Characters / One Piece: Wano - Kozuki Clan And Allies

All spoilers regarding the Super Rookies era are unmarked. New World spoilers are unmarked in character descriptions, and examples relating to the New World era can be spoiler-tagged if deemed necessary.

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Main Character Index > Inhabitants > Blue Seas (East Blue Pirate Crews) | Paradise | Sky People | Fish-Man Island | New World (Wano [Kozuki Clan | Kozuki Oden])

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Kozuki Clan

Kozuki Clan crest

The Kozuki Clan is a formerly powerful family that once ruled over the Land of Wano until eighteen years before the beginning of the story. The only surviving members are Kozuki Oden's children, Momonosuke and Hiyori.They are notoriously the clan who created the Ponegliffs, and the ability to read them is passed down to every generation. The Kozuki Clan becomes a major focus of the Wano Saga, as they and their retainers and allies try to take power back from the corrupt Kurozumi Clan.

In General

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• Arc Symbol: The Kozuki Clan symbol first appears at the end of the Punk Hazard arc on Kin'emon's back, showing his devotion to the clan, then, in the Zou arc, it's revealed to have been inside the Claw Forest's Whale Tree for hundreds of years, since the Mink Tribe has a past history witht the Kozuki, the symbol gains full relevance to the main plot in the Wano arc.
• Despair Event Horizon: Kozuki supporters imprisoned in Udon have had their spirit beaten out of them, that they willingly restrain Luffy despite rooting for him as they believe they no longer have any hope left even if they break out. Luckily, Luffy breaks them out of this.
• Edible Theme Naming: Certain names within the Kozuki clan are named after food. Kozuki Oden and his father, Kozuki Sukiyaki are named after Japanese soup dishes, Oden and Sukiyaki respectively. With the various allusions to Momotarō, Kozuki Momosuke is obviously named after the titular hero whose name translates to "Peach Boy". The family name, Kozuki means moonlight but if the "o" sound is shortened, it can mean red bean. The Akazaya Nine that serves the family is called Akazaya in the original Japanese, which roughly means red scabbard/sheath. However, there is also a type of food called Akazaya Mochi, which is a red bean paste in baked mochi.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Kozuki Toki used her Devil Fruit power to send Momonosuke, Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Raizo, and Kiku 20 years into the future.
• Heroes With Bad Publicity: Combined with Written by the Winners. The Kozuki clan is made out to be villains of the land with schools teaching their students that them trying to open the gates to foreigners was a heinous act and that Orochi is considered a "hero" for stopping them. Still, there are some rebels who don't believe Orochi's lies and are waiting for the return of the Kozuki clan.
• Holding Out for a Hero: Oden saw something during his journeys that convinced him a figure awaited by the world would appear 800 years after the end of the Void Century and 20 years after his execution, and Wano should open its borders to work with this figure. Toki used her powers to send Momonosuke and some retainers 20 years into the future to when this figure would appear and since then, the Kozuki supporters have been trying to take the country and welcome this figure.
• Lost Language: The Kozuki Clan passed down knowledge of the ancient letters on the Poneglyphs from generation to generation unbeknownst to the World Government because of Wano's isolation. Unfortunately, Oden was murdered by Kaido and Orochi before he could pass down his knowledge to Momonosuke, leaving Robin as the last person alive capable of reading the Poneglyphs. It's later revealed that Sukiyaki is still alive, and he can read the language, being the one to have passed down the knowledge to Oden in the first place.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Subverted. When Luffy joins Law in Wano, the latter shows him the Kozuki Family and its servants' graves and explains they can only come out once the sun is set. It's actually revealed the latter is true because Kin'emon suffers diarrhea during the day, while the graves are there because they are believed to be dead, but they've actually traveled twenty years into the future. Luffy then yells at Law for being so misleading.
• Time Travel: Momonosuke, Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Raizo, and Kiku come from the Wano of 20 years ago, when it was conquered by Kaido and Orochi, and were sent forward in time to the present day by Toki, Momonosuke's mother, via her Devil Fruit powers. Thus, to them, the deaths of Oden and his wife, the destruction of Oden Castle, and the conquering of Wano feels like it took place mere months ago rather than two decades ago.
• Ultimate Blacksmith: The clan is renown for their stonemasonry. The Sea Prism stone can only be refined into ammunition in Wano, and they are also the ones who crafted the indestructible Ponegliffs for the Ancient Kingdom many centuries ago.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Kozukis were the ones who closed the borders of Wano 800 years before the beginning of the story, which caused the Land of Wano to grow detached from the rest of the world, but it was to protect Wano from a strong power.

Clan Members

Kozuki Sukiyaki

Kozuki Sukiyaki

Voiced by: Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (JP), John Burgmeier (EN)

Debut: Chapter 960 (Manga), Episode 960 (Anime)

Kozuki Sukiyaki is the former shogun of Wano Country. He is the father of the late Daimyo of Kuri, Kozuki Oden, as well as the grandfather of current Shogun Kozuki Momonosuke and Hiyori.

Sukiyaki appeared to be a strict and fair ruler, as he was willing to disown and exile his own son, Oden, for his violent actions. Shimotsuki Yasuie believed this was simply a sign of Sukiyaki's tough love for his son and a way to get him to mend his ways, though Oden did not actually resent his father for banishing him. He appeared to be exhausted by and ashamed of his son's ways, calling them demonic. Sukiyaki also seemed to appreciate order, as while he was not bold enough to attempt to establish order in Kuri himself due to how violent it was, he rewarded Oden with the title of Daimyo when he brought peace to the lawless region. In their last meeting, Sukiyaki was surprised and very proud of his son for maturing when becoming a Daimyo, saying that Oden has become a great man. Around three decades before the present day, he was deposed from the shogunate and killed by Orochi, who took his position.

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• As You Know: In his introduction Sukiyaki is given a report about his son's entire life, by a servant. Sukiyaki himself asks the servant why is he listing stuff he's already aware of.
• Driven to Suicide: Once he escapes his imprisonment and learning of his son's death and Wano's polution, Sukiyaki was consisidering committing Sepuku to atone for everything. He decided to go into hiding, disguising himself as Teguyama Hitetsu till Toki's prophecy came to pass.
• Foreshadowing: There are some hints that he's still alive:
  • His introduction as Tenguyama Hitetsu reveals he is a collector of wooden dolls. When Brook is in the castle looking for the Ponygliph, he finds some in a basement.
  • When Oden demands Orochi tell if he really killed his father, Orochi just smiles and says nothing. Since Orochi didn't tell him on how he died hints Sukiyaki is still alive.
• The Good King: While he's rarely shown performing any action as a shogun, after his death the inhabitants of Wano mourn him, meaning he has been a good ruler.
• It's All My Fault: He blames himself for the death of his son, Wano's desolation, and the persecution of his grandchildren to the point he refuses to reveal himself to Momo or Hiyori. After Wano is liberated, however, he shows himself to his grandchildren.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: It turns out that he did not die of an illness as publicly claimed, but rather the Kurozumis imprisoned him so they could impersonate him and legally pass the title of Shogun to Orochi.
• Mr. Exposition: After he reveals to Robin his true identity, he shows her (and the audience) where the Road Poneglyph and Pluton are located. Then he shows her the old Land of Wano and explains its history.
• Outliving One's Offspring: It is revealed that Sukiyaki never died during Oden's time out in the seas and in reality he has been secretly imprisoned by Orochi and his allies. By the time he escaped, Oden is long dead himself.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: After the Onigashima raid and the defeat of Kaido's forces, it's revealed that he was not actually killed to pave Orochi's rise to power, but was actually imprisoned within the royal castle in the same room where Wano's Poneglyph is stored for decades, managing to eventually escape after decades had passed, long after Oden had passed on and Wano had devolved into a hellhole outside the capital under Orochi's rule. Feeling responsible for all that had transpired and not being able to prevent the cruelties Orochi inflicted, he reinvented himself under the identity of Tenguyama Hitetsu and took to living in the outskirts as a swordsmith from his old hobby of making swords.
• Soap Opera Disease: Sukiyaki fell terribly sick of some sort of illness and died while Oden was sailing the seas. It's later revealed to be a cover up for his imprisonment in the palace by the Kurozumis.
• So Proud of You: Sukiyaki banishes his son, Oden, from the Flower Capital for all the troubles he caused but, once Oden comes back two years later as a mature person, Sukiyaki proudly makes him the daimyo of Kuri.
• Tough Love: He exiles and disowns Oden due to his outrageous actions, believing him to be too unruly to be his heir, but he never stops loving his son and welcomes him back after Oden matured and turned the lawless region Kuri into a paradise for the citizens.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He unknowingly sows the seeds for Orochi's takeover after giving the latter a job at Oden's castle.

Kozuki Oden

See his page

Kozuki Toki

Kozuki Toki née Amatsuki

Voiced by: Keiko Han (JP), Scarlett McAlister (EN)

Age: 36

Debut: Chapter 964 (Manga), Episode 893 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Time-Time Fruit

"Standing before his burning castle in her dying moments 20 years ago, Oden's wife spoke thus... "You are the moon unaware of the dawn. May your purpose be fulfilled and cast nine shadows on the night woven of 20 years and you shall know the brilliance of the dawn.""

—Kyoshiro (Chapter 919)

Kozuki Toki, born Amatsuki, was the wife of the Daimyo of Kuri, Kozuki Oden, and the mother of Momonosuke and Hiyori. She was born around 830 years before the present day. By the time she was 26 years old, she jumped forward in time with her Devil Fruit ability and arrived to 30 years before the present when she met Oden and stayed with him for 10 years, until he was executed and she was killed during the destruction of Oden Castle, after saving her son and his retainers. She's the previous user of the Time-Time Fruit (Toki Toki no Mi), which allows her to travel forward through time.

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• Anger Born of Worry: Toki has a bit of a short temper, but she only got angry at Oden twice:
  • When she threatened to divorce Oden so that he continues the journey to the last island. Toki got sick and was forced to return to Wano in the middle of their voyage with Roger, and Oden wanted to abandon his dream of going to the last island and instead go back to Wano with Toki and their children, so Toki had to threaten to divorce Oden to force him to continue the journey to the last island.
  • When Oden told◊ her to use her Time devil fruit ability to jump 20 years into the future because he thought that she's still searching for something, so she covered his mouth before he could finish the sentence, as she has already found what she was looking for, which is Oden.
• Big Damn Reunion: Upon Oden's return to Wano, Toki and her children were overjoyed to see him again◊, and so was he.
• Cry into Chest: Does this when◊ Oden comforted her.
• Face Death with Dignity: Toki faces her end gracefully, choosing not to use her powers to save herself from the crumbling ruins of her castle but instead dying the same day her husband does. She spends her last moment to leave a prophecy for he Kozuki rebellion.
• Fling a Light into the Future: She used her Time-Time Fruit powers to send her son and his retainers into the future to save them from Kaido.
• Happily Married: With Oden. Especially prominent given how it's heavily implied she was born in the distant past and used her powers to skip through time. In a flashback, we see how they met (in a mutual Rescue Romance) and how they fell in love. It's special enough that the Whitebeard Pirates found it adorable.
• Loved by All: Unlike Oden, whose retainers criticised for having continued his journey, Toki was loved by everyone in Wano because of her kindness and altruism. She went into town and helped the people with their work, and told exciting tales of Oden's adventures. She and her children became beloved figures in Kuri and it's thanks to that, that the number of people who disparage Oden's willful ways, has dwindled down to nothing during his absence.
• Meaningful Name: In the most literal way possible. It means Crested Ibis, keeping in line with the bird theme naming of female characters in One Piece, but also reflect her abilities granted by the Time-Time Fruit (literally Toki Toki no Mi in the original Japanese), which allowed her to travel to the future or send people in the future.
• Missing Mom: To Momonosuke and Hiyori. After Oden was killed, 20 years before the events of Wano, she said her fate was to die alongside him, so she sent Momonosuke to the future with others retainers and ordered Kawamatsu to run away with Hiyori while Toki remained to die.
• Mysterious Past: Her past before her debut is still unknown. Where she came from, why she wanted to go to Wano, and her implied knowledge of world's mysterious past have not yet been explored.
• Opposites Attract: Toki generally runs away from dangerous situations (sometimes by time-travel) meanwhile, Oden tends to cause trouble and gleefully engages in fighting whenever it comes up. Furthermore Oden wants nothing more than to leave Wano and explore the world beyond while Toki has always dreamed of visiting Wano, because it's where her parents came from, and asks Oden (and Whitebeard) to take her there, much to their disbelief. Despite so many differences between them, it's been stated that the marriage between Toki and Oden is a very happy one, and Toki chooses to die with her husband rather than to escape again.
• Our Time Travel Is Different: The Time-Time Fruit does allow the user and people they select to travel through time, but only going forward. Going back in time is impossible. Beyond this, it's unknown if the Time-Time Fruit grants any other abilities (since she's deceased by the present story and we havn't seen her use any other abilities).
• Posthumous Character: She was killed twenty years before the events of the Wano Arc, but not before sending Momonosuke, Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Raizou and Kikunojo twenty years into the future and telling a prophecy.
• The Prophecy: Before her death, Toki related a prophecy that predicted the arrival of nine strong warriors who would bring an end to Orochi's reign twenty years in the future. It helps that she sent her son, Momonosuke, and four retainers twenty years in the future with her Time-Time Fruit.
• Really 700 Years Old: Technically speaking, when she met Oden, Toki was 26-years-old, but was actually born 800 years before and traveled through time with the Time-Time Fruit. When she explains this, everyone laughs and nobody believes her.
• Rescue Romance: A rare example that goes both ways. Oden and she met when he followed her cries after letting go off the chain attached to the Moby Dick, which he he has held onto due to Whitebeard's challenge, for nearly 3 full days. Oden scares the bandits who were trying to capture Toki away because of his overinflated body after having absorbed too much water, and she treated him afterwards. During their voyage with the Whitebeard Pirates, they ended up falling for each other pretty quickly and eventually had two children.
• Statuesque Stunner: Though it’s hard to tell when she’s next to her literally 12-foot-tall husband, Toki herself stood a whopping 190 cm (6’3”), easily taller than the average woman- and she had the beauty to complement her height, to boot. Curiously, her daughter Hiyori inherited her looks but not her height, being only average sized herself.
• Taking the Bullet: Offscreen, when Orochi sent people after her and her kids, she protected them from a volley of arrows with her body, taking an arrow to the leg in the process.

Kozuki Momonosuke

Kozuki Momonosuke

Voiced by: Ai Orikasa (child), Hiro Shimono (adult) (JP), Corinne Sudberg (child), Justin Briner (adult) (EN)

Age: 8 (Mentally), 28 (Physically), (Post-Chapter 1023)

Debut: Chapter 684 (Manga), Episode 609 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Artificial Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon

^{Click here to see his dragon form}

^{Click here to see Momonosuke as an adult}

"Momo is a name that means second to none!! My name is Kozuki Momonosuke!!! The man who will be shogun of Wano!!!"

-Chapter 986

Initially presented as Kin'emon's son, brought with the other children to Punk Hazard to be experimented on by Caesar Clown. He hid after accidentally eating an imperfect, man-made Devil Fruit made by Vegapunk and turned into a little eastern dragon as a result. Later, it’s revealed that he and Kin’emon aren’t actually father and son, but master and retainer, and that Momonosuke's real father is Kozuki Oden, the deceased Daimyo of Wano's Kuri region. Both of his parents were slain by Kaido, and Momonosuke and his retainers are now on the run from the Animal Kingdom Pirates who have usurped the throne. He also has the mysterious power to hear the voice of all things.

