Characters / One Piece: Kaido

aka: One Piece Kaido King Of The Beasts

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 > Four Emperors > Whitebeard Pirates | Animal Kingdom Pirates (Kaido | Lead Performers) | Big Mom Pirates (Big Mom | Sweet 3 Generals | Charlotte Pudding) | Blackbeard Pirates

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Kaido, "King of the Beasts"

Voiced by: Tesshō Genda, Tetsu Inada [young] (Japanese); David Sobolov (English); Alexander Wohnhaas [Episode 739], Torsten Münchow (German)

Age: 59

Debut: Chapter 795 (Manga), Episode 739 (Anime)

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

^{Click here to see his hybrid form}

^{Click here to see his dragon form}

"Just like Roger and Whitebeard... they knew what it meant to be bold. They did it right. That's why they're legends who have been passed on for ages. Both their stories have proper endings. Perhaps it's old-fashioned, but I believe death completes a man!!"

—Episode 1006

Kaido is the Supreme Commander of the Animal Kingdom Pirates, the third of the Four Emperors to be mentioned, and the last one to make an appearance. Consequently, he's one of the more enigmatic figures of the series. The first insight we have to his strength comes from Trafalgar Law, who calls Kaido the strongest "creature" in existence (though he is regarded as a human), implying he's at least on the same level as Whitebeard. It is later revealed that he and Big Mom knew one another in the past and that he owes her a great debt. He has the Fish-Fish Fruit (Uo Uo no Mi), Model: Azure Dragon, an immensely powerful Zoan-type Devil Fruit which allows him to assume the form of a dragon, a king among beasts.

The first thing we learn about Kaido is that he's the one who sent Gecko Moria over the deep end, so he's far from a pleasant fellow. As a testament to his strength, he tried to make a grab for power by attacking Whitebeard before he arrived at Marineford, but Shanks prevented him from doing so.

Following the Paramount War, Kaido comes into conflict with a bunch of younger, ballsier pirates. Drake attacks one of his favorite islands just after the War Arc, while Law allies with Luffy in order to take him down. During this time, Kaido assembles an army of mock Zoan Devil Fruit users, by way of SMILE fruits developed by Caesar and supplied by Doflamingo, under the alias of Joker.

He's allied with Kurozumi Orochi, the shogun of the Land of Wano, and resides in Onigashima, an island in the country.

Kaido holds the highest known active bounty in the series after the Time Skip,^note As well as the third highest overall behind those of the late Edward Newgate and Gol D. Roger. clocking in at 4,611,100,000 Berries.

