Kozuki Oden

Kozuki Oden was the daimyo of Kuri in Wano Country, the son of the former Shogun of Wano Country Kozuki Sukiyaki, the husband of Kozuki Toki, and the father of Kozuki Momonosuke and Kozuki Hiyori. He was the patriarch of the Kozuki Family 20 years ago until he was executed by Kurozumi Orochi. He was also a division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and later a member of the Roger Pirates.

Appearance
Judging from his silhouette, Kozuki Oden appeared to be extremely large, towering over both Shanks and Buggy when briefly shown on the Oro Jackson. He had long, wavy hair that extended past his shoulders. On top of his head Oden had what appears to be either a flat, ovular hat (possibly a kasa) or formation of hair.

In a brief flashback depicting his interactions with Shimotsuki Yasuie, Oden's silhouette was depicted in profile as having almond-shaped eyes, a strong, defined nose, and a prominent jaw.

Personality
In his early years, he was said to get into violent fights and outrageous things, which was the reason for his exile from the Flower Capital. He took his banishment lightly and lived as a vagabond. He even seemed to not mind the thought of Shimotsuki Yasuie becoming the next shogun after Kozuki Sukiyaki and was mainly interested in setting out to sea.

He proved to be a man of great compassion, as he defended Nekomamushi and Inuarashi from discrimination in Wano and also reformed the criminals of Kuri into becoming law biding citizens. Even Gol D. Roger, Whitebeard, and Shanks held incredible respect for him.

Oden was very adventurous and felt confined by Wano's closed borders. He left Wano despite that being a crime and his biggest wish was to open the country's borders.

Kozuki Sukiyaki
As Kozuki Sukiyaki's only son, Oden was the heir of his clan and also to the Wano's shogunate. However due to Oden's tendency to pick violent fights, Sukiyaki was so frustrated by his violent and out of control nature, he exiled Oden from the Flower Capital and even barred him from stepping into the castle, which Oden believed blood ties no longer matter to his father. However, Sukiyaki does care for Oden as Yasuie believed that the banishment was simply tough love, when Oden restored order and peace to the lawless region of Kuri. Sukiyaki was deeply impressed and made his exiled son the damiyo of Kuri.

Kozuki Toki
Oden married Toki, a time traveller from the past during his youth. Toki loved Oden dearly as after his execution by Orochi and Kaido, she used her Devil Fruit powers to send his retainers Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Raizo and Momonosuke to the future in order for them to realize Oden's dream of opening the borders of the Wano Country. She chose to remain behind in the burning castle of Kuri to meet her end hoping to join her husband in the afterlife.

Children
Oden loved his children, having bequeathed his favourite swords Ame no Habakiri and Enma to both Momonosuke and Hiyori as heirlooms before his execution. Oden would encourage Momonosuke to follow his footsteps to travel overseas in order to learn more about the world, and Momonosuke was deeply saddened by his death. His daughter Hiyori held such immense respect for him, that she lived by a strict code of dignity as a samurai's daughter and absolutely refused to bow to his archenemy and murderer Orochi even when threatened with death.

Nine Red Scabbards
When Oden restored order to Kuri, he became particularly close to seven outlaws: Kinemon, Kanjuro, Raizo, Kikunojou, Kawamatsu, Denjiro, and Ashura Doji. They became extremely loyal to Oden and would do anything to support him, even audaciously stealing money from Yasuie the daimyo of Hakumai. They became Oden's direct retainers and closest confidants known as the Nine Red Scabbards. Later, after being set up by Orochi's schemes to usurp the shogunate, Oden sacrificed himself to allow his retainers to escape the Beasts Pirates. Kinemon, Kanjuro and Raizo were shown grieving over his death.

When Inuarashi and Nekomamushi first came to Wano, Oden defended them from discrimination. Thus, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi became extremely loyal to Oden. So much so that after Oden's death, their friendship became strained to the point that they became archenemies, refusing to meet each other for over twenty years. When Kozuki Momonosuke saw Inuarashi and Nekomamushi he questioned whether Oden was the reason for their bitterness toward each other. Momonosuke claimed that his father would be saddened if he saw them fighting, a remark that caused the two to reconcile their feud, showing their respect toward his father. Alongside Momonosuke, Kin'emon, Kanjuro, and Raizo, they too grieved at the mention of Oden's demise.

