Kaidou

Kaidou of the Beasts, renowned as the world's "Strongest Creature", is the Governor-General of the Beasts Pirates and was formerly one of the Four Emperors that ruled over the New World. He is also the father of Yamato.

Once a promising child soldier at the service of the Vodka Kingdom decades ago, Kaidou was drafted against his will by the Marines but managed to escape and start a career in piracy. He was invited by Edward Newgate to join the legendary Rocks Pirates as an apprentice, where he met and befriended Charlotte Linlin. During the God Valley Incident when the Rocks Pirates met their downfall, Linlin provided Kaidou with the rare Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit, the Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu. He then went on to form his own crew and build it up into a powerful military force determined to challenge the World Government.

After being invited to Wano Country by Kurozumi Higurashi, Kaidou joined forces with Wano Country's shogun, Kurozumi Orochi, and occupied Onigashima as his base. After a failed attempt from Kozuki Oden and the Nine Red Scabbards to overthrow him, he continued to accrue military might in Wano Country for 20 years before deciding to dispose of Orochi and proceed with his plan for the New Onigashima Project. The plan never came to fruition, however, as Onigashima was raided by the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance on that very same night and the Beasts Pirates were ultimately defeated. Following Kaidou's defeat at Monkey D. Luffy's hands, the World Economy News Paper released a new listing of the Four Emperors, with Kaidou no longer being included among them anymore. After his defeat, Kaidou is now referred to in Wano's folklore retelling as "Dragon King Kaidou" (龍王カイドウ).

Kaidou was first referred to by Monkey D. Garp in the Post-Enies Lobby Arc when he revealed the existence of the Four Emperors, and was then first directly mentioned by Gecko Moria in the Thriller Bark Arc, with his status as one of the Four Emperors revealed after the Straw Hat Pirates defeated Moria. Thus, Kaidou is the third Emperor mentioned by name and the last to debut. Before he debuted in person, his voice was heard in a flashback that Kozuki Momonosuke had when first disembarking on Dressrosa.

Due to his actions, he can be considered the overarching antagonist of the Dressrosa Saga, the main antagonist of the Wano Country Arc and Saga, and a major antagonist of the second half of the series.

Appearance
Kaidou is a middle-aged man who cuts an imposing figure due to his extreme height of 710 cm and the bulk of his muscles, making him dwarf normal humans. Overly top-heavy in build, he has a well-muscled torso with wide-set shoulders, thick arms, and somewhat out-of-proportion legs; far less heavily built than his arms yet about the same length (with his feet much tinier than his hands). Kaidou's head, atop his bulky neck, is disproportionally small as well (smaller than his hands) and has a massive pair of gray-white, sharp-pointed horns coming out of its sides, curving slightly to the front, then upward. During his final fight with Monkey D. Luffy, Kaidou's left horn is broken off. He has a longish face with a heavy, hairless brow ridge topping sharp, often bloodshot eyes (parent to small, yellow irises), plus, a hook nose and a large, full-lipped mouth. Kaidou is near-always seen frowning and is moderately wrinkled: particularly prominent being his crow's feet below his eyes, forehead lines, and laugh lines from always sneering. His black hair consists of an unruly, mostly swept-back mane down to his mid-back, which forms distinctly flat, rectangular locks of which some fall down near the front, over his ears, or jut upward. His facial hair is done in a wavy, waist-length Fu Manchu mustache that pairs with a spiked goatee across his chin.

Right of Kaidou's defined abs is his only scar: a massive, recessed X-shape whose upper points reach to his pectoral, given to him by Kozuki Oden. Twenty years later, Roronoa Zoro managed to add another scar to Kaidou's chest that runs from the top left point of the first scar to near his left shoulder. A tattoo of dull-red segments resembling reptilian scales, individually bordered in orange, goes from Kaidou's left pectoral down the front of his left arm, ending in correspondence to the wrist with a white (dark in the manga), traditionally shaped skull on the lower forearm.

Clothing-wise, Kaidou dons a blue purple, feathered, sleeveless overcoat draped on his shoulders, and below a lavender, tight-fitting, open shirt with long sleeves. He has a black bracelet with golden (dark in the manga) spikes above each wrist. Upholding said shirt is a thick, off-white belt of laid rope festooned with a pair of white, hanging shide in the front. More outwardly from below the rope hang two additional pieces of fabric: rectangular, hemmed flaps (which may be the bottom of said shirt) that each have, from two hemmed holes at their bottom, a short, thick, golden torus chain attached to themselves. Two yellow straw cords are below the shimenawa, serving as waistbands to secure a short, hanging row of thin, red ribbons. Finally, the rest of his lower wear consists of simple, baggy pants of gray-green color, tucked below the knees into simple, black boots. After his battle against the Big Mom, Kaidou is seen wearing a white version of his usual shirt, which exposed the middle of his body.

20 years before the current storyline, Kaidou's Fu Manchu was only chest-length, he lacked his current beard, had much fewer wrinkles, and until his battle with Oden did not have any visible scars on him. While he was already very large and muscular back then, he was better proportioned compared to his current top-heavy build. When he was facing Gecko Moria, Kaidou wore a green-blue, open vest and black pants with a thick metal belt. During Oden's execution, he wore the pairing of a dark-blue, sleeveless leather jacket and dark-blue, tight leather pants, with a belt featuring his crew's Jolly Roger on its big, round, gold-framed buckle, in red color on a dark background, alongside black shoes. Additionally, he already wore his purple coat and spiked bracelets. At the time he was seen, due to the injury he suffered from fighting Oden, Kaidou's chest and abdomen were heavily bandaged up.

As a ten-year old child, Kaidou had shorter shoulder-length hair and wore a scarf. By the time he was 13, he wore a belt across his torso.

Personality
Kaidou is a merciless, aggressive, and confident warrior who never misses an opportunity to gain an advantage in war. He suffers from bouts of apathy and boredom, harboring a general sense of unconcern for most things including the very nature of the world and the lives of himself and his subordinates. He keeps a grumpy disposition with little pleasure and excitement in his life and is constantly frowning most of the time. As such, he craves excitement and chaos, wanting to start the largest war in the world because he felt it was too mundane. This was true even during his childhood as a soldier under the service of the Vodka Kingdom, with a young Kaidou barely showing interest in anything outside of constant warfare.