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#-G

• 2 + Torture = 5: Kaido makes people he considers potential underlings into slaves then forces them to do grueling labor in an attempt to break their spirit and make them join his crew.
• Abusive Dad: Kaido considers Yamato, his own child, as little more than an object for his means. After Yamato begins to emulate "Oden", Kaido rigs explosive shackles on him and, at one point, leaves him at the mercy of his samurai prisoners. Eventually, the samurai spare Yamato at the cost of their lives. His plans to have Yamato succeed Orochi as New Onigashima's Shogun doesn't sit well with him.
• Achey Scars: As the Akazaya Nine wound him, Kaido's scars from his battle with Oden twenty years prior awaken, making him actually scream from the pain.
• Adaptational Badass: Kaido in the manga is left prone after withstanding Oden's Paradise Totsuka and seems to be at the Samurai's mercy until one of his allies pull a dirty trick, barely giving Kaido enough time to change forms and attack. In the anime depiction of the events, Kaido is back on his feet much faster, and is openly preparing to attack Oden in his human form before the ally's distraction.
• Affably Evil:
  • In general, while Kaido is a ruthless, bloodthirsty, Darwinistic warmonger who would gladly enslave an entire country and put his own child through horrific abuse, he's also a highly honorable warrior and respects the laws of fair combat. He despises underhanded tactics and rarely takes advantage of opportunistic situations, preferring instead to earn his spoils fairly. In the one instance he ever exploits an assisted cheap shot to defeat Oden, he's incredibly disgusted and kills the perpetrator after his battle.
  • In his battle with Luffy, Kaido gradually goes from dismissing him as a wannabe upstart to genuinely respecting him when he puts up a good fight to the point that he apologizes to him for the CP0 agent who interrupted their fight.
  • When Momo is captured and set to be executed, he's willing to allow him to live if he says he isn't the son of Oden and Toki as he feels Momo was being too cowardly when he originally confronted him 20 years back in the past (keep in mind Momo is only eight) and didn't want to kill an innocent child.
• The Alcoholic: Kaido is a heavy drinker, as he feels miserable while sober. Being born in a place called the Vodka Kingdom probably didn't help matters. When he's drunk, Kaido is wildly emotional, switching from tearful sorrow to blind rage in a heartbeat, and tends to make poor decisions. He incorporates his drunken and emotional state into a fighting style, Drunken Dragon Bagua, which involves switching moods as well as Zoan forms during the fight. Some of these moods involves becoming Ax-Crazy, depressed, enraged, thieving or even flirty.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: When sober, Kaido is a fairly honorable man who treats both opponents and subordinates with respect, and is quite capable of meticulous planning. Unfortunately, he spends most of his time getting himself drunk, which leads him to make stupid choices, like rampaging through a town where his factory workers live.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: More like, "the other half of your base belongs to us". At the feast in Onigashima, he reveals his intentions to take over all of Wano and convert it into a lawless pirate paradise, with the waves and remote location keeping the World Government at bay, and his son Yamato ruling it. Both Orochi and Yamato naturally aren't happy about hearing this. The former as he still rules the Flower Capital... which Kaido responds to by cutting him in half. The latter wanting nothing to do with his plans at all out of respect for Oden.
• Ambiguously Human: He's called the World's Strongest Creature, and is spoken of by other characters as if he isn't human. Indeed, he's an immense horned, oni-like giant who somewhat resembles the Oars family, although he's smaller and more humanoid than they are. He refers to Yamato as being born of ogres and that trying to seek companionship from humans is a fool's errand and Yamato was referred to as the "Ogre Princess" when younger, but whether Kaido is saying he and his bloodline are literally a different species, or so powerful and important they might as well be one is unclear.
• Animal Motifs: Carps. Kaido's left arm features a tattoo patterned after fish scales, stretching from the top of his shoulder to his forearm. His mustache, made up of two long strands of hair, evokes the image of a carp's "whiskers". This comes to a head when the Devil Fruit that allows him to turn into a dragon is revealed to be Fish-Fish Fruit, making his real animal motif one of Legendary Carps.
• Antagonist in Mourning: He respected Kozuki Oden greatly, and is both insulted and intrigued by anyone claiming to be his heir.
• Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better:
  • During the fight against the Supernovas, Kaido gets angry when Zoro attacks him with a sword technique called "Dragon Twister", so he unleashes his own variant, Dragon Twister: Demolition Gust, which is much more devastating.
  • In his 1-on-1 with Luffy, he proclaims that Luffy isn't the only one who can see the future with skilled Obversation Haki, and proceeds to slip through Luffy's attack in his Dragon form, which should make him a bigger target.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Kaido became, alongside Orochi, the arch-enemy of the Kozuki clan (which includes Momonosuke, his sister Hiyori, and the Akazaya Nine) after he killed the previous shogun, Kozuki Oden. The grudge is so personal that Luffy and co. let them have the first shot at Kaido during the Onigashima War.
  • He's Gecko Moria's main adversary for killing his beloved crew two decades before the beginning of the series; all of Moria's actions in the Thriller Bark arc are driven by his desire to get revenge on Kaido.
• Archnemesis Dad: He wants his son, Yamato, to rule Wano by his side. However, Yamato wants no part in his plans, putting them at conflict with each other. Eventually, Yamato turns on Kaido upon discovering that his shackles would blow him up if improperly removed.
• Arc Villain: He is one of the main antagonists of the Land of Wano Saga alongside Big Mom and one of the primary antagonists in the Land of Wano Arc, along with Orochi and Big Mom. Later in the arc, it's reduced to just Kaido and Big Mom, and then just Kaido after Big Mom is defeated by Law and Kid.
• Armor-Piercing Question: In the final moments of their clash, he mocks Luffy on not having the power to change the world and asks what kind of world could he possibly create. Luffy responds in kind stating he wishes for one where his friends can eat together. This answer geniuely shocks Kaido as he realizes it's one that fits the description of Joyboy right before Luffy finally knocks him out.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Kaido is so confident in his power that he refuses to take Law and Luffy seriously even after they destroy his SMILE operation. He also goes so far as to call Doflamingo of all people "weak". After defeating a 100% healthy, Gear Fourth Luffy in one shot, it's clear that he's justified in how he views himself.
• Ash Face: After Gear 5 Luffy reflects his Blast Breath attack back at him, Kaido comes out of the inferno that consumed him covered tip-to-tail in ash and comically coughing up a smoke cloud. Luffy is (of course) laughing hysterically at the display as Kaido shakes the ash off of his body.
• Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Following Doflamingo's defeat and thus the cessation of production of new SMILE Fruits, Kaido can no longer build up his army — so he prepares to unleash it in a worldwide war. In an almost-literal example, Luffy sucker-punching him and laying into him with everything Gear Fourth can dish out only serves to sober him up. His retaliation is swift, brief and brutal.
• Awesome, but Impractical: A downplayed example - his dragon form tends to be this against enemies who can actually hurt him. Against people who don't have the ability to get through his Super-Toughness, he's a Kaiju that doubles as Flying Firepower. Against people who are fast enough to dodge his attacks and strong enough to hurt him, it's too large for him to be very precise with his attacks, has a high chance of doing collateral damage if he's fighting near his allies and isn't careful, and his sheer size presents such a big target that it's seemingly far harder for him to dodge than it would be in his human or hybrid forms.
• Badass Boast: Toward the end of his fight with Luffy, he declares that nothing in this world can defeat him... and then Luffy's Gear Five-enhanced fist sinks into his face.
• Bad Boss: At least while drunk. One of his men merely suggesting they should take Law and Luffy seriously was enough for Kaido to literally send him flying off the island in a rage. Later, he drunkenly vaporizes several of his men with his dragon breath (along with half of the town around them, for that matter) while attempting to hit Luffy.
• Barbarian Longhair: Kaido is a violent, Oni-like pirate sporting a long, wild mane of black hair.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In his establishing monologue, Kaido notes how dull it is that no one can hurt him, and wishes for a foe that can actually threaten his life. In the Wano Arc, after the Akazaya Nine wound him for the first time since Oden, he is beset by a series of fighters of the Worst Generation who DO pose a lethal threat.