Mink Tribe
Due to the loyalty of their rulers, all the minks on Zou respect Oden and the Kozuki Family enough to sacrifice their lives for one of their retainers.

Wano Country Citizens
Before his exile from the Flower Capital, he was despised and feared by the citizen for unknown reasons.

After becoming the daimyo of Kuri, Oden had worked hard to improve the lives of Wano citizens by creating rivers and wharfs to connect various villages and people, thus most Wano citizens including samurais held immense love and respect for Oden. When Oden was unjustly executed by Orochi and Kaido, the countless Wano samurais banded together to stage a massive rebellion to avenge Oden only to be thwarted by Kaido. After twenty years, surviving Kozuki loyalists such as Shinobu patiently waited for Momonosuke and Kinemon, Raizo and Kanjuro's return in order to overthrow Kaido and Orochi and to realize Oden's dream of opening the borders of Wano.

Shimotsuki Family
As the heir of the Kozuki Family, Oden has a close friendship with the reowned Shimotsuki Family, particularly Yasuie. After he was exiled from the Flower Capital by his father, Oden had sought refuge in Hakumai under Yasuie's care, Oden was even perfectly contend to relinquished his birthright of becoming the next Wano Country Shogun to Yasuie which the latter strictly berated him for. Heeding Yasuie's advice to proved himself a great samurai, Oden travelled to the lawless region of Kuri to restored order and prosperity to the region. And Yasuie also showed his support for Oden by giving away massive amount of money to the Nine Red Scabbards including encouraging them to become the best samurais in Wano in order to effectively support Oden. When Oden was executed, Yasuie and Ushimaru had also tried to avenge Oden by staging a rebellion but only to end in failure due to Kaido.

Yakuzas
Oden held absolute respect for his idol Hyogoro of the Flower for his immense chivalry as a samurai. Twenty years after his death, Hyogoro joined Momonosuke and the Nine Red Scabbards in the revolution to overthrow Kaido and Orochi in Oden's memory.

Roger Pirates
As a member of Roger Pirates, he was a well respected individual among his crew. He referred Shanks and Buggy as the respective first and second sons, though the latter was annoyed for being called one. All the crew wanted to help Oden’s wish to make Wano Country an open to the world though Oden declined as he wanted to solve the problem on his own.

Beasts Pirates
Kaido sought the Kozuki Family because Oden had been to Laugh Tale. Refusing to let Kaido get the information, Oden retaliated by attacking Kaido, giving him a massive scar, and also sacrificed himself to allow his retainers to escape. The Beasts Pirates were eager to kill him in sadistic ways, including boiling him like his namesake.

Kurozumi Orochi
A man of such small caliber shall never in his life truly devour Oden!!

Orochi has orchestrated a despicable scheme to become Shogun, by setting up Oden and sentencing him to death. After Oden's death, his legacy has become taboo to Orochi, who became paranoid over his wife's prophecy that after twenty years, nine samurais would exact vengeance on him in Oden's name. Yasuie even used Oden's namesake to mock Orochi's cowardice.

Abilities and Powers
As a descendant of the Kozuki Family, Oden inherited from his ancestors the knowledge and skill to read Poneglyphs and write its ancient language. As daimyo of Kuri, Oden had a large amount of power and influence over the region before his death. Nami deduced that given his position, he must have had a large amount of wealth. He also had the ability to hear the "Voice of All Things". With his strength and charisma, he was able to restore order to the lawless, extremely chaotic land of Kuri.

Being a past division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Oden held authority over a number of subordinates within the crew at the time. As Whitebeard's division commanders are noted to be formidable pirates, it can be inferred that the same applied to Oden.

Swordsmanship
Oden was an extremely powerful master samurai, dual wielding legendary blades Ame no Habakiri and Enma in a style of swordsmanship known as Daito Nitoryu (大刀二刀流).

As Kin'emon implies, it was by his swordsmanship that Oden was able to tame the formerly lawless Kuri, including defeating the region's one-time most dangerous criminal, Ashura Doji (someone noted to be worth 100 men in battle). Even more notably according to Tenguyama Hitetsu, Oden was the only one who fully mastered Enma's negative drawbacks, able to use it to permanently scar the near-invulnerable Kaido, something no one else has been able to before and after.