Apparently, Kaidou always had issues with the world he lived in, particularly the people governing it, of which authority he did not respect due to his beliefs that the true worth of someone could only be gauged in the battlefield. In the past, Kaidou once believed that only he could change the world, supposedly in an attempt to mimic Joy Boy and his legend; however, Kaidou has admitted that his methods and overall goal ended up being far different. Still, Kaidou remains curious about Joy Boy and whether anyone else is capable of taking up their mantle. He also thinks that Joy Boy could be the one person capable of ever taking him down.

It may not be the way of the times anymore... but death is what truly completes a person!

Kaidou's recklessness, coupled with his apparent inability to die from any execution method, has caused him to make attempted suicide as his hobby. Kaidou overall has a very positive view on death, thinking that it is the moment a person achieves true glory. As such, he admires those who die fighting until the very end, such as Gol D. Roger, Edward Newgate, and Kozuki Oden and acknowledges the impact they end up causing in those moments. Kaidou becomes excited when battling enemies who can actually stand toe to toe with him in a fight, though he likewise feels immense disappointment when they fail to defeat him.



Kaidou is a heavy drunkard who loves to drink sake, which causes his mood to change erratically when he becomes inebriated. For example, he quickly went from being melancholic over his inability to increase the number of his Gifters and fulfill his dream of having a crew consisting of only Devil Fruit users to becoming angry and violent, brutally beating his subordinates and cursing Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar D. Water Law. While drunk, Kaidou may become more destructive by accident since he ends up caring little for his surroundings, to the detriment of his own crew and their operations. In fact, Kaidou is such a habitual drinker that he even dislikes being sober at any given time. His drunken mood swings have been exploited in battle as well through a special fighting style known as Shuron Hakke, which, by Kaidou's own admission, is only used on opponents that give him a challenge.

Kaidou is greatly annoyed at the number of people capable of Haoshoku Haki, stating that the world does not need so many people who could use it. Like several other characters, Kaidou has a unique laughing style: "Worororo" (ウォロロロ). A second one of his has been observed as he was drunk: "Fuhihihi" (フヒヒヒ).

Warmongering
We're going to take all of those pampered noble-born rulers and drag them off their ivory thrones down to the battlefield with us! That's what I call equality and freedom! A world where war decides a man's true worth! As far back as his childhood in Vodka, Kaidou was already very familiar with war and seemingly desired for nothing more than endless combat. This upbringing seemingly influenced his values to revolve around war prowess and, as such, he views the battlefield as a sacred place, and any disturbances to a fight as unjust for taking away a battle's freedom. This is a major factor in his ambition to start a giant war: bringing his form of equality and freedom to the world governed by the World Nobles. Interestingly, despite his declarations opposing the government and its higher ups, Kaidou also provides his supposed enemies with several weapons of his own making (using Kurozumi Orochi and CP0 as intermediaries), further showing that he cares more about the war itself than whoever wins it.

With the goal of waging an all-out "final war" against the World Government, Kaidou ultimately seeks to form the strongest pirate crew consisting only of Devil Fruit users; so, he actively seeks out formidable manpower in the New World to recruit into his growing army, including Super Rookies from the Worst Generation like Basil Hawkins, Scratchmen Apoo, and X Drake. Rather than kill those who resist him, he attempts to break their spirit through torture and forced labor until they either die or submit to his cause. Kaidou also has an interest in finding the Ancient Weapons and the One Piece for his cause; having taken a Road Poneglyph under his ownership and ruthlessly hunting down Kozuki Momonosuke as well as his three retainers, Kin'emon, Raizo, and Kurozumi Kanjuro, in the chance that Oden may have imparted some knowledge to them.

Despite his love for battle, Kaidou is pragmatic enough to avoid conflict that could potentially devastate his forces and territories. When Big Mom attempted to invade Wano Country, Kaidou feared it would become an all-out war and furiously ordered his crew to stop her, especially after being aware that Big Mom's powerful children were accompanying their mother. This was true even in the past, when Oden returned to Wano Country from his journey. Kaidou agreed with Orochi to trick Oden into submission by making a fake deal with him, giving himself time to reinforce his army. Kaidou even admitted to being unsure of fighting Oden during the time of their first meeting, acknowledging the daimyo's infamous bold nature.

Savagery and Barbarism
Friendship is a sham! It's all for show! Deep down, they fear you! You must rule with strength! You are the child of ogres! You are not meant to be friends with humans!

Akin to the reputation of an oni, Kaidou is savage, brutal and believes that might makes right, using his near unrivaled power to govern others through fear and intimidation while making examples of them should they ever decide to not obey or rebel against his rule. Kaidou, interestingly, does not seem to view himself as a human at all, fiercely thinking that his lineage should not hold a friendly relationship with other humans, but rather distrust and oppose them, under the reasoning that the latter are unable to view the former as anything else than monsters.

Kaidou is extremely cruel, even towards children. After murdering Oden, he viciously insulted Oden right in front of his son Momonosuke, adding mockery to Momonosuke's sorrow and hopelessness. Adding to this, he brutally attacked Kurozumi Tama and practically left her for dead. Kaidou also bluntly informed Queen about Komurasaki's "death" while casually laughing at Queen's despair over the death of his idol and later found amusement upon seeing Orochi's spiteful execution of Yasuie as well as his ally's cruelty in feeding his own citizens faulty SMILE fruits. As an abusive father, Kaidou has no qualms beating up his son Yamato since childhood, showing that even his own child is not spared from his violence and brutality.

Kaidou is known to be hard to reason with and not usually open for negotiations or excuses, making it unwise to provoke or underestimate him; this is enforced dramatically when Donquixote Doflamingo, a former Warlord of the Sea and former World Noble known for his fearless attitude, became disturbed at the prospect of angering Kaidou when he became potentially unable to fulfill his end of their business deal. One of his crewmates later stated that Kaidou would be very angry once he heard the news of the SMILE Factory's destruction, leading to a squad of them attempting to loudly deliver the information from a distance in order to avoid any potential retaliation. Despite this, Kaidou is not completely impossible to reason with, demonstrated by his capacity to form an alliance with another Emperor he had attempted to kill days prior.

Arrogance and Respect for Power
Kaidou venerates strength and military might above all else, with those ideas being the foundation behind his constant amassing of strong subordinates and numerous weapons. He follows the philosophy of "survival of the fittest" and that most problems can be resolved through brute force, agreeing with Kurozumi Higurashi about that being the way human history has always functioned. Those set of beliefs also appear to be the reason that Kaidou despises the World Nobles and their massive power and influence, which are primarily based on birthright alone instead of any actual combat merit.