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• Acrophobic Bird: Despite having the ability to turn into a dragon and fly, Momonosuke is hesitant to use this ability. When he meets Luffy in a junk-pit, the latter asks him if he could simply fly away to escape, but Momonosuke is too hesitant and flies only after being called a "coward". This fear originates from Kaido's attempt to toss Momonosuke from the Kozuki palace 20 years before. Ironically, even when he asks Shinobu to age him up to fly Luffy back to Onigashima to help him get back in the fight with Kaido, Luffy has to prod him to do it, and Momo does it with his eyes closed, slamming through multiple rooms of the castle in the process on the way to the roof.
• Barbarian Longhair: Sports a glorious long wild mane of black hair as an adult, just like his father.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Apparently comes with being a Kid Samurai. He quickly gets on the male Straw Hats' nerves but puts up a cute and innocent façade to stay in the female Straw Hats' graces.
• Breath Weapon: While facing off against Admiral Ryokugyu, Momonosuke becomes a dragon and fires off his own version of the Blast Breath. Lacking Kaido's experience, at first he only spits a small flame that does nothing but his second attempt is strong enough to even hurt Aramaki and cause the Admiral to visibly panic.
• Cassandra Truth: He nonchalantly tells the Straw Hats that he met Roger, despite Roger dying some 16 years before Momonosuke was, supposedly, even born, so the statement is immediately dismissed as a childish lie. Then comes The Reveal that Momonosuke and his retainers jumped forward in time 20 years, meaning it is possible he met Roger at the age of four or younger. Another flashback reveals Hiyori and he weren't even born in Wano but on Whitebeard's ship and indeed during the travels, they had came across Roger.
• Character Development: When Luffy meets Momonosuke, he's a scared little kid who backs from every stranger he meets, Luffy himself mocks him for being a such a coward and Kaido can't believe a kid like him is Oden's son. However, in Wano, Momonosuke faces many hardships like being kidnapped and almost executed which forces him to become braver and more mature, culminating when he proudly declares his name in front of everyone, right when he's about to be executed. The maturity he achieved is visually represented by his rapid aging, thanks to Shinobu's fruit, which forces Luffy to recognize Momonosuke's growth.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Because Oden died, Momonosuke is the new legitimate shogun of Wano, but he's still an eight year old kid. The pressure of being the future shogun at such young age sometimes unnerves him, especially when compared to his father. Subverted towards the climax of the Wano arc when Momonosuke decides to have Shinobu use her Ripe-Ripe fruit to age him into a young man's form, in turn aging his dragon form into an exact duplicate of Kaido's own, so that he can bring Luffy back to Onigashima before it collapses on the Flower Capital. Shinobu tearfully points out that this is purely a physical change, and Momo will still have the mind of a child in the body of an older man, but the power-up proves necessary for him to face off with Kaido alongside Luffy and Yamato.
• Color Motifs: Momonosuke's main color is pink. He wears a pink kimono, he can transform into a pink-scaled dragon, and the "momo" in his name comes from the Japanese word for pink.
• Crucified Hero Shot: After being kidnapped by Kanjuro and brought to Orochi, the latter decides to publically execute him to end the Kozuki clan dynasty in front of everyone. When Momonosuke reappears, he's tied to a cross over a balcony and the samurai who see him are horrified but they can't do anything to save him because they'd be busted.
• Determinator: Momonosuke spent ten days without eating anything at all, aside from the above Devil Fruit, claiming that "Samurai don't get hungry". This claim is reflected by the samurai prisoners at Onigashima in Yamato's flashback, who give the food to Yamato and starve.
• Defiant to the End: When Kaido gives him the opportunity to disclaim that he's Oden's son and spare himself from execution, Momo proudly proclaims that he's indeed Kozuki Momonosuke, the man who will be the Shogun of Wano. He thinks to himself that if he's going to die, at the very least, he'll now be able to face his parents in the afterlife with pride, and his only regret is not being able to see his sister again. Luckily for him, the Akazaya Nine are able to get to the stage in time to rush Kaido.
• Dirty Kid: Momonosuke uses his cuteness to get away with hogging the Straw Hat ladies' breasts and get to sleep in the ladies' bedroom with them and to protect himself from the insanely jealous Sanji, Brook, and Kin'emon while taunting them by hogging Nami's breasts. This is a trait he inherited from his father, Oden, who, when he was even younger, spent a lot of time and money at the red lights district. To Sanji and Brook's delight, he loses his kid-looking appeal upon aging into an adult and Nami punches him when he tries to use the same schtick.
• Effective Knockoff: While Momonosuke's Artificial Fruit was deemed a failure by the World Government and Momonosuke does have issues with controlling its powers such as Involuntary Shapeshifting, it's still much less harmful to him than SMILE's are to their Users in comparison. In truth, the Fruit itself is in fact a functionally perfect copy and any issues are due to Momonosuke's own young age and inexperience. Rather, the only reason Vegapunk deemed it a failure is that the User's dragon form ends up pink, rather than azure like the original Devil Fruit.
• Fairytale Motifs: The "momo" in his name refers to the tale of Momotaro, an old Japanese fairy tale about a boy who was born from a peach and went on to become a great samurai.
• Foil: To Yamato
  • Momo is the son of Oden while Yamato is the son of Kaido, and as such they have decidedly opposite personalities and character arcs. Momo is rather mature despite being an 8 year old child while Yamato is rather childish despite being a 28 year old adult. That said, Yamato has much of the courage that Momo lacks, as shown in chapter 1043 when Yamato inspires Momo to keep fighting. Momo's arc revolves around accepting his role as shogun while Yamato's arc revolves around rejecting that same role. Momo wants to be seen as something other than just Oden's heir while Yamato wants to be Oden in the most literal sense.
  • Momo and Yamato both inherited Oden's will, albeit in completely different ways. Momo takes after Oden at the end of this life, wanting to lead Wano as its shogun. Yamato, on the other hand, takes after Oden at the start of his life, wanting to set out to sea and go on adventures. Yamato and Momo having two different ideas on the kind of man Oden was can largely be attributed to how they knew him. Momo knew Oden as the wise, patient man who was his father while Yamato knew Oden as a bold adventurer from his writings. Yamato and Momo both gave up 20 years of their lives for Oden's ideals, but once again in completely different ways. The fact that they gave up the exact same span of their lives and are both the sage age drives this home even further.
  • This is even reflected in their Devil Fruits. Yamato has the fruit of Wano's guardian diety while Momo has the fruit of Wano's oppressor.
• Giant Flyer: Invoked. After being knocked down from Onigashima, Luffy asks Momonosuke to carry him on the floating island. Since his dragon form is too small and weak, Momonosuke asks Shinobu to age him of twenty years so that he can help Luffy. As an adult, his dragon form is as large as Kaido's.
• Good Counterpart: Their similar Devil Fruit and Dragon Form makes Momonosuke a foil to Kaido. Both become dragons whose only difference, after Momonosuke ages up, is their color, to the point that many people initially mistake him for Kaido but, while Kaido supports Orochi and his tyranny, and would gladly turn Wano into a pirate paradise, Momonosuke represents the good and rightful king and wants to free Wano.
• The Good King: Right after becoming shogun, Momonosuke shows he cares for his citizens and is wise enough to not immediately open Wano's borders and make it vulnerable to the World Government's influence.
• Grew a Spine: Initially, Momonosuke is an easily scared kid who has to live in the shadow of his father, Kozuki Oden, who was a very strong and fearless warrior. Momo himself has to admit how much he hates that he cannot live up to his father. During the third act of Wano, however, Momo slowly becomes braver. First he attempts to escape from Kanjuro, but is caught and beaten up for it. Momonosuke then culminates his Character Development when, while tied to a stake to be executed, he proudly declares himself to be a Kozuki, even if it would cost his life.
• Harmful to Minors: He's been terrified of Doflamingo ever since he saw him brutally torturing a gladiator for not killing his opponent and, previously, he even saw his mansion burned down by Kaido. The latter left Momonosuke traumatised at the idea of just encountering Kaido, but slowly and gradually overcomes this fear.
• He's All Grown Up: Once Momonosuke becomes an adult with Shinobu's Ripe Ripe fruit ability, his dragon form goes from being an harmless human-sized chinese dragon to a giant dragon that rivals Kaido's dragon form. The change is so drastic many people, upon seeing him, initially mistake him for Kaido despite being pink instead of azure.
• Holding Out for a Hero: Inverted. After Luffy defeats Kaido, Momonosuke is aware that the Straw Hats have to leave Wano and can't remain to protect it, so he confronts Admiral Ryokugyu alone to prove that his country can defend itself without help.
• Honor Before Reason: When stuck on Punk Hazard with all the other captive children, he refuses any of their food or generosity out of his stubborn "samurai pride". He starves himself so badly that he seeks out and eats a Devil Fruit.
• Honorary True Companion: By the end of the Wano arc, after traveling with the crew through Punk Hazard, Dressrosa, Zou and Wano, Luffy calls Momonosuke both an honorary Straw Hat and a little brother, gifting him the Straw Hat flag and officially declaring Wano to be the first territory under Straw Hat's protection. Alongside Yamato and Kin'emon, Luffy says he'll pick them up and have them on his crew when they're ready to sail the seas.
• Hope Bringer: Even after successfully liberating the Udon prisoners, they are still skeptical of the prophecy and how the crew comes from the past. It is only after they see the still-young Momonosuke that they believe the prophecy fully and decide to join the cause. When Kanjuro brings Momonosuke to Onigashima, Kaido wants to publicly execute the kid with the intention to destroy his enemies' morale.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Momonosuke doesn't know how to control his devil fruit power and shifts from human to dragon form without realizing it. The first time he flies to transport Luffy outside the hole they found each other, Momonosuke claims to not even remember it. At Onigashima, when he has to stop the island from falling on the Flower Capital, Momonosuke doesn't even know that he can create clouds and needs Yamato to explain him how his devil fruit works.
• I Am Not Weasel: When Luffy first meets Momonosuke, his dragon form is such small that he mistakes it for an eel, while Momonosuke angrily corrects him that he's a dragon. Luffy still keeps calling Momonosuke "eel" because of his small size and mocks his lack of courage but recognize Momonosuke as a dragon when, after being aged up, his dragon form becomes gigantic.
• Inelegant Blubbering: When Luffy is about to leave Wano, Momonosuke cries and begs for him to remain. The clumsy way he cries, despite being the new shogun and a young adult, shows that he's still a child on the inside.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Momonosuke insists on several occasions that he is a very important person and should be treated as such, but usually stops bothering after a while, like when he initially calls out Tama for being rude by addressing him as just "Momo", but doesn't take very long to accept both her and Luffy treating him as equals. It seems he's mostly just trying to act important in an attempt to live up the role he knows he's supposed to play as the heir to his family, but he's very aware of his shortcomings; when Kanjuro mocks him for just being a powerless coward despite ostensibly leading the Kozuki rebellion, Momo admits that he knows, better than anyone else, how short he falls of living up to his father Oden's legacy.
• Instant Expert: Downplayed. Forced by dramatic circumstances, Momonosuke has to learn how to use his powers, such as flying and creating clouds, in a very short time, but his first attempts are clunky at best. Notably, after a first failed attempt, he quickly figures out how to shoot a Blast Breath as strong as Kaido's, which shocks Admiral Ryokugyu.
• Involuntary Shapeshifting: Driven by hunger, Momonosuke ate an artificial Devil Fruit and got turned into a Dragon, but has no idea how to control the transformation, keeping him into a dragon form. He manages turns back to normal at the hand of the Punk Hazard arc after learning about Kin'emon's (supposed) death and afterwards he keep switching between human and dragon forms until he learns how to control it during the Wano Arc.
• Irony: While stuck in Punk Hazard, driven by hunger, Momonosuke ate an artificial Devil Fruit that gives him the ability to become an Eastern Dragon, just like Kaido, the man who murdered his mother and father and who is the possessor of the actual Devil Fruit, although a pink-colored one instead of azure-colored. During the Onigashima War, in chapter 1007, an agent of CP0 discusses that the artificial devil fruit Momonosuke ate was made using the Lineage Factor of Kaido himself, essentially meaning he ate a near-copy of Kaido's own Devil Fruit, produced by the very man who killed his father. And indeed, once he is aged up by Shinobu's power, his dragon form greatly resembles Kaido's. So much so that the Hearts Pirates initially mistake him for the Pirate Emperor until Luffy reveals otherwise..
• Kid Samurai: Comes with being the son of a legendary, great samurai. Although he doesn't have any combat ability in swordsmanship, he inherited one of his father's legendary swords, Ame no Habakiri. Momo often trains with a wooden sword before being aged up, and Yamato tells him that he's sure that Momo will be the Number One Samurai in Wano someday, to which Momo replies that he will do give it his all to make that come true.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Played for laughs. At the end of the Punk Hazard arc, Momo takes advantage of his youth to get away with perving on Nami and Robin, while teasing Sanji and Brook for not being able to do the same. In Wano, when he becomes an adult he gets hit by Nami for doing what he did before. Brook and Sanji even note that his youth privileges have been revoked and delight in him being hit like they would have for being a pervert.
• Like Father, Like Son: Despite being only eight years old, Momonosuke is already a big pervert, and fakes being innocent and naive to sleep (literally) with the beautiful Nami and Robin. His precocious perversion comes from his father, Oden, who regularly visited the red light district when he was even younger than Momonosuke and wasted the palace's money in the pleasure halls, as well as formed a harem as a teenager.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Although Momo inherited his perversion from his father and looks just like him now, Oden and Momo couldn't be more different when it comes personality and strength wise. While Oden attracted women even as a teenager, Momo throws himself at them. Oden was born with superhuman strength, while Momo is weak combat wise. And while Oden is completely confident in himself and his capabilities, Momo lacks courage and needs others to encourage him. Still, Momo was shown to step up from time to time due to what he went through in the Wano Arc, becoming more brave and mature, and still has lots of time for growth.
• Living MacGuffin: Being the heir of the Kozuki clan, that created the Poneglyphs, makes Momonosuke extremely valuable and, during the Dressrosa arc, he's one of the people Doflamingo aims to capture, alongside Caesar Clown and Law. During the Onigashima War, Shinobu, Yamato and Kin'emon fight with tooth and nail to protect the boy from Kaido's subordinates. Yamato also states that Momonosuke's survival is vital for the future of the world.
• Make an Example of Them: Since Momonosuke is the last heir of Kozuki Oden, when Kanjuro brings Momonosuke to Orochi, the latter plans to publicly crucify the kid and show everyone the end of the Kozuki Clan.
• Meaningful Name: The "momo" in his name comes from the Japanese word for pink, which is reflected by his dragon form being mostly pink. His name also refers to the tale of Momotaro, an old Japanese fairy tale about a boy who was born from a peach and went on to become a great samurai. When he gets hit by Jola's powers, his head humorously changes into a peach shape.
• Not Afraid of You Anymore: Luffy helps Momonosuke surpass his trauma that made him afraid of Kaido. He orders him to bite Kaido and then asks him if he's still afraid of him, over which Momo replies "No".
• Not Quite Flight: As a dragon, Momonosuke can "fly" by grabbing clouds he produces.
• Our Dragons Are Different: When lost at Punk Hazard, out of hunger, Momonosuke ate an artificial Devil Fruit that gave him the ability to turn into an eastern dragon. Being a kid, his dragon form is small and pink. Luffy mistakes him for the user of the "Eel Eel" Fruit. Said Devil Fruit was produced by Vegapunk using Kaido's own DNA.
• Performance Anxiety: Justified. Since he still has the mind of a child, Momonosuke is a bit shaken when he has to make his first speech as the new shogun in front of everyone, and asks Kin'emon for some help.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Momonosuke's Devil Fruit is extremely powerful, just like Kaido's. When he masters Blast Breath, he shoots multiple attacks at once, burning to the ground an entire forest created by Admiral Aramaki.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: When it looks like Luffy is departing from Wano without saying goodbye to Momonosuke and Kin'emon, the new shogun furiously rushes over to the Thousand Sunny and... quickly turns to Inelegant Blubbering as he thanks Luffy for avenging his parents and begs him to not leave. Luffy says that, although he sees Momo as weakling, he's like a little brother and an honorary crew member to Luffy, so he gifts him a Straw Hat Pirates flag both as a reminder of his seafaring adventures and as a warning against any threats to Wano.
• Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Invoked: To help Luffy reach Onigashima before it collapses on the Flower Capital, Momonosuke asks Shinobu to age him twenty years so that his dragon form would be strong enough to carry Luffy. Shinobu warns him that it's irreversible if he goes through with it, meaning he'll lose his childhood, but he goes along with the plan as the situation is too critical by this point.
• Real Men Don't Cry: When Momo is about to be killed by Kaido, he tries to be brave and not cry because he believes he's now a man and that a man shouldn't cry. However, he's still an eight year old kid and cannot contain his tears.
• Really Royalty Reveal: During the Zou arc, Kin'emon reveals that he's not Momonosuke's father but one of his retainers, and they simply play that role in order to keep a lower profile while traveling to foreign countries. In truth, Momonosuke's deceased father was the ruler of the Kozuki clan of the Land of Wano, and Momo is the heir to his throne.
• Rightful King Returns: After over twenty years of Orochi's tyranny which turned Wano into a living hell for its citizens, Momonosuke, with the help of the Straw Hat Pirates and many allies that kill Orochi and defeat Kaido, becomes the new shogun, restoring the Kozuki clan to the throne. Everyone in Wano cheers for the return of the Kozukis and Orochi's death.
• Shoddy Knockoff Product: Subverted. While Momonosuke's Artificial Fruit was deemed a failure by the World Government and Momonosuke does have issues with controlling its powers such as Involuntary Shapeshifting, it's still much less harmful to him than SMILE's are to their Users in comparison. In truth, the Fruit itself is in fact a functionally perfect copy and any issues are due to Momonosuke's own young age and inexperience. Rather, the only reason Vegapunk deemed it a failure is that the User's dragon form ends up pink, rather than azure like the original Devil Fruit.
• Strong Family Resemblance: After Shinobu ages Momonosuke up by twenty years with her devil fruit powers, she begins crying, implying he's very similar to Oden, his deceased father. When Momonosuke's adult appearance is revealed, he looks just like Oden, having a similar facial stucture as well as the same long and wild mane of black hair, although Momo's hair is not styled on the top of his head, being unkempt everywhere, and he lacks any facial hair. Yamato says that Momo is Oden on the outside, lampshading the similarity by putting a plate on his head to mimic Oden's hairstyle. In Road to Laughtale Part 1, which contains Oda's previously unseen rough sketches and storyboards that did not make it into the final work, the resemblance between Oden and Momo's adult design is emphasized.
• Super-Toughness: He accidentally destroys a good part of Kaido's castle in his adult dragon form by flying directly through it and the only thing that bothers him is the debris that could get into his eyes. It's stated that only something on Kaido or Big Mom's level can hurt him in this form, and whilst he's not quite as durable as Kaido due to lacking his additional defences from Conqueror's Haki, he's nonetheless non-reactive to any obstacles or attacks not launched by an emperor at him. This even applies to his human form since he inherited his father's strong body.
• Tears of Fear: As expected from an eight year old kid, Momonosuke can't help but cry when Kaido is about to execute him, even if he's trying to remain strong.
• This Is Unforgivable!: When Luffy leaves Wano without apparently saying goodbye to Momonosuke, the latter is furious and believes that this is an outrage towards him, the new shogun. He charges, alongside Kin'emon and Yamato, to execute Luffy. When he reaches him, instead of being angry, Momonosuke cries like a child and begs Luffy to not leave him. Luffy was actually waiting for him to give him his flag and place Wano under his protection.
• Took a Level in Badass: Momonosuke goes from being a weak, ineffectual Tagalong Kid to a ginormous firebreathing dragon by the end of the Wano Country arc, Momonsuke sure has grown. In chapter 1055, he gains access to Kaido's devastating Blast Breath technique and actually hurt Admiral Ryokugyu, who supposedly developed a resistance to fire! Although Ryokugyu is able to near-instantly recover, it's still a very impressive showing.
• Trauma Button: Just hearing or thinking about Doflamingo causes him to get so scared that he loses control of his Devil Fruit powers; this is even a plot point the first time it happens onscreen, as it causes him to fly out of the trash bin he and Luffy are stuck in; though Momonosuke completely forgets about that flight later. This is due to him witnessing Doflamingo brutally torturing a gladiator firsthand. Notably, Doflamingo wasn't aware Momonosuke was nearby or trying to intimidate him in any way, he was just so insane that Momonosuke suffered traumatic hallucinations of him in his hunger-delirium from that brief demonstration of the Warlord's viciousness.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Once he ages up into an adult, his dragon form ages up with him, effectively granting Momonosuke access to the same fearsome abilities and toughness that helped make Kaido such a renowned force in combat, but since he's mentally still just a child— and moreover, never really trained with his Devil Fruit powers in combat due to his baby dragon form not really being useful in a fight— he has little to no idea what he's doing or how to use the same abilities Kaido has long since mastered. He's tough enough to smash straight through Onigashima castle like a flying locomotive, forcing all combatants to get out of his way or get trampled, and can bite hard enough to hurt Kaido even through his legendary toughness, but he can't create the latter's destructive fire blasts on command and needs coaching from Yamato on how to willingly use his flame cloud abilities, meaning he still plays a supporting role in Luffy's confrontation with the Emperor despite his improved combat abilities. When he figures out how to use Blast Breath, he nearly incinerates Admiral Ryokugyu and successfully harms him.
• Warrior Prince: After becoming Wano's new shogun, Momonosuke also becomes his country's main defender. When Admiral Aramaki goes to the Flower Capital, Momonosuke and some of the Akazaya Nine confront him to prove that Wano can defend itself without the aid of the Straw Hats.
• Weredragon: Momonosuke can turn into an Eastern dragon thanks to having eaten a fake Devil Fruit.
• You Killed My Father: His parents were struck down by Kaido twenty years before the beginning of the story, which increases Momo's trauma towards Kaido.
• You Shall Not Pass!: When Ryokugyu tries to capture the Straw Hats after Kaido's defeat, Momonosuke intervenes to stop him, refusing help from Yamato, saying that he doesn't want to taint their send-off with the Straw Hats.