Weapons


Oden wielded two of the 21 O Wazamono Meito swords, Ame no Habakiri (the sword said to be able to cut "heaven" itself) and its sister sword Enma (the sword said to be able to cut to the "bottom of hell"), with the latter being the only known blade that has ever harmed Kaido. In his youth, Oden wielded a different katana which he used to defeat Ashura Doji.

Haki
According to Ashura, Oden possessed Haoshoku Haki. Him being the only man to ever master his sword, Enma, suggests that Oden also had great skill in Busoshoku Haki.

History


Oden was born in the Flower Capital of Wano Country, to the shogun Kozuki Sukiyaki. While he lived in the Flower Capital 41 years ago, he was not a popular man as the citizens feared and despised him. He was exiled from the Flower Capital after getting into a constant stream of violent fights. At one time, Oden hung around Hakumai, and Shimotsuki Yasuie got mad at him for living as a vagabond instead of rising to his father's challenge. Oden told Yasuie how he wanted to set out to sea, and Yasuie replied that he had to become a competent samurai before he could be so selfish.

Oden went to Kuri, which was Wano's most lawless region. He confronted Kuri's most dangerous criminal Ashura Doji and defeated him, and rounded up the other criminals to bring peace to Kuri. He had the residents work to build a village to live in, and he built the Paradise Farm to feed them. Oden was then granted the title of daimyo of Kuri at the age of 20 after Sukiyaki heard about his deeds.

When the minks Inuarashi and Nekomamushi washed ashore on Wano, Oden defended them from people who tried attacking them out of fear, and they became his retainers. Oden married Kozuki Toki, and they had a son named Momonosuke followed by a daughter named Hiyori. However, Oden felt too cramped in Wano, and he, Inuarashi, and Nekomamushi left the country illegally and set sail with the Whitebeard Pirates in which he became one of the Division Commanders. Oden later sailed with the Roger Pirates, and went with them to Laugh Tale.

Over 20 years before the present, Oden left Roger's crew and returned to Wano Country, despite the country's rules on leaving and returning to its borders. Around that time, he was executed in the Flower Capital by Kaido and Kurozumi Orochi for refusing to divulge information of Laugh Tale, and he died without passing on the knowledge of the Poneglyphs to Momonosuke. His last words to his son and retainers were to open Wano to the outside world.

Legacy
After this, Kaido would later attack the rest of his family and retainers and burn down Oden Castle in an attempt to kill his heirs and prevent the Kozuki Family from fulfilling Oden's final wishes, an attempt that was ultimately foiled by his wife sending Momonosuke and the remaining retainers 20 years into the future with her Toki Toki no Mi power. Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, both of whom began arguing after the execution, were caught and not sent forward through time. Both of them escaped and returned to Zou alive, but became bitter towards each other for the next twenty years until Momonosuke, who arrived via Toki's power, persuaded them to reconcile for Oden's sake.

With Kaido and his crew occupying the Wano Country, and with Orochi now the Shogun of Wano, the two went to great lengths to undo Oden's work within the country, with Orochi and his followers destroying the reputation of Oden and the entire Kozuki Family throughout the country, and with the Beasts Pirates, under the leadership of Jack of the Disasters taking control over Kuri and all of its resources.

His dream to open Wano to the rest of the world now lives on in his son, Momonosuke, as well as his retainers, as they planned to recruit allies from both inside and outside of the country to overthrow Orochi and Kaido. After meeting and befriending Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar D. Water Law, Momonosuke and his retainers formed an alliance with the Straw Hat and Heart Pirates and the entire Mink Tribe in the pursuit of achieving this goal, forming the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance as a result. Jibuemon, a former retainer of Oden's father, gathered people who still supported their cause within the country, all in anticipation for the return of the missing members of the Kozuki Family.

A simple grave with a wooden post bearing his name was later made for him on the ruins of his old castle which stood alongside the "graves" of his son and retainers who were presumed deceased by Wano's natives. Oden also passed on his two swords to each of his children: the Ame no Habakiri for Momonosuke and Enma for Hiyori. The swords were left in the care of Tenguyama Hitetsu until the children could claim them.

Major Battles

 * Kozuki Oden vs. Ashura Doji
 * Kozuki Oden vs. Kaido

Trivia

 * Oden is the name of a traditional Japanese winter dish.

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