Kaidou is highly confident in his power and considers himself to be far above the likes of Super Rookies from the Worst Generation, to the point of even refusing to take the Straw Hat Pirates and Heart Pirates seriously despite them crippling his SMILE trade; this is reinforced by his belief that defeating a Warlord of the Sea is nothing to be impressed with and subsequent dismissal of Doflamingo as being weak. He was quick to threaten to kill Big Mom when she announced her intention to come to his territory, showing no reservations against someone possessing power equivalent to his own. Kaidou seemingly enjoys taking direct attacks from enemies he perceives as strong in order to test their strength, doing so with much amusement.

Despite his immense arrogance, Kaidou does acknowledge other individuals of exceptional strength, such as Ashura Doji and Eustass Kid, wishing to have both become subordinates of his despite their constantly defiant attitude. This extends to Luffy, one of the people responsible for the halting of his SMILE trade that was vital to Kaidou's ultimate goals, yet the Emperor chose to have the Straw Hat captain imprisoned so he could be recruited as a soldier of formidable power instead of killing him. Due to his respect for power, Kaidou is willing to offer strong subordinates a chance to be promoted to an All-Star in his crew as long as they prove it in an authorized challenge against a current one. Since Kaidou sees and acknowledges an enemy's power, he does not blame his subordinates for losing battles against opponents that he deems appropriately powerful. Kaidou forgave Jack for losing to Nekomamushi and Inuarashi in their Sulong forms, because he understands that Jack is not weak, but rather that his enemies were merely too strong to handle.

Honor and Treachery
I'm sorry about that idiot earlier... I didn't want to win that way. While Kaidou is vicious and ruthless to his enemies, he also showcases a form of strong personal honor and pride to how he fights. When he met Big Mom again for the first time in decades, he told his men to take her Seastone cuffs off before trying to kill her personally in a duel, strictly preferring to fight his enemy fair and square despite having an easier chance to kill his fellow Emperor in a weakened state.

Another example of Kaidou's code is that he utterly despises any interference in struggles between himself and an opponent he deems worthy of fighting, and will absolutely not forgive anyone who does so as far killing them as punishment. When a member of the Beasts Pirates seemingly captured Momonosuke (in truth Higurashi in disguise) as a hostage to distract Oden, Kaidou only took the opportunity to strike Oden down because he did not know of the situation until afterwards. Intolerant of foul play in regard to his own battles, Kaidou killed Higurashi for interfering regardless of her being one of Orochi's closest supporters, and upon witnessing the Legendary Hour, Kaidou was solemnly impressed by Oden's strength and willpower. As a last sign of respect for Oden, he informed the daimyo about Higurashi's demise while honestly apologizing to him for her meddling in their battle and opted to kill Oden himself with a gunshot. Twenty years later, when CP0 member Guernica interfered and allowed him to win the fight between him and Luffy, he was horrified by what had happened and furiously smashed the agent despite their ongoing business relationship. When Luffy revealed himself to have survived said interference, Kaidou was thankful for it and even apologized for what had happened previously, something which Luffy accepted.

Outside of battle and fighting, however, Kaidou can be rather treacherous and opportunistic. He seemingly believes that betrayal is part of a pirate's nature and admitted that he overlooked the threat of the Nine Red Scabbards because he never expected noble samurai to ally with pirates. Kaidou is not above making false promises, having lied to Oden twice to keep the daimyo and his country in check. The first time, it was to buy time as Oden demoralized himself to Wano's citizens for years, allowing Kaidou to build more strength for his army. The second time was to have Oden and the Scabbards killed so the country would lose their hope of revolution, despite a prior agreement to spare them if they survived a certain punishment. Kaidou also has no qualms killing allies should they outlive their usefulness, having beheaded Orochi once the latter questioned his plot to reform Wano into a pirate paradise despite their alliance of over two decades.

Crew
Kaidou is determined to build his crew into the strongest army of Devil Fruit users ready for what he has declared to be the biggest all-out war against the World Government. Thus, he actively sought out strong and formidable manpower in the New World to draft into his ranks, from pirates such as the Super Rookies from the Worst Generation to the leader of the Mt. Atama Thieves, Shutenmaru. Those who resist or defy his attempts are often sent to slave away at the mines of Udon until they either die or their spirits break and submit to his authority. As such, a great portion of the Beasts Pirates consists of former independent pirates who have given up their own goals in order to serve him.

Kaidou himself has not demonstrated much concern for the well-being of his crew, although he does seem to care about them to a degree, as Scotch stated that Kaidou would go after X Drake if the latter attacked him. Kaidou is invested in making his crew stronger by giving them artificial Zoan powers with SMILE and, under his permission, incentivizes battles between his own crewmembers so they can attain higher ranks in his organization. When Kaidou gets drunk and emotional, he can get very violent against his subordinates and may end up smashing them around with his kanabo, although if he is in a good enough mood, he might just ignore them. Still, Kaidou's men tend to become concerned in those cases anyway, since their captain is known for rampaging around indiscriminately and causing damage to their own territories and facilities.

King
Kaidou has known King for over three decades, with the two of them meeting as test subject prisoners on Punk Hazard before the Beasts Pirates were formed; it appears that their union marked the beginning of the crew's formation. Kaidou appeared to be interested in King due to his strength, and when told of his original name "Alber", suggested he adopt the name King as a reflection of his status and power.



King has been fiercely loyal to Kaidou ever since, believing in Kaidou's declaration that he was the only one who could change the world and declaring with great faith that Kaidou would become the next Pirate King. King also seemingly thought in the past that Kaidou could attain the identity of Joy Boy. King expressed disbelief when Kaidou told him that Joy Boy would be the one to beat him because of his unwavering loyalty and belief in Kaidou's ambition. Eventually, King stopped caring about any comparisons with the legend.

Queen
Upon delivering the news of Komurasaki's apparent death to Queen, Kaidou was unconcerned about Queen's feelings upon hearing this despite the All-Star being enamored with her, to the point of even mocking him for crying about it.