Kozuki Hiyori

Kozuki Hiyori

Voiced by: Nana Mizuki (JP), Molly Searcy (EN)

Age: 26

Debut: Chapter 909 (Manga), Episode 892 (Anime)

^{Click here to see her as "Komurasaki"}

"If I believe I am right about something, then there is no reason for me to back down."

Hiyori is the daughter of the deceased samurai and daimyo Kozuki Oden. She is Momonosuke's younger sister, who grew older than him after Momo was sent 20 years into the future by their mother, while Hiyori was not. In the present-day, she is known as Komurasaki, the highest-ranked oiran of the Land of Wano and Orochi's courtesan.

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• Ambiguously Evil: As Komurasaki, her allegiance is unclear during her early appearances. While she's presented as a deceiptive woman who tricks men into giving her all of their money, her victims are later revealed to be terrible people, making her actions morally gray at worst. During Orochi's feast, Kyoshiro and others paint her as a Gold Digger only out for herself. Then she defends poor Toko from Orochi's wrath, declaring that, as a daughter of a samurai, she has a sense of honor. After that, she shows a much more kind and grateful side and is revealed to be a member of the Kozuki Clan.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Although he still loves her, Momonosuke says Hiyori used to annoy him with her flying kicks. Since Momonosuke has traveled 20 years into the future while leaving Hiyori behind, Hiyori is now much older than him.
• Berserker Tears: While revealing to Orochi that she's actually Oden's daughter, Hiyori's eyes are overflowing with tears as she remembers her deceased father, as well as rage towards Orochi, who killed him.
• Big Little Sister: Towards Momonosuke, due to time travel. Hiyori was normally two years younger than her brother, but Momo was sent twenty years forward in time while Hiyori was not. As a result, she's grown into a young woman while he's still remained a kid. Until Shinobu ages Momonosuke of twenty years, making him the older brother again.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Inverted. She's initially presented as the oiran Komurasaki, who appears to be a greedy and manipulative woman allied with the Yakuza. However, Komurasaki is revealed to actually be Kozuki Hiyori, the daughter of the previous shogun, who hid her identity. Unlike her alias, Hiyori is a very polite and nice woman.
• Break the Cutie: The logical result when a young child witnesses the death of her parents, sees her brother and most of her bodyguards disappear, and her home destroyed in roughly one day. Thankfully, Kawamatsu managed to cheer her up again.
• Bridal Carry: Zoro saves her from the Oniwanbanshu and has to carry her with one arm while the other holds his sword from attacks as she holds her arms around his neck from falling.
• Chekhov's Gunman: She's actually the masked woman who plays the shamisen at the beginning and end of Wano's first act, but is only revealed when she plays a symphony at Orochi's castle.
• Daddy's Girl: She clearly loved her father very much when he was alive and continues to think highly of him. She was so traumatized over his death she didn't speak for a long time till Kawamatsu managed to make her happy again.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: She slaps Orochi, the Shogun, to stop his attempts at killing Toko and scolds him, saying she's not afraid to stand up to him and putting a target on her back as well.
• Dude Magnet: Reconstructed. She attracts everyone, even girls. However, she manipulates the men that love her into selling everything they have to give her money so she can be freed from the red light district and live with them. Then she ditches them once they don't have any more money. But then it's been revealed that her victims are greedy assholes who had it coming.
• Dynamic Entry: When she was a tomboyish kid, Hiyori used to greet Momonosuke with a kick to his face. After Momonosuke becomes shogun, she celebrates and kicks him in the face like they used to do when they were kids.
• Elegant Classical Musician: Hiyori has been playing the shamisen since she was a child and her career as a courtesan has allowed her to continue this skill and she often performs for her clients, always wearing a fox mask. She also performs for her father when she's a child, at which point he asks her to sing at his funeral making the little girl cry. Justified as Hiyori is both a noblewoman by birth and as a courtesan, she is expected to be cultured, elegant and skilled several of the classical Japanese arts, such as music.
• Even the Girls Want Her: The crowd that gathers to admire Komurasaki while she walks through the capital is composed of both men and women.
• Face Death with Dignity: When asked by Kyoshiro if she's ready to die, she replies she is, before promptly being cut down. Subverted when she's revealed to be alive and well because Komurasaki's execution was staged between her and Kyoshiro to make Orochi think she’s dead. After Orochi removes the Seastone needle and attacks her with his body covered in flames, Hiyori's first reaction is to scream in fear, but then collects herself and calmly accepts her fate. Fortunately, Denjiro beheads Orochi just in time.
• Flowers of Femininity: Her introduction as Komurasaki, the most beautiful woman of Wano, has her with multiple flowers in her hair. Upon dropping her disguise, Hiyori leaves the capital with only two pink roses on the side of her head with tassels on the side of her dreadlocks, keeping a feminine and royal appearance.
• Foreshadowing: The same chapter that Momonosuke mentions Hiyori, his lost sister, Komurasaki appears as the only major named character who fits the bill. Later, despite being presented as a manipulative woman, her victims actually sold off their families, hinting they weren't nice people and that Komurasaki is actually nicer than what she appears.
• Good All Along: She's presented as a greedy and manipulative woman, but then reveals some depths at Orochi's mansion, where she protects Toko from the shogun's wrath. After being saved by Zoro, she reveals she's Kozuki Oden's daughter.
• Good Bad Girl: While a Nice Girl at heart, Hiyori is shown to have quite a naughty side. She sleeps in the same bed with Zoro and snuggles on his chest without shame and even teases him asking if he liked it (though this is downplayed, as it was snowing and cold out, so she didn't have much of an option). Even more so, after the war, she reveals she cleaned Zoro's body, from head to toe.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Though Hiyori grew into a refined princess, she keeps some of the tomboyish traits she had as a kid, like greeting her brother with a double-kick to the face, much to Momonosuke's dismay.
• Harmful to Minors: When she was only 6, Hiyori witnessed the Animal Kingdom Pirates assaulting her house and her parents' demise. After being rescued by Kawamatsu, Hiyori was so traumatized that she didn't speak for entire days and took Kawamatsu a lot of efforts to cheer her up.
• Hate Sink: Subverted. A flashback presents her as a manipulative, greedy woman who has ruined the lives of at least three men by pretending that she wanted freedom and tricked the men into selling everything they own, their belongings, house, and family, until they have no money left they can give her, by which point she sadistically reveals the truth and abandons them, taking enjoyment out of their suffering. However, her slap at Orochi to save Toko paints her in a more positive light, then she shows a much more gracious side after Zoro saves her and Toko from Kamazo and is revealed that the men she sucked dry were Asshole Victims who made a profit through arson.
• Head-Turning Beauty: To present her as Wano's most beautiful woman, while as Komurasaki, all of the citizens in the Flower Capital, including women, are blinded by her beauty and many faint from just looking at her.
• Heroic BSoD: After witnessing her parents' death and the destruction of her castle by Kaido's army when she was only six years old, Hiyori says she remained mute for a long time. Thankfully, Kawamatsu cheered her out of it.
• Heroic Seductress: While acting as Komurasaki, Hiyori sedupted the three collaborators of an arson ring out by and bankrupted them by convincing them to sell everything they have to buy her freedom. In the present, her victims are in misery but they deserved it.
• Hidden Backup Princess: She was not sent to the future along with Momonosuke due to this trope. In case Momonosuke fails to revive the clan, then it would fall on her to continue the clan's lineage.
• Hidden Buxom: Her kimono constricts her figure, as traditionally does. When she removes it in the baths with the other girls, she's just as busty as Nami and Robin.
• Hidden Depths: She is not afraid of defending Toko from Orochi's wrath, going so far as to slap the latter. When ordered to bow down and apologize, she refuses, claiming that she has a sense of honor as the daughter of a samurai. She also loves playing the Shamensen, having played it since she was a little girl and loved playing the song "Moon Princess" for her father. Whenever she is forced to play it for Orochi, she deliberately wears a kitsune mask because she cannot smile playing it for him and is furious having to play it for the man who took everything from her.
• High-Class Call Girl: As family-friendly as it can be for a Shonen series, in her identity as "Komurasaki", she's Wano's most famous courtesan, and has been chosen by the Shogun to perform her services.
• Hime Cut: Hiyori has blunt bangs, shoulder length sidelocks, and waist length straight hair with some of it tied up with pins behind her head, befitting her status as the former shogun's daughter.
• Informed Attribute: She’s considered the most beautiful woman in all of Wano. While she doesn’t look bad by any means, she doesn’t look terribly different from most females in One Piece.
• Ironic Name / Meaningful Name: Her alias Komurasaki comes from Miura-ya Komurasaki, a real-life oiran who had a tragic love story depicted in the painting "The Lovers Miura-ya Komurasaki and Shirai Gonpachi". In the story, the man Hirai committed crimes to buy Komurasaki's freedom, but she truly loved him and was Driven to Suicide when his crimes led to his death. This Komurasaki also manipulates men into committing crimes. HOWEVER, the men were asshole criminals and she bankrupted them out of their ill-gotten gains from running an arsonist ring.
• Long-Lost Relative: She's Momonosuke's younger sister Hiyori, who has been separated from him for 20 years after he was sent to the future.
• Manipulative Bitch: While initially it appears to be a straight example, it's later revealed to be an heroic one. As Komurasaki, she manipulated various men to give her money on the claim she wanted to be free and live with them forever. Once she swindled them all out of their money, she leaves them broke and homeless. However, all the people she swindled are cruel and selfish people who ruined the lives of innocent people and Hiyori (along with Denjiro) would give the money she stole from them to the poor, starving people from outside the Flower Capital. Played straight towards Orochi, as on Onigashima, knowing how obsessed he is towards her, Hiyori uses his affections towards her to lay him into a trap when the roof collapses on him with Seastone nails planted on him to keep him from transforming while mocking him for ever believing she would love an evil monster like him.
• Mama Bear: She's very protective of her young attendant Toko. When Orochi tries to kill the girl for laughing at him, she has no hesitation and starts to plead for the girl's life. It doesn't work, so she opts for bitch-slapping the freaking shogun instead.
• Modest Royalty: In line with Wano's Japan-like tradition, Hiyori wears the most modest outfit out of all the princesses shown in the series. As unlike all the other princesses who tend to show off their figure Hiyori wears a kimono that covers most of her body and constricts her chest. She maintains this modest attire and demenor both in public and in private.
• Nerves of Steel: She doesn't even flinch when Orochi transforms into his Yamata no Orochi form in front of her unlike most of the other guests. Even then she still talks down to him right in his face.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: It’s revealed all the people Hiyori took money from under the alias of Komurasaki are greedy crooks who had it coming, turning her previous actions from villainous to good.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: When Orochi, decapitated and wreathed in flames, is cursing her with his last words, Hiyori rebukes them and claims that Orochi's last name, Kurozumi (Black Coal), meant that he and his ambitions were always destined to burn. Orochi is then left screaming in desperation while the fire consumes him.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: Hiyori main outfit after dropping her alias as Komurasaki and revealing herself to be Oden's daughter is a pink furisode kimono.
• Properly Paranoid: Although she desired revenge on Orochi, Hiyori knew she wouldn't be able to do anything against him due to his devil fruit powers. Upon donning her "Komurasaki" persona again, she planted a Seastone nail on Orochi so as to weaken him and wait for the moment to strike.
• Rage Breaking Point: Upon having Orochi at her mercy,and hearing his pathetic pleas for mercy with him trying to claim how much he admired her father, Hiyori drops her Komurasaki persona and rages at Orochi calling him a dishonorable wrench of a man.
• Really Royalty Reveal: Komurasaki is in truth Hiyori, the daughter of the Land of Wano's slain daimyo and Momonosuke's sister.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: The other oiran comments about how Komurasaki always gets off scot-free from her actions because she's Wano's most beautiful woman. This does not last, albeit only because Kyoshiro executes her without Orochi's permission. Double Subverted since Orochi himself would've forgiven her because he's in love with her.
• Secret-Keeper: Hiyori is the only person in all of Wano who knows that Kyoshiro is really Denjiro in disguise and tells no one, not even people she cares for the most know this, such as Toko and Kawamatsu. Justified since she's been told not to due to Denjiro role in trying to gain Orochi's trust and because he correctly deduced that there is a spy in the alliance.
• Ship Tease: She shares some moments together with Zoro since the two met each other. She's even seen sleeping on top of him to snuggle in warmth during a cold night, claiming she was so cold and even innocently asking if he liked it. Zoro even carries her from the Oniwabanshu when they are being attacked and accepts her request to leave Shusui in exchange of her father's heirloom Enma, to which he accepts. After Kaido's defeat, she washes Zoro's unconscious body (and nobody else) and even teases him for it.
• Silk Hiding Steel: She's famed as the most beautiful woman in Wano and is the highest-ranked oiran, maintaining an air of elegance with her graceful demeanor and ornate kimono. This doesn't stop her from swindling men for their money and slapping Orochi for trying to kill Toko. As she states, as the daughter of a samurai she refuses to be submissive and would rather die than be Orochi's wife.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: While the nature of her relationship with Zoro is ambiguous, it is strongly implied she has developed romantic feelings for him. As despite his serious and cold demeanor, Hiyori has seen the noble and brave warrior that Zoro is and that he's much kinder than he looks.
• Statuesque Stunner: Invoked. She wears a pair of gigantic stilts during her parade and is the most beautiful woman of Wano.
• Sudden Principled Stand: She's presented as a Manipulative Bitch but then she slaps Orochi for trying to kill Toko and refuses to back down, declaring she must have some honor because her father was a samurai.
• Sleep Cute: After being rescued by Zoro, they go into a cabin and sleep together during a cold night. Hiyori sleeps on Zoro's chest and Toko on his lap. When he wakes up, Zoro is deeply embarrassed while Hiyori innocently asking if he enjoyed it.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Hiyori is physically a carbon copy of her mother Toki.
• Stronger Than They Look: Despite her thin frame, Hiyori has shown a large deal of physical strength, capable of walking on gigantic stilts with no discomfort and slap the large Orochi enough to leave a bruise with little effort.
• The Tease: She likes teasing with the people she's friends with or people she actually likes as opposed to her "marks" who are usually corrupt crooks she takes for all they're worth. She especially likes poking fun as Zoro's flustered responses whenever she brings up how they shared a bed.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She viciously condemns Orochi's actions twice, one under the identity of Komurasaki and one during their final confrontation:
  • During his banquet she mocks him for trying to kill Toko, a mere child over laughing at him (which technically is all his fault), calling him a weakling for transforming in front of her mearly to intimidate him as a means to try to appear menacing.
  • Upon having Orochi at her mercy on Onigashima, Hiyori drops her Komurasaki guise and furiously calls him out for being such a cowardly dishonorable wrench. She lashes out that unlike Orochi, her father was a man of his word yet Orochi had no intention of honoring any of his deals with Oden and his days as Shogun were one too many.
• Tranquil Fury: Whenever she plays the song "Moon Princess" for Orochi, she wears a kitsune mask to hide her face from frowning and showing seething rage as she's playing the song for the man who killed her parents and ruined her country. She coldly tells him this later when she reveals her identity to him on Onigashima.
• Trying Not to Cry:
  • Played for Laughs. Upon learning that her brother Momonosuke is still alive, she's very happy, but, she claims that, as the daughter of a samurai, she must not cry, making a very goofy face while containing her tears.
  • When Yasuie is murdered by Orochi, Hiyori cannot help but weep over his death and as she tells Zoro the truth of the Ebisu Town citizens.
• Unexplained Recovery: While posing as Komurasaki, she gets cut apart by Kyoshiro but a few chapters later she's revealed to be fine and that her actual identity is Hyori, Oden's daughter. A flashback reveals that Kyoshiro has her keep fake blood on her person at all times just in case there is a need to fake her death. The trope is played straight for Orochi who, not knowing about Komurasaki's fake execution, is shocked to find her alive and well at Onigashima.
• Used to Be a Tomboy: According to Momonosuke, Hiyori was a tomboy as a kid. Upon seeing her after many years, Kawamatsu is surprised how she has grown into a refined princess, although she kept some tomboyish traits.
• Walking Spoiler: Komurasaki is actually Kozuki Hiyori, Momonosuke's younger sister and a member of the Kozuki Clan.
• Weak, but Skilled: Unlike her brother she lacks any real combat ability. However, Hiyori makes up for it with her keen intellect and cunning. She's able to leave a bruise on the large Orochi from a single slap and pin a Sea Stone needle on the latter when she hs him cornered at her mercy and nearly succeeds in having him killed till he changes into his orochi form.
• When She Smiles: While she's pretty in general, her beauty really shines through after she and Toko flee the capital and are saved by Zoro when she makes a genuine smile.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: While it's still not clear if she can be a contender for the title along with Boa Hancock and Shirahoshi, she's, without doubt, the most beautiful woman in the Land of Wano and has many admirers, some of which would sacrifice everything they have, including their own family, just to be with her.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: While Hiyori was a tomboy in her childhood, Kawamatsu notes that she has grown into an elegant and polite woman in line with Wano's tradition, appropriately for the daughter of a Shogun.
• You Killed My Father: Reveals she's Oden's daughter to Orochi when he's at her mercy while coldly saying she could never smile when playing "Moon Princess" for him.

