Answer
With so many factions in One Piece, it’s hard to keep track of them all, let alone devote enough pages and screentime to highlight their relevance. Luckily, Eiichiro Oda is always willing to answer key questions from fans, redirecting focus to one of the most interesting collaborations to come from the disbandment of the Seven Warlords, the Cross Guild.
The Cross Guild is an organization comprising of “Desert King” Sir Crocodile, Dracule Mihawk, and Buggy the Clown. A rather unorthodox trio who no one in their right minds would have ordained as people who could work together peacefully. And they usually don’t. Having built up the business during the two-year time skip, the Cross Guild is responsible for staking out bounties on Marines, reversing the chomping order to bite back at the hand that feeds.
Cross Guild Was Originally Crocodile’s New Business Venture
Later Roping Buggy and Mihawk in Due to Debt and History
With the Navy no longer providing protection or prestige following the abolition of the Warlords system, Crocodile conceived the idea of a new business shortly after. Though no self-respecting business can get off the ground unless it has some funds to back it. Enter in Buggy, who had made a bit of a name for himself with the Avida pirates and his own success as an esteemed Warlord. Given that he had conducted business with Crocodile in the past, the Desert King was hellbent on getting some of that debt back to kickstart the Cross Guild.
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Mihawk was in the same boat, proverbially speaking, as his Warlord status had also been revoked, leading to Marines quickly surrounding the island he organized his one-man base out of. Crocodile pitched the idea to partner up, reciting the history of Mihawk being a Naval Hunter himself once upon a time. Given Mihawk’s lack of a drive, this provided a new exciting opportunity for him once again to be left largely unbothered by the Marines by establishing himself as a co-signer to the Cross Guild.
Buggy Accidentally Became the Figurehead and Then a Yonko
Big Misunderstanding Leads to Remarkable Achievements
Buggy the Clown wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as he is if he weren’t finding himself stumbling into some miraculous situation that puts him at a cut above all the rest. Used as a cash cow to get the Guild rolling, the Buggy Pirates were all too excited to begin pitching the business using none other than their esteemed Captain as the figurehead. This quickly caught the attention of the Marines who labeled Buggy as highly dangerous, raising him to the status of a Yonko before Crocodile or Mihawk could blink.
This largely worked in their favor despite them continuing to punish Buggy for it in the same breath since this relieved some of the Marines’ attention off their own necks. Using the Clown as a scapegoat, they could proceed with their business and use the status of the newly appointed Yonko to stretch the Guild’s connections even further.
Cross Guild Does Not Profit on Bounties, But Rather the Underground Market and Services
Merc Work, Security Detail, Black Market and More Help Fund the Cause
The big news in Oda’s reveal is how the Cross Guild goes about making its money. Crocodile’s business doesn’t sustain itself on the bounties alone, since this would be taking funds from the company in order to properly pay the hunters that execute the Marines. He reveals that the Cross Guild is more than just a business that sets the targets, it also conducts business in the Underground:
They have other commercial ventures. [Profiting] through activities such as mercenary work, security services, and involvement in Black Market deals.
When taking Buggy’s Delivery into account, this revelation should come as no surprise since the Clown was already making bank thanks to the service of lending out mercenary groups under the protection of a Warlord. Now that he no longer has that backing and due to the debts he owed Crocodile for helping Buggy start the service, it now all belongs to the Cross Guild. Post-timeskip Buggy is never seen as someone lacking money, which means these black market deals and merc groups are probably working in the Guild’s favor by providing all the funds they need.
This band of unruly collaborators has truly made for some hysterical highlights. Though it would be wonderful to see a bit more attention redirected to the Cross Guild since One Piece is just full of these interesting weaving connections that don’t nearly get as much screentime as they deserve.
Source: Twitter
- Created by
- Eiichiro Oda
- First Film
- One Piece: The Movie
- First TV Show
- One Piece
- Cast
- Kazuya Nakai, Akemi Okamura, Kappei Yamaguchi, Hiroaki Hirata, Ikue Ôtani, Yuriko Yamaguchi
- Character(s)
- Monkey D. Luffy, Roronora Zoro, Nami (One Piece), Nico Robin, Usopp (One Piece), Vinsmoke Sanji, Tony Tony Chopper, Franky (One Piece), Jimbei (One Piece)
- Video Game(s)
- One Piece: Unlimited World Red, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, One Piece: World Seeker, One Piece Odyssey
Created by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece is a multimedia franchise that began as a manga series and follows the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates as led by Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy, an enthusiastic pirate with a thirst for adventure, is afflicted by a mysterious curse that gives him various powers he uses to protect himself and his friends. The manga eventually gave way to the anime series, with the two being some of history's longest-running anime and manga series. Along with over fifty video games made over the years, the series entered the live-action world with Netflix's 2023 adaptation.