Jack


As one of his All-Stars, Kaidou cares about Jack's well-being a great deal. When he heard about Jack failing to rescue Doflamingo from the Marines, Kaidou was more concerned about the loss of his SMILE, though his lack of concern about Jack may have been due to Jack being a fish-man and therefore likely to survive naval combat. When Jack was brutally beaten by Inuarashi and Nekomamushi after the two minks activated their Sulong forms, Kaidou intervened to save Jack's life. He held no grudge against Jack for being defeated, knowing that it was due to the minks' extreme strength rather than the All-Star's weakness; in fact, he even commended Jack for his work in keeping the other minks at bay and told him to get his wounds treated.

Tobiroppo
The Tobiroppo consist of the six strongest Shinuchi in the Beasts Pirates. Kaidou appears to be very proud of them, wishing to introduce them to his fellow Emperor and ally Big Mom. He also trusts them with missions dealing with his son Yamato.

The Tobiroppo seem to have the utmost respect for their captain. Sasaki shows interest in socializing solely with Kaidou, looking down on those in the lower ranks. Black Maria acts in a flirty way towards her captain and appears to enjoy his company. Who's-Who is very loyal to his captain, as he was aware of X Drake's plans to betray their captain, and laid a trap of his own to expose him as a spy and traitor.

Ulti and Page One
Kaidou who had been acquainted with their father, took the siblings in after his death. Ulti eventually stole two Devil Fruits (Ryu Ryu no Mi, Models: Pachycephalosaurus and Spinosaurus) from Kaidou for herself and Page One to partake of, to make themselves into formidable fighting forces for Kaidou and thereby persevere in the Beasts Pirates, a crew in which only the strong survive. Eventually, the siblings both became Tobiroppo. Ulti is not afraid of criticizing Kaidou's familial issues, much to the shock of her companions, but otherwise genuinely thinks that her boss will eventually become pirate king, enough to become massively angered towards anyone who dares to dispute that claim. Page One seems loyal and respectful to Kaidou, being heavily dismayed by his sister's brazenly casual, if not, at times, rude attitude toward him.

Charlotte Linlin
Kaidou first met his fellow Emperor Charlotte Linlin, better known as Big Mom, back when he was just 15 years old, right after joining the Rocks Pirates as an apprentice. Surprised by his young age, Linlin introduced herself to him and gave him advice to not trust Rocks, while declaring that she would rule the seas someday. During the God Valley Incident, Linlin gifted the Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu to Kaidou, granting him power in exchange for a life debt. Linlin has admitted that she sees Kaidou akin to a younger brother thanks to their time spent together at Rocks. In the aftermath of God Valley, Linlin showed genuine concern for Kaidou, worried of where he would go next in life without their crew around anymore. Kaidou, meanwhile, seems to hold a soft spot over their time as past crewmates, at least while drunk.



Nowadays, both of them would like nothing more than to kill each other. Kaidou doesn't hold respects for Big Mom when he called her as an "old hag". When Big Mom contacted him of allowing her to kill Luffy in Wano, he refused to oblige. Kaidou threatened to kill Big Mom if she dare to enter his territory no matter the reason, not caring about Linlin claiming that he owed her a debt. When hearing Big Mom came to Wano, Kaidou ordered his troops to sink her ship before they have an all-out war. However, Kaidou does not wish to kill Big Mom in an underhanded manner. Rather, when he was given an opportunity to do so after she was captured and brought to Onigashima, he preferred to engage her in equal combat, ordering his subordinates to release her from her Seastone chains and kept his promise that he will kill her since she came to Wano before their fight.

However, following their battle, Kaidou and Big Mom found common ground in their dream of taking over the world and temporarily put aside their differences in order to achieve said dream. They now act quite jovially around each other as they drank and were excited about working together again, although they ultimately still wish to kill each other once they accomplish their goals, as they have claimed.

Kaidou and Big Mom have a very vitriolic attitude towards each other while fighting side by side, trading insults and pointing out behaviors they perceive as annoying coming from the other, like Big Mom showing irritation at Kaidou's habit of taking attacks head-on to test the strength of his adversaries. That being said, they have great combat synergy and are considered unbeatable together, to the point that the Super Rookies from the Worst Generation fighting them had to devise a plan to separate the two in order to stand a chance. Kaidou and Big Mom are also capable of performing a formidable combination technique, Hakai, that is capable of decimating everything in their way. When Kaidou sensed that Big Mom was actually defeated with his Kenbunshoku Haki, he was actually upset, as he remembered the sibling like bond, they formed during their time in the Rocks Pirates.

Donquixote Doflamingo
Kaidou and Donquixote Doflamingo had a business partnership where Doflamingo supplied Kaidou with SMILE fruits created by Caesar Clown in exchange for weapons, which he significantly invested in his goal to make his crew the strongest of Devil Fruit users. Word of Doflamingo's defeat and the destruction of the SMILE factory brought Kaidou mourning at his loss much to his drunken emotional sorrow. Trafalgar D. Water Law later states that Kaidou would have killed Doflamingo if he ceased producing SMILE, and Doflamingo became very fearful at the possibility of incurring Kaidou's wrath when Luffy and Law threatened his production. Despite calling him weak, Kaidou heavily valued Doflamingo's business to the degree that when Doflamingo was captured by the Marines, he ordered Jack to stop hunting for one of the Kozuki Family's retainers and to free Doflamingo from an armada of Marine warships escorting him to Impel Down.

Yamato


Yamato is Kaidou's son, born as his daughter, and only known blood relative. The two of them have a strained relationship, as Yamato idolizes Kaidou's enemy, Oden, a fact that drove multiple conflicts between the two. However, Yamato still emulated Oden for the past 20 years to the point of even presenting himself as a man like him, and although Kaidou disapproves of his idolizing him, he does refer to Yamato as his "son". Kaidou does not seem to be aware that Yamato wishes to fulfill Oden's dream of opening Wano's borders, a cause to which he is opposed.

Kaidou: Orochi had a skill for exploitation. This country is a weapons factory! You will rule over it, and keep it running! Yamato: No, I will free them! I will liberate this country and its samurai... and release them unto the world! Kaidou: You will not! You will never!