Akazaya Nine

In General

From the left: Boss Cat Viper, Kikunojo, Raizo, Denjiro, Kin'emon, Duke Dogstorm, Kawamatsu, Kanjuro, Ashura Doji

"Use these coins to clean yourself up. Practice manners, buy books, learn things. If he has ruffians like you for vassals, Oden will only embarass himself. One day, he will be the Shogun of Wano! Those who serve and support him must be the greatest samurai of the land!! Not only must you protect your liege, you will do the same for the capital... and eventually all of Wano! You will be our guardian deities!!"

—Yasuie (Chapter 963)

A squad of formidable samurai led by Kin'emon, who served under Kozuki Oden until his death. They used to be a band of thugs/misfits or victims of discrimination who were inspired by Oden, and then decided to become proper samurai by Yasuie's suggestion. After Oden's death, they become protectors of Momonosuke and Hiyori.

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• All Asians Wear Conical Straw Hats: Zigzagged since not all of them are from Wano, the One Piece equivalent of feudal Japan. They are a team of samurai and, when prepared to go to Onigashima, all of them wear conical straw hats.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Dogstorm, Cat Viper, Kawamatsu, and Kikunojo are significantly younger than the rest of the Akazaya Nine and when the group was founded, they were children/young teenagers while the others were in their twenties. However, some time-travel shenanigans balance out most of the ages.
• Badass Crew: They consist of the two rulers of the Mink Tribe and samurai strong enough to compete with the strongest members of an emperor's crew. For a short while, they can even fight with Kaido.
• Badass Normal: Most of them don't have a Devil Fruit power but are still among the strongest samurais of Wano and, by extension, among the strongest swordsmen of the One Piece world. They are able to hold their own against an Emperor's crew. Even those who have eaten a Devil Fruit, Kin'emon and Kanjuro, don't use their Devil Fruit ability in combat, meaning their fighting abilities come solely from their own skills.
• Bait-and-Switch: Toki's dying prophecy foretold the return of the Nine Red Scabbards 20 years later to do battle with and enact revenge upon both Orochi and Kaido for their actions against the clan. Whilst this ends up being true, Kanjuro is revealed to be Orochi's Mole within the group and has his spot replaced by Izo, who returned to Wano to help out his younger sister and former allies after the dissolution of the Whitebeard pirates, having not been a part of Oden's retainers for years beforehand.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: They're a group of strong samurais who swore to serve Oden, who was by far the strongest swordsman in Wano and able to clash with the strongest warriors of the One Piece world like Whitebeard. Averted after Oden's death, since his son Momonosuke is still a kid and his daughter Hiyori doesn't have any fighting skill. While fighting them on top of Onigashima, Kaido says that, as much as they can hit him, they're nowhere near as strong as Oden, who wounded him much more.
• Character Development: When they first meet Oden, they are a bunch of bandits (Ashura Doji and Kin'emon), outlaws (Raizo and Kanjuro) or just outcasts. However, motivated by their loyalty to Oden, being willing to help him, and inspired by Yasuie's words, they train and study hard to become a group of polite and refined samurai.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: To further set them apart from each other, each one has a different main coloration.
  • Kin'emon is half red and half black and white stripes.
  • Kanjuro mostly is reddish pink, given by his very long hair.
  • Raizo wears a light blue ninja outfit.
  • Dogstorm's outfit is mostly dark blue and his fur is brown.
  • Catviper is yellow and red.
  • Kikunojo wears a bright yellow kimono, but her dark hair gives a contrast to Catviper's yellow coloration.
  • Ashura Doji is pink.
  • Kawamatsu is green, befitting for a Fish-man who tries to pass off as a kappa.
  • Denjiro is blue, with his hair being a lighter shade of blue.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Even if they aren't strong enough to beat Kaido, they are the first people in around twenty years to hurt him at all, since he previously tanked a Gear Fourth barrage from Luffy without a scratch.
• Despair Event Horizon: The day of the Fire Festival, during which they've planned assault Onigashima to defeat Kaido and Orochi, they find out that no one has come to Port Tokage to help them and that the port has been raided, ruining their 20-years long plan and destroying their hope of dethroning Orochi. Dogstorm is desperate to the point of taking a boat and going all by himself despite the huge storm.
• Determinator: Even after seeing that none of the 4200 soldiers has come in their help, they still take a boat and head to Onigashima to fight Kaido and his crew, even if the odds are completely against them.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Kaido is a man known for his invincibility because no one has been able to execute him and only Kozuki Oden was able to deeply wound his body and leave him with a massive and permanent scar. However, during the raid at Onigashima, the Akazaya Nine manages to first wound Kaido with a sneak attack, much to the shock of everyone, and then, during their battle at Onigashima's rooftop, they are able to wound Kaido multiple times although, in the end, they end up losing to the emperor.
• Dual Wielding: Averted. In contrast to Oden, who is notorious for using two katanas, the Akazaya Nine use one blade each, except Kin'emon. However, some of the Scabbards use Oden's Nitoryu during their fight against Kaido, replicating their master's sword style and hitting Kaido in the scar left by Oden.
• Dwindling Party: After they recover from their crushing defeat at the hands of Kaido, they try to reach Momonosuke so that they can protect him but along the way they face Kanjuro, Orochi, Fukurokuju, Jack and many members of Kaido's army, during which Ashura, Kiku and Kin'emon are taken down while the others split to fight their opponents. By the end of the war, Ashura, Izo and Kanjuro are dead.
• Et Tu, Brute?: The Akazaya Nine have spent a lot of time together and are united by their experiences and their devotion to the Kozuki clan. Naturally, they're all deeply hurt to learn that Kanjuro has always been working for Orochi, and some ask him if their adventures together meant anything to him.
• Fatal Flaw: Their True Companionship and virtue bite them in the ass when one of them is revealed to be a mole. They are unable to land the decisive blow to make sure the enemy's well and truly dead, resulting in a few of them being taken out by said enemy.
• I Owe You My Life:
  • All of them are indebted to Oden for having either literally saved their lives, like with Kin'emon, Dogstorm, Catviper and Kawamatsu, or unintentionally inspired them when they were just simple thugs, especially Ashura Doji, who experienced peace for the first time after meeting Oden. Because of this, they all dedicate their lives to become samurai worth of serving him. This becomes even more pronounced after Oden sacrifices his life to save them from being boiled alive and hands them his dream of opening up Wano to the world.
  • Aside from Oden, who took them in when they were disregarded by society, they are also very devoted to Yasu'ie, who motivated them into becoming proper samurai for Oden's and Wano's sake. When Orochi executes him, the Akazaya Nine mourns his death while Ashura Doji decides to abandon his bandit life for good.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Played for laughs. After being nominated to be Daimyo, Oden says that he'll need some servants and decides to nominate them, since they're very loyal to him. In response they cry out in joy and hug Oden, who screams at them to get away because they're covering him with mucus.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Being samurai, their main weapon is a katana, and every one of them has a different fighting style. Some, however, also use different weapons or techniques, such as Raizo's ninja arts and Kawamatsu's sumo moves.
• Master Swordsman: Invoked. Motivated by Yasuie, they trained a lot and learned discipline to become strong samurai. As a result, they're the strongest warriors of the Land of Wano and able to fight on par with an Emperor army. They are strong enough to even wound Kaido with a combined surprise attack, and later show that they have trained themselves to emulate Oden's Nitoryu (two-sword style).
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Each of them is one of the strongest samurai of Wano and a very strong warrior, easily able to clash with the toughest fighters of One Piece's world. Collectively, they are able to hurt Kaido and put him on the edge, however, as Kaido himself comments, they're nowhere near as strong as their old master, Oden, and aren't able to defeat the emperor.
• Praetorian Guard: They used to be Lord Kozuki Oden's most trusted guardians and companions. After his death, they become the personal guards of his children, Hiyori and Momonosuke, and protect them from Orochi, who wants to exterminate the Kozumi dinasty.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: At their foundation, they were a bunch of thugs and bandits, such as a gambling addict and a young con man, who were inspired by Kozuki Oden and followed him. Yasuie later set them straight and they evolved into the badass crew they are in the present story. They admit that, if they had never met Oden, they wouldn't have become the samurais they are now.
• Red Baron: Most of them has a title or moniker attached to their name that represent their fighting style:
  • Kin'emon is known as "Foxfire" because of his flame-cutting technique.
  • Kanjuro is known as "Evening Shower".
  • Raizo is known as "The Mist" because his ninja arts are always accompanied by mist.
  • Kikunojo's epiphet is "Of the Falling Snow" because the wounds of her blade never heal and keep hurting, like falling snow.
  • Kawamatsu is known as "Yokozuna" because he's also a sumo wrestler, and thus many of his attacks are named after sumo moves, and "the Kappa" because he resembles the titular monster and tried to pass as one to avoid discrimination.
• Samurai: Each of them is a trained samurai with the purpose to serve Oden and each of them is a terrific fighter who wield a katana, the standard samurai weapon, but everyone has a different and distinct fighting style. With the exception of Kiku, however, they don't wear a samurai armor but a robe, making them more visually similar to a ronin. The only exception is Raizo who, while still able to fight with a katana, is described as a ninja.
• Shared Signature Move: During their battle against Kaido, Kin'emon, Dogstorm, Ashura Doji, and Denjiro wield two katanas and mimic Oden's two-swords style, as a tribute to their former lord. However, their attack is much weaker than Oden's and doesn't hurt the emperor as much as the original version did.
• The Slow Path: While Toki sent Momonosuke to the future alongside Kin'emon, Raizo, Kanjuro and Kikunojo, the others remained in the (relatively) present because they weren't with Toki or, in Kawamatsu's case, to take care of Hiyori. Due to various events that happened in those twenty years, by the present time of the story, half of the Akazaya Nine are scattered in Wano or in Zou.
• Stewed Alive: Defied. After losing to Kaido's forces, they are all imprisoned and sentenced to death by being boiled alive, along with Oden. Oden, however, convinces Orochi and Kaido to spare them if they survive for an hour and then holds all of the Akazaya Nine for the required time while he's half submerged in the boiling pot.
• Tears of Joy: After the Akazaya Nine are defeated by Kaido and rest in the treasure room, Kozuki Oden bursts into the room and greet them. Kin'emon, Kiku and many others immediately burst into tears at the sight of their old master still alive, but Ashura Doji quickly points out he can't be the real Oden.
• Took a Level in Badass: Invoked. Initially they're a bunch of thugs or outsiders with little fighting abilities, except for Ashura Doji, who used to be a bandit leader, and Raizo, who's a former member of the Oniwabanshu. After they're caught by Yasuie for attempting to steal him, he motivate them to train and become proper samurai to serve and honor Kozuki Oden. By the present day, each of them is strong enough to hold his own against the strongest fighters of the One Piece world and together they're able to fight with Kaido, until the latter decides to go serious.
• True Companions: They are tied together by their admiration toward Oden, and have spent years together, during which they have formed a strong bond. When he realizes that there is a spy among them, Kin'emon is unwilling to believe it. While facing a small fleet of the Animal Kingdom Pirates, they claim that they're all willing to die together. The only exception is The Mole.
• Undying Loyalty: Justified. A samurai is traditionally loyal to its master and they're no exception. It doesn't matter if they're scattered or have to wait 20 years for Momonosuke's return, they remain faithful to the Kozuki clan. For Ashura Doji, however, his loyalty stopped with Kozuki Oden, and, after the latter's death, he went back to his bandit lifestyle. He has a change of heart after seeing Yasuie sacrificing his life for Oden's cause. Ashura's extreme loyalty is also the reason he doesn't fall for the fake Oden drawn by Kanjuro. There's a particular case with Kanjuro who, while not loyal to Oden, is actually very loyal to Orochi.
• Villain Respect: Although they're too "weak" to beat Kaido, during their fight, Kaido acknowledges his respect for them for being the first to hurt him in a long time and how he admires their bushido and determination.
• Youkai: While not evident, most of them appear to carry references to traditional Youkai of folklore:
  • Kin'emon's nickname mentions the Foxfire, the wisp conjured by kitsune.
  • Cat Viper and Dogstorm resemble a Bakeneko and Inugami.
  • Kawamatsu is a Fish-man that looks like a kappa.
  • Ashura Doji refers the Oni Shuten Doji, Kiku dons a Hannya mask when going all out.
  • Kanjuro sold brushes he made out of hair he cut from other people like the kamikiri.
  • Raizo, while living in Udon's forests, was thought to be a brigand kidnapping women and killing others which makes reference to the Jueyuan a legendary monkey who kidnapped women to violate them.
  • Denjiro's tribulations and apparent rage-induced Color Failure call to mind a Onryou, a vengeful ghost.

