Tom

Tom[4] was a long-horned cowfish fish-man who was known as the most skilled shipwright in the world and the head of his own company, Tom's Workers. He was also Iceburg's[4] Franky's teacher and Den's older brother. Furthermore, he was well known for being the builder of the Roger Pirates' ship, the Oro Jackson.[5]

Because of his association with the Pirate King Gol D. Roger, Tom was put on trial by the World Government and found guilty, but earned the right to a pardon thanks to his creation of the Sea Train. However, to protect his apprentices from a frame up orchestrated by Spandam of CP5, Tom accepted his previous sentence and was escorted to Enies Lobby. He was presumably executed shortly after.[6]Tom was a large cowfish Fish-Man, with short horns and a yellow body. He had markings under his eyes, black spots on his neck near his gills, sharp teeth from his lower lip pointing upward, and a white beard. White, curly hair also sprouted behind his neck from under his brown bandanna, and his large chest was covered by an unbuttoned light-blue shirt with a blue pattern on it. He had a relatively small lower body in comparison to his large upper body, and he wore brown pants and simple boots. He also had a tattoo of a flowery design on both of his shoulders that is similar to the Jolly Roger of the Sun Pirates.[1]Tom was a proud and kind fish-man. He was also extremely carefree, able to laugh at almost everything from his students' frequent quarrels and insults to even the fact that he nearly got sentenced to death for creating Roger's ship (a source of constant reprimands from Kokoro). Unlike many other Fish-Men, he showed no prejudice against humans. He built ships for anyone, even pirates, and adopted Franky and Iceberg and mentored them in the trade of building ships. His bond with them was such that he took the blame for the Battle Frankies and was executed in exchange for a pardon for them.Tom also believed that as a shipwright, one must always love his creations, no matter what they had done. As such, he struck Franky for attempting to deny his responsibility in the Battle Franky and proudly claimed that he did not regret crafting the Oro Jackson for the Pirate King, despite it all being tantamount to confessing to crimes punishable by death.[5] He also refused to hand over the blueprints for Pluton to Spandam, as a duty of his shipwright.[7] His catchphrase was "Do it with a DON!" (or "Do it with gusto!" in the Funimation dubs).

Like some of the other characters of One Piece, Tom had a unique laugh, his starting with a "Ta" (i.e. ta ha ha ha ha!).Roger Tom had an extremely close friendship with the late Pirate King, having crafted his best masterpiece, the Oro Jackson, especially for Roger as his flagship. Roger held incredible respect for Tom, having paid the latter one last visit before his voyage towards Laugh Tale, asking Tom about his plans for the Puffing Tom. Though his association with Roger had caused him to be branded a criminal and condemned to death, Tom had no regrets and even felt utmost pride in helping Roger.