Raizo

Raizo of the Mist is a ninja from Wano Country, a comrade of Kin'emon and Kanjuro, and a retainer of the Kozuki Family.

Appearance
Raizo's body is very disproportional, having a very large head with the rest of his body being relatively small in comparison. His head is large enough to carry Luffy, an average sized full grown human. He has shown to be as tall as Kinemon. His hair is styled into six antennae, with three at each side of his head, a small spike on the middle, and a widow's peak. His hairstyle bears some resemblance to Gedatsu. He has bolt-shaped eyebrows and large sideburns. He also has a crescent moon-shaped scar on his forehead. He wears a dark-colored Ninja shozoku robe.

He bears the crest of the Kozuki Family somewhere on his body.

Personality
Raizo is a reserved individual who takes his profession as a ninja very seriously. He does not like it when people talk about ninja, such as himself, in a joking manner, and can become very emotional about it, but he will gladly demonstrate his skills if coerced enough.

He is also sensitive about his bizarre appearance and depressed by the fact that the female ninja (also known as kunoichi) from Wano Country do not find him attractive and would not even look at him.

He is extremely noble and caring, and was so against the fact that the Mink Tribe was sheltering him at the risk of dying, that he had to be chained up to prevent him from fighting and making his presence known. He was worried to the point of tears over the fact the minks were heavily wounded from protecting him. It also moved him greatly that the minks were worried about his safety and glad to see he was okay. Despite his claim that ninjas do not say 'Nin Nin', Raizou ended up adopting the phrase in his speech as shown when he demonstrates ninja skills and again when he greeted the minks.

Kozuki Family
Raizo is very loyal to his masters in the Kozuki Family as well as his fellow retainers Kin'emon and Kanjuro, and the feeling is reciprocated toward him. Kin'emon and Kanjuro were excited to reunite with him on Zou.

Mink Tribe
Due to their generations-old relationship with the Kozuki Family from Wano Country, the entire Mink Tribe protected the whereabouts of Raizo from Jack, despite the risk of dying and the destruction of their kingdom. However, Raizo did not want them to risk their lives protecting him and would rather turn himself in instead. This forced the minks to chain him to a poneglyph inside a secret area to keep him hidden, but Raizo continually begged for his release and updates on the minks' status.

Beasts Pirates
Due to his connection to the Kozuki Family, the Beasts Pirates hunted him down for over two weeks and even went as far as to torture Zou's citizens to flush him out.

Abilities and Powers
Raizo is a ninja from Wano Country, and is capable of performing several ninja arts (忍法/忍術) such as disappearing in a cloud of smoke, making clones of himself, and throwing shuriken with expert precision.

Ninja Arts

 * Enton no Jutsu (煙遁の術): Raizo throws a smoke ball into the ground and quickly moves to a new location while being obscured by the smokescreen.
 * Bunshin no Jutsu (分身の術): Multiple copies of Raizo are seen at once in various places. It is unknown whether he can actually make clones of himself or simply create speed-based illusions.

Weapons

 * Hana Shuriken (華手裏剣): Raizo possesses large quantities of shuriken which he can throw rapidly with expert precision. For example, he can make them form the kanji for "shinobi" (忍).

Past
Raizo, Kin'emon, Momonosuke, and Kanjuro escaped from Wano Country due to Kozuki Oden sacrificing himself to Kaido and the shogun of Wano Country in order to allow his son and retainers to escape. They were going to Zou, but they were shipwrecked, during which Raizo got separated from the others. He later ended up on Zou.

Jack attacked the Mokomo Dukedom to find Raizo. The locals, being firmly loyal to the Kozuki Family, lied to Jack that Raizo was not on the island, resulting in the near destruction of their civilization. They tied Raizo up to a poneglyph in a secret room inside the whale-shaped tree in order to keep him hidden.

Zou Arc
Seventeen days later, the Straw Hat Pirates, Trafalgar D. Water Law, Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, and Raizo's samurai comrades visited him in the whale-shaped tree. Raizo wept for the minks, begging them to tell the truth about the country's status and why they did not turn him over. He was overjoyed to see his comrades and was freed from his chains, but grew annoyed as the male Straw Hats told him to perform various ninja arts that they came up with in their imaginations. Eventually, he performed various tricks for them, greatly impressing them.

Raizo, Kin'emon, and Kanjuro then stood outside the Whale Tree. When he saw all the destruction the Beasts Pirates left behind, Raizo felt deep remorse and swore to repay the Mink Tribe for their selfless actions. When Robin deciphered the red Poneglyph, Nekomamushi called them back in. After Nekomamushi explained to the Straw Hats about the creation of the poneglyphs by the Kozuki Family, Raizo and the samurais revealed that Momonosuke was not able to inherit the knowledge of the poneglyphs and expressed sorrow in explaining that Lord Oden was executed by Kaido and the shogun of Wano Country.

The samurais and the two rulers of Zou revealed Oden's will to open the country of Wano to the world and to defeat Kaido and the shogun of Wano Country. The samurais also explained that they needed allies which was the reason why they journeyed to Zou. They then formed an alliance with the Mink Tribe and the Straw Hats.

They later left the secret room and Raizo and the samurais explained that they never went with Oden during his travels as leaving the borders of Wano is a crime. While discussing their plans to defeat Kaido, the alliance decided to split up and meet up again at Wano Country. Law agreed to take Raizo and the samurais back to Wano Country in his submarine. Right after they left the Whale Tree, Raizo was overjoyed to see the minks and went to greet them. This joy was short-lived as they felt Zou shaking and heard Zunisha crying.

Zou's shaking was because of Jack returning and assaulting the giant elephant, Zunisha. On Momonosuke's command, Zunisha retaliated and sank Jack's fleet. With the threat of Jack ended, everyone became calm again.

After Momonosuke decided to stay on Zou in order to communicate more with Zunisha, Raizo and his comrades prepare to go back to Wano with Law and Zoro accompanying them. As the Sanji retrieval team departed from Zou, everyone, except for the Straw Hat members left behind, was shocked when Luffy jumped off Zunisha with his party.

Trivia

 * Raizo appears to be a homage to the depiction of ninja in various media, particularly that of the Naruto manga series by Masashi Kishimoto. The Clone Jutsu is a signature technique of the series' titular protagonist Naruto Uzumaki. Moreover, Raizo finished his introduction in a stance reminiscent of Naruto's mentor Jiraiya.

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