The Eight Flames

The Eight Flames are currently a mercenary group stationed in both the South Blue and the Grand Line, their main base being in the Paradise. Originally led as an assassin group by V, a former Aeon Brother, they could be hired to kill a target for a high price, it is unknown if this is still true under the reformed Eight Flames.

Following the Devil's Luck Pirates' raid on their main base the organization as an independent entity was all but wiped out, save for three members who betrayed their leader and joined the raid force. After travelling with the pirates for a time, two of these members went off on their own in order to re-establish and reform the organization in accordance with their own shared ideals. Joining them were three former members of the Trojan Pirates as well as an infamous independent mercenary. As such, the organization is currently in the process of re-establishing itself as a functional force in the first half of the Grand Line.

The Eight Flames can be currently considered an extension of the Devil's Luck Pirates, with their captain being officially eligible for the position of the Eighth Flame and the Devil's Luck Pirates being overall friends with the flames.

V's Eight Flames Members
The members of the Eight Flames are all dedicated and skilled mercenaries. Most have been trained since childhood. Some of the members possess Devil Fruit powers, and all of them have their own distinct fighting styles and techniques of assassination that they specialize in. With this being the case, the members are all professional infiltrators, manipulators and assassins, being capable of carrying out hits on powerful and well-protected targets, such as a Marine Captain located inside an active government military facility.

Under V's leadership, every member of the organization also possessed an animal companion that they could empower, turning the animal into a larger and more dangerous version of themselves. The exact mechanics behind this as well as the reason why they had pets to begin with are currently unknown, but these animals were apparently created and issued to them by the leader of the organization. However, during the conflict between the Eight Flames and the Devil's Luck Pirates the transformation capabilities of these animals were canceled by V through some unknown method. As such, it is currently unknown exactly what kind of role they will play in the newly reformed Eight Flames.

V's Eight Flames

 * Unknown First Flame (later Little Timmy)
 * Tako (Second Flame)
 * Cleo (Third Flame)
 * Gravy (Fourth Flame)
 * Blake (Fifth Flame)
 * Hemlock (Sixth Flame)
 * Valentine (Seventh Flame)
 * V (Eighth Flame)

Inactive

 * Gravy, left the flames to live a peaceful life. Currently a member of the Devils Luck Pirates.
 * Little Timmy, the previous First Flame. He was killed by V's Flame Golem.
 * Tako, aka Not Steve, the previous Second Flame. He was killed by Ragnar.
 * Cleo, the previous Third Flame. She was killed by Bullet.
 * Valentine, the previous Seventh Flame. He was killed by Duros.
 * V, the previous Eighth and Final Flame. He was killed by William.
 * Hemlock, due to V's death, his eight flames no longer exist, making her inactive by default from V's Eight Flames.
 * Blake, due to V's death, his eight flames no longer exist, making him inactive by default from V's Eight Flames.
 * Skendor, his flame number is unknown but he was sent to kill Captain Hastings and died to a seaking,

Animals

 * An unnamed robot chicken that Little Timmy utilized in combat. Hatches from a chicken egg that Little Timmy carried around.
 * Yaki, a small black octopus that is capable of growing both larger and darker as well as making many tentacles. It was Tako's animal companion and escaped upon Tako's death. Hemlock also noted that Yaki is special among the animal companions that the flames have. Currently with Ragnar.
 * Noodle and Monty are among a pouch of snakes that grow into larger snakes that are owned by Hemlock, the Second Flame.
 * Patty, a gold and black cat who can grow into a massive stripped tiger. The pet of Cleo, the Third Flame.
 * Boris, a boar that possesses the powers of a gravy-based Devil Fruit. He is the companion of the Devil's Luck Pirates' lovable cook Gravy, the Fourth Flame.
 * Blaze, a cute fiery puppy capable of taking the form of a large hell hound that accompanies Blake, the Fifth Flame.
 * An unnamed bat that's coated in some kind of invisible powder. It works with Valentine, the Seventh Flame.
 * Robotic Flame Golem, Robotic Frost Golem, and a multitude of small robots all controlled by V, the Eighth Flame.

Reformed Eight Flames Members
After V's death and the events of the Space Empire Saga, Hemlock and Blake set out to reform the Eight Flames under new leadership.

