Yamato is the biological child of Emperor Kaido of the Hundred Beasts aka The Most Powerful Creature in the World , although she has cut all ties with her father. Born female, 👧🏼 Yamato made the choice to become a man and to be considered as such by others. Let's discover together the fascinating story of this One Piece character.
Appearance
Being tall, Yamato is also able to carry Monkey D. Luffy under his arm. In addition to the two horns that adorn his forehead, he often hides his face behind a demon mask. 👹 He has long, light hair. In terms of clothing, Yamato wears a kimono as well as geta (traditional Japanese sandals made of wood) on his feet. Like his father, he wears a type of Shimenawa, a sacred braided belt, at his waist. The latter extends down his back in the form of a knot practically identical to the one worn by Oden Kozuki, the Daimyô of Kuri in the past. Chains were placed on his wrists to prevent him from leaving the island of Onigashima, residence of the Yonkô and headquarters of the Hundred Beasts Pirates in the Land of the Wano in the New World. The handcuffs on the chains explode if Yamato tries to move away from the island.
Personality
As a die-hard fan of Kozuki Oden, Yamato considers the latter's diary 📰 to be his bible. He even came to identify with his idol to the point of wanting to achieve his dream, that of opening the borders of the Land of the Wano to change the world. This is why he decided to hide her appearance behind this demonic mask and wear loose clothing so that others would believe that she was a man. Yamato is not very close to his father, who calls him an idiot and often represses him violently. Yamato is very angry with his father for taking his idol's life. And when he announced his desire to take Kozuki Oden's place, Kaido simply sent him flying.
And yet, the Emperor manages to forgive his son for his deviations and even respects his choice to disguise himself as his former great enemy. He even calls him his son. Yamato does not have much affection for his father and has no respect for either his allies or his crew. He has already stood up against them and he had no hesitation or remorse to attack Ulti, one of the Tobiroppo (the six most powerful headliners) of the Hundred Beasts Pirates . After Luffy removed the chains from his wrists, Yamato finally realized that the handcuffs could have killed him. She was then overcome with rage and decided that Kaido was no longer her father.
Skills and competences
Yamato's power is such that he was able to approach the Tobiroppo Ulti by surprise and knock it out in a single blow using a technique learned from his father. He was also able to repel one of Luffy's most powerful techniques, Gear Third , with relative ease. Yamato also has an unusual ability which consists of growing fangs. 🦷 On the other hand, it has not been revealed if this ability is natural to him or if it results from a Devil Fruit.
Weapons
Just like his father, Yamato has a kanabô designed specifically for his size. It was with the latter combined with his great strength that he was able to ring and temporarily defeat Ulti. Yamato uses this weapon in different techniques:
Raimei Hakke (or Rumble of Divine Thunder) is a technique similar to that used by his father Kaido. Like the latter, Yamato rushes at his opponent at very high speed and delivers a blow of phenomenal force horizontally with his kanabô. 🪓 This was the attack he used against Ulti and which temporarily incapacitated her.
The Nari Kabura technique consists of striking the air with one's mace in order to create a devastating spike of air. Yamato first used it when he faced Numbers Hatcha.
Yamato's devil fruit
There is a theory that Yamato ate a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit of the same type as that of his father Kaido. Indeed, the latter's Devil Fruit is the Uo Uo no Mi which allows him to transform into a giant oriental dragon with a very long serpentine body. This hypothesis is based on the one hand on the fact that the creator of the One Piece series, Eiichirō Oda, could have been inspired by two of the four animals representing the guardians of the four easts in Chinese, but also Japanese (and Asian) mythology. in general). It is the azure dragon or Seiryu associated with the East which would therefore be Kaido and the white tiger or Byakko for the West (there is also the black snake turtle or Guembu (Genbu) for the North and the phoenix or Suzaku (vermilion bird) for the South). The existing opposition between the azure dragon and the white tiger would therefore be the basis of the permanent and violent opposition between Kaido and Yamato.
On the one hand, we would therefore have the master who is the dragon since he knows his power well and controls it perfectly. On the other hand, we would have the white tiger 🐅 who is the student as he is still learning to know and master his true power. This master/student opposition would therefore be reflected in the father/son opposition which exists between Kaido and Yamato.
