Who Is Prince Grus and Why He Earned an Ichiban Kuji Towel

Prince Grus F Prize Towel — Ichiban Kuji One Piece Legendary Heroes

Prince Grus and His Role in the One Piece Universe

One Piece is the manga series by Eiichiro Oda, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 1997, with an anime adaptation by Toei Animation that has been running since 1999. As of 2022, the franchise held a Guinness World Record for the most copies published of a single comic series by one author — more than 500 million worldwide. Within that vast cast of characters, Grus occupies a specific corner: a Marine Captain introduced in the series’ later chapters, gaining visibility particularly around the Egghead arc, which ran in both manga and anime around 2023.

Physically, Grus is easy to identify — green wavy hair, a red-and-white striped shirt, a yellow fur-collared coat, a gold chain, and a white cap bearing the word “MARINE.” His Devil Fruit ability comes from the Kami Kami no Mi, which gives him control over paper, a power set that is visually distinctive and relatively unusual in a series known for creative abilities. He is also identified as a member of SWORD, the Navy’s unofficial covert unit that operates outside normal command structures. His name appears in this Ichiban Kuji product as “Prince Grus,” though whether this is an official in-universe designation or a widely used nickname was not confirmed in available sources.

As a newer supporting character in a series with decades of history, Grus has received relatively limited standalone merchandise. Being selected for a dedicated design in an Ichiban Kuji run indicates a degree of recognition for a character who is still relatively new to international audiences.

What Ichiban Kuji Is and How Prizes Like This One Work

Ichiban Kuji is a prize lottery brand operated by Bandai Spirits, part of the Bandai Namco group. The mechanics differ from gashapon, where you pay for a random capsule dispensed by a vending machine. With Ichiban Kuji, a buyer pulls a numbered ticket at a retail location — typically a convenience store like Lawson or FamilyMart, or a bookshop or toy retailer — and receives whichever prize tier that number corresponds to. Prizes are ranked from A (usually a high-end figure) through several intermediate tiers down to a Last Prize, with F Prize typically covering mid-sized items such as towels and clear files.

Each run has a fixed stock, and sales end once that stock is gone. This particular item — one of nine towel designs in the F Prize tier for the One Piece Legendary Heroes line — is estimated to have gone on sale in late 2022 or early 2023, timed broadly with the Egghead arc storyline. The item retains its factory seal and original blue header card. Ichiban Kuji has no official international distribution; it sells exclusively through Japanese retail channels.

One Piece’s Global Reach and What That Means for Its Merchandise

The 2023 Netflix live-action adaptation of One Piece brought the series to a broader international audience, adding to a fanbase that had already been growing globally for years. For collectors who have followed the story into its later arcs, a character like Grus — with a specific ability, a covert affiliation, and a recognizable visual design — represents a part of the story that most standard merchandise lines never reach.

Textile merchandise also stands apart from the more common anime collectible formats. Character towels appear far less frequently than figures, keychains, or enamel pins, which gives them a distinct place in a collection and broadens their appeal to fans who track non-conventional item types alongside more traditional goods.