Yorki
Appearance
Yorki's a yellow-haired pirate known for his cowboy hat and distinctive face tattoos—a pair of marks resembling the Japanese character ヨ, one under each eye and below his lower lip. He rounds out the look with a green captain's coat. The anime originally showed him differently, with brown hair, no tattoos, and a tricone hat over a red coat, but this was eventually updated to match the manga's design once his character was properly established.
History
About fifty years before the current timeline, Yorki and the Rumbar Pirates were sailing through the West Blue when they discovered a lost baby whale. When Brook suggested cheering the whale up with music, it worked—and the whale, Laboon, started following them everywhere. As they approached the Grand Line, Yorki and the crew got nervous. The whale was too young to handle what lay ahead, so they asked Brook to convince Laboon to stay behind. When that didn't work, Yorki ordered everyone to stop playing music, hoping the whale would lose interest and turn back.
Grand Line and Laboon
They thought it worked. But when the Rumbar Pirates sailed through Reverse Mountain into the Grand Line, there was Laboon again. After meeting the doctor Crocus, they spent three months repairing their ship while playing music with the whale. Eventually Yorki realized this wasn't sustainable. He asked Crocus to look after Laboon while they ventured deeper into the Grand Line, promising to return in two or three years to pick the whale up. Before leaving, the crew made a point to tell Laboon they'd be back.
The journey into the Grand Line was brutal. Yorki's crew faced every hazard the sea threw at them, including combat with a Marine base—which earned Yorki a bounty.
The Disease and Escape
Things took a dark turn when Yorki and several crew members contracted an incurable disease after landing in a forest. To protect the rest of the crew, Yorki made the painful decision to take the infected and escape through the Calm Belt. His last request was for Brook to play his favorite song as he died. A Marine report later documented the escape, but completely misread it as an act of cowardice rather than a selfless sacrifice.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
