One Piece Character Silvers Rayleigh

Silvers Rayleigh, also known as the "Dark King", is the former first mate of the Roger Pirates and the "Right Hand of the Pirate King". He became a coating mechanic in Sabaody Archipelago at some point after Gol D. Roger died and the crew was disbanded. He is one of the central characters of the Sabaody Archipelago arc, as the Straw Hats require his skills in order to get to Fishman Island. 

Appearance And Personality

Two of Rayleigh's most distinguishing traits are that he typically wears round glasses and that the facial hairs on his chin are arranged like stripes across his lower jaw. He also has a scar over his right eye, which he has had for many years. He also has many scar on his muscular body. When he was younger, Rayleigh kept his yellow brownish hair (black earlier in the anime) clean cut and had a moderate amount of facial hair. Over the years, as his hair whitened, he let it grow longer and wild. He also grew a beard from his initial striped facial hair. During his first apparison in Buggy's flashback, he was seen wearing a t-shirt with an ornately decorated collar, a motif that appeared even in the long coat he wore during the Edd War. He currently wears an orange shirt, light-brown spotted bermudas and simple sandals. He also has a silver-colored coat hanging from his shoulders.

Rayleigh is light hearted, casual and fun loving, much like his captain Gol D. Roger was supposed to have been. In the past he was shown to have been intolerable to the antics of the younger members arguing, and took the position of crew disciplinarian very seriously. He, like Whitebeard seems to have enjoyed talking about the past, although he seems reluctant to speak about certain topics like the Void Century. As stated by Shakky, he loves alcohol and women, the latter of which he proved when he saved Keimi from being mistreated by Disco. He prefers to be called "Ray-San".

Despite once being enemies with the Whitebeard Pirates, Rayleigh seems to have great respect for their captain, like Roger, and shed a tear for Whitebeard's passing. 

History

As right-hand man of Gol D. Roger's ship, he disciplined Buggy and Shanks over their constant arguing. Twenty-six years ago, Roger fell ill to an incurable disease, leading the Roger Pirates to take one final journey together. They ventured into the Grand Line together and conquered it. A year before his death, Roger disbanded the crew in secret and one by one the crew disappeared. Before he handed himself over to the Marines, Roger told Rayleigh that "He would not die". Rayleigh was not at his captain's execution, but laughed none the less upon hearing the message Roger had left to the world.

Six years later, Rayleigh was saved by a young Hatchan from drowning in a shipwreck. Since then, Rayleigh has been on good terms with Hachi. He, along with Shakuyaku and Nyon, also helped protect the Gorgon Sisters after their escape from slavery from the World Nobles.

Eventually, Rayleigh would go on to become a coating master on Sabaody Archipelago and set up a partnership with Shakuyaku. In the current storyline, he had been missing for six months prior to Luffy's arrival. 

Power And Ablity

In his younger days with Gol D. Roger, Rayleigh commanded the rest of Roger's crew as First Mate. He would do several duties while supervising the rest of the crew. Amongst these duties was disciplining the young apprentices Buggy and Shanks over their constant arguing about useless things, such as which of the two polar regions is the colder one.

After Gol D. Roger's crew disbanded, Rayleigh became a coating mechanic in Sabaody. He specializes in coating ships with Yarukiman Resin, a process which enables ships to travel to Fishmen Island.

Rayleigh is apparently extremely powerful, possibly one of the strongest characters introduced. Shakky, a business partner of his, vouches for his strength by saying that he's "100 times stronger than all of you boys", referring to the Eleven Supernovas. Indeed, when Vice Admiral Garp was informed Rayleigh may be on Sabaody Archipelago, rather than go straight to the archipelago, Garp told the Marines not to have his men confront him. Due to his phenomenal strength, he was able to fight Admiral Kizaru equally. However, Rayleigh himself has admitted that he is not as young as he used to be, and can tire in battle. Eustass Kid himself stated that Rayleigh was "a legend".

Another glimpse of his strength is seen when he seemingly snatches off Keimi's exploding slave collar and tosses it into the air before it could self destruct.

He also has a large amount of stamina, as he was able to swim to Amazon Lily from another ocean. His ability to swim also definitively shows that his strength is natural, not based on a Devil Fruit.

Rayleigh knows the "True History" of the world from his time with Roger. However, he has also stated that, as a pirate crew lacking the intellect of scholars of Ohara's caliber, they may very well have misinterpreted that information.

Haki

Rayleigh is able to utilize "Haki" the same way displayed by Shanks and Luffy. Also, Rayleigh's spirit power can be focused. He is able to render a specific target completely unconscious without the aid of eye contact, nor adversely affect anybody else near the initial target. He disabled an entire room with this power, save for the Straw Hats, Keimi, and Pappug. Rayleigh later commented that the pirates still standing were no ordinary rookies. Only very strong and determined individuals can resist from being knocked unconscious. One of Trafalgar Law's crewmen was very close to being knocked out. Even Law and Eustass Kid were sweating slightly after enduring the blast. Rayleigh also kicked and redirected an attack by Marine Admiral and Logia Devil Fruit user Kizaru.


Weapon
He has shown the ability to use a sword. Although, he does comment he's out of practice. He has also managed to cut and draw blood from Kizaru's face, who is a Marine Admiral and Logia Devil Fruit user by using his extremely powerful haki skill to suppress Kizaru`s intangibility.

Trivia

• When Shanks and Buggy were first revealed to be part of Gol D. Roger's crew, a fan asked Oda in a SBS question if the man that scolded them was a subordinate captain under Roger that commanded the ship they were sailing on, or even a high ranking officer. Without giving away Rayleigh's name at the time, Oda responded that this man was none other than the First Mate of Gol D. Roger's crew. Oda also stated in his response that since he had set this fact in stone from the very start, he told Toei Animation that when they adapt Buggy's flashback for the anime, Buggy and Shanks should not refer to Rayleigh as Captain in the anime.
• His name possibly refers to John Silver from Treasure Island and Sir Walter Raleigh, an English 16th-century explorer and privateer. It should be noted that Sir Walter Raleigh's name has been spelt in over 40 ways, in which also includes the spelling "Rayleigh". Additionally, the name 'Rayleigh' may be a reference to Lord Rayleigh, a physicist who explained the phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering, an effect whereby light can be scattered by particles that are smaller in size than wavelength of light. This is likely not a coincidence, since Rayleigh was capable of fending off Admiral Kizaru, who possesses the Pika Pika no Mi, the Logia of light.
• Silver is traditionally considered the next most valuable metal after gold, and as the First Mate, Silvers Rayleigh was the second high ranked man in the crew after the captain, Gold Roger.
• When Rayleigh saved Zoro from Kizaru, he told him that if he were to get rid of his wanted poster, he could go into a peaceful retirement. This is an indication that Rayleigh has an active bounty and the amount has yet to be revealed.