Blarey said:Nice, I didn't know about this, although I would like to see a source of some kind of Eiichiro Oda saying he was the inspiration. I tried looking around a little bit but couldn't find anything. Although, I can admit the two are very similar.
Just another example of why Revolutionary France was such an interesting and crazy time.
I couldn't find anything either, but knowing that a lot of One piece pirates have similar names to real life pirates:
Beramī = Samuel Bellamy
Māsharu Dī Tīchi = Edward Teach (alias Blackbeard)
"Red-Haired" Shanks = Erik the Red
Captain Kidd = William Kid
I think it's safe to assume that he also read about “La Buse“.
Also La Buse his told to have said to the crowd of his execution before dying: "Find my treasure, to one who may understand it!" which sound a lot like Gol D. Roger final words.
I did find this on the One Piece wiki but it doesn't prove that it was the inspiration:
Upon his death, the real life pirate Olivier Levasseur had tossed a cryptogram from the scaffolding into the crowd and told them if they could figure out the message, his treasure (now valued at £160,000,000 in today's money) would be theirs, a treasure that to this day has never been found. This seems to have been part of the inspiration for Roger's legendary death speech, as Roger himself had delivered the message to find his treasure, and notably the Poneglyphs are also part of a grand cryptogram leading to the end of the Grand Line.
Another possible inspiration for Roger could be Henry Every. In 1695, Every led what has been called the most profitable pirate raid of all time, capturing an enormous treasure estimated to be worth up to £600,000 (around $400 million in modern currency), becoming the richest pirate in the world and earning him the epithet "The King of Pirates". Despite being the target of a worldwide manhunt and getting the highest bounty in history placed on his head (£1,000, around $700,000 currently), Every vanished with his treasure in the Caribbean (then called New World). He is said to have influenced the next generation of pirates, including Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts, Calico Jack, Samuel Bellamy and Edward Low, among others, who were children at the time (and whose names are used for several One Piece characters).
Here's the link : http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Gol_D._Roger |