In this hypothesis, there is the idea that Kaido would have forced his son to eat a Devil Fruit of the Mythical Zoan type . If Kaido's Uo Uo no Mi makes him become a dragon, Yamato's Devil Fruit could therefore transform him into a white tiger. Let us recall at this point what was said in the Abilities and Competencies section, Yamato has the ability to grow fangs in place of his teeth, which tends to support this theory. However, Yamato would still not be transformed to this day because he does not want to use the powers of this Devil Fruit 🍅 which would link him to his father given that it was the latter who gave it to him. On the other hand, the theory goes further since it claims that, even if Yamato would have always rejected this Devil Fruit to this day, he could learn to master it one of these days. He could therefore free himself from his father's yoke by killing him precisely thanks to his Devil Fruit powers .
Yamato son or daughter of Kaido?
As seen earlier in the article, Yamato was born as a little girl. From a young age, she had great admiration for Oden Kozuki and wanted to become like him. And when Oden was executed by her father, she was greatly saddened to the point of shedding tears. 😹 She then made the decision to follow in Oden's footsteps and open the doors of Wano to the world. To achieve this, she had to pass as a man and be considered as such by others. She then changed her appearance by putting on loose clothes and wearing a mask to hide her face. Since then, she was considered a man and became Kaido's son.
It must also be recognized that his father had a lot to do with it. Indeed, the Yonkô decided to respect his daughter's choice to be seen by others as being a man. Furthermore, he also accepted his decision to dress like Oden even though the latter was his enemy. Kaido even called him his son. It must be said that Kaido had the hope that Yamato would join him and embrace his beliefs. He even had a plan for a new Onigashima in which he planned to appoint Yamato as Shogun .
History of Yamato
Yamato was founded in Onigashima 28 years ago. It was therefore at the age of 8 that the young girl witnessed the execution of her hero, Kozuki Oden and that she finally decided to take his place, become a man and finish his work, that of to open the borders of Wano. It was in the Wano Kuni Arc that Yamato was first mentioned by his father while he was searching for him. Kaido speaks of him again by mentioning his name while ordering his Tobiroppo to go looking for him because he had an announcement to make regarding his son. The latter had in fact disappeared during the Fire Festival, 🔥 the event which took place every year in the Land of the Wa in tribute to their dead. And it is by coming out of nowhere to attack Ulti and come to the aid of Monkey D. Luffy that Yamato appears for the first time in One Piece. After quickly getting to know each other, they fled together while Yamato carried Luffy under his arm.
After that, Yamato revealed to Luffy who he was, his history and that he had been waiting for him for a long time. Meanwhile, Kaido announced in a speech to the inhabitants of Wano Country that the region would become the new Onigashima with his son Yamato leading it as Shogun. For their part, Yamato and Luffy fell from their perch in the attic of the castle 🏰 where they had taken refuge to observe the scene. The pirates of the Hundred Beast Pirates noticed them and began pursuing them. A confrontation therefore took place even as Luffy revealed to Yamato that the son of his hero, Momonosuke Kozuki, as well as the Samurai of the Red Scabbards were indeed alive. Then, Luffy freed him from his chains and threw them away from them. The huge explosion that resulted threw them towards the scene where Kaido was as well as his strongest pirates after him, the highest ranking and in whom he trusts the most, the Three Calamities or the Okanban . It was thus in front of his father, discovering that he was really determined to kill him with these explosive handcuffs, that Yamato disowned him. He then had to face Ulti again. And when he learned that his father was being attacked by the Red Scabbards, he replied that it didn't matter to him if his father died.
Long later, Momonosuke was able to be freed from the crucifix ✝️ on which Kaido and Orochi had tied him up and exposed to everyone's eyes after Kurozumi Kanjuro, the traitor of the Nine Red Scabbards in Orochi's pay, delivered him to them. Luffy entrusted Yamato with the task of protecting Momonosuke, a role he was hesitant to take on at first and then took to heart given that he considered himself to be Oden, Momonosuke's father. His intervention first frightened Momonosuke and Shinobu, a vassal of the Kozuki family, since he loudly proclaimed that he was Oden. But, later, he was able to reassure them after having protected them against the men and bazookas of Sasaki's group, one of Kaido's other Tobiroppo. He told Momonosuke and Shinobu that he wanted to defend them even if he had to lose his life. ⚰️ After defeating Hatcha, the failed experiment of an ancient giant, with a single blow with his K anabô, he took Momonosuke away from the clashes to shelter him and so that he could bring renewal to Wano .