• Benevolent Boss: When sober, Kaido treats his higher ranked subordinates with much more respect than his rank and file grunts. When he speaks with the Tobi Roppo and All-Stars, he talks very casually and respectfully. He expresses interest to drink with Sasaki later, takes Ulti's rude comments and annoyance in stride, allows Black Maria to slack off and hang on him during a party, lets them address him without any titles or honorifics and even asks King and Jack's permission to let the Tobi Roppo fight them for their Lead Performer spots. Overall it seems he's a very receptive and honest leader when he isn't as drunk as a fish. During the raid on Onigashima, when Jack gets overpowered by Dogstorm and Cat Viper in their Sulong forms, Kaido actually rushes in to save him. Then, when Jack laments how he has failed him, Kaido reassures him and asks him to tend to his wounds.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: He and Big Mom form an alliance at Onigashima after a fierce clash as they put aside their differences and plan for world domination.
• Blood Knight: While he never shows visible excitement for a fight, Kaido seeks to cause, and of course participate in, the war to end all wars. He's also visibly annoyed that Kurozumi Higurashi steps in his battle with Oden, one of the very few who are able to fight on par with him. After Luffy damages him in their second match, Kaido is initially stunned at the sheer level of progress Luffy has attained in such short time. Rather than being shaken or giving into rage, Kaido instead smiles in anticipation of a good fight, and is disappointed that he got himself hyped up after he defeats Luffy once again. When Luffy returns for the final round of their battle, he's delighted, and throughout the fight he's laughing like he's having the time of his life. After Luffy again returns after nearly dying from the CP0 interference, Kaido doesn't lose his composure, nor react in anger, but is thrilled that his Worthy Opponent is alive and apologizes for said interruption.
  Kaido: Sorry about that idiot from before. I didn't want to win like that.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: Orochi hires Kaido to protect his rule over the Land of Wano, however Kaido reveals he plans to turn Wano into his own Pirate Paradise and, before Orochi can object, swiftly decapitates him. Orochi survives it and vows revenge on Kaido by burning down his palace.
• Bond Villain Stupidity:
  • After Oden's execution, he lifts Momonosuke by his neck from high up on Oden's castle but, disappointed by Momonosuke's lack of courage, instead of just dropping him to his death, Kaido considers the boy unworthy of being killed by himself and just throws him back into the castle with the intent of having him burn inside it, and flies off without making sure he's ended Oden's bloodline.
  • During the battle of Onigashmia, Kaido knocks Luffy off the island into the ocean, again assuming since he's a Devil Fruit user, that's the end of him. Again since he doesn't bother to make sure Luffy's completely dead though, he's unaware of Law's crew saving him in their submarine. In fairness, he did lament in not taking Luffy's head to show to his allies and seemed to be somewhat aware he could survive.
• Breath Weapon: His primary attack in dragon form, Blast Breath, is breathing a powerful burst of flames that doesn't just incinerate, but totally obliterates Oden Castle from quite a distance away. He has also lightning and wind breaths as well, going with the chinese dragon's air elemental motif.
• Bring It: After Luffy officially declares war on him and Big Mom, Kaido accepts the challenge and boasts that he'll show him the strongest army of the world.
• Carry a Big Stick: He wields a massive kanabo known as the Hassaikai ("Eight Precepts"), and he's able to send a Mook flying off an island with one swing... through the roof... of what appeared to be a cave. He oneshots Luffy's Gear Fourth using the same mace. In an SBS, Oda states that should he ever let go of that weapon, it would become as famous as the legendary swords of the world.
• Child Soldiers: His flashback shows him fighting wars for his home kingdom at the age of 10.
• Climax Boss: He's one of the most prominent, powerful, and influential villains of the series, with multiple antagonists pre- and post-Time Skip either serving him directly (Jack was sent by him to Zou and Orochi gained Power with his help), answering to him as they do business together (Caesar and Doflamingo via the SMILE fruits), allying with him to save their own skin (Drake, Hawkins, and Apoo), or in some way being personally affected by his actions (Moriah's zombie army is a direct consequence of Kaido killing his crew). By the end of Wano, alongside Big Mom, his defeat is what truly begins the final saga of the series, as it definitively kickstarts the Dawn of an Era that will change the world forever.
• Combat Clairvoyance: Kaido, like other powerful fighters such as Katakuri or Luffy, can glimpse into the future. He uses this ability to evade one of Luffy's attacks and successfully land a blow of his own on him, via his Zoan form's speed and serpentine movements.
• Combat Tentacles:In the anime adaptation, Kaido, in his dragon form, grabs Oden with one of his whiskers and throws him into a mountain.
• Create Your Own Hero: By approving Oden's execution of being boiled alive and then accepting his deal, Kaido allowed Yamato to look at Oden's impressive feat, which would inspire him into following Oden's ideals and inherit his will. After realising it, he subjected his son to horrific abuse that only served to strengthen Yamato's will and sculpt him into one of his most dangerous enemies.
• Curb Stomp Cushion:
  • Inverted Trope in his first fight with Luffy. Luffy manages to land some good hits on him at the beginning of their battles rather than the end, but is still one-shotted later.
  • Played straight with his final battle with Luffy. Kaido actually manages to counter Luffy's awakening and lands some very good hits before being countered by Luffy's punches.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Many of Kaido's comments hint at cruel experiences that made him the bitter death-seeker he is in the present. He participated in a seemingly endless number of wars from a young age and his country eventually turned him over to the Marines to be forcibly conscripted. He then served as an apprentice on the constant-infighting Rocks Pirates, captured constantly by fellow pirates and the World Government and used as a lab rat, and spent a sizable portion of his life undergoing forty execution attempts and over ten thousand methods of torture which all failed to kill him.
• Death Glare: He gives Luffy an imposing gaze after he declares his intention to be Pirate King.
• Death Seeker: In his life, he has survived forty execution attempts and over ten thousand methods of torture. At this point, he attempts new ways to kill himself simply to find out if he can be killed, and his initial in-person introduction comes in the form of him throwing himself off of a Sky Island and surviving mostly uninjured.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Kaido deconstructs the Blood Knight and World's Strongest Man tropes. From his days as a child soldier, Kaido has spent his entire life battle strong opponents until he himself became known as "The Strongest Creature in the World". And with no one able to match his strength, Kaido quickly found life to be boring. And then the one time he did find a Worthy Opponent in Kozuki Oden, he ended up winning their duel due to outside interference from Kurozumi Higurashi, making his victory feel tainted and unearned. By the Wano Arc, Kaido has become a suicidal nihilist who seeks to instigate the biggest war the world has ever seen in hopes of finding someone strong enough to actually fight and possibly kill him.
• Doom Magnet: Every time he's mentioned, something bad will happen (or is happening).
• Draconic Humanoid: Kaido's hybrid form turns him into a human-dragon hybrid. It has his humanoid body but partially covered with scales, reptilian limbs and an extra pair of horns alongside a long tail.
• Draft Dodging: His initial conflict with the Marines began when they attempted to forcibly conscript him. Keyword being “attempt”.
• Dragons Are Demonic: Kaido of the Four Emperors, known as the strongest "creature" in the world, takes the form of a massive East Asian dragon (ironic given their usual benevolent god-like portrayal; Western Dragons are more in line with his brutality and greed), and rules his territory as a merciless Evil Overlord.
• The Dreaded: While it comes with being an Emperor, Kaido's strength is renowned in the entire world and everyone is wary of having him as an enemy. Gecko Moria isn't willing to fight him again for Revenge until he has amassed a thousand-strong zombie army and has a trump card in the zombie of one of the most powerful giants in history on his side. Doflamingo, who has such political power and knowledge that he doesn't fear anyone, would rather face the wrath of the Admirals than that of Kaido. Kid and his alliance plan to take on Shanks, showing they aren't afraid to take on one of the Emperors; when Kaido literally drops down from the sky in front of them, they are immediately terrified by his presence, making him dreaded even by the standards of other Emperors. Even fellow Emperor Charlotte Linlin refers to Kaido as "that thing" and laughs at the idea of Luffy being able to defeat him, and this is in spite of the fact that she knows Luffy beat Cracker and has the strength to clash with her own Haki-enhanced strike.
• Drowning My Sorrows: His drinking habits are a coping mechanism and he's displeased when he gets sober after his fight with Luffy.
• Drunken Master: When he gets extremely drunk, Kaido enters a state he refers to as "Drunken Dragon Bagua". In this fighting style, Kaido's attacks become relentless and unpredictable, quickly moving between his Zoan forms and throwing out numerous attacks, giving his enemy almost no time to dodge or get a hit in. All the while, Kaido shifts between different volatile phases of intoxication such as gregarious laughter, gloomy melancholy, fits of tears, and ferocious anger.