Active

 * Hemlock (2nd Flame)
 * Blake (5th Flame)

Eligible

 * Bullet (3rd Flame)
 * Ragnar (6th Flame)
 * Duros (7th Flame)
 * William (8th Flame)

Potential Recruits

 * Malaise
 * Humphrey
 * Taurus

Inactive

 * Gravy, left the flames to live a peaceful life. Currently a member of the Devils Luck Pirates.
 * Little Timmy, the previous First Flame. He was killed by V's Flame Golem.
 * Tako, aka Not Steve, the previous Second Flame. He was killed by Ragnar.
 * Cleo, the previous Third Flame. She was killed by Bullet.

Animals

 * Yaki, a small black octopus that is capable of growing both larger and darker as well as making many tentacles. It was Tako's animal companion and escaped upon Tako's death. Hemlock also noted that Yaki is special among the animal companions that the flames have. Currently with Ragnar.
 * Noodle and Monty are among a pouch of snakes that grow into larger snakes that are owned by Hemlock, the Second Flame.
 * Boris, a boar that possesses the powers of a gravy-based Devil Fruit. He is the companion of the Devil's Luck Pirates' lovable cook Gravy, the Fourth Flame.
 * Blaze, a cute fiery puppy capable of taking the form of a large hell hound that accompanies Blake, the Fifth Flame.

The Initiation

 * All that is known about the initiation is that Ragnar would fail it and it is necessary to become a true Flame. Seeing as both Hemlock and Blake seem to have disliked the ritual, it is likely that the practice will be discontinued under their leadership.

Contracts

 * The Eight Flames used take out expensive contracts against people. When someone takes out a contract, the Eight Flame's rule was that the Flames won't attack anyone who took out one of their contracts. It is unknown if this rule is still in place under the reformed Eight Flames.

Known Subjects of Contracts

 * Pellet
 * Boss
 * Captain Verona
 * Verona
 * Captain Hastings

Candles
The Eight Flames can be identified by a small plastic candle that each member carries. These candles are only shown to other members and those that they intend to kill.

Each candle is numbered from 1 to 8 denoting the rank of the member that holds it. The candle marked 8 is held by the leader and most powerful member of the Eight Flames, while the candle marked 1 is held by the weakest member of the Eight Flames. These candles also function as radars to detect other nearby flames, showing their numbers and if they are within a surrounding radius, except for the 8th Flame.

Threat Level
Blake claimed he was 'greatest assassin in the entire Grand Line, except for the people who are above me'. This shows the Flames as a very powerful assassin organization, as all of the Flames ranked 4th and above are about as strong as a marine Captain, with Valentine who consumed a Logia, being even stronger. It's very unlikely that they're better than the best assassins in the New World, but after demonstrating their power they appear to be the strongest in Paradise. Their power mostly comes from their V, as he produced their pets which have special abilities and trained most of the Flames from birth. However, after V was overthrown, the Flames have become much weaker, killing off their strongest members. But in return they received the backing of the Devil's Luck Pirates, which is likely a greater boon. Excluding the Devil's Luck Pirates, the Flames are a shadow of their former selves, but now have the chance to reform with new members with new strengths, along with their teamwork skills being vastly improved.

Trivia

 * Members of the organization are sometimes unofficially called "Candles" due to their use of candles to signify their status.
 * Contrary to most anime, the strongest member of the Eight Flames has the highest number and not the lowest.
 * Boris is the only animal companion of a Candle to have a Devil Fruit power.
 * Valentine is the only member of the original Eight Flames to have eaten a Devil Fruit.
 * The names of several original members constitute a pun of some sort.
 * "Little Timmy" is a colloquial term often used in English-speaking countries (specifically the USA) to refer to a small boy.
 * When combined with the name of his pet octopus, Yaki, Tako's name spells out "takoyaki", which is a popular Japanese dish containing octopus as a primary ingredient.
 * When combined with the name of her pet cat, Patty, Cleo's name spells out "Cleopatty", a reference to the famous Ancient Egyptian female Pharaoh of the late Ptolemaic Dynasty, Cleopatra VII.
 * Gravy's name literally means a sauce made by mixing the fat and juices exuded by meat during cooking with stock and other ingredients. This is a fitting name for a cook.
 * Hemlock's name is also the word used to refer to a certain highly poisonous species of plant (Conium maculatum), alluding to her favourite method of assassination as well as her plant-themed attire.
 * Out of all known hits taken out by the flames they have a 60% success rate.