Gao Fang

Gao Feng, known preferably by his surname, is the assassin of the Azure Pirates. He is the seventh member of the crew, the sixth to join, and the crew's final recruitment before entering the Grand Line. Gao hails from Karate Island and was a master of a now defunct school which taught the Reppū Hirate, a martial arts style focusing on repulsing enemies by striking the air in front of them. During his time on Karate Island Gao was a promising student who sought to only bring glory to his school and kin. He was the disciple of one of the most renowned martial artists on Karate Island and was highly favored by his master over his other pupils. A true prodigy, Gao was highly praised by his superiors and spectators but also envied by his peers.

Beneath his prodigal exterior, Gao harbors a lot of internal demons. As a child he was trained to be a killing machine as assassination was the family business of his clan. Gao didn't dislike his work either - at least not at first. Eager to please his family he proudly excelled in various assassination methods and even slew his first target at the age of seven. Alas, Gao discovered the resolve to change his ways after he met his master who began teaching him the Reppū Hirate which was a rather non-aggressive fighting style. Torn between family loyalty and the light that shined before him, Gao reluctantly continued performing assassinations at the behest of his family until his master was designated as one of their targets by a rival martial arts school. Unable to fight his clan or save his cherished school, Gao cowardly allowed them all to be slaughtered and fled Karate Island. Since the rest of his clan has been exiled from Karate Island and hunted down.

After leaving Karate Island, Gao has traveled all throughout the South Blue working as hired muscle for all sorts of shady individuals in the Underworld. He has assassinated the leaders of crime syndicates as well as high ranking politicians in different countries, making him a threat in the eyes of the World Government. Because of his actions he has attained a bounty of 18,000,000 which makes him the only member of the Azure Pirates to have a bounty prior to joining. Gao first encountered his future crew as an enemy after he was hired by Reed "The Berserker" Ingram to track down and capture Gifford Neema due to her role in the fall of Standish Enterprise. As of his recruitment he is recognized as the most dangerous fighter of the crew and is portrayed as a ruthless bloodthirsty person by those who know of his past.

Trivia

 * On May 27, 2015, he was declared by the author to be his favorite character that he created.
 * According to the author, if Gao were from a place in the real world it would be Ming Dynasty China.