• Dub Name Change: In the official VIZ Media translation, his nickname is "The King of the Beasts".
• Dystopia Justifies the Means: How his Death Seeker tendencies translates into an actual plan: transforming Wano into a lawless paradise and waging war on the rest of the world in hopes of finding something to kill him.
• Ecocidal Antagonist: Kaido pollutes the Land of Wano through his weapon factories, making the rivers poisonous, and by extension the animals that drink from them, which also hurts the people of smaller villages and settlements in Wano as much as the environment.
• Enemy Eats Your Lunch: Back in his youth, he treated the ships sent to capture him as his own personal cafeterias.
• Establishing Character Moment: Kaido debuts by effortlessly surviving an attempted suicide by jumping off a Sky Island, then yelling for a massive war to consume the world after he rises up. It shows his abnormal resilience, his tendency to make attempts on his own life (only to fail every time), and his main goal in a single scene.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • He finds Oden going through with his punishment of dancing naked in the Flower Capital to be disgusting, claiming he has no dignity. Before Oden and his vassals' execution, Kaido promises him to spare anyone who enters the pot and survives for 1 hour. Oden then jumps into the pot, grabs its lid, and makes his companions stand on top of it; this way, they're technically inside the pot, but out of the boiling oil. Kaido allows it because He Gave His Word and he found it Actually Pretty Funny.
  • Played with in regards to Orochi. Kaido states he finds Orochi a sick individual and is clearly displeased with some of his actions, namely reneging on sparing Oden. However, not only does Kaido never object to his desires and protect him, he finds the sheer depths of his twistedness to be highly amusing. It soon becomes obvious he's just putting up with him until he feels he has enough manpower for his plans. Once he enters into an alliance with Big Mom, he doesn't see any further use for Orochi and dispatches him after revealing his actual plan.
  • While he very much so Would Hurt a Child if it’s crucial to advancing his plans- not to mention enslave them from birth for free labor - he at least has the decency to refrain from personally murdering a kid if it serves no higher purpose, as he let’s Tama off VERY easy by just knocking her out when a slightly stronger flick of the wrist from him could have killed her easily.
  • He also apologizes to Luffy that Guernica interrupted their battle, wanting to fight him fairly.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • Kaido considers Oden's choice to save the hostages rather to fight him immediately a very stupid one, and claims that Oden, like Roger and Newgate, is too soft.
  • During his fight with the Akazaya Nine on top of Onigashima, he declares his respect for the samurai because of his belief that death completes a person. While it is one aspect of the samurai way of life, he neglects to understand the other aspects of the Samurai, including discipline, loyalty, and an unconditional respect for all life.
  • In a flashback, Kaido throws Yamato into a cave containing several samurai that defied him, along with some swords and enough food for one person. The idea being they will attempt to kill Yamato for being his child then fight each other for the food with Yamato having to kill them all just to survive. Instead, the samurai refuse to attack or take the food, seeing Yamato as just another one of Kaido's victims. Ultimately, they break free from the cave knowing Kaido will kill them for the escape attempt but that Yamato will live on to continue the fight.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He calls Orochi's execution of Tonoyasu a sick display while laughing at it.
• Evil Laugh: Kaido's laugh is a deep Worororo!
• Evil Overlord: Kaido seems to have dozens of underlings, allies, and islands under his control, like most of the Emperors. What separates him from all of the others, including Linlin, is that it's implied he's very much a traditional one. In his main territory of Wano, everyone outside of the Flower Capital ruled by Orochi is forced into slave labor to make weapons, and even the Flower Capital doesn't escape untouched once Kaido moves on with his plans, as he intends to enslave all of Wano for his plan for making more weapon factories and a lawless pirate paradise.
• Evil Power Vacuum: In the Wano arc, Luffy, Kid, and Law unite to take down not one, but two of the Four Emperors, Kaido and Big Mom. This outcome has an impact similar to Whitebeard's downfall but doubly so. Meanwhile, the Seven Warlords of the Sea are disbanded and forced to revert to their old pirate ways, making them prime targets for the Marines' persecution. These events, coupled with Luffy and Buggy's rise to fill the vacant Emperor positions and the latter's involvement with a group that places bounties on the Marines, result in a seismic power shift. The world is completely transformed as a result, plunging into unprecedented chaos.
• Evil Versus Evil: Kaido and Moria fought twenty years before the beginning of the story, and both are heinous pirates, though it's implied Moria wasn't so bad back then.
• Expy: Kaido bears a frighteningly uncanny resemblance to Kiba Daio of Fist of the North Star fame (which Oda admitted to enjoying in his youth) with his crew following the animal theme.
• Fatal Flaw: Kaido has two: his first flaw is his alcoholism and his second flaw is his arrogance. As the undisputed World's Strongest Man and a Nigh-Invulnerable Tank with enough power to put billion-bounty pirates down in one swing (read: Luffy), Kaido himself is pretty much the only thing standing in the way of his ambitions.
• Floating Continent: After defeating the Akazaya Nine, Kaido lifts Onigashima up to the air using fire clouds created by his dragon form and plans to move it in place of the Flower Capital.
• Follow in My Footsteps: Essentially he wants Yamato to rule over humans as he plans to once he's pirate king, claiming as Oni/Ogres, that's just want they're meant to do.
• Foreshadowing:
  • His Establishing Character Moment has him casually jump off a Sky Island with no damage upon hitting the ground. The fact he has reached such an high place and the narration that states that he is unbeatable in land, sea and air, are hints to his ability to become a dragon.
  • Kaido's Signature Laugh is about Kaido's Devil Fruit ability as well. The "Wo" in "Worororo" is transliterated from ウォ, but it can also be transliterated as "Uo", the same syllables in his Devil Fruit's name (Uo Uo no Mi).
• The Four Gods: Kaido's Devil Fruit allows him to transform into the Azure Dragon, one of the Four Gods of Chinese mythology.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Unlike fellow Emperors and ex-crew mates Whitebeard and Big Mom, Kaido was just an apprentice in the Rocks Pirates, similar to Shanks' status on Roger's crew. In the decades since, however, his terrifying strength, expanding entourage of brutal underlings, and takeover of the Land of Wano has made him a looming threat to the World Government and earned him the infamous honor of the highest active pirate bounty in the series (post-Time Skip), at just over 4.6 billion.
• Functional Addict: Despite being a raging alcoholic, he's managed to actively and effectively rule over Wano with an iron fist for over twenty years without interruption. It helps that he's way too stupidly strong for anybody to hurt him even when he's drunk, though. Luffy learns this the hard way when he launches a barrage on a drunken Kaido, doing no damage and earning himself a non-lethal One-Hit Kill for his troubles.
• Genre Blind: Kaido decides to break the spirit of Luffy, whose most defining trait is to never give up, and he's thrown in the same jail cell with Kid who Kaido also failed to break which would guarantee an alliance between the two. Possibly invoked, as Kaido wishes to die and wants the two to become worthy opponents for him.
• Glory Seeker: Played with. Kaido doesn't want to be glorified in life, but in death, and is looking for the most glorious way to die, similarly to Roger and Whitebeard.
• A Good Way to Die: Discussed. While fighting the Akazaya Nine, Kaido comments how Roger and Whitebeard had a good death, showing his desire to die in just as memorable a way in an all out war.
• Graceful Loser: As he takes the full force of Luffy's final attack, Kaido remembers his conversation with King about the man named Joy Boy destined to defeat him. Realizing that Luffy is indeed that man, Kaido, before losing consciousness, honorably accepts his defeat against Luffy and falls, happy to have fallen at the hands of the Worthy Opponent that he always wanted.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Despite being directly involved with the Straw Hats only in the Wano Arc, Kaido's presence and actions are felt through a good part of the series: he is the unseen eventual target of the zombie army Gecko Moria builds up in the Thriller Bark Arc, his SMILE operation with Dolfamingo is foreshadowed by Doflamingo himself during the Sabaody Archipelago Arc, and he makes an offscreen attempt to fight Whitebeard during the Paramount War, before being halted by Shanks. Kaido becomes the main driving force of the narrative after the Straw Hats enters the New World, as Caesar Clown, Doflamingo, and Jack, three of the most prevalent antagonists post-Time Skip, all work for him, the latter being one of his executive officers. In the Land of Wano arc, Kaido does eventually take over as one of the main antagonists of the narrative, alongside Orochi and later, Big Mom. After he betrays Orochi, and Big Mom is defeated by Law and Kid, he becomes the overall main threat.