Kaidou has been cruel to Yamato ever since his childhood. When Kaidou first learned of Yamato's desire to be like Oden, he imprisoned him inside a dark cave without any food and with other samurai that held a grudge against him, putting the child in direct danger. It was this event that led Yamato to become Kaidou's enemy, intending to fight him in the promised time, according to Oden's logbook. Along the years, Kaidou beat Yamato numerous times, keeping his life in precarious conditions through explosive handcuffs, which prevented him from simply sneaking away by setting sail, and frequent hunger, driving Yamato to eat one of Kaidou's valuable Devil Fruits, the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Okuchi no Makami. Kaidou's overall view Yamato is contradictory; he casually refers to him as an "idiot" but wished to have him participate in his party during the Fire Festival and later even replace Orochi as shogun, being confident that Yamato would eventually follow his will and protect Wano under his rule. When Kaidou finally confronted Yamato during the Onigashima Raid, he continuously mocked his son for attempting to rebel against him by allying with the enemy alliance, forcefully telling him to stay in Wano and become its guardian.

In return, Yamato seems to have a very low opinion of his father and has claimed to have attempted to defeat him multiple times in the past in order to attain freedom, being particularly frustrated about the explosive handcuffs that would detonate if he attempted to escape. He sought Monkey D. Luffy precisely to join forces with him in order to take down Kaidou and did not object to the idea of Luffy defeating him. Yamato was noticeably angry when Kaidou announced his plans to have him become the next shogun of Wano, which showed signs that he did not wish to be his father's pawn like Orochi was.

Initially, Yamato wasn't so sure if Kaidou was really willing to kill his own son and believed that the explosive handcuffs was just a bluff. Once Yamato realized that his father was true to his word (after Luffy removed his handcuffs and they indeed explode), he officially disowned him as his parent and did not even appear to care if he were to die during the raid on Onigashima, becoming intent on cutting any remaining ties they once had. This is reflected by Yamato, after being freed from his handcuffs, dropping the usage of "father" whenever addressing Kaidou, only referring to him by name instead.

Kozuki Family
Kaidou became mortal enemies with the Kozuki Family, as he worked with Orochi to kill Oden and caused Kozuki Toki's death while attempting to kill her and her children, Kozuki Momonosuke and Kozuki Hiyori.

Kozuki Oden


As the first person to have ever injured him, Oden left a deep, strong impression on Kaidou. Kaidou thought highly of Oden, having heard of the samurai's infamous reputation prior to their actual meeting, to the point of prioritizing the gradual expansion of his army to properly tackle the Kuri daimyo. Impressed by the man's feat of surviving a boiling pot of oil for a whole hour, Kaidou decided to kill Oden himself as a sign of respect, acknowledging that his enemy had died as a legend. Before executing him, Kaidou coldly apologized to Oden for Kurozumi Higurashi's interference and revealed to the daimyo that he has the "old hag" killed as punishment.

In spite of Oden's death ever since, Kaidou still seems to be haunted by his fight with him, particularly the fact that he could have died that day if it were not for Higurashi's actions. When the Nine Red Scabbards ambushed him during the raid on Onigashima, he was shocked to see Oden's image in them, reminiscent of how he was nearly defeated by their master twenty years ago. When the Scabbards successfully injured him, the scar he received from Oden started hurting to the point he screamed in agony. Later on, after finally evaluating the Scabbards' strength during their fight at the top of the Skull Dome, Kaidou concluded that, in spite of carrying Oden's will, the Scabbards would never be able to measure to their fallen master, with the Emperor even claiming that it was an impossible task for any samurai.

Kozuki Momonosuke


In the past, Kaidou threatened to kill Momonosuke, holding him by the throat above the Kuri Castle when Momonosuke declared his ambition to be the shogun. Kaidou considered him an immature brat in response, knowing that Momonosuke was only speaking out of duty rather than actual ambition. Considering him as pathetic compared to his father, Kaidou chose to leave Momonosuke behind in the burning castle rather than kill him personally. This experience has ever since caused Momonosuke to be afraid of heights, refusing to fly despite that being within his capabilities while in dragon form.

Because of Kaidou's actions, Momonosuke and his retainers wish to bring him down after being sent 20 years forward in time by Toki and have spent all their time working to form an alliance to accomplish this. When Kaidou first saw Momonosuke again after twenty years, he remained unimpressed upon seeing him brutally beaten by Kanjuro. He also questioned Momonosuke whether he was truly Oden's son, claiming that he did not inherit any of his father's strength and guts, which he thought highly of. Repeating the question he asked twenty years ago, Kaidou offered to spare Momonosuke if he denied about his heritage. When Momonosuke refused to lie, Kaidou prepared to execute him as a Kozuki in order to officially start his New Onigashima Project. After Luffy's rematch with Kaidou which ended in the former's second loss, Kaidou personally hunted down Momonosuke, and brutally injured Kin'emon his guardian, causing Momonosuke to cry profusely. When Momonosuke flew to Onigashima as an adult Dragon, Kaidou was surprised while also claiming only one Dragon is allowed to exist.

Nine Red Scabbards
To fulfill Oden's wish of opening Wano's borders, the Scabbards (except Kurozumi Kanjuro, who was a traitor) plotted to defeat Kaidou. Ten years before Momonosuke's return, Ashura Doji gave up hope after his comrades became impatient and perished trying to fight the Beasts Pirates. Kaidou was impressed with Ashura's strength and wanted him to join his crew. Although he had stopped following the Kozuki Family, Ashura had no wish to serve Kaidou and refused, though Kaidou remained open to him joining and offered to forgive Ashura if he did. However, after Shimotsuki Yasuie sacrificed himself to give the Kozuki revolution a chance, Ashura eventually rejoined the Kozuki Family and their quest to bring down Kaidou. Kaidou was shocked to learn that most of them survived and were in the future. He was surprised to hear Kanjuro, whom he had nearly killed twenty years ago, was in reality, a secret ally of Orochi and was very impressed by Kanjuro for his deceptive skill that had also fooled him.



The remaining Scabbards, bearing twenty years of anger and hatred over their master's death, eventually succeeded in ambushing him during the Fire Festival, with another of Oden's retainers, Izou by their side. Kaidou was surprised to learn that Kyoshiro is actually Denjiro and Ashura Doji was a member as well. Despite proudly claiming that they could never hurt him, Kaidou envisioned Oden's angry image commanding he leave Wano and never return as they furiously attacked him, pushing him off his feet. When the Scabbards actually injured Kaidou and made him scream in pain, he went serious enough to take the battle outside of the Skull Dome with the Scabbards.