"Foxfire" Kin'emon

"Foxfire" Kin'emon

Voiced by: Kenyū Horiuchi (JP), Chris Ryan (EN)

Age: 36

Debut: Chapter 656 (Manga), Episode 580 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Garb-Garb Fruit

The leader of the Akazaya Nine. He is initially introduced as looking for his lost son, Momonosuke, before being revealed to actually be his retainer at the end of the arc. When he arrived on the island, Trafalgar Law sliced up his body parts (head, torso, and legs), which were then scattered throughout the area. He has eaten the Garb-Garb Fruit (Fuku Fuku no Mi) which gives him the ability to create clothes for himself and others, which he erroneously believes is simply "sorcery."

Hailing from Wano, Kin'emon is a former gambling addict with a strong sense of honor and a strict set of moralities which he rarely follows.

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• Achievement In Ignorance: From Yasuie's message, Kin'emon interprets the lines on the snake as legs and comes to the conclusion that the port for the departure will change from Habu (snake) to Tokage (lizard). Instead, Yasuie meant to cut out the middle of port Habu, turning it into Hato. Thanks to this mistake, Orochi attacks the wrong port and the assault on Onigashima can proceed. Denjiro himself congratulates with Kin'emon for his strategy, while Kin'emon remains dumbfounded.
• Action Dad: Kin'emon stormed Punk Hazard just to retrieve his son, Momonosuke, who was kidnapped by Caesar Clown; it took a Warlord to stop him and even as a legless, headless torso he can fight Brook on equal ground. His slashes set things alight, and can cut through explosions. Subverted when it's revealed he's not Momonosuke's father but one of his retainers.
• Antiquated Linguistics: Kin'emon speaks in an archaic way, hinting his origin from a country based off feudal Japan. For example, he uses the Japanese Pronoun sessha (lit. my humble self) for himself, an old and now extinct pronoun used by samurai.
• Berserker Tears: When Kiku is slashed down by Kanjuro, Kin'emon cries for his fallen comrade while killing Kanjuro with a single swing of his katana. Once he's avenged Kikunojo, Kin'emon mourns her.
• Born Lucky: Though it's not widely commented upon, events throughout the series have shown that Kin'emon is extremely lucky.
  • After suffering setback after setback after fleeing Wano, ending up with Momonosuke lost on a dangerous island and himself the Sole Survivor of his retainers, as far as he knew, and winding up slashed non-fatally to pieces by Law and with his body scattered across the island, becoming almost helpless to do anything, Kin'emon managed to run into the Straw Hats, who were not only strong enough to resolve his current crisis, but proceeded to become steadfast allies of the retainers and resolve several other large-scale conflicts against Kaido's forces, destabilizing his empire in preparation for their fated showdown, many of which simply could not have been done without their strength and skills.
  • By complete accident, his misreading Yasuie's last message about the altered meeting spot for the raid resulted in Orochi's attempts to thwart his enemies' preparations coming to naught, and Kanjuro revealing himself as The Mole to the rest at what he thought was their Darkest Hour, only for the rest of their allies to meet up with them along with the absent Denjiro and the captured Samurai from the capital, meaning everything Orochi and Kanjuro tried to do to stop them was All for Nothing, and their forces for the raid are stronger and more coordinated than before. Kin'emon Lampshades that he's probably used up his lifetime's supply of luck with that.
  • When he tries to Hold the Line against Kaido to allow Momonosuke to flee his pursuit, his final attempt to delay him by grabbing his ankles on the ground after a savage beating ending with him getting impaled by a katana straight through his back... only for it to later be revealed that he's still alive. Law's earlier dismemberment of him wasn't properly fixed, and the damage he endured ended up splitting his body apart rather than killing him, allowing his lower half to run for help when his upper body is immobile.
• Calling Your Attacks: Tends to shout loud his attacks most of which are fire themed, like Flame Split (Homurazaki) and Flaming Flash (Karyuu Issen).
• Childhood Friend Romance: In a flashback when he's young, he refers to Tsuru as a childhood friend as an excuse to not be hurt by her. Some years later, they have become an happy married couple and are still in the present. Kin'emon is deeply in love with her and Tsuru has refused to marry again after he travelled twenty years in the future, meaning that, to her perspective, he disappeared for that amount of time.
• The Consigliere: Being the leader of the Akazaya Nine and taking more the role of surrogate father to Momo than a servant, Kin'emon's the samurai that Momo most easily confides in. When Momo is being crowned Shogun he momentarily gets scared and turns to Kin'emon for support, who tells him to "fake it til he makes it".
• Death Seeker: Downplayed in his youth. Kin'emon does not seem to care for his own life, reasoning that no one else would care if he died, and when O-Tsuru is devoured and seemingly killed, he too resolves to be slain in battle with the beast that claimed her life.
• Defiant to the End: After being knocked down by Kaido's mace, Kin'emon is a bloody pulp to the ground, but he stabs at Kaido with his broken sword and trash talk with the few energies left to protect Momonosuke. He stops only when Kaido stabs him and stops him for good.
• Delinquent Hair: In a flashback when he's a teen, Kin'emon is a thug and has the dyed hairstyle of a typical Japanese delinquent. He drops it after becoming a proper samurai.
• Despair Event Horizon: When he's a teenager, Kin'emon is already full of guilt at the realization that he's the reason the Mountain God is attacking the Flower Capital. He then learns that the giant boar has devoured Tsuru, his childhood friend, and launches into a desperate attack against the Mountain God.
• Determinator: By his admission, he's someone who does not give up, and does all he can to retrieve Momonosuke at Punk Hazard and his fellow Akazaya Kanjuro in Dressrosa, fighting anyone who would get in his way in the former case. He also attempts multiple times to bring Ashura Doji back to the Akazaya Nine, even after the latter has become a bandit again and has made pretty clear he has no intention of becoming their ally. After seeing Yasuie's death, Ashura Doji is convinced. In a flashback, he charges a mountain-sized boar head-on when he hears that it ate his childhood friend.
• Dirty Old Man: Kin'emon chastises Nami for her revealing clothes, only to admit that he doesn't mind her dressing like that, and later gives her a very skimpy ninja outfit, explaining all kunoichis dress like that, only for Shinobu, an actual kunoichi, to show up with a covering ninja suit. He also gets really jealous of Momonosuke when he uses his cuteness to not only charm Nami and Robin, but also sleep in their room.
• Disney Death: In Punk Hazard, Kin'emon gets caught in Smiley's toxic gas, which turns him into a stone and seemingly kills him. However, it's revealed that Kin'emon is still alive underneath the layer of gas and recovers thanks to Law's medical knowledge.
• Dual Wielding: He fights with two swords, something rare for a samurai. He's so skilled that even as a legless-headless torso he can still fight back against Brook, using one of the swords to stand still.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After seeing the death of his former lord, having his country ruled by a tyrant for decades, and then failing to avenge his lord. Kin'emon finds a happy ending when the Straw Hats take down Kaido's forces. This best shown when Kin'emon's first action after the Onigashima War is to reuinite with his wife.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In his youth, Kin'emon has dyed hair like a standard Japanese delinquent's and is famous in the Flower Capital for causing trouble and robbing others. After becoming a proper samurai, Kin'emon's hair returns to its original color, visually communicating he has stopped being a delinquent and has changed for good.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: The right side of his kimono is red while the left side has black and white stripes, giving him a distinctive design that is easy to recognize among a crowd.
• Fights Like a Normal: Kin'emon has Devil Fruit powers, but they don't have any kind of combat application, except for the ability to create armors, which he doesn't use. All of his actual fighting prowess comes from his natural skills.
• Former Teen Rebel: In his youth, Kin'emon was a delinquent who would steal from others with no remorse. In the present, he's an honorable samurai willing to do anything for the sake of the Kozuki clan and his country.
• Functional Magic: He ate a Devil Fruit that grants him the ill-defined ability of "sorcery," which is activated by saying "poof". He uses this to turn rocks into any clothing necessary like winter clothing, disguises or armors. He warns the transformation will only last so long as the clothes are being worn.
• Gasshole: While his body is split, the lower part can communicate using his farts. This gets turned up to eleven when he suffers from diarrhea in Wano.
• Gorgeous Garment Generation: His Devil Fruit ability gives him the ability to create any kind of clothes, including disguises, from leaves or stones. Kin'emon just has to place a leaf/stone on the head of a person and then he will turn it into clothes that perfectly fits the target and disappear when they are removed. Kin'emon uses this ability mostly to create disguises, such as when he disguises as Doflamingo to look for Kanjuro, or when he gives appropriate clothes to the Straw Hats in Wano.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Technically 1/3rd the man he used to be. For a good portion of the Punk Hazard arc, his body is separated into three: his head, his upper body, and his lower body. The head is even separated into multiple pieces until Nami builds them back together. Even as a torso with arms, his upper body is able to fight on par with Brook. After a while, Kin'emon finally gets all his body parts together and turns out he stands just as tall as Brook. It's later revealed that the cut on his torso wasn't correctly reattached, so when Kaido stabs Kin'emon during the Onigashima War, the latter gets split in two again.
• Handicapped Badass: Exaggerated. Even as just a torso without legs or head, Kin'emon can fight toe-to-toe with Brook.
• Happily Married: It's revealed he's married to Tsuru. He's driven to tears when he learns she's remained faithful to him after 20 years.
• Heal It With Fire: When Kaido's air slashes cut off Kikunojo's left arm, Kin'emon readily creates a flame with his sword-style to cauterize the wound.
• Heroic Sacrifice: During the Onigashima War, Kin'emon finds Momonosuke and does his best to protect him. When Kaido finds them and tries to catch the Kozuki heir, Kin'emon stands in his way and fights the emperor to allow Momonosuke to escape with Shinobu. After being squashed by Kaido's mace, Kin'emon keeps fighting until the emperor stabs him. Subverted when it's revealed that he survived because Law's cut wasn't correctly reattached.
• Honorary True Companion: While he remains loyal to the Kozuki clan and remains in his homeland after Kaido's defeat,having traveled and fought with the crew in Punk Hazard, Dressrosa and Wano, Kin'emon is considered an honorary Straw Hat by Luffy alongside Yamato and Momonosuke, with Luffy himself saying he'll pick them up when they're ready to sail the seas.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Kin'emon keeps fighting Kaido even after being slammed by his mace, until the emperor pierces him from back to front with a sword and accidentally splits him in two again.
• Implausible Fencing Powers: Kin'emon can burn things and cut explosions with his Foxfire Style (Kitsunebiryu).
• Indy Ploy: Downplayed. For the assault at Onigashima, Kin'emon prepares a plan that involves surrounding Kaido's castle and attacking from two sides, front and behind, while Luffy and Kid go inside and distract Kaido. Halfway through, however, Kin'emon makes a slight change of plans and opts for a third group to attack the side.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Kin'emon gives the Straw Hats typical Wano clothes to make them blend in and gives Nami a very skimpy ninja outfit, explaining that all kunoichi dress like that. Immediately after, arrives Shinobu, an actual kunoichi dressed with a classic ninja garb that covers her entire body.
• It's All My Fault: At young age, after learning that the Mountain God has followed the scent of its baby, Kin'emon feels guilty for being the cause of the destruction of part of the Flower Capital. When he hears that Tsuru has been eaten whole by the giant boar, Kin'emon launches himself in a suicidal attack. He's stopped only by Oden, who defeats the Mountain God and takes all of the blame.
• Japanese Delinquents: As a teenager, Kin'emon is a feudal version of the classic Japanese delinquent: he dyes his hair and keep it in a rebel hairstyle, doesn't have problems with robbing the others and was infamous in the capital for the troubles he caused.
• Japanese Politeness: The Land of Wano's Japanese-ness extends to traditional social graces. He can be haughty as any aristocrat, but he also turns extremely self-effacing and gets on his hands and knees while begging the Straw Hats' forgiveness for a rather minor slight (he assumed as pirates they were cheap thugs), or when requesting a favor.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's bad-tempered and has rather outdated views on women, but he's a noble honorable samurai and cares greatly for Momonosuke and his country.
• Ki Manipulation: He can use Armament Haki which he used to help Zoro slow down Doflamingo's Birdcage. He's also implied to be able to use Observation Haki since he says he can feel people's "auras" and his surroundings.
• Ladykiller in Love: He's perverted and likes to flirt with and ogle beautiful women, but he has a wife, Tsuru, and his first thought to himself when he sees her again is that she's still beautiful even after 20 years.
• Large Ham: While not as expressive as his former lord, Oden, Kin'emon has a mannerism that resembles those of the Kabuki actors and often speaks loudly.
• The Leader: When telling his minions about Kozuki Toki's prophecy, Orochi mentions that Kin'emon is the captain of the Akazaya Nine. Fittingly, he's the one who tells the crew Oden's story and takes the leading role during the assault at Onigashima.
• Literally Shattered Lives: During the Punk Hazard arc, Kin'emon gets exposed to Shinokuni and becomes a statue, which Brook accidentally knocks over, but he inexplicably survives. Sanji lampshades it and kicks him, saying he should be dead.
• Losing Your Head: Before his introduction, Kin'emon got himself beheaded and then his head got cut to pieces by Law. Since Law's victims are unharmed when sliced apart, he survives the ordeal and later gets fully rebuild with the help of the Straw hats.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Inverted. Kin'emon initially claims that Momonosuke is his son but, after the Punk Hazard arc, he reveals to the Straw Hats that he's not Momo's father but a servant of his real father, Kozuki Oden, the former ruler of the Land of Wano. Momonosuke always knew it and was going along with Kin'emon's plan to not reveal his identity as the heir of Wano's Shogunate.
• Master of Disguise: Kin'emon's Devil Fruit ability allows him to create any costume he wants. In the Dressrosa Arc, Kin'emon even manages to dress as Doflamingo and fools the castle guards and Gladius to find out where Kanjuro is kept. In the assault at Onigashima, Kin'emon uses his devil fruit to disguise every single member of the Kozuki army and their allies as pirates of Kaido's crew.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When he's a teenager, Kin'emon is horrified when he realizes that by stealing the white boar and bringing it to the Flower capital, he has attracted its parent, the Mountain God (a boar as large as a mountain), in the capital, endangering the entire city and its inhabitants. Oden defeating the Mountain God and taking all the blame is what drives Kin'emon into following him.
• My Greatest Failure: When Luffy reaches the top of Onigashima he ignores Kaido and Linlin to look at the Akazaya Nine, who have been defeated by Kaido. Luffy holds Kin'emon who cries and laments how he failed to honor his former master, Oden, but Luffy assures him that he will beat Kaido in their place.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Played for laughs. When Kin'emon reveals his powers, he's berated for not using them earlier. He admits that he didn't do so because he liked seeing Nami in her revealing outfit.
• The Nicknamer: Kin'emon refers to the Straw Hats as various things from Japanese culture, like calling Usopp a Tengu and calls Robin a courtesan.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His appearance is based on the late Japanese actor Nakamura Kinnosuke, who Eiichiro Oda is a fan of. More specifically, it's based on his role of a badass father, just like Kin'emon and Momonosuke appear to be at first.
• Not Quite Dead: Kin'emon gets stabbed by Kaido and Momonosuke believes him dead. A few chapters later, it's revealed that Kin'emon survived because he wasn't properly reattached and his lower side wanders around Kaido's palace.
• Papa Wolf: Protects Momonosuke at all costs and risks his life multiple times to save him. Subverted once it's revealed he's not actually his father, but his bodyguard, while Momonosuke's real dad and (Kine'mon's original master) died a long time ago. Regardless, they're still close to each other.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: To infiltrate inside Dressrosa's Royal Palace and look for Kanjuro, Kin'emon disguises himself as Doflamingo using his Devil Fruit, but he doesn't look like the original Doflamingo at all: his clothes are of a different shade of color and his hair is an obvious wig. Despite this, Gladius, of all people, falls for it.
• Parental Substitute: Kin'emon becomes Momonosuke's father figure after the deaths of his parents, Oden and Toki Kozuki. Kin'emon takes his position as Momo's bodyguard far beyond its usual requirements — to the point of storming Punk Hazard and taking on a Warlord all by himself — and acts as the boy's primary father-figure throughout the series. Their shared bond leads Momonosuke to cry when Kin'emon is seemingly killed by Kaido.
• Playing with Fire: The source of his epithet of "Foxfire" is due to his Kistunebi-ryu fighting style, which allows him to create slashes of fire.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Kin'emon shows some regressive views about women when he first interacts with Nami, as his homeland isn't exactly the most progressive place out there. Despite this, he’s a good man and a loyal ally to the Straw Hats.
• Power Perversion Potential: Implies that his ability to summon up any set of clothes can extend to "topless", and this raises a rather interesting question — normally the effect wears off once someone removes the clothes. Also, when giving clothes to the Straw Hats to help them blending into Wano, he gives Nami a very skimpy ninja outfit, claiming it's normal for a kunoichi to dress up that way.
• Samurai Ponytail: He has a small topknot that Sanji uses to identify him as a samurai from Wano.
• Saved From Their Own Honor: During the Onigashima War, while Usopp is fighting hordes of mooks to protect Kin'emon and Kiku, Kin'emon begs him to leave and let them die in an honorable way, following the tradition of bushido. Usopp however criticizes this statement, instead believing that it is better to survive at any cost, and keeps on fighting until they all have the chance to run away safely.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: After wounding Kaido, the latter realizes that the Akazaya Nine have allied themselves with the Straw Hats and tells them that they'll be abandoned because pirates are traitors. Kin'emon replies to Kaido's face that it's all a slander and that Luffy is not like him.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • His attempt to rescue Momonosuke leads to the Straw Hat-Law team up, the end of Caesar Clown's years of SAD production as well as the release of the children he kidnapped, and a bidding war between Kaido and Doflamingo.
  • In Wano, his genuinely misinterpreting Yasuie's message to change meeting places while nobody else did causes the traitor among the allied forces to tip their hand and reveal themselves, all while the steps they and Orochi had taken to prevent everyone meeting up with the samurai are rendered moot because the difference in distance between where Kin'emon thought they were to meet and where they actually did meet means everyone had left and gotten into position long before Orochi destroyed the bridges and ships he thought they intended to use.
• Stay in the Kitchen: With his archaic samurai demeanor comes fairly outdated views on how women should act. He criticizes Nami for her informal, direct way of talking toward him and her temper. He also believes that her revealing outfit is a result of being stripped and deems her lewd when she clarifies that she's voluntarily dressed like that, though he ultimately can't hide his lustful joy over her "breast band".
• The Strategist: Parodied. As the leader of the Akazaya Nine, Kin'emon is the one who makes up plans and happens to fool Kanjuro, Orochi's spy, by complete accident. For the assault at Onigashima, however, Kin'emon prepares a plan which he changes over time.
• Suicide as Comedy: Threatens to use seppuku at the slightest embarrassment.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When Denjiro goes into a long-winded explanation about how Kin'emon purposefully deceived the traitor and by extension Orochi by deliberately misreading Lord Yasuie's message and saying that the meeting place was Tokage Port instead of the actual meeting place, Habu Wharf, Kin'emon, who genuinely thought the meeting place was Tokage Port, just gives a small affirmation and doesn't bother to explain his mistake at all. His other comrades don't buy it and demands Kin'emon to tell the truth, but he just doubles-down on Denjiro's assumption.
• Taken for Granite: He's turned into a statue by Shinokuni's deadly gas but gets better thanks to Trafalgar Law.
• Ungrateful Bastard: He rages at the Straw Hats for being pirates as they rescue him (a prejudice which is justified since Kaido's crew has destroyed his country), then blatantly takes advantage of Sanji being unwilling to leave him behind to harass him further. He grows out of it when they help him put himself back together.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Kin'emon briefly holds up Kaido to let Momonosuke escape, and tries to block the emperor's attack by crossing both of his katanas.