H-S

• Hair-Trigger Temper: When drunk, Kaido would off at the slightest provocations, usually ending with someone being brutally injured or worse killed; when two subordinates claim Luffy is strong, Kaido belts both of them with his giant kanabao. He's much better when sober though.
• Hero Killer: In the past, Kaido personally executes Wano's shogun Kozuki Oden to show how much he respects him.
• Hidden Depths:
  • For as much of a Jerkass as Kaido comes across most of the time and as much of a Bad Boss as he initially seemed when he was drunk off his ass, during the Raid on Onigashima, he actually goes out of his way to save Jack who suffers a Curb-Stomp Battle from a sulonged Dogstorm and Cat Viper and then reassuring a defeated Jack that he has nothing to be ashamed of, instead urging him to get his wounds treated. That sort of compassion towards one of his subordinates is especially notable after seeing how his fellow Emperor Big Mom doesn't care about the well-being or safety of her own crew/children in the slightest.
  • He also once yearned to take the mantle of Joy Boy, but when he eventually realized that it wasn't meant to be he decided instead that the one who could defeat him would become Joy Boy. He recalls discussing this with King right after Luffy defeats him, implying that he has acknowledged him as worthy of the title.
• History Repeats: Once again, Kaido's Worthy Opponent is distracted by a third party at a critical moment of the fight and is defeated for it. Going by his expression, Kaido himself can see the similarities, and is understandably saddened by them.
• Horned Humanoid: Kaido's distinguishing feature is a long pair of horns, which are also a part of his pirate emblem. While horned people did appear before in One Piece (Moria, to say one), Kaido's horns make him really look like an Oni. He mixes them with antlers in his half-dragon form.
• Honor Before Reason:
  • Although Kaido loves a good fight against those that can injure him, if said opponent is unable to fight back, Kaido will ensure they are capable of fighting back. As after meeting Big Mom for the first time in years, Kaido had her fed to get her at full strength and to take the Sea Prism Stone cuffs off to ensure a fair fight.
  • As seen in his fight with Oden, once he learns that the only reason he won was due to outside interference from Higuarashi, Kaido violently kills her and, before Oden dies from his execution, Kaido apologizes for her actions.
  • After Luffy returns from nearly dying from the CP0 bowler hat's actions, Kaido again apologizes for his actions, admitting he did not want to win that way and killed him as well for giving him a dishonorable victory.
• Hypocrite: His constant belittling and dismissing of younger pirates as wannabes playing games is a bit unwarranted since Kaido himself started out as an apprentice on the ship of an even greater pirate.
• Impact Silhouette: Kaido leaves a hole in the shape of himself after falling from Balloon Terminal. This happens again after Luffy hits him with the Gum-Gum Bajrang Gun, this time leaving a crater on Wano in the shape of his dragon form in a spiral.
• Inconsistent Spelling: His name can be spelled as Kaido or Kaidou. His wanted poster, which is the official romanization given by Oda, uses "Kaidou" but VIZ's translation, the one used by this very wiki, spells it as "Kaido".
• Irony:
  • He's considered the most brutal and dreaded among Four Emperors with an Island Base that has a demonic motif. In real life mythology, Eastern Dragons are usually considered divine in the benevolent sense and killing them is considered an act of sacrilege, to add more irony to his Devil Fruit, many of Kaido's high-ranking officers use varying models of the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, which allows them to turn into dinosaurs (as the kanji for "Dragon" makes up part of the Japanese term for "Dinosaur"). Despite his fruit allowing him to turn into a dragon, Kaido's is actually a mythical model of the Fish-Fish Fruit.
  • Just the fact that there's a Fish-Fish Devil Fruit, considering Devil Fruit users are completely paralyzed when in water.
  • While fighting Luffy, he mocks the people of Wano, remarking that winners shouldn't need rationalizations. Not only was he disgusted by the unfair advantage he got over Kozuki Oden even if he still used it, moments after saying the above he's devastated when a CP 0 agent causes Luffy to lose the fight unfairly.
• Island Base: Kaido resides in Onigashima, the "Oni island" located next to Wano. It even has a giant mansion shaped like a horned skull which resembles him.
• I Want My Mommy!: His dub response to Luffy sending his Blast Breath back at him is "Mommy..."
• Join or Die: This is his M.O. if he sees a strong pirate: he tries to force them to be work under him, otherwise won't hesitate to kill them if they refuse. A good majority of his crew in fact are former captains who he conscripted. He even pulls this on Orochi's followers after he cuts down Orochi when he objects to his plan to take over the Flower Capital.
• The Juggernaut: To describe Kaido as a relentless engine of pain, death, and destruction would be an understatement. In the Onigashima War, he fights a number of extremely formidable opponents one after the other including: the Nine Red Scabbards together - Oden's very own vassals; five of the Worst Generation - Monkey D. Luffy, Trafalgar Law, Eustass Kid, Killer, and Roronoa Zoro simultaneously (albeit with assistance from Big Mom); Yamato - his very own child; and Luffy again, having knocked him out twice in the same day, after he gained two Next Tier Power-Up abilities. Even as all of this is happening, the only signs of him even slowing down is Yamato noticing that the "flame clouds" tied to his Devil Fruit power are starting to weaken, and even then, Kaido's fighting performance remains consistently high. He finds an opponent able to truly beat him after Luffy Awakens his Devil Fruit and obtains Gear Five, visibly falling to his knees at one point, but he nonetheless proceeds to give the newly-awakened Joyboy a fight to remember, even putting him on the ropes and battering him around near the very end of the fight.
• Just Toying with Them: After receiving multiple wounds from the Scabbards and Izo that actually make him bleed and briefly open his scar again, Kaido grunts in disappointment that, while he acknowledges they are strong, they aren't even close to Oden's strength. From that point on, Kaido is done holding back and takes the fight seriously, starting with him cutting Kiku's left arm off with blasts of Razor Wind. He then reverts to his human form and defeats them with ease, leaving all nine of them a bloodied and beaten mess with him suffering only superficial wounds from the aftermath.
• Kaiju: His Zoan form is a huge Eastern Dragon. Luffy in Gear Fourth form, which is much larger than a normal human, is smaller than his eyeball.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: After years of getting away with murder and bring misery to Wano, his immunity finally expires when Luffy uses his Gum-Gum Bajrang Gun on him at the end of the Wano arc.
• Kick the Dog: During their raid at Oden's castle, Kaido cruelly mocks Momonosuke over his father's death calling him a "foolish lord", chokes the poor boy over a ledge, threatening to toss off the cliff only to throw him into a burning building instead, and then leaves Momonosuke for dead with his sister and mother and flies away.
• Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: Kaido has rigged Yamato's handcuffs to explode should he ever leave Onigashima. When he finds out about this, Yamato turns on his father for good. While dueling each other, Yamato realizes that Kaido is planning to kill him; at this point, Kaido no longer see Yamato as his son, but as Oden.
• Large and in Charge: Kaido is absolutely massive, far larger than any of his underlings, including the already big Calamities, with the sole exception of Jack.
• Large Ham: Most of Kaido's screen time shows him shouting in a rage at some point, especially when he's drunk and swings from sadness to anger in a few seconds.
• Legendary Carp: Kaido ate the Fish-Fish Fruit but becomes a dragon, not a fish, in reference to the folktale of a carp swimming up a waterfall to become a dragon.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: While he's still every bit the destructive engine of chaos that Big Mom is, he's still a better person than her, having more in common in personality with her son Katakuri than Linlin herself. For his many faults (and there are a lot), he fights with more honour and nobility than she ever did, and is much less callous and selfish than her. He's even willing to praise strong opponents, which is not something that Linlin does much at all (at most, she expresses amusement at strength rather than respect).
• Lightning Bruiser: As one of the strongest fighters in the One Piece world, Kaido is extremely tough, fast and strong. In his dragon and humanoid form, Kaido takes no damage from Luffy's barrage of techniques in Gear Third and Gear Fourth, and the only reason why he even takes any these attacks is because he's drunk at the moment. The very moment he sobers up, Kaido speedblitzes Luffy and takes him out with one swing of his mace. During his duel with Oden, when he's stunned by the slash delivered by the samurai and is seen collapsing into a mountain range. The next moment, he's already in his human form, delivering the finishing blow to (an admittedly distracted) Oden. When Luffy confronts him a second time, he just barely manages to dodge Kaido's mace thanks to his improved Observation Haki, commenting that even when he saw ahead, Kaido still attacked much faster than he anticipated.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: After recognizing that Luffy is an opponent worth going all-out, Kaido gets drunk to enter his "Drunken Dragon Bagua" state, in which he becomes stronger and more unpredictable.
• The Man They Couldn't Hang: In his introduction, it's told that Kaido has been executed multiple times but survived all of them, nothing could scathe him. Not even Kaido himself can end his own life. Turns out he was letting the Marines capture him.