Despite continuing his claims that they would not be able to harm him, Kaidou was shocked and impressed with the Scabbards resolve, he even told Jack and his men to leave so he could fight them all alone, as he saw that Jack was close to being killed by the Mink Kings Nekomamushi and Inuarashi after they entered their Sulong forms. From that point, Kaidou battled all nine of the Samurai and was impressed that two were able repel and redirect his attacks, while another three attacked him head-on, and The Mink Kings attacked ferociously as well. Kaidou was amazed that their attacks were actually harming him and was even left stunned when Kin'emon, Denjiro, Ashura, and even Inuarashi managed to strike him down together with the exact same move that Oden used to permanently scar him, in the exact same spot that Oden scarred him, opening the wound back up. Despite this accomplishment, however, Kaidou saw this as the extent of their combined skills, getting back up and telling them that the cut was still too shallow, stating that their attacks while injuring him could not compare to Oden. He then went on to ruthlessly defeat all nine of the Samurai, and left them severely beaten, seemingly disappointed that none of them could measure up to Oden in the end. After fighting with members of the Worst Generation on the roof alongside Big Mom, Kaidou returned to the skull dome to kill Momonosuke, and was both annoyed and impressed by the samurai's continued attempts to stop him, even commending Kin'emon for protecting his master, before striking him down for the second time.

Gol D. Roger
Kaidou considered Gol D. Roger his enemy for atleast 38 years prior to present, as on his arrival at God Valley Kaidou alluded to a previous confrontation before being cut off by Charlotte Linlin. Shortly after he, his former captain Rocks D. Xebec, Linlin and Whitebeard engaged in combat with both Roger and Monkey D. Garp who had just formed a brief alliance to fight against the Rocks Pirates, this event would go on to be labeled as the God Valley Incident which would end in Rocks death and the dissolution of the crew, with Kaidou going his separate way afterwards. Kaidou appeared to respect Roger's strength highly enough to consider him one of the few people capable of fighting him. Even though Kaidou referred to Roger as soft he believed his rise to Pirate King was genuinely well earned as he managed to conquer the seas purely with Haki and without a devil fruit, giving Kaidou the belief that only Haki can "transcend all".

Edward Newgate
Much like with Big Mom, the late Whitebeard was Kaidou's fellow Emperor and former crewmate on the Rocks Pirates. While acknowledging and respecting him for his power, Kaidou viewed Whitebeard as too soft because of his morals and honor code. He also considered Whitebeard as one of the few powerful individuals capable of fighting him.

Prior to the Summit War of Marineford, Kaidou attempted to intercept Whitebeard while he was on his way to Marineford with the intention of killing him, although the attempt was stopped by Shanks. Two years later, he cursed Whitebeard for being able to die while he was unable to.

Shanks
Not much is known about the relationship between Kaidou and Shanks, but when Kaidou attempted to voyage to Marineford with the intent of killing Whitebeard, Shanks personally intervened and stopped him from doing so. Kaidou seems to acknowledge Shanks' abilities, considering him among the few powerful individuals capable of fighting him.

Worst Generation
As a member of the Four Emperors, Kaidou serves as an obstacle for members of the Worst Generation in their quest to obtain the One Piece.

Monkey D. Luffy
Kaidou first heard of Luffy after finding out that he worked with Law to destroy his SMILE production. He refused to consider Luffy a serious threat, viewing him defeating Doflamingo as nothing special. However, he still held a grudge over Luffy for his actions in Dressrosa, swearing revenge on the Straw Hat captain for ruining his SMILE deal with the Warlord of the Sea and telling Big Mom that he would kill the boy himself for it.

When Kaidou heard about Luffy and Law's presence in Wano territory, he personally went to the Kuri region to demand that his subordinate Jack search for and capture them as fast as possible. Kaidou eventually fought Luffy shortly after and, although he defeated the Straw Hat captain in one hit, he was impressed by his fighting talent and ordered the boy's imprisonment, wishing to break the young pirate's spirit and have him as a soldier within his crew.



During the raid on Onigashima, once they finally fought again, Kaidou was shocked that Luffy had managed to learn a method to penetrate his defenses, mentally comparing him to other big names of pirate history: Roger, Whitebeard, Oden, Shanks, and his former captain, Rocks. Kaidou was also impressed that Luffy was not going down as easily as in their first encounter, praising the young pirate for properly defending himself against some of his stronger attacks. Kaidou overall grew more and more amused with Luffy's spirit, thrill for battle, and quick growth the more they fought, seemingly acknowledging the Straw Hat captain as a worthy opponent akin to Oden. This is further evidenced by the fact that Kaidou regretted not having killed Luffy in a more definitive way once the latter was knocked off of Onigashima, as not doing so meant he would be unable to truly crush the spirits of everyone that had deposited their faith into Luffy's survival and victory.

Luffy viewed Kaidou as one of his biggest obstacles in the way of his goal of becoming the Pirate King, having stated several times that he wished to bring him down as well as the other Four Emperors. In Wano, Luffy learned from Kin'emon about the tragedy that befell the country after Kaidou and Orochi took over, having witnessed firsthand the suffering Kaidou had brought to the people of Wano, particularly Tama, who he had befriended and then promised a better life to once the Beasts Pirates were gone. Once Kaidou came to Kuri and targeted Luffy's crew, the latter grew outraged and quickly engaged the Emperor in combat but was no match for him. After getting incarcerated at the Prisoner Mine and swearing payback, Luffy trained himself extensively in order to obtain enough power to truly injure Kaidou, finally attaining it through the help of Hyogoro, who had taught him how to utilize a higher level of Busoshoku Haki.

During the raid on Onigashima, after talking with Kin'emon and reiterating that he would fight for his friends' country, Luffy displayed his new ability against Kaidou, but still found it insufficient to bring him down. Luffy eventually figured out that Kaidou's toughness came from an advanced application of Haoshoku Haki instead, managing to replicate it and fight toe-to-toe with the Emperor for a brief period. Even after being knocked off of Onigashima, Luffy remained resolute that he would keep fighting Kaidou until he won.

Sorry about that idiot from before. I didn't want to win like that.

After Luffy returned to Onigashima and displayed his better control over his Haoshoku Haki by dealing more damage to him, Kaidou remarked having a good time fighting him, enough to resort to his Shuron Hakke style, considered by him an admission that he was taking Luffy seriously. Kaidou, however, became devastated when the lead CP0 agent Guernica intentionally sabotaged their duel, as it reminded him of how his fight with Oden ended. Fortunately for Kaidou, Luffy was able to recover after his Devil Fruit awakened. Kaidou even apologized to Luffy for Guernica's interference.

