Eighth Flame

V, also known as the Eighth Flame, is the founder, leader and top assassin of the original Eight Flames organization.

Little is known about V other than that he is Verona's grandfather, powerful, and that he creates the animals The Flames use as companions. He is a very brilliant engineer and inventor. He also used to be one of the four Brothers of the Aeons before leaving the organization.

Appearance
V is very old and frail man with pale, wrinkly skin and gray, scraggy hair. He wears simple black robes. His mouth and nose are covered by a respirator and he has several tubes connecting him with a life support system.

Personality
V is beyond mere insanity. V is on a level one might attribute to a genocidal maniac who will try anything simply for his own enjoyment. The inner machinations of V's mind would look like a Lovecraftian horror brought into reality as V cares not for the crimes against humanity he commits on a daily basis because he cares not for humanity or anyone for that matter on a deep level except for himself. V also believes that the world is dying, and that he's the solution showing a twisted combination of a Hero and God Complex resulting in him willing to sacrifice everything for this goal.

V is generally obsessed with the concept of perfection in all of its forms. Whether it be immortality or absolute power, he will pursue that ideal with a surprisingly vigorous drive.

Overview
V's godly engineering skills have allowed him to make many humanoid robots, some giant ones, one that can preform surgery, and transformed Little Timmy into a cyborg. He also can control the animal companions, by pressing a button that can knock all of them out except Gravy's boar Boris. The button will also take away the animal's transformation ability.

Engineering
V was able to make a spaceship that was able to travel far past the Moon, a technological feat that few in the world would be able to recreate.

William
Dislikes him.

Verona
V hates his grandson, Verona, for being a disappointment. Although he initially offered the pirate a place at his side, he soon gave up on trying to convince him and decided to destroy him and everything he cares about instead.

Captain Verona
V saw the Marine Captain as a disappointment, but saw her son as an even larger one.

Captain Viridian
V hated his son-in-law, to the point of being possibly involved in his death.

Arzen
V and Arzen have worked together extensively in the past, and they seem to have thought of each other as friends. They were both involved in the human experiments conducted on Marine Lieutenant Rain, and both were, at one point, Brothers of the Aeons. However, following an experiment that Arzen didn't approve of, they had a falling out.

Rain
While Arzen was extracting and studying a blood sample from her, Rain had a brief discussion with V on the subject of immortality. After she left the room with Captain Hastings, V expressed great pleasure at the results of Arzen's investigation and her apparent potential.

History
At some point in the past, V had a daughter named Verona. He worked together with Arzen on several projects, one of them leading them to conduct experiments on a young Marine Lieutenant by the name of Rain on the request of her superior officer, Captain Hastings. Some time after this, the Aeons were formed, and both Arzen and V were given the position of Brother in the organization. However, following an incident involving V constructing something that Arzen deemed too dangerous to ignore and sending it out to space the two got into an argument. The situation escalated into a fight and V left the organization.

In an attempt to gather enough money to get his invention back V then founded the Eight Flames. He recruited Valentine and proceeded to take in Hemlock, Gravy, Cleo, and Blake when they were still children, training them to become assassins for him. At some point, he recruited both the original First Flame and Second Flame. However, the former ended up dying through unknown means and was eventually replaced by Little Timmy while the latter was eventually killed by Tako, who then became the Second Flame. Valentine was already an adult by the time Hemlock was a Flame, so the Eighth is likely much older than Valentine. After engaging in a grueling fight with The Devil's Luck Pirates V is beheaded by the legendary captain William D. Chapston. V dies a death seeing his greatest achievement fulfilled but also had the majority of his work destroyed. However V died a death he was happy with, smiling to the end.

Trivia

 * Rustage has stated in non-One Piece DnD streams that he left enough clues to figure out who the Eighth Flame is in G4 arc and many people did predict this.
 * V may be the oldest human in the series
 * V died with a smile on his face

Quotes

 * "Don't you think it's a shame?... People who have the potential to do so much good in the world can just die like nothing. Humans are such fragile creatures. Doctors and scientists try their best to fix wounds and treat illnesses, but at the end of the day, they are just bandages to delay the inevitable. If you don't fix the root of the problem..." - V to Rain, lamenting his frustration at the limits of humanity