• Marathon Boss: During the climactic fight at Onigashima, Kaido is attacked by the Nine Red Scabbards in an ambush and fights them off 9-on-1 after they prove capable of hurting him, takes on Luffy, Zoro, Kidd, Law and Killer alongside Big Mom, then switches to a solo duel with Luffy after the latter figures out how to imbue his attacks with Conqueror's Haki to seriously hurt him, fights Yamato after the latter appears to avoid him attacking the alliance whilst Luffy recovers from their bout, fights Luffy and the adult Momonosuke in dragon form briefly and then continues his solo clash with Luffy. And he's still going strong after all that, even if gradually weakening as the fighting drags on. This is especially pronounced as the attack on Kaido was the opening bout of the fight, and despite being the first combatant, Kaido is still brawling as the various fighting around the island concludes one by one. When Luffy apparently loses their final clash thanks to the interference of the CP0 agent, Kaido is still presented as an unbeatable threat despite his visible exhaustion simply because, at that point, all other powerful fighters (except Yamato and Momonosuke) are too depleted from the fighting to overcome him. That indeed would've been end of it if Luffy's Devil Fruit hadn't awakened and he literally dragged Kaido back up to the roof to continue the battle. By this point, the fatigue starts to become more apparent as Kaido has to actually pause during the battle after taking several more hits and catch his breath before resuming things, still giving his all despite this and intent to finish the fight one way or the other. Eventually he puts everything in an all-or-nothing attack by enflaming his dragon form and taking Luffy's final attack head on with his own. Luffy's determination ultimately wins out over Kaido's endurance, and he finally knocks out Kaido in their final clash. The battle overall takes 63 chapters to complete, from the initial strike in 986 to the final blow in 1049.
• Meaningful Name:
  • His name can translate into "Church" or "Temple", and wears a Shimenawa for a belt. He also shares (part of) the name with a Oni of folklore, "Kaidomaru", which is appropriate to his other Oni motif.
  • Alternatively, his name can also translate as "monster child". And given Kaido's background as a former Child Soldier, it's not too much of a stretch to guess that this might be the origin of his name in-universe.
• Mood-Swinger: When drunk, he can very easily go from weepy and sorrowful to violent and abusive to whimsically friendly and cheerful at the drop of a hat. In his "Drunken Dragon Bagua", every emotional state is a different way of fighting.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: Kaido is a mountain of muscles and is near invincible in straight on fight because of his durability and raw power.
• Mysterious Past:
  • Kaido's personality and dialogues leave space for a troubled past that remains untold for most of the story. It's implied that he had an arrangement with Big Mom in the past, to the point that she claims he has a debt to her. Kaido claims that the debt was from long ago, but she insists it's a life-long debt. It's later revealed that they used to be in the same pirate crew, and that the debt comes from her giving him his Devil Fruit on the day their captain, Rocks D. Xebec, fell.
  • There's a longer flashback right before his defeat, detailing his childhood in the Vodka Kingdom and the circumstances that led to him joining the Rocks Pirates, along with how exactly he came to join forces with Orochi in their successful attempt to conquer Wano. However, there are still missing details about his time with the Rocks Pirates and his obsession with finding Joy Boy.
• Mythical Motifs:
  • Eastern Dragons. He has a massive black dragon tattoo on his person and the general invincibility associated with them. He's eaten a Devil Fruit that turns him into a giant eastern dragon.
  • Heavy Oni motif? Check. Being The Alcoholic? Check. Having an earned reputation as The Dreaded? Check. Are we talking about Kaido, or Shūten-Dōji?
  • He also bears a Myou/Wisdom King motif, being actually referred to as such by the Wano population and having several attacks named after famous Myou such as Gozanze.
• Named After Someone Famous: Kaido's name comes from the name of the famous Mongol general Kaidu Han, who tried to conquer Japan with his fleet. Kaidu Han had a daughter who was famous because of her strength.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: His first onscreen appearance has him jump off of a Sky Island. The ground is more hurt than he is. In fact, he's so invulnerable, he considers suicide attempts a hobby. Dude had been captured and executed numerous times to no avail and survived, and has shrugged off thousands of different forms of torture. Though, he has been defeated (seven times, in fact) and he can be injured, as the x-shaped scar on his body shows, albeit he received it from Kozuki Oden, who in life was one of the strongest men in the world. In his first encounter with Luffy, a barrage of Elephant Gatling and a barrage of Kong's Organ only sobers him. During the Onigashima War, Kaido tanks attacks from the Red Scabbards, Luffy, Zoro, Killer, Kid and Law one after another and still doesn't fall down, despite them having managed to bypass his invincibility. Even Luffy learning the secret of Kaido's durability (coating himself with Conqueror's Haki) during their fight and managing to replicate the ability himself still isn't enough to take Kaido down, and he's temporarily taken out as a consequence.
• Noble Demon: Kaido is a violent and brutal warmongering man, yet he is fiercely devoted to the code of a warrior's code of honor. If Kaido were to fight anyone, he will ensure it is a fair fight on both parts and deal violent retribution towards those to dare to spoil his or his opponent's honor. Should he achieve his victory in any form of dishonor, Kaido will ensure both him and his Worthy Opponent is avenged by any means necessary. As seen with Oden, after Higuarashi interfered in his fight giving Kaido a dishonorable victory, Kaido violently killed her and, upon Oden's last moments of life, Kaido delivered a sincere apology for her actions and killed Oden with a bullet to the head as a Mercy Kill while acknowleding he will ensure Oden's tale of heroism passed down for years to come. Years later, upon the CP0 agent interfering with his fight with Luffy giving him another dishonorable victory, Kaido was horrified at attacking Luffy the way he did and furiously killed the agent to avenge Luffy's (initial) death. Upon seeing Luffy return having awakened his Devil Fruit and still alive, Kaido does not lose his temper nor does he care about the situation but expressed pride in Luffy coming back for one last round and again apologizes for what happened admitting he does not want to win so dishonorably.
• No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Played with. After Big Mom is taken prisoners to Onigashima, Kaido orders his men to feed her because he wants to fight his fellow Emperor at her fullest strength.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Zigzagged. Even at his drunkest, he doesn't play games. As soon as he reaches Luffy and Law, he tries to incinerate them with a blast of fire, and when Luffy manages to punch him out of his stupor and forces him to revert to his base form, Kaido simply knocks him out with one swing of his Hassaikai without saying any word until Luffy's defeat. However, during the Onigashima War, after he realizes that Luffy has a serious shot at beating him, Kaido proceeds to get piss drunk in the middle of a fight and while he does get stronger in this state, he also can't control his temperament anymore, thus ending up with a random personality trait as a downside to his increased effectiveness in a fight..
• Not Even Human: While Kaido is presumably is a human, he's been referred to several times by dehumanizing terms, such as Big Mom calling him "that thing", and his being known as the strongest 'creature' in the world, instead of the strongest 'man' (although it's unknown if he could have beaten Whitebeard). The flashback about his past though implies that he was just a very powerful human, like Linlin.
• Not Hyperbole: There is a very good reason Kaido carries the title of "King of the Beasts": he's eaten a Devil Fruit that turns him into a dragon, which is generally considered the strongest beast.
• Not Me This Time: Caesar Clown boasts that Kaido is backing his experiments and that he's interested in SMILE — The Artificial Devil Fruits, to build his army with it. Does that mean he's also behind the gigantification experiments on children? Nope. Clown outright said that the experiments were to see if he could do it as a triumph to his own brilliance in succeeding in the World Government's incomplete pet projects. It later turns out that the gigantification experiments were financed by Big Mom. Caesar Clown later admits to himself that the results Big Mom wanted are practically impossible.
• Not Quite Flight: Kaido can't actually fly with his Devil Fruit Powers. Instead, he creates "Flame Clouds" and rides around on them. Kaido can also use the Flame Clouds to levitate various objects.
• Not So Invincible After All: Despite Kaido's notoriety for his invincibility, incredible strength and seemingly indestructible body which has only been scarred once in his entire lifetime, during the Onigashima War his aura of invincibility slowly fades as multiple characters manage to hurt him. Albeit slightly, the Akazaya Nine actually injure Kaido with their surprise attack, much to his shock, and continuosly hurt him in their fight on top of Onigashima. When Luffy reaches the rooftop, he manages to actually hurt him using advanced Armament Haki and shortly after the present Supernovas reveal that they have developed their own techniques that can bypass Kaido's absurd durability. This comes to a head when Luffy figures out Kaido's secret to his power: "Coating" himself with Conqueror's Haki, that doesn't even need physical contact to hit their opponent. Luffy then proceeds to incorporate it into his attacks, finally inflicting some heavy damage to the Emperor and evening the playing field in their battle. As the war goes on and Kaido has fought multiple opponents, Yamato notes Kaido's flame clouds around the island are weakening and the underside of the island is crumbling, citing it as a sign that Kaido is starting to tire. Ultimately the back-to-back battles take their toll on Kaido that, even with his Conquerer's Haki-covering, dragon form and inherent toughness, he eventually hits his limit and underestimates Luffy's tenacity in their final clash. This leads to Kaido's defeat when Luffy's advanced Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki break through his final attack, allowing Luffy to knock Kaido out.
• Offing the Offspring: He repeatedly tried to have his son Yamato killed for not bowing to his whims - first, by locking him in a dungeon to starve to death, then by placing explosive handcuffs on his wrists, and finally straight-up attempting the deed himself with his own two hands as punishment for open rebellion.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • As he's about to execute Momonosuke, Kaido is caught by surprise by the Akazaya Nine who rush the stage to save Momonosuke and attack him head-on. He even sees an image of Oden as they do. Even moreso when their attacks actually pierce him, revealing to him that just because Oden's dead, the techniques to harm Kaido didn't die with him.