"Evening Shower" Kanjuro

"Evening Shower" Kanjuro

Voiced by: Takumi Yamazaki (JP), Ben Bryant (EN)

Age: 39

Debut: Chapter 700 (Manga), Episode 629 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Brush-Brush Fruit

A samurai and an artist who followed Oden when he was alive. Upon washing up on the shores of Dressrosa, he, Kin'emon, Momonosuke, and a fourth samurai were apprehended by Doflamingo's troops. Kanjuro allowed himself to be captured to give his friends enough time to escape. He has eaten the Brush-Brush Fruit (Fude Fude no Mi) which allows him to bring to life anything he draws. Regrettably, the innate usefulness his powers bring to the table is severely limited by his own lack of drawing skills...

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• Art Attacker: His weapon is a sword-sized paintbrush, and uses it to create paintings of creatures and objects that are brought to life with his Devil Fruit power.
• Art Initiates Life: His Devil Fruit ability allows him to bring anything he draws to life, including food and living creatures. Unfortunately, he can't quite take full advantage of it and many of the living being he creates with his power are weak and die after a short time.
• Distressed Dude: After being found by Kin'emon in a dump, Kanjuro explains how he survived during that period as a prisoner, by drawing food and making it real with his Devil Fruit, then escapes from the dump by drawing a giant bird to ride.
• Improbable Weapon User: His sword is actually a gigantic paintbrush, which he uses to draw things to life.
• Irony: His Devil Fruit allows him to bring anything he draws to life, too bad he is also a Terrible Artist, which prevents him from getting the best out of his Devil Fruit ability.
• Ki Manipulation: Kanjuro uses Armament Haki to help Zoro with slowing down the Birdcage.
• Mundane Utility: While prisoner in Dressrosa, Kanjuro uses his Devil Fruit to draw food to himself, and in his debut he's eating a badly-drawn cabbage.
• Required Secondary Powers: Or "Required Secondary Ability" in this case rather than a power, and the fact that he doesn't have them is Lampshaded; in order to fully utilize his powers, it would be much more convenient for him if he could actually draw well, unfortunately, his drawing ability is very poor.
• The Quiet One: Kanjuro is almost always calm and rarely talks, especially compared to his more eccentric fellow retainers.
• Terrible Artist: Ironically, given his ability to make real anything he draws. This results in the living beings he creates being shoddy and generally don't last long.

Raizo "of the Mist"

Raizo of the Mist

Voiced by: Masashi Ebara (JP), Andrew Kishino (EN)

Age: 35

Debut: Chapter 817 (Manga), Episode 768 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Scroll-Scroll Fruit

"I may be invisible to women, but I'm invincible as a ninja!!! Raizo of the Mist is upon the scene!!!"

—Chapter 817

A ninja from the Land of Wano, retainer for the Kozuki Clan, member of the Akazaya Nine and one of Kin'emon's companions. Jack's search for him caused untold amount of devastation to the Mokomo Dukedom. He has eaten the Scroll-Scroll Fruit (Maki Maki no Mi) which allows him to produce and control scrolls that can contain and release objects and energy.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Raizo is very ugly and every woman he likes rejects him or, at worst, runs away from him. However, an SBS reveals that Fukumi, Fukurokuju's sister, fell in love with him after he saved her.
• Anime Hair: Raizo's hairstyle is extremely bizarre to complement his goofy look.
• Attack Reflector: While fighting Kaido, Raizo summons a scroll that wraps him up, catches Kaido's fiery breath and sends it back to him.
• Badass in Distress: Played with. When Jack came looking for him, he had to take refuge in the Mokomo Dukedom. And then the Minks chained him against his will, since he could not stomach seeing his Mink allies getting slaughtered and was ready to turn himself in to stop the carnage.
• Big Damn Heroes: Raizo saves everyone on Onigashima from the fire Orochi caused by using a saved scroll of collected water he he gotten from Zou (ocean water Zunisha uses to clean himself daily) and having Jimbei uses his Fishman Karate to distribute it through the castle saving friends and foes alike. This foresight is due to events in the past when Oden's castle was set ablaze by Kaido before he was sent into the future and not wanting a repeat of his helplessness to stop it.
• Catch and Return: One of his ninjutsu techniques can capture an enemy's attack in a scroll (assuming it's not a direct, physical attack), which Raizo can turn back on the user or other enemies.
• Counterpart Combat Coordination: Raizo is the only ninja among the Akazaya Nine and during the war at Onigashima, he engages a fight with Fukurokuju, the leader of Orochi's ninja guards.
• Determinator: While fighting Fukurokuju, they both block each other with a jutsu while the castle around them burns. Raizo refuses to free Fukurokuju even while he's engulfed by the flames, since Oden endured much worse to save him, and wins the endurance duel. Notably, when they were held above the boiling pot, Raizo was the first one to complain about the heat.
• Face of a Thug: Raizo has a very large and square face, with small eyes, a wide mouth and sideburns that would be appropriate for a villain, but is instead one of Oden's Akazaya Nine and a loyal ninja.
• Gonk: Raizo is drawn in a very cartoony style, with an over-sized head and short limbs; to his dismay, as he notes that no kunoichi even dares look at him and he got rejected in the past. This doesn't diminish his badass credibility at all.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a scar shaped like a crescent moon on his forehead which he got during a battle with King twenty years before.
• Guyliner: Raizo has orange makeup around his eyes, as per Japanese tradition.
• Hammerspace: During the fight against Kaido, Raizo reveals a jutsu that is in reality the power of a Devil Fruit which he calls Scroll Scroll Jutsu, allowing him to summon a huge scroll that trap anything inside it, even Kaido's fiery breath, and uses it to release Zunesha's water to stop Orochi's fire from burning Onigashima's castle. The scroll also reflects any attack caught inside back at the opponent.
• Man on Fire During the fight with Fukurokuju, they end up locking each other with a ninjutsu while Kanjuro's hellfire slowly reaches them. After a while, Raizo gets covered by flames but still resists to honor his old master.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When he was young, Raizo rescued Fukurokuju's sister, Fukumi, and she fell in love with him. However, he was very shy and inexperienced and, when she tried to kiss him, he accidentally pushed and hurt her. Out of shame, Raizo left the Flower Capital to live in the forest.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Raizo hates that he was unable to keep Oden's castle from burning in the past thanks to Kaido and he vowed not to let it happen again. While he was on Zou, he saw Zuneshia raining down water on the island to clean himself and it gave him the idea to collect some of it in case of emergency. This comes to pass during the war on Onigashima when Orochi sets the castle on fire to get even with Kaido for betraying him. After he beats Fukurokuji in their duel, Raizo uses the scroll, with Jimbei's help, to douse the castle with water and save everyone from burning to death.
• Ninja: Among a group of samurai, Raizo is the only ninja. When he first meets the Straw Hats, he claims to be a "serious" one who doesn't do special tricks but, after hearing Luffy and Chopper's disappointed comments, he starts performing many Naruto-style ninja arts.
• Not Good with Rejection: Exaggerated. When Raizo was part of the Oniwabanshu, he was rejected by a young kunoichi and took it so badly he left to live in a forest in the Kuri region, where he kidnapped any woman who passed by. After meeting Oden, Raizo found a new purpose in life and followed him. Subverted when an SBS reveals he actually ran away after accidentally pushing and hurting Fukumi, Fukurokuju's sister, when she tried to kiss him.
• Playing with Fire: Raizo summons a fire jutsu against admiral Ryokugyu, who has a plant Devil Fruit. Unfortunately for him, the admiral is prepared against this weakness and is not hurt by his attack.
• Rescue Romance: Tragically averted. Fukumi fell in love with Raizo after he rescued her on a mission. However, when she tried to kiss him, Raizo was so embarrassed and inexperienced with girls that he accidentally pushed her and then ran away out of shame.
• Self-Duplication: One of his ninja abilities is to create shadow clones of himself.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Raizo is one of the Akazaya Nine but, unlike the leader Kin'emon, he's not focused much during the Wano Arc, doing some stealth missions on the background to support the main characters. However, during the end of the Onigashima War, Raizo plays a vital role by turning off the fire set by Orochi (and Kanjuro) that is burning Onigashima's castle, saving everyone inside.
• Stealth Expert: As befitting a Ninja, Raizo is extremely stealthy. He sneaks into Kaido's forced labor camp to keep Luffy up to date with the plan. He also plays an important role in Luffy's escape cutting off communication in the prison, by taking out the smails and finding the keys for Kawamatsu's handcuffs.
• Technicolor Ninjas: Despite his bright light-blue garb, Raizo is able to infiltrate many places without getting noticed, such as Udon's prison mines, where he sneaks in and cuts off the prison's communications.
• Victory by Endurance: Raizo outlasts Fukurokuju in their duel where both are paralyzed from their ninjutsu as they're surrounded by fire. Even though the flames reach Raizo first, he doesn't yield and holds his ground to Fukurokuju's increasing panic, resulting in both men getting covered in flames. In the end, Fukurokuju falls and screams for water while Raizo remains steady.

Duke Dogstorm

A dog Mink who washed ashore on Wano with Cat Viper, and entered Oden's service after he saved them from descrimnation. See his entry on the Mink Tribe page.

Boss Cat Viper

A cat Mink who washed ashore on Wano with Dogstorm, and entered Oden's service after he saved them from descrimnation. See his entry on the Mink Tribe page.

Kikunojo "of the Fallen Snow"

Kikunojo

Voiced by: Mariya Ise (Japanese), Kayleigh McKee (English)

Age: 22

Debut: Chapter 913 (Manga), Episode 899 (Anime)

This one...is a samurai!

"The wounds this one katana leaves do not vanish in the afterlife... Like snow that remains into the spring...they will continue to torment your soul for eternity!!"

—Chapter 985

Introduced as the poster girl for Tsuru's tea house in Okobore Town in the region of Kuri. When Tama gets kidnapped, she quickly reveals her true occupation as a samurai and joins Luffy and Zoro on their quest to save her. She is later revealed to be a servant of the Kozuki Clan. Kikunojo and Izo were orphan kids who lived through alms until Oden took them with him and offered them food.

Kikunojo is the most feminine of the Akazaya Nine and when in combat wears a Noh mask to symbolically hide her femininity.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: Kiku's hair has a very dark shade of pink in the manga (to the point that it looks almost black with pink tinting), while in the anime, it's dark blue.
• An Arm and a Leg: She loses her entire left arm to a deadly air slash attack from Kaido's dragon form.
• Badass Adorable: She's a big one, but still cute, and very skilled with her sword.
• Big Little Sister: At 9 feet 5 inches, she towers over her older brother, Izo, who is pretty tall man himself (6 feet 3 inches).
• Emotional Bruiser: After learning that Kanjuro has beaten up Momonosuke, Kiku begins to cry and challenges him to a duel to the death, during which her tears keep dropping, especially after having killed him. Unfortunately, Kikunojo's feelings toward her former comrade prevents her from actually killing Kanjuro, who barely survives the wounds. During their second confrontation, Kiku cannot bring herself to kill the fake Oden created by Kanjuro, despite knowing it's a drawing, and it almost costs her life.
• Foreshadowing: Kiku typically uses sessha when addressing herself. This is an archaic masculine Japanese personal pronoun typically used by samurai during the feudal ages. This foreshadows that Kiku was assigned male at birth. Also, in the original Japanese, the Akazaya Nine are referred to as "Akazaya Kunin Otoko", which means the "Nine Men of the Red Scabbards".
• Hime Cut: She has blunt bangs, shoulder-length sidelocks, and mid-back length hair befitting for a Lady of War in a kimono.
• Horse of a Different Color: Rides Komachiyo (the komainu) to chase after one of the Gifters who kidnapped Tama.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: While fighting Kanjuro's copy of Oden, Kiku gets too emotional to strike down the drawing of her former master, who pierces her with the katana, almost killing her.
• Katanas Are Just Better: In a Japanese-like country like Wano, they most certainly are and, being a samurai, Kiku uses a katana. She claims that the wounds caused by her katana last forever.
• Lady of War: She's beautiful, polite, wears a kimono, and works in a tea house. This hides her true nature as a samurai who can wield a katana with great skill and precision, having the most refined sword style among the Akazaya Nine. At Onigashima, Kiku even defeats Kanjuro, a fellow Akazaya Nine, in a duel.
• Lost in Translation: In Japanese, Kiku uses sessha, an archaic masculine personal pronoun that was typically used by samurai during the feudal ages. This quirk is generally lost when Kiku's dialogue is translated into English and requires being pointed out especially as it's a hint to Kiku's assigned gender at birth. Viz's translation has Kiku use "This One" as a substitute for sessha, which they also used with Kenshin Himura of Rurouni Kenshin.
• Major Injury Underreaction: After losing her left arm to Kaido, she's back in the fight only moments after having her wound dressed and cauterized by Izo and Kin'emon, with a smile on her face.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Kiku's full name Kikunojo is a reference to Segawa Kikunojo, a famous kabuki actor from the 18th century renowned for their role as an onnagata (a male actor who plays women's roles in Japanese Kabuki theatre). The name Segawa Kikunojo was later adopted as a yagō by a number of onnagata over the years thus making the very name Kikunojo become closely associated with the very concept of onnagata.
• One of the Guys: Kiku has spent pretty much her whole life hanging out and fighting with the otherwise all-male Akazaya Nine, who all treat her the same way they treat the others. Oda reveals in an SBS that she even bathes together with the rest of them since she's known them since she was a young child.
• Pink Is Feminine: Kiku is the most feminine member of the Akazaya Nine, who are for the most part manly samurai, and her hair is a dark shade of pink to indicate it.
• Queer Establishing Moment: Kiku is revealed to be Kikunojo in hiding, known as a man long ago. When Chopper asks her about this, she says she "has the heart of a woman", a common Japanese way of saying she's a trans woman.
• Rage Helm: Kiku dons a terrifying Noh mask to highlight the fact that as one of the Akazaya Nine, she's not to be messed with. It also symbolizes Kiku hiding her "femininity" and go all out in a fight.
• Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Kiku is a refined woman and in combat, she's hindered by her shy personality. When she needs to use all of her swordsmanship skills, she dons a Noh mask as a way to symbolically hide her femininity.
• Reluctant Warrior: Kikunojo is very emotional and not too eager to engage in a fight. After cutting Urashima's knot, she's immediately scared of what she has done and needs Zoro to motivate her in kicking ass again.
• Samurai Ponytail: When preparing for a fight, Kiku ties her hair in a ponytail, giving her a feminine and more samurai-esque look.
• Silk Hiding Steel: She's a kind-hearted woman who works at Tsuru's tea shop, yet is quite firm in personal boundaries as shown when she rejected Urashima's offer to make her his wife, and gave chase to one of the Animal Kingdom Pirates after they kidnapped Tama. And she will raise her katana at you if you insist on your advances after she's already told you "no".
• The Smurfette Principle: Kiku is the only female member of the Akazaya Nine, but she's revealed to be assigned male at birth. However, Kiku says she has the heart of a woman and presents as such.
• Snow Means Death: In her duel with Kanjuro, where she seemingly kills him, the two fight in a snowy land and Kiku compares the pain caused by her blade to the falling snow, explaining her epithet.
• Statuesque Stunner: She's so tall that, sitting down, Zoro (who is 5'11.5") only comes up to around her chest. That said, her beauty is directly proportional to her height. Justified since Kiku is a trans woman.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: Before confronting Kanjuro, Kiku tells him that injuries inflicted by her blade can persist even into the afterlife.