During their next fight, Kaidou continued to thoroughly enjoy fighting Luffy due to him being one of the most challenging and interesting opponents that he had ever faced. While he remained convinced that Luffy could not change the world, he was still curious as to what type of world Luffy wanted to create. After Luffy won their clash, Kaidou recalled a previous conversation he had with King where he stated that Joy Boy would be the one to defeat him, implying that in his final moments, he acknowledged that Luffy was Joy Boy after all and that he had finally met his end.

Roronoa Zoro


Roronoa Zoro, who seeks to be the World's Greatest Swordsman, once declared that he wanted to fight the World's Strongest Creature. As such, Zoro assisted Luffy during the fight against Kaidou and his wielding of Oden's former sword, Enma, caught the Emperor's attention, who had detected the familiar Haki emanating from it. Like the other members of the Worst Generation involved in the fight, Kaidou praised the Straw Hat swordsman's strength. Kaidou was extremely shocked when Zoro somehow managed to channel Haoshoku Haki to slash him across the torso, acknowledging that the Pirate Hunter had been able to replicate Oden's feat from two decades ago.

Trafalgar D. Water Law
Law was aware of Kaidou's deal with Doflamingo and used this knowledge to forge an alliance with the Straw Hat Pirates, knowing that Luffy would attempt to take down the Four Emperors. Law used Kaidou's threat in order to force Doflamingo's hand and have the Warlord and Dressrosa ruler resign from his position, as part of his personal revenge plan against his former boss. With Doflamingo's defeat, Law continued with his original scheme to take down Kaidou alongside the Straw Hats.

As with Luffy, Kaidou became enemies with Law after finding out that the two pirates had destroyed his SMILE production. Like Luffy, Kaidou wants to kill Law, but does not consider him to be a real threat. He went to Kuri to apprehend them upon finding out they were present in Wano, but after defeating Luffy, Kaidou postponed his search for Law. During the raid on Onigashima, Kaidou grew to respect Law's strength, particularly his usage of the Ope Ope no Mi, which Kaidou had trouble defending against.

Eustass Kid
Eustass Kid encountered Kaidou when the latter fell out of the sky and landed at the Kid Pirates' hideout before coming face to face with the rookie pirate. Kid refused to submit to Kaidou and tried to fight him only to be defeated and captured. Kaidou then imprisoned Kid, hoping to eventually break his spirit.

During his imprisonment, Kid was shown to hold a strong grudge against Kaidou and firmly told Luffy that he would be the one to defeat the Emperor. However, after seeing what happened to Killer, Kid decided to prioritize finding the rest of his crew and rejected Luffy's offer for an alliance. After getting his crew back, he joined Luffy and Law to take down Kaidou. However, Kid only did so for the glory of defeating him, not to support the Kozuki revolution.

X Drake
Upon entering the New World, X Drake immediately sought to join Kaidou's crew, going as far as to attack one of his trusted subordinates on one of his favorite islands just to get his attention. He eventually succeeded and became one of his highest-ranking officers, a Tobiroppo. He carried out many duties in Kaidou's name, such as quelling an uprising on the island he himself attacked and captured the instigator responsible, as well as hunting down Sanji and those bearing the mark of the Kozuki Family's rebellion.

In truth, however, Drake was still a member of the Marines, specifically their SWORD branch. He seemingly intended to sabotage Kaidou while the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance launched their attack on Onigashima, having freed one of the alliance's leaders, Law, some days prior to the raid and attempting to get rid of Queen, one of Kaidou's All-Stars, alongside Who's-Who. When the latter situation turned out to be a trap though, Drake found himself with no choice but to switch sides and join the alliance.

Scratchmen Apoo
Scratchmen Apoo was one of Kaidou's esteemed informants. It was through the longarm that Kaidou managed to locate Eustass Kid and Basil Hawkins in order to recruit them into his crew, as well as receive updates about Jack's well-being after Zunesha managed to sink him. They held a generally casual relationship, with Kaidou actually getting surprised, but not negatively, about Apoo returning to Wano for the Golden Kagura festivities, which the latter greatly enjoyed.

That being said, Apoo was not loyal to Kaidou at all and planned to take the Emperor out should he had won his duel with Luffy. Apoo also had no problem reporting CP0's deals with Kaidou, which could have jeopardized their business relations.

Basil Hawkins
Hawkins is one of the members of the Worst Generation that Kaidou had successfully managed to recruit by force. Unlike Kid, who kept fighting Kaidou to the end, Hawkins submitted himself to the Emperor due to having no other choice according to his fortune-telling, with Kaidou gladly welcoming him into his ranks.

Despite regretting his choice and actually foreseeing Kaidou's eventual defeat during the Raid on Onigashima, Hawkins remained loyal to the Emperor mostly out of personal pride, as he thought he had no right to switch teams after witnessing Kid's defiance.

Kurozumi Orochi


Kaidou and Kurozumi Orochi, the shogun of Wano Country, had been allies for over 25 years after Orochi bought his loyalty using the money previously borrowed from Oden. Their bond appeared to be strong, as Kaidou would attack anyone who threatened Orochi, and Orochi was extremely confident in having Kaidou's support, which allowed him to do anything, including opposing the World Government and exploiting them for his own gains. They were friendly enough to share drinks together in Orochi's castle. Kaidou was initially dismissive about Orochi's warning of the Kozuki Family's comeback and even poked fun at Orochi's paranoia. Nevertheless, when Orochi had shown proven information from his spy Kanjuro, Kaidou chose to believe Orochi, instructing the latter not to kill the time travelers as he wished to ask them information regarding Oden's journey to Laugh Tale. When he saw the broadcast of Orochi killing Shimotsuki Yasuie and the false laughter of the crowd watching, Kaidou expressed amusement at the shogun's cruelty.

In the end though, Kaidou was merely using Orochi as a pawn, and once Kaidou revealed his New Onigashima Project, he beheaded Orochi when the latter objected to it. Kaidou complimented Orochi's skill in exploitation, as the latter was the one who transformed Wano into a weapons factory for the former, but otherwise saw the former shogun as expendable in that role and wanted his own son Yamato to take over.