  • When Luffy confronts him a second time, along with Zoro, Law, Kid and Killer. Big Mom and Kaido are shocked when Luffy starts the fight attacking him and manages to actually hurt him with a single punch.
  • In chapter 1042, just as his fight with Luffy approaches its conclusion, a CP0 agent rushes in, grabs Luffy from behind, and sends him headfirst into Kaido's attack, ending the fight prematurely. Being cheated out of the fight he dreamed of for the second time in his life, Kaido visibly doesn't take it well.
• One-Hit Kill: Kaido's immense strength make his attacks incredibly powerful, to the point that, in their first encounter, he immediately defeated Luffy in his Gear Fourth form, despite the latter having experienced and resisted terrible beatdowns from the likes of Doflamingo and Katakuri.
• One-Winged Angel: While fighting Luffy, Zoro, Law, Kid and Killer, the five Supernovas prove to be such a tough fight for Kaido to force him into using his hybrid form, which combines the strength of his human body as well as his dragon abilities.
• The Only One Allowed To Kill You: After their first fight, Kaido has developed such animosity toward Luffy to the point that he won't even let Big Mom have first crack at him.
• Oni: Invoked in his design, as he has two big horns, carries a huge club, loves his booze, is much smarter than his brutish look suggests, and makes his stronghold in Onigashima (lit. Island of the Ogres). Given that he's Ambiguously Human, he may be an actual oni. At one point he refers to Yamto as the "child of Oni", though it could have been a figure of speech
• Open-Minded Parent: Downplayed. He gave Yamato a beating after the latter told Kaido he wanted to literally become Kozuki Oden. But apart from that, Kaido apparently took it relatively in stride, considering that he still refers to Yamato as "his son".
• Our Dragons Are Different: He's a Mythical Zoan user who can take the form of a gigantic East Asian dragon. The fruit in question, however, is a model of the Fish-Fish Fruit, fitting the association of said dragons with the ocean and sealife.
• Perpetual Frowner: Whenever the Emperors are mentioned early on, his various prototype silhouettes always sport Slasher Smiles; however, when he makes his official debut, Kaido constantly has an angry grimace instead.
• Person of Mass Destruction: As expected from an emperor, Kaido is strong enough to create entire cataclysms on his own. After hearing that the Straw Hats are at Oden's palace, Kaido casually destroys it in his dragon form with a single fire breath.
• Pet the Dog:
  • At Oden's execution, although Kaido goes back on his word to spare Oden and his men (largely due to Orochi renegading on the deal), Kaido does give a sincere apology to Oden for Higurashi's interference and killed her himself for what she had done. The two part words with each other as Kaido kills him with a bullet to the head (which may also count as a Mercy Kill).
  • During the raid at Onigashima, after Jack takes a beating holding off the Sulong Minks, Kaido praises his subordinate for managing to hold out for so long even though he ultimately failed in beating Cat Viper and Dogstorm. He even steps forward to protect Jack from them, specifically stating that he refuses to see one of his most valued crewmates killed and that Jack did an excellent job in holding out against such strong opponents, tells him to tend to his wound and sincerly tells him he did more than enough.
  • Years ago, when he rescued a young King (who's real name was Alber), Kaido offered encouraging words to the young man and gave him the name King to signify his new life as his right hand man and someone Kaido could consider his partner.
  • After Luffy awakens his Devil Fruit due to the CP0 members actions that gave Kaido a dishonorable victory, rather than be mad that Luffy still won't die, or the fact he's stronger than ever thanks to said interference, Kaido is happy and gives Luffy a genuine apology for the agents actions admitting he did not want to win that way, something Luffy can tell he's being honest.
• Play-Along Prisoner: A flashback reveals that whenever Kaido was hungry, he would let himself be captured by the Marines, eat all their food, and then bust out when he was full. That's just about the only reason the Marines were able to catch him so many times.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Kaido prefers to recruit any powerful adversaries into his crew rather than go the route of killing them, as that would be a complete waste of their power. He has found allies in various Supernovas and tries recruiting Luffy and Kid, as well as offering all of Orochi's former allies to join him after he kills Orochi. While he immensely enjoys fighting a Worthy Opponent fairly, he still knows how to prioritize. Defied during his climactic fight with Oden, which is brought to a swift end because Higurashi disguises herself as Momonosuke to distract Oden, which Kaido doesn't waste. However, Kaido dislikes having to retort to a cheap trick and kills Higurashi afterward for interferring with their fight in an underhanded way.
• Punched Across the Room: He's ultimately defeated when Luffy and he face off in one final clash in mid-air with him firing a more powerful form of his Buro Beath while Luffy hits him with an enlarged fist powered by advanced Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki to bypass his heat. Likely due to fatigue along with Luffy's willpower, Luffy's attack wins out and manages to hit him, sending Kaido's dragon form spiraling from the sky and into the ground. Finally knocking him out in the process (as confirmed by Yamato when his fire clouds around Onigashima disapper). And what's more into a magma cavity of Wano to boot (ironically where Big Mom was likewise knocked into).
• Razor Wind: As the Akazaya Nine put Kaido on the edge, the latter roars in his dragon form, creating many air blades, one of which cuts off Kikunojo's left arm. He calls the attack "Kaifu" (Demolition Gust) and can combine it with his Tatsumaki (Dragon Twister) to form the deadly Tatsumaki Kaifu (Dragon Twister's Demolition Breath).
• Red Baron: Kaido is known as "King of the Beasts", reflecting to his crew mainly composed of Zoan users, as well as being able to become an eastern dragon, but als as the "World's strongest creature" because he's one of the Four Emperors with an Ambiguously Human reputation.
• Scars Are Forever: Despite being notorious for his invincibility, Kaido has a cross-shaped scar on his right side, inflicted by Kozuki Oden, wielding the Grade Swords Enma and Ame no Habakiri, twenty years before the events of Wano. Being the only one to have permanently scarred him, Oden earned Kaido's respect. During the Onigashima war, Zoro slashes him across the chest with a Conqueror's Haki-enhanced Nine Sword Style attack. While it doesn't knock him down, Kaido acknowledges the wound will scar.
• Sentimental Drunk: Zigzagged. When drunk, Kaido becomes very emotional and goes through many different emotions, crying, then sobbing, then laughing and overall acting nicer to his subordinates. At the same time, however, Kaido has fits of rage that makes him even more dangerous towards his crewmates.
• Signature Laugh: Kaido's laugh is transliterated as "Worororo". An alternate transliteration would be "Uorororo", as the "Uo" syllables match the double syllables of his Devil Fruit. In the anime, Tesshō Genda's performances leans much more heavily on "Uorororo" and the "U" is much more noticeable.
• Signature Move: His primary attack in human form is "Thunder Bagua", a simple but frighteningly fast and powerful swing of his club. His son Yamato inherited the club-based fighting style along with the attack. In dragon form, he primarily uses Boro Breath.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Before fighting Oden, Kaido mocks his choice of solving problems without harming anyone, noting how this soft side is similar to Roger's and Whitebeard's, and considers it stupid since neither Kaido nor Orochi had any intention of respecting the deal.
• Slasher Smile: After seeing Yasuie's execution, Kaido shows a huge grin for the first time, making it incredibly unsettling. Later, on top of Onigashima, Kaido gets on at the start of his second battle with Luffy, actually pleased the young pirate has managed to harm him.
• Small Role, Big Impact: During the Marineford Arc, Kaido attempts to attack Whitebeard and his territories by taking advantage of him focusing on rescuing Ace. While this causes Shanks to (indirectly) ally with Whitebeard, it also keeps the former busy long enough that by the time Shanks arrives, the damage is done with Whitebeard and Ace's death.
• Sparing the Aces: He'll accept anyone into his crew as long as they are strong enough. Those that accept his initial offer will get a pardon for all offenses committed against him. Those that don't will receive an educational course.
• Speed Blitz: His "Thunder Bagua" attack is so fast that Luffy claims to have barely dodged it even after predicting it with his Observation Haki.
• Spikes of Villainy: His villainous appearance and brute combat style is accentuated by the spiked bands he wears around his wrists.
• Straw Nihilist: He sees no value in lives, believing that what really matters is how someone dies, and wishes to create a world of brutality and warfare where he can obtain glory or die a glorious death in the process. During the Onigashima War, Usopp indirectly counters this view by telling Kin'emon how he doesn't care about an honorable death and want to survive at any cost.
• Suddenly Sober: A good thrashing is all that's needed to instantly snap him out of a drunken stupor, much to his disappointment though since he'd rather stay drunk.
• Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: Kaido's actions amount to dying by involving the entire world. He wishes to die but survived dozens of execution attempts and is not even able to kill himself. This being the case, he's decided to start the biggest world war ever just in the hopes that someone strong enough to kill him will show up and give him a glorious death.
• Super-Toughness: Kaido is considered the strongest "creature" in the entire One Piece world and has survived countless execution attempts (and the death-inflicting weapons got destroyed instead). In his debut, he jumps off a Sky Island and lands unscathed, and in combat he shows a huge level of resistance tanking as if it's nothing an entire barrage of Gear Fourth Gatling or the combined attacks of the Akazaya Nine. This turns out to be a number of factors: his inherent toughness, a very high level of Armament Haki, his dragon form whose hide is already fairly tough to penetrate and finally his main secret - coating himself in Conqueror's Haki, a very powerful type Haki that few possess. Essentially, Kaido has layers of toughness on him that make it hard to even nick him let alone build up lasting damage.