Ashura Doji

Ashura Doji

Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (JP), Ricco Fajardo (EN)

Age: 56

Debut: Chapter 920 (Manga), Episode 910 (Anime)

"No use clinging to life. All you see around you is cruel reality."

"I was a samurai who put his life on the line outta devotion to one man—Kozuki Oden!!!"

—Chapter 925

Originally the reigning bandit king of Kuri, Ashura Doji swore loyalty to Oden after his defeat in battle and became one of his samurai. After Oden's death, he returned to his former bandit lifestyle, but this time under the name Shutenmaru, and did so for the next twenty years.

Upon assisting Yasuie's sacrifice, Ashura decides to join the Akazaya Nine once again. His experiences made him much more serius than his fellow samurais and doesn't have any comedic trait.

As a samurai, Ashura Doji is an extremely strong fighter, able to put Jack on the edge.

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• Acrofatic: He can move at blinding speed despite his girth, quick enough to give Jack a fight of his life.
• Anti-Hero: While the other Akazaya Nine were all outlaws or discriminated against, Ashura Doji is a former bandit leader and, after seeing the failure of the coup against Kaido and the death of all the people involved, he's become much more cynical than his allies.
• Brutal Honesty: When Kin'emon tries to get Ashura Doji to rejoin, he bluntly tells the former that the Kozuki clan's disappearance has caused Wano to suffer.
• Cassandra Truth: In the past, when Oden's followers gathered to take down Kaido, Ashura warned them that they don't stand a chance against Kaido and his army. The group didn't listen him and sailed to Onigashima anyway, where they all met their doom as Ashura predicted.
• Coat Cape: He doesn't wear his coat, and instead places it on his shoulders, giving him a wandering samurai look and indicating his status as bandit leader.
• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: When he was an evil bandit, Ashura Doji had dark shadows under his eyes, emphasizing his formerly evil personality. In the present, his eyes are jaded by the tragedies he's experienced but don't have any undershadow.
• Cynicism Catalyst: The death of the Kozuki supporters who could not wait the full 20 years for the prophecy and decided to challenge Kaido in his home turf sent him into a Heroic BSoD. Previously Ashura believed in the prophecy and waited on it for ten years, even when life grew more difficult for his faction over time. Even when his underlings are about to go against Kaidou, he tries to rein them in, to no avail. In the present time, he shows a graveyard full of Kozuki supporters who failed in their uprising 10 years ago to Kin'emon and Dogstorm. His cynism allows him to not fall immediately for the fake Oden that greets the Akazaya Nine after their defeat and to spot the impostor.
• Death by Irony: Ashura Doji is the member of the Akazaya Nine most loyal to Oden and, following his death and the failed attempt of his followers to take down Kaido, Ashura Doji temporarily abandons his group to return to his bandit lifestyle because he's more loyal to Oden himself rather than his allies. Yet, Ashura Doji sacrifices himself to protect the other Akazaya Nine from a fake Oden.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Deconstructed. In his youth, he fought and lost to Oden, and became one of his loyal followers. After Oden's death, he remained faithful, but after the unsuccesfull attempt of Oden's support to kill Kaido, Ashura saw no more reason to work with the Kozuki clan or uphold his late master's ideals, and went back to his old way of life. Reconstructed when Ashura decides to turn his loyalty to the entire Kozuki clan and joins again the Akazaya Nine. Ashura is also loyal enough to realize when someone is simply impersonating Oden and doesn't get fooled by Kanjuro's drawing.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Ashura's eyes are always shaded to make them stand out from most mean looks and hint at how he has become disillusioned after seeing Oden's supporters going into a pointless and desperate suicide attack against Kaido.
• Fallen Hero: He was once one of Oden's beloved retainers who turned his back on the Kozuki clan and returned to his bandit life shortly after his master's death. Thankfully, in the end he joins back the Akazaya Nine and helps during the Onigashima war.
• Fat Bastard: Ashura Doji is a thief willing to kill an old woman and massively obese. Subverted after he's finally convinced to abandon for good his life as a bandit, following Yasu'ie's execution.
• Freudian Excuse: His cynical views towards Wano as a country stems from the fact that Lord Oden was killed by Kaido during the latter's invasion and that many of Oden's supporters died after an attempt to kill Kaido.
• Gonk: He's a very fat and unpleasant bandit.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: As a teenager, Ashura Doji is a notorious mountain bandit who would even drink snake blood, but changes his mind after Oden defeats him and shows him what peace actually is. Once Oden is killed, Ashura returns to his past lifestyle of banditry. Assisting at Yasuie's execution prompts him to to finally reaffirm his loyalty to the Kozuki clan.
• Heroic BSoD: Ashura fell into a major one when the Kozuki supporters could not wait for the prophecy to be fulfilled and decided to challenge Kaido in Onigashima, resulting in their demise. It's what caused him to return to his bandit life. After assisting at Yasuie's death, he decides to join again the Akazaya Nine.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Ashura is impaled from side to side by one of fake Oden's swords when he jumps in to protect his allies.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While he initially doesn't know all the details, he calls out Kin'emon and Momonosuke for expecting him to help the Kozuki clan after waiting many years. A reasonable point, since the clan's disappearance caused Wano to suffer and he has long since given up hope that the clan would return.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although he is a bandit willing to raid villages, Ashura deeply cares about Kin'emon and his allies as shown when he finally accepts the latter's offer to help him take down Kaido and Orochi.
• Jumping on a Grenade: While Ashura fights the fake Oden drawn by Kanjuro, he notices the latter has turned up a grenade, and jumps out of the treasure room, dragging fake Oden with him, to save his comrades. His sword is collected by his allies after Kaido and Orochi's defeat and set to be laid to rest in a shrine dedicated to Wano's fallen warriors.
• Kick the Dog: He not only refuses to rejoin Kin'emon and his former allies, but he steals food just to make the villagers suffer. At first.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Even after all the experiences that made him very cynical about Wano, Ashura resolves to rejoin his former allies and to fight to save his land nonetheless. He ends up dying to save his friends as well.
• Lack of Empathy: Following Oden's death, Ashura has become cynical and gone back to his bandit life, and doesn't care that he is stealing food from defenseless villagers. He becomes a good person again following Yasuie's death, which brings back his memories from when he became a samurai.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: When the forest he and his men are living in is set on fire by the Animal Kingdom Pirates, Ashura Doji decides it's time to go start bashing heads together.
• Morality Chain Beyond the Grave: Ashura Doji went from bandit leader to samurai thanks to Oden, who showed him true peace. However, Ashura returned back to his bandit lifestyle and dropped any sense of morality following Oden's death and the vain sacrifice of countless Kozuki supporters. Assisting at Yasu'ie's death convince Ashura to become a samurai again, this time loyal to the entire Kozuki clan.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His name is a combination of Ashura and Shuten Dohji, two famous onis from Japanese Mythology, and in his youth he was an infamous bandit leader until Oden changed him into a better person and became a true samurai to serve him.
• Older Than He Looks: Ashura is 56 years old, yet he can pass himself off as a man in his forties, to the point that his appearance remained unchanged for forty years.
• Perpetual Frowner: Ashura's smile is always turned upside down, which at first gives his face a more thug-like appearance, since he's introduced as a bandit pillaging a village. Later, it's revealed that because he saw all of Oden's supporters pointlessly sacrificing themselves in a desperate battle against Kaido and has become disillusioned with the idea of the Kozuki clan coming back to the throne. Once Ashura changes his mind and rejoins the Akazaya Nine, he's still grumpy, but smiles every once in a while.
• Pink Is Feminine: Inverted. With his sturdy body and severe face, Ashura Doji is the most masculine of the Akazaya Nine but his main color is pink. He has pink hair, pink and purple tattoos and wears a pink coat on his shoulders.
• Red Herring Shirt: Ashura initially looks like another Fat Bastard thug who gets quickly taken down by the other characters. Then it's revealed he's one of Wano's strongest samurai.
• Redemption Equals Death: Downplayed. After changing his mind and leaving his bandit lifestyle once and for all to join his fellow samurais, Ashura meets his end at the Onigashima war, sacrificing himself for his comrades. However, he's involved in a lot of moments and fights between his Heel–Face Turn and his death.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: His two names, Shutenmaru and Ashura Doji, are derived from Shuten-doji, the mythical demon (called oni in Japanese)) commonly seen in Japanese folklore.
• Rōnin: He's a wandering samurai and laments how Wano "no longer has any real men whom a strong samurai can follow anymore". Considering his past as Lord Oden's retainer, it also double as Despair Event Horizon.
• Tattooed Crook: Like Hyogoro the Flower, Ashura Doji sports elaborate flower tattoos on his shoulders, as a visual clue about being a former bandit.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Ashura Doji wears his coat on his shoulders, while his fat torso is always exposed.
• What Is This Feeling?: After Oden tames Kuri and turns it into a paradise, Ashura is pleasantly surprised to feel peace for the first time in his life, and proclaims himself thankful to Oden for this.
• Younger Than He Looks: When he first faces Oden, Ashura is about 15-16 years old, yet he looks as old as he currently is (56 years old).

"Yokozuna" Kawamatsu "the Kappa"

Kawamatsu "the Kappa"

Voiced by: Yuu Mizushima (JP), Anthony Bowling (EN)

Age: 41

Debut: Chapter 924 (Manga), Episode 910 (Anime)

"I'd heard that poisonous fish was a delicacy, but it was so disgusting, my innards screamed for mercy. Yet I perservered for 13 long years!! Compared to the suffering of my lord, this was but a pleasant breeze! How I have awaited this moment! Kawamatsu the Kappa joins the battle!!"

—Chapter 948

One of the Akazaya Nine, who's both a samurai and a Yokozuna and a fugu-type Fish-man. He rescued Kozuki Hiyori and raised her after the destruction of Oden's castle. However, he was captured and has spent many years imprisoned in a cell. Once freed, he helps Luffy at Udon before going to Ringo and bring all the swords he gathered for the Kozuki rebellion.

Like the rest of the Akazaya Nine, Kawamatsu is an extremely skilled samurai and is also considered the strongest Yokozuna of Wano, implying he's a master in hand-to-hand combat as well.

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• Badass Adorable: He's a cute and cuddly looking Fish-man who has a kindhearted personality but also a very strong samurai and yokozuna.
• Bait-and-Switch: When he's first shown onscreen, he's locked in a dark cell in Udon with the only thing visible being his eyes which seem to be perpetually glaring, giving the impression he's an angry Blood Knight, especially when he spits a fish bone at one of the prison guards. A few chapters later, his dialogue, combined Hiyori's flashback regarding him, reveal he's actually a very friendly and kindhearted individual
• Barbarian Longhair: Kawamatsu's long and wild hair "hide" the round shape of his body, showing visually that, while a nice person, he's also a fierce warrior.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: He's loyal to Oden and his family because Oden was the first one in Wano to treat him nicely despite being a Fish-man.
• Blush Sticker: His perpetually rosy cheeks give him a cutesy appearance compared to traditional depictions of kappas and highlight his nice personality.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Twice! He's both the unnamed figure that is seen with Momonosuke and his group before they are sent to the future by Toki, and the mysterious prisoner who Luffy sees before being sent to his jail. However, it takes a few chapters before both of these figures are revealed to be the same character: one of the missing retainers mentioned by Kin'emon.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Defied. When Kawamatsu was taken prisoner, the guards were ordered to feed him poisoned fish to give him an unpleasant death but he persisted for thirteen years (spitting the fish bones back to the prisoners) until he's freed during the chaos caused by Luffy.
• Defiant Captive: Even when locked in prison and chained to the wall, Kawamatsu still fights back by spitting the fish bones to the warden's neck. For this reason he's considered Udon's most dangerous prisoner.
• Determinator: Despite being fed a poisonous fish every day, he keeps on clinging to life. Even the guards note how that people who eat poisonous fish die after a few weeks, but not Kawamatsu, who explains that it has been very unpleasant. The fact he's a Fish-man might justify this. After eating poisonous fish for years, one of the first things he does after being freed is throw up.
• Driven to Suicide: After young Hiyori ran away, Kawamatsu looked for her without success, believing to have failed in his mission to protect her. He went to Ringo to commit Seppuku where, fortunately, he found new purpose in in collecting and protecting Ringo's weapons for the fated battle.
• Eye-Obscuring Hat: Downplayed. Kawamatsu's hat has a large visor which casts a shadow around his eyes, making his appearance more intimidating and serious in contrast to his round body.
• Fantastic Racism: When he was a child, Kawamatsu and his mother, two Fish-men, washed up in Wano from a shipwreck long ago, only to be refused help and be discriminated because they were an unknown race to the Wano inhabitants. His mother told him to identify as a kappa from then on to escape the discrimination, but it didn't work much better because kappas are demons in Japanese folklore.
• Fish People: While presenting himself as a kappa, Kawamatsu is actually a fugu-type Fish-man. Since Wano is an isolated country which has never heard of his kind, Kawamatsu pretends to be a kappa, although Zoro does recognize that he's a Fish-man.
• Grave Robbing: After failing to protect Oden's daughter, Kawamatsu decides to use the swords embedded in Ringo's graveyard to arm the future rebellion, hiding the weapon stash in the cemetery. He acknowledges that it's wrong, but also that by using said swords again would have make their dead owners proud.
• Improvised Weapon: When chained to the walls, he resorts to spitting out fish bones to impale a prison guard's neck.
• Kappa: While in prison, he's described as a kind of "croco-shark", only to be revealed by Hiyori to be an actual kappa. He's actually a Fish-man who landed ashore in Wano with his mother, and only calls himself a kappa because Fish-men are heavily discriminated against in the world, especiallly in a country as isolated as Wano, in which a Fish-man is something unheard of. His kind are implied to hold a similarly frightening reputation in Wano as in real-world legends, and still suffered discrimination as a child even while claiming to be a kappa, but he nonetheless swore loyalty to Oden and took care of Hiyori after Kaido's invasion, even cheering her up with a "kappa dance".
• Legacy Character: In the past, after losing Hiyori and wandering to Ringo's cemetery, Kawamatsu disguised himself as Gyukimaru to steal the weapons from the graverobbers in Ringo, so he could ammass enough sword for a rebel army against Kaido. After Kawamatsu was imprisoned, Onimaru took the identity of Gyukimaru to continue his work.
• My Greatest Failure: After Oden's castle burned down, Kawamatsu was assigned the job of taking care of young Hiyori. Unfortunately, he loses her and afterward is so desperate to go to Ringo and commit seppuku, where he finds a new purpose to help the Kozuki rebellion: by taking all of the swords from the graves. However, he is still embittered to have failed his mission. Thankfully, he learns that Hiyori is alive and he's relieved to see she has grown into a beautiful woman.
• Never Bareheaded: Kawamatsu constantly wears a large straw hat to look more like the traditional kappa.
• Nice Guy: Took care of a very young Hiyori to the point he starved himself just to feed her, and cheered her up after she was traumatized by Kaido's invasion. He also fed and took care of a Kitsune he had just met in Ringo.
• Parental Substitute: Seemed to have become a father figure to Hiyori after saving her from Oden Castle during Orochi's takeover. He took care of her, made sure she was fed, and did his best to keep her spirits up for seven years, until they were separated 13 years ago, when Hiyori was 13. When they meet after many years, during which Hiyori has grown into a woman, Kawamatsu is still very apprehensive of her.
• Redhead In Green: Kawamatsu has wild red hair, a shade that indicates how he's normally calm but can be dangerous in combat. The red hair complements his mainly green color scheme given by his skin and his clothes.
• Signature Laugh: His laugh is a punny "Kappappa", befitting for a kappa-looking Fish-man.
• Stout Strength: Even after years of malnutrition in Udon's prison, he's pretty stocky and chucky as a Yokozuna's expected to be, but remains a terrific fighter as well.
• Sumo Wrestling: Kawamatsu is not only a samurai, but also a sumo wrestler with the rank of yokozuna (the highest possible rank for a sumo practitioner). This fact is also reflected in the name of his sword, Soto Musou, which is a type of sumo move.
• Super Spit: He's able to spit fish bones with enough power and speed that it becomes a deadly projectile.
• Undying Loyalty: In contrast to Ashura Doji, he is eager to join the rebellion against Orochi. He also saved Hiyori's life during Orochi's coup and took care of her for seven years afterwards and after Hiyori ran away, he found a new purpose by gathering weapons for the rebellion predicted by Toki. When he's freed, his first question towards Raizo is whether Momonosuke is doing well.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Kawamatsu was the first to take the identity of Gyukimaru to stop graverobbers in Ringo and take their weapons, since the ones in the cemetery weren't enough for an army.