His relationship with Oden
Yamato is a great admirer of Kozuki Oden for whom he has a true cult, and has done so since a very young age. He also revealed to us that he was present when his hero was put to death by his father and Kurozumi Orochi, the Shogun of Wano Country . He felt sad and frustrated to see such an excellent Samurai die like this. Some time later, he was lucky enough to come across his idol's logbook in which he recounted his glorious adventures during his sea voyage in the Kuri region. There were also many important things like Oden's desire to open the borders of Wano to the world. It was from that moment that Yamato made the choice to become a man and take the place of his hero 🦸🏼♂️ to finish what he had started.
Yamato the next Mugiwara
As seen above, it could be that Yamato possesses powerful powers due to a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit. He would therefore have immeasurable power which would be very useful for the Straw Hat Pirates especially since it turns out that Luffy is still looking for the tenth member of his crew. There is therefore a theory that Yamato will soon be part of the Mugiwara crew and will increase the latter's power. This hypothesis is based on the idea that if Oden has always been Yamato's idol, it would be possible that Monkey D. Luffy would become his new hero. Indeed, the latter would be as powerful, illustrious and appreciated by all as Oden. Furthermore, Luffy was the one who freed Yamato from his chains and saved his life at the same time. 💣 It is therefore very possible that Yamato has a deep admiration for Luffy as he had for Oden.
And, since Yamato was unable to join the Spade Pirates with Ace of the Fiery Fists leading them a few years ago, it could be that this time around, he will be able to join Luffy's crew given that he is no longer a prisoner on Onigashima. Furthermore, as Yamato was able to discover Oden's adventures through his book, it is essential for him to also explore the world to experience what his idol experienced. And what better way to do it than to embark with Luffy's crew! When asked what Yamato's role on Luffy's ship would be, some One Piece theorists put forward the idea that he could be the crew's writer like Oden did during his lifetime. The hypothesis is taken even further by claiming that Yamato could abandon his idea of being Oden and return to his original gender, namely a woman. In this way, the crew will include one more woman since it lacks a lot (to the delight of that dirty pervert Sanji ), and she would be a very powerful fighter.
Why is Yamato revolting against Kaido?
Yamato has never had a good relationship with his father since he was little. It often happened that the latter got angry with him and hit him like when he told him that he wanted to become Kozuki Oden. Additionally, Kaido often called him an idiot when talking about him. All of this caused Yamato to not become attached to his father or his allies and crew. Their relationship deteriorated when his father and Kurozumi Orochi put his hero to death even though he was present at the execution. Yamato often rebelled against Kaido, which made him even more violently correct him. And when Yamato wanted to board with Portgas D. Ace's crew and leave Onigashima, the Yonkô prevented him by locking him on the island 🏝️ with explosive handcuffs on his wrists. Later, after he met Luffy and saved him from Ulti, Luffy removed his chains. Yamato then realized that the explosive handcuffs really could have killed him. His reaction was very violent and he decided to disown his father. Later, when one of the Hundred Beasts pirates told him about the Red Scabbards ' attack on his father, he replied that his support was not for the latter. He even said that Kaido's death wouldn't bother him.
His connection to Portgas D. Ace
Before Portgas D. Ace joined the Whitebeard Pirates, he was the leader of his own crew, the Spade Pirates , which he founded himself. When they ventured into the New World, Ace and his crew ran aground in the Land of the Wano, near the beaches 🏖️ of the famine-plagued village of Amigasa . During his short stay where he was first captured and robbed of his supplies, he met many people and became friends with many people, including young O-Tama and Yamato. Indeed, Yamato and Ace established a very strong friendship between them despite Yamato being the offspring of the one who brought suffering to the region, Emperor Kaido.
Just like O-Tama, Yamato wanted to board Ace's ship to be part of his crew and experience great adventures. On the other hand, if in the case of O-Tama, it was Ace of the Silver Fists who refused to recruit her because of her young age (she was only 5 years old 👶🏼), it is not the case of Yamato. In fact, the latter was unable to join Ace's team because of his father. He prevented him from going to sea with Ace by putting chains on his wrists with explosive handcuffs so that he could not leave Onigashima.
Yamato's important role in One Piece
As we have seen, many fans believe that Yamato still has a crucial role to play in the series. Will he (or she) be the next Mugiwara who will bring a considerable plus to the crew in the next Arc of One Piece?
Or would it be you who joins the Straw Hat Pirates 👒 to help them fight the next antagonists even more powerful than the ones we've already seen? Don't hesitate to claim your place with Luffy by showing him what you're worth. Equip yourself with the best One Piece items available on our site to help you.