T-Z

• Tattooed Crook: His left arm is covered in scale-like tattoos that stretch all the way up to his chest, though it's hard to tell if it reaches his back too through all his hair.
• The Social Darwinist: Strength is the only thing he respects. As far as he's concerned, if you're weak then you deserve whatever happens to you for not being strong enough to prevent it. Turns out this was due to his backstory as he fought in endless wars to help his country, after he was betrayed by them he wound up in Rocks Crew where survival of the fittest was essentially their creed. By the time he set out on his own, he was a firm believer in might and war being the only thing that equal among mankind.
• This Cannot Be!:
  • After the Akazaya Nine reveal their presence at Onigashima and hurt Kaido with a sneak attack, the latter decides to fight them on top of Onigashima. However, Kaido, aware of his status as "invincible", gets more and more frustrated and surprised that the samurai are able to hurt him.
  • When Luffy goes Gear 5 and awakens his Devil Fruit, Kaido is shocked by his newfound versatility which manages to (at one point, quite literally) dwarf Kaido's own power. He tries to reiterate nobody can beat him right before Luffy punches a fist through Kaido's face and knocks him into the ground.
• To Create a Playground for Evil: Kaido plans on turning all of Wano into New Onigashima, a lawless paradise for pirates, and seemingly kills Orochi when he tries to object it. Then he wants to find the One Piece and the Ancient Weapons so he can spread fear and do the same for the world.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: After Luffy attains Gear 5, Kaido attempts to eat him completely. This backfires as Luffy's new abilities make Kaido's body turn rubber and allow him to attack Kaido from the inside culminating with Luffy reaching through Kaido's eyes to grab his nose and forcing him to cough Luffy out.
• Took a Level in Cynic: In his youth Kaido wasn't too dissimilar from Luffy; prizing his freedom, wanting to be Pirate King and even playing cat and mouse with the Marines to get some quick grub. For all his faults, The King of Beasts really did want to be Joy Boy at one point in time, he even went around saving people with a smile as Alber, better known as King The Wildfire, can attest. But age, stagnation and frustration with his own apparent invincibility led to Kaido becoming a pretty evil guy. Although part of this is a Thanatos Gambit to bring the real Joy Boy to come and stop him, thus validating his world view.
• Tranquil Fury: Kaido, usually a very boisterous character, doesn't let out any emotion when confronting the CP0 agent who distracted Luffy in a decisive moment, chillingly asking the agent if he's prepared for what happens next before using Hassaikai on him.
• Uncertain Doom: After Big Mom is defeated and knocked off Onigashima, she falls into a huge underground magma chamber that has been exposed as a result of the raid on the island. Later, when Kaido also falls into the chamber, it erupts. A week later, neither Emperor has been seen since and the World Government has declared them to no longer be Emperors, leaving their fate uncertain.
• Undying Loyalty: Kaido is unfailingly loyal to Orochi despite Orochi's personality being an affront to his sense of honor. He protects him at all times and never objects to or attempts to betray him despite being easily able to do so and being visibly uncomfortable with some of his orders. When musing about Orochi's personality, Kaido has even stated he finds his madness highly amusing. Subverted since Kaido is only using Orochi for his own plans and has been planning to replace him with his own son, Yamato. The exact moment Orochi starts objecting to his true plans, Kaido casually decapitates him and moves on with his speech.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • Averted when it comes to Oden: in the flashback, Kaido says that he knows full well even with his powers, the samurai of the country would be a though match for him, so Orochi resorts to trickery to buy time for Kaido to bolster his forces. Even then, Oden and his men plows through the lot of them and Oden himself wounds Kaido in their face off. If Kurozumi Higurashi hadn't pulled off her Shapeshifter Guilt Trip ploy, Oden would've likely killed him.
  • Played straight with the Akazaya Nine: after Oden has freed his samurai, he tells Kaido to not underestimate them. However, for the next twenty years, Kaido acts like they've all been killed, not realizing they've been acting and planning in the shadows until they wound him with a surprise attack.
  • As the battle at Onigashima starts getting into full swing, Kaido believes he's broken Luffy from the first fight and that he'll turn tail first chance he gets but Kine'mon rebukes that claim, warning Kaido to underestimate Luffy at his own peril. Later, when Luffy reaches the top of Onigashima to fight Kaido and Big Mom, the two mock him for his declaration to be king of the pirates with Kaido daring him to say it again. Luffy, after making sure the Akazaya Nine are okay and having Law move them away from the battle, responds with a new Gear Three move that actually knocks Kaido down and, unlike last time, he feels it! To which Luffy tells the two of them, straight to their faces with no fear whatsoever, that he's going to be king of the pirates. Then Luffy, Kid, Law, Zoro and Killer prove to be much tougher than Kaido expected as the fight goes on. So much so that Kaido has to go to his hybrid form when he notes he can't easily take them out in his dragon form.
  • While he does praise Luffy through the duration of their fight, Kaido constantly keeps assuming he's still the better opponent and thinks any breaks where Luffy is struggling is a sign he's running out of stamina (ironically when Kaido himself is likewise hitting his limit) and trying to get Luffy to yield. As with previous opponent before however, he underestimates Luffy's tenacity and it ultimately leads to his loss when Luffy pushes himself in their final clash to land the deciding blow on Kaido.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Orochi brazenly scolds Kaido for his ingratitude when he announces his plans for the future, stating it was through his intelligence and connections that Kaido got his SMILE army and his weapons. While Orochi does have a good point about Kaido callously throwing him under the bus, Orochi himself would have gotten nowhere without Kaido's strength in their mutually beneficial partnership, making him come off as a selfish hypocrite.
• Unwanted Rescue: During his fight with Oden, Higurashi changes herself as Momonosuke to distract Oden and allows Kaido to strike him from behind, thereby defeating him. Had she not done that Kaido likely would have been killed. However, Kaido is pissed off over her interference in his fight with such a worthy opponent and has her killed for giving him a dishonorable victory and as an apology to Oden.The bowler hat CP0 member interferes in his fight with Luffy to give Kaido another dishonorable victory, which Kaido is understandably infuriated about. He immediately takes out the agent for interrupting yet another worthy opponent of his.
• Villain Respect:
  • Kaido has a certain deal of respect for Oden and executes Higurashi for being responsible for his dishonorable victory over the samurai. Later, when Oden is left without strength due to holding his retainers for an hour while in a pot of boiling oil, Kaido personally kills him via quick Head Shot out of respect instead of letting Orochi continue to torture him to death.
  • Later, after Zoro seriously injures him, Kaido rejoices at finding another person capable of leaving guaranteed scars, and seems dismayed at the fact that he took him out immediately after.
  • While he was disdainful of Whitebeard's moral code, he respected his strength and career, and praised him for dying on his feet in a blaze of glory.
  • Less significantly, from what we see of it, Kaido genuinely seemed to enjoy his battle with Moria.
• Villainous Friendship: Out of his entire crew, Kaido is the closest with King, as the two have known each other for many years, with them having a near wordless respect for each other.
• Villainous Rescue: He saves Jack from getting killed by Cat Viper and Dogstorm, praising his subordinate for his efforts. In the past, he also saved a young King from his imprisonment on Punk Hazard.
• Villainous RRoD: While Kaido's ability to soak up hits is to say the least, impressive, as the Onigashima arc goes on and he continues taking damage and fighting, it becomes more and more clear that his stamina levels are starting to peter out. In the end, Kaido's flame clouds holding Onigashima aloft disappear before Luffy knocks him out, indictating that Kaido may have only gotten knocked out because his stamina flatlined at the worst possible moment.
• Villain Takes an Interest: Kaido is particularly impressed with those who have Conqueror's Haki. Though he is thoroughly unimpressed by Luffy's inability to hurt him, he is impressed enough by his indomitable fighting spirit and his Conqueror's Haki to send him to the prison mines in Udon, where he previously sent Kid for the same reasons, with the intention to break his spirit and have Luffy join his ranks. During the battle on the roof of Onigashima, Kaido only really takes notice of Zoro when he realizes Zoro has Conqueror's Haki as well, right before Zoro injures him. Right after taking Zoro out, he laments the fact that none of his opponents joined him, as he feels they could have ruled the world together.
• Villain Team-Up: Despite not wanting Big Mom in his territory to the point where they actually fight for days once they meet, the two eventually reach a compromise and figure to take over the world together and fight each other later.
• Virtue Is Weakness: Kaido acknowledges that Roger and Newgate were mighty pirates, but lambasts them for being too nice and honorable and tells Oden he thinks the same of him, since the latter has decided to save the hostage in exchange of his honor rather than fight him head-on. Kaido is willing to say anything if it could grant him the upper hand. That isn't to say he has a sense of honor, it's just he's so obscenely strong that it's pretty much impossible for him to not get his way in one way or another. He's willing to write off things or be merciful to people if they impress or amuse him, not out of any virtuousness.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: After giving each other shit for dozens of chapters, Kaido starts sobbing when he finds out Linlin was defeated by Law and Kid.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: He only wears a furry cape or Coat Cape and his spiky bracelets on his torso. Oddly enough, he actually does put a (barely fitting) shirt when he goes out to meet Big Mom.
• Weredragon: Kaido has eaten the Fish-Fish Fruit, model Eastern Dragon. It allows Kaido to become a dragon or a human-dragon hybrid, giving him the power over clouds and to shoot a powerful breath from his mouth.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Kaido lambasts himself for knocking Luffy off the top of Onigashima after winning his second, more evenly-matched fight with him, noting that he got too excited after that latter figured out how to hurt him through his immense defenses and mistakenly believing Luffy would be a Worthy Opponent for his full strength. He admits that, having beaten him unconscious in the fight it would have been smarter for him to just decapitate Luffy and present his head to the alliance to break their spirits, rather than letting him fall into the sea to perish. Sure enough, Luffy recovers from that round and returns to resume the match with Kaido, who in the meanwhile was being kept busy by Yamato.
• The Worf Barrage: When Kaido uses his Flame Breath, it gives the chance to demonstrate his opponents's Kin'emon's Firefox style, which he already used in Punk Hazard, and Raizo's Ninjutsu.
• Worf Had the Flu: During his very first fight with Luffy, Kaido is so drunk off his ass that at one point, he passes out and gives Luffy the opportunity to score some free hits... and then Kaido gets up and smacks Luffy once, knocking him out cold. And he uses a blunt weapon while Luffy is in Gear Fourth, which combines Haki's hardness with his rubber body.
• World's Strongest Man: Law describes him as the strongest "creature" in existence, and that his chances of defeating him, even with his alliance with Luffy, are 30% at best. This moniker of "Strongest Creature" is also used in the narration upon his first appearance in the flesh. The novels explain that this comes in reference to his own raw strength and durability, implying that even Whitebeard could lose to him. The only person who is known to have given him pause is Shanks, who made him back off and drop his plan to ambush Whitebeard as he traveled to Marineford, and even that was more likely a matter of Kaido just not wanting to go through the trouble of dealing with him and then being too worn-out to tackle Whitebeard after him. This is reinforced by the reveal that he currently has the highest bounty of all the Emperors, meaning that he is considered the greatest threat among them by the World Government, and thus the most dangerous living pirate in the world.
  Narrator: Those who know of him have a certain saying: "If it's one-on-one, always bet on Kaido." Whether on land, at sea, or in the air, it's a widely-held belief that this terrifying pirate is more powerful than any other living creature!
• Worthy Opponent: Kaido appreciates powerful warriors who are able to wound him, which are very few. In fact, as Luffy deduces mid-way through their second round of fighting, people of this caliber are the only ones who can realistically defeat him. Kaido's Nigh-Invulnerability comes from him coating himself in Conqueror's Haki, thus only those who possess the same ability and can imbue their attacks with it can bypass his legendary defenses and seriously hurt him — which is not the same thing as actually defeating him:
  • After Oden scars him, Kaido gains a lot of respect to him, and is not happy to have won thanks to a cheap trick by Higurashi and has her killed. Later, Kaido personally executes Oden by himself to prove how much he respects him, and is disappointed to find out that Momonosuke doesn't have his father's badassery.
  • Naturally, Kaido considers Whitebeard a worthy opponent and attempts to challenge him after Ace's capture — and his comments after he's introduced making a 10km high suicide attempt imply that he's annoyed that Whitebeard died during the Paramount War.
  • In the third act of the Wano Arc, after the Akazaya Nine throw all they can at him and get ready to attack again, he remarks that he wouldn't have minded if they had managed to kill him and that seeing them together prompted his old scar from Oden to ache. Although they are far too weak compared to their deceased Lord to be any match for him, Kaido respects their bushido and determination.
  • Notably, after getting hurt from Luffy's attack, Kaido compares him to the people who were capable of challenging him: Roger, Whitebeard, Oden, Shanks, and his former captain, Rocks, and wonders how high Luffy's ceiling will go. During the last round of their fight, both start laughing after managing a few good hits on each other, acknowledging how much fun they're having; at that point Kaido gets drunk to give his all in the fight, signifying that he's fully accepted Luffy as a worthy adversary. This is only reinforced after Luffy survives the initial end of their fight (caused by the interference of a CP0 agent) and drags Kaido back up to the rooftop to continue. Upon seeing him alive, Kaido is genuinely happy, thanks him, and then apologizes for what happened, noting that he didn't want to win like that. Luffy tells him that it's okay, and that they can continue fighting now.
• Would Hurt a Child: Right after Tama, an eight year old girl, has escaped with Speed, they run into a drunken Kaido who attacks both of them. Fortunately though, while he leaves her bloody and unconscious on the ground as a result, he clearly seems to have taken it very easy on her given the fact that she somehow managed to survive his beating without major injury. While sober, Kaido does appear to be slightly more lenient towards children as long their deaths serve no purpose towards his plans. While he's still very much willing to execute Momonosuke, even if Orochi's grudge towards the Kozuki family means nothing to him, Kaido does try to give the boy an out, albeit a humiliating one; if he renounces his father Kozuki Oden and his name, Kaido would be willing to let him go. After Momonosuke proudly declares to be a Kozuki, Kaido prepares to kill him). He also risks Yamato's life by using booby-trapped handcuffs that are rigged to explode, showing he has no problem putting his own child in danger.
• Wreathed in Flames: Kaido's final attack has him ignite his entire dragon form body with fire that's so hot, it melts one of the horns off the structure of his castle just by his tail scrapping against it. Luffy has to use his advanced Armament Haki in conjunction with his Conqueror's Haki to even stand a chance of fighting him by that point lest he runs the risk of getting his fist burned off.
• You Don't Look Like You: Before his proper appearance, Kaido is shown in silhouettes very different from his final design. The first gives him an upturned black collar, a cross-shaped nose and crescent eyes◊. The second adds wavy hair, V-shaped eyes, a pointier nose and an elongated chin/forehead◊.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Thanks to Orochi, Kaido could get all the weapon factories to gather a huge army but, once Kaido allies with Big Mom, he decides to put his plans in motion, which are starting a huge war all over the world, turning Wano into a lawless pirate paradase and replacing Orochi as Shogun with Yamato. Therefore he has no more need for Orochi, whom he promptly decapitates before he could even voice his own opinion.
• Zigzag Paper Tassel: Going along with his name being translated to temple, he wears a Shimenawa adorned with these as a belt.