Denjiro

Denjiro

Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio (JP), Christopher Wehkamp (EN)

Age: 47

Debut: Chapter 960 (Manga, Flashback), Episode 960 (Anime, Flashback)

One of the Akazaya Nine, and the last one to reunite with them. In the past, he was a young boy disillusioned with the adults, the only exception was the rebellious Oden. He also has very personal ties with Oden's daughter, Hiyori.

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• The Artful Dodger: As a kid, Denjiro is an orphan living on the streets of the Flower Capital, but his introduction shows that he's good at tricking the merchants to get some extra money.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Arrives in time to give the Akazaya Nine, Straw Hats, Kid Pirates, and Heart Pirates back up along with the samurai army that Kanjuro had tried to prevent from leaving the island via warning Orochi who tried to cut off their routes to the ocean. Revealing that they have left the island before Kanjuro knew about and the ships that the Animal Kingdom Pirates destroyed were just spares.
  • Right when Orochi is about to kill Hiyori, Denjiro comes in and instantly beheads him.
• Con Man: When he's introduced in the flashback, he's bargaining with a pot seller and manages to talk him into taking back a 30 silver pieces-worth pot and in exchange give him a larger pot which costs twice as much. The seller realizes only when Denjiro's far enough. He pulls the ultimate con on Orochi by posing as Kyoshiro and rising to become his right hand man.
• Cool Shades: As a young man, Denjiro wears circular black shades over his eyes.
• Fan Boy: As a boy, he was disillusioned by the adults, who followed the strict rules of Wano's society, but made a special exception to Oden, who didn't care about societal norms, and Denjiro had a great admiration for him.
• Foreshadowing: When he's first actually shown in flashback, he's introduced swindling a pot seller out of his money with some clever wordplay and pandering to the man's viewpoint. This trait hints at his true present identity of Kyoshiro, who is likewise playing a long con on Orochi, pretending to be his devoted enforcer when he is merely biding his time to strike when Orochi is least prepared for his revenge.
• The Ghost: Denjiro doesn't appear in the first two acts the Wano Arc, but makes a debut at the beginning of Oden's flashback as a young boy and at the end of the flashback, it's revealed Denjiro took the identity of Kyoshiro to get close to Orochi, meaning he has actually appeared since the first act of Wano.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: As Kyoshiro, he behaves as a sadistic bastard who cares little for others around him and loves bloodshed. In truth he's very kind and noble, having watched over Hiyori for the last 13 years and took it upon himself to watch over the poor people of Wano as the Witching Hour Boy.
• In-Universe Catharsis: At the conclusion of the battle on Onigashima, he gets his full revenge when he kills Orochi, the one responsible for Oden's death.
• Just Like Robin Hood: While during the day he plays the role of Kyoshiro, Orochi's most trusted subordinate, during the night he's the Witching Hour Boy, who runs through the poor towns and give the money Hiyori got from the nobles she tricked. For this reason he's got the habit to fall asleep at random moments.
• Manipulative Bastard: A heroic example. While as Kyoshiro, he manipulated everyone around him, Orochi especially to gain his trust and approval for the next 20 years, patiently biding his time to strike. Once Orochi leaves for Onigashima and leaves Kyoshiro in charge, he uses his position to his advantage to free the prisoners Orochi arrested and lead them to the fight with the other Scabards.
• Mole in Charge: As Kyoshiro, he rose to become Orochi's chief enforcer and use him to defeat Kaido.
• Nice Guy: Even after the death of Oden, Denjiro never lost his morality. As even after becoming Kyoshiro, he continued to watch over the people of Wano, protected Oden's daughter Hiyori, and worked for the next 13 years at the Witching Hour Boy to give food and money to the poor of Wano in the night.
• Oh, Crap!: In his introductory chapter, he realizes that the white piglet in Kin'emon's possession is the beloved child of the Kaiju sized Mountain God, which proceeds to destroys the Capital in a rampage to look for its child.
• Parental Substitute: After Kawamatsu was imprisoned, Denjiro found young Hiyori and took her with him to protect her, giving her the alias of Komurasaki to better hide her identity. Thus, Denjiro acts as both a guardian and as a father figure towards Hiyori. Fittingly for his role, he's the one who saves Hiyori from Orochi's desperate attack.
• Phantom Thief: Denjiro is the actual Witching Hour Boy who's been stealing from the wealthy inhabitants of the Flower Capital and distributing the funds to the poorer residents of the other towns, and has been doing it for years without being found.
• Prematurely Grey-Haired: His hair is black when he's young. It turns light blue out of sheer pure rage after his master Oden is slain, this helps Denjiro to hide his identity while working under Orochi himself.
• Properly Paranoid: He reveals to his allies he always felt that Orochi had a spy within the Akazaya Nine, so he held off on revealing himself and kept an eye on Orochi for any sudden plans. His instincts turn out to be correct and he foils Kanjuro's and Orochi's attempts to stop the samurai army. This is also played with regards towards Orochi's feelings for Komurasaki. Knowing his love is shallow, Denjiro correctly deduces Orochi would forces her to marry him against her will. Not wanting that, he orders Hiyori to carry bags of blood on her at all times in case they need to fake her death, which they do after Hiyori, as Komurasaki, openly defies Orochi.
• Revenge: Denjiro's main motivation is to kill Orochi and avenge his former master. Despite working very close to Orochi and having all the chances he wants, he keeps himself from killing Orochi because he knows that it would leave Wano under Kaido's control. He finally gets his revenge by cutting off Orochi's last head, killing him once and for all.
• Samurai Ponytail: His silhouette's most if not only distinct feature is his unusual hairdo. It's just a stump when he's younger. He still has his distinct ponytail, which is kept hidden under his fake pompadour.
• Something Only They Would Say: Denjiro talks about a key detail of the Mountain God incident to prove his identity, as he's disguised as Kyoshiro, to the other Akazaya. Kin'emon was the one responsible for it but everyone thought it was Oden's fault. Only Oden, Kin'emon and Denjiro know the truth, and one of the three is dead. That he, in his persona as Kyoshiro, knows it was Kin'emon is enough to prove to the latter that Kyoshiro is beyond all doubt Denjiro in disguise.
• Suppressed Rage: After reuiniting with his former comrades, Denjiro says that , following Oden's death, he's gone into a state of constant anger that permanently twisted his face. While Denjiro appears calm, when he speaks to Orochi for the first time after taking the name Kyoshiro, he's actually trembling and fighting the urge to personally wring the Shogun's neck.
• Tranquil Fury: After Oden is killed Denjiro gets so angry his hair changes color and his face is unrecognizable. Denjiro describes himself as "possessed by a demon called rage" but, when posing as Kyoshiro, manages to remain calm, meaning he's constantly in this state of rage even though he doesn't show it.
• Tyrannicide: He decapitates Orochi for good when the latter tries to kill Hiyori, thus eradicating the Kurozumi's tyranny over Wano.
• Undying Loyalty: He bended his knees to Orochi, playing the lap dog role to the man who ruined his Master, all the while maintaining his loyalty to the Kozuki cause.

Other Retainers and Allies

Shinobu

Shinobu

Voiced by: Yuriko Yamamoto (JP), Morgan Garrett (EN)

Age: 49

Debut: Chapter 921 (Manga), Episode 911 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Ripe-Ripe Fruit

A veteran kunoichi from the Land of Wano who was Kin'emon's protégé. Although not a member of the Akazaya Nine, Shinobu is extremely loyal to the Kozuki clan and is the only member of the Oniwabanshu to not align with Orochi.

She has eaten the Ripe-Ripe Fruit (Juku Juku no Mi) which lets her age and rot any inanimate object she touches, a power she erroneously believes is "jutsu."

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• Afraid of Needles: She has a fear of sharp objects, screaming loudly when the ceiling gets stabbed after she and Nami are caught spying. Nami lampshades how unfit it makes her for battle.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Shinobu's Devil Fruit makes her rot anything she touches while she went from being a beautiful young kunoichi to a cartoonishly ugly woman. Ironically, after having her fluids drained by Ryokugyu, Shinobu becomes as beautiful as she was in her youth.
• Berserk Button: Don't insult her looks unless you want to receive a Ninja Art: Ball-Crusher.
• Bound and Gagged: While the Akazaya Nine go on a boat to assault Onigashima, Shinobu remains on land with Momonosuke, but Kanjuro ties her with snakes he has drawn and kidnaps Momonosuke.
• Defector from Decadence: She used to serve under Fukurokuju and the Oniwabanshu, but quits when Fukurokuju decided to throw his lot with Orochi.
• Expy: Elements of her character, particularly her I Was Quite a Looker status, were influenced by Jane from the manga Jungle King Tar-Chan by Masuya Tokuhiro, who mentored Oda when he was just starting out as an assistant mangaka.
• Foreshadowing: In the flashback to Oden's fateful duel with Kaido, when she joins the fight and re-introduces herself to Oden, she's shown to get a pained look on her face when he mentions that he wouldn't have blamed her for losing faith in himself for acting as a 'fool of a lord' for years. During Oden's execution, she reveals that she's aware of the private deal Oden made with Orochi to humiliate himself to protect the citizens of Wano, revealing the truth to the crowd mocking Oden's efforts.
• Formerly Fat: In her fight with Admiral Ryokugyu, Shinobu gets her nutrients sucked out and becomes an empty husk. After being healed, she doesn't return to her usual, fat self but remains thin and becomes an attractive woman.
• Formerly Fit: While she's still as agile as always, she used to have an Impossible Hourglass Figure like most women of One Piece, in the present she has a round body with short limbs. Then come the fight with Admiral Ryokugyu and returns thin again.
• Girlish Pigtails: Shinobu wears her hair in two pigtails since she was a child.
• Gonk: While in the past she was known for her beauty, in the present Shinobu is short, stout, and has an unattractive face with large cheeks, mouth, and nose.
• Groin Attack: Parodied. One of her "Ninja Arts" is throwing an item which ricochets to hit Hanzo's groin. He questions if it's the origin of her old nickname "Man Killer".
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: As is a theme with many characters in Wano. What was once a feared member of the Oniwabanshu known for her beauty and technique is now an ugly middle-aged woman whose skills as a ninja are questionable at best.
• Insistent Terminology: She insists that her powers allow to ripen objects, not make them rot.
• I Was Quite a Looker: In the past she was a beautiful woman known to seduce and kill men, now she's so much of a Gonk Hanzo can't believe Shinobu is that same person. However, pointing that out will get your nuts crushed... After being sucked dry by Admiral Rykugyu and then healed, she becomes beautiful again.
• Jerkass to One: After Law's crew members are captured, Shinobu treats Law rudely and dismissively. She's more than willing to let his crew get killed to silence them thinking they have leaked the plans. Law is enraged that she would doubt his crew and leaves in anger stating he's not going to trust anyone in an alliance who doubts his crew. Even afterwards she refuses to cut him slack stating she's glad he's not with them stating he'd drag them down. Becomes more ironic on her part as it's Kanjuro, someone she's known her whole life, the one who has leaked the information.
• Little Miss Badass: As shown when Oden remembers her, Shinobu has been a ninja at the service of the Kozuki clan since she was a kid.
• Make Them Rot: Her Devil Fruit power lets her rapidly age and decay anything she touches. She uses it to make a sinkhole under Oden Castle, saving her group from Kaido's fire breath attack.
• Meaningful Name: Shinobu means "to endure," or "to conceal oneself", and she's survived Orochi's reign for the last 20 years. It's also a variant word for "shinobi."
• Ninja: She's an experienced kunoichi and used to be part of the shogun's personal team of ninjas. However, she’s shown to be a fairly incompetent one, being unable to stay quiet, having a fear of sharp objects, and bad eyesight to spy on enemies.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: She is visually based on Japanese comedian, Naomi Watanabe.
• Obliviously Beautiful: Inverted. Shinobu is a very ugly woman who used to be very attractive and still acts like she's beautiful, although she appears to have a bit of awareness of her ugliness since, when a former comrade is about to point out that she's not as beautiful as she used to be, Shinobu hits him in the nuts with a ninja technique.Played straight after she becomes thin and beautiful but Shinobu claims that her new body is ugly and threadbare.
• Proud Beauty: Subverted. She looked quite beautiful in the past, but in the present she's a Gonk who takes great pride in her looks, which no longer applies. Inverted when she regains her beauty after battling Ryokugyu, but ironically considers herself ugly.
• Rapid Aging: Shinobu's Devil Fruit works on people as well, making them older. She uses it on Momonosuke, as he ordered, to turn him into an adult so that he can help Luffy.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Shinobu is aware of Oden and Orochi's deal, and is the only one outside of them and Kaido to know why Oden dances naked on the streets. She only reveals it to Wano's inhabitants when Oden is in the pot of boiling oil, to make them realize how much Oden did for his people and his country when they mocked him instead of being thankful.
• Sexy Mentor: At the end of the Wano Arc, Shinobu has her nutrients sucked out by Aramaki, making her body dried and emaciated. After being healed, she inexplicably becomes thin and attractive like she usually claims to be and, at the same time, reveals that Tama has become her apprentice to become a kunoichi.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Parodied. She has no reservations with bathing alongside men in a bathhouse and seems to enjoy their lecherous stares, excusing it as "all young men are like that." Of course, she mistakenly believes she's the center of attention when she's clearly not, although she was gorgeous in the past.
• Taking the Bullet: When the assault at Onigashima starts, bringing chaos to the entire island, Shinobu grabs Momonosuke to bring him into a safe place, while followed by Yamato. They run into the Animal Kingdom Pirates' Armored Division, which attack them with cannons and rifles. Shinobu dodges all of them, but can't dodge the last arrows, thus she turns around, taking the arrows in place of Momonosuke. This attack leaves her on the ground, unable to protect Momonosuke any longer.
• Undying Loyalty: Shinobu has always been loyal to the Kozuki clan and left the Oniwabanshu when they turned their loyalty to Orochi. Just like the Akazaya Nine, she waited for 20 years to begin their prophesied rebellion.

Izo

Oden's tenth samurai who accompanied him on his journey with the Whitebeard Pirates, ultimately choosing to stay with the pirates. See his entry on the Whitebeard Pirates page.