Unbeknownst to Kaidou, Orochi managed to survive from his beheading and became murderously furious towards Kaidou for betraying him.

World Government
Ever since he was a child, Kaidou was unreserved about his feelings towards the World Government. Having been used as a bargaining chip to allow his homeland a spot in the Levely, Kaidou held resentment towards the World Nobles and their absolute rights. As such, Kaidou sought to drag them down from power and into the battlefield, following his own ideals of freedom and equality. Whenever Kaidou was hungry, he would allow himself to be arrested only to eat all the rations within the area before escaping, much to the Marines' annoyance.

One of the reasons Kaidou made deals with Doflamingo and joined forces with Big Mom was to attain enough military might to tackle the World Government. His conquest of Wano was also part of those plans, since the country's geography made it a favorable territory for an eventual war. As noted by Admiral Ryokugyu, not even the Marines dared to invade Wano as long as Kaidou was present, as the combination between the Emperor's forces and the island's natural defenses created a powerful deterrent to the government's interest in taking over the country. Still, paradoxically enough, Kaidou was not against making trading weapons with the government itself in order to obtain their military assets and build up further power, using Orochi and Doflamingo as intermediaries for those deals.



As the government's representatives in Wano, Kaidou did not mind having CP0 as guests during the Golden Kagura. The CP0 agents initially preferred to remain as mere observers of the eventual raid, citing that both sides losing soldiers was a good thing, but eventually had to involve themselves in the fight after further orders were given. One of CP0's agents, Guernica, was even tasked with getting in the way of Luffy's duel with Kaidou, immediately understanding that it was essentially a suicide mission due to the Emperor's infamous hatred of interference during one-on-one combat. True enough, when said agent did manage to sabotage Luffy, a shocked and distraught Kaidou had no qualms in smashing him despite their status as business partners. While apologizing to Luffy, Kaidou called Guernica as an "idiot".

Rocks D. Xebec
Kaidou's former captain during his time as an apprentice in the Rocks Pirates. The details of their relationship are unknown, but Kaidou seems to hold Xebec in high regard and respects him for his strength.

Wano Country Citizens
Kaidou is said to be revered in Wano as a "wise king" and protector of their realm, although this only seems to be the case among people who are loyal to Orochi. Anyone who becomes an enemy of Orochi also becomes an enemy of Kaidou, as seen when he attacked and killed the remaining daimyo for rebellion and attempted to kill the Kozuki Family and everyone associated with it. Thus, Kozuki Family loyalists consider Kaidou to be an enemy, and those who have allied with the family's survivors are working to take down Kaidou as well as Orochi. When Kaidou attempted to search Kuri for Luffy and Law while drunk, he mindlessly caused damage to Okobore Town without a second thought by flying through it.

When Kaidou announced the New Onigashima Project, he revealed that he had plans to enslave all of Wano's citizens, including those residing in the Flower Capital, to have them make weapons.

Abilities and Powers
People often say "If it's one-on-one, Kaidou will win." On land, sea, and air... among all living things, he is a pirate who is known as the "strongest creature"!!! As formerly one of the Four Emperors, Kaidou was recognized as one of the four most powerful pirates in the world, famed as the world's "Strongest Creature". Notably, he has a bounty of 4,611,100,000, which is the highest known bounty of any pirate currently alive and third highest in history, surpassed only by the bounties of the late Whitebeard and Gol D. Roger. As the Beasts Pirates' Governor-General, Kaidou has authority over a massive, 20,000-strong pirate organization, and due to his alliance with Shogun Kurozumi Orochi, he and his crew enjoy authority over and cooperation with thousands of Wano Country's samurai forces serving Orochi. Even during his time as a kid and during his teenage years as a pirate apprentice with the Rocks Pirates, Kaidou was already formidable and, after his captain's fall and the crew's disintegration, only grew stronger throughout his life.

Kaidou attempted to take Whitebeard's life, something very few would dare, and subsequently had an encounter with Shanks, and a clash against Big Mom two years later. Five Elder St. Shepherd Ju Peter stated that Kaidou was one of the few people capable of stopping Blackbeard. His strength was also recognized by his fellow Emperor Big Mom, who could not fathom the idea of Monkey D. Luffy defeating him. The Five Elders also acknowledged Kaidou's strength, even questioning themselves if angering Kaidou was worth preventing Luffy from awakening his Devil Fruit.

According to Trafalgar Law, Kaidou could easily kill Donquixote Doflamingo, a world-famous, extremely powerful pirate in his own right; Doflamingo himself, despite his normally always-retained fearlessness, was visibly distressed at the prospect of angering Kaidou. Additionally, Law speculated that his crew, the Heart Pirates, and the Straw Hat Pirates allied together would only have a roughly 30% chance of bringing down Kaidou, though the statement is questionable seeing as at that time, Law was not serious about fighting him. Kaidou defeated two other members of the Worst Generation, Eustass Kid and Killer, along with the rest of their crew, with seemingly no issue and refused to take Law and Luffy's alliance seriously regardless of their victory over Doflamingo, viewing defeating a Warlord of the Sea as nothing special. Kaidou's confidence was later proven to be warranted when he defeated Luffy with a single blow during their first fight. Before the fight on the rooftop of the Skull Dome even began, Kaidou was convinced that only Gol D. Roger, Whitebeard, Kozuki Oden, Shanks, and his late captain were capable of fighting him seriously.

Overall, Kaidou has been said to have only lost eight battles in his lifetime and has only been injured twice. As stated during his introduction, people consider it a certainty for Kaidou to win any one-on-one battle he takes part in, and even most groups and armies have little ability to take him down. When the daimyos of Wano Country and the Kozuki loyalists rebelled, Kaidou crushed them, and when hundreds of samurai went to Onigashima to attack Kaidou 10 years ago, they were all killed. He faced the Nine Red Scabbards (except for Kurozumi Kanjuro) and Izou (a former commander of the Whitebeard Pirates) by himself, and although he was having issues dealing with them in his dragon form, he easily overpowered all while in his human form (including Inuarashi and Nekomamushi in Sulong form, whose strength at that time surpassed one of his All-Stars, Jack). Kaidou also took on the Gecko Pirates 23 years ago and slaughtered all of them except for their captain, Gecko Moria.

Similar to the other Emperors, Kaidou has many underlings and other pirate crews allied with him and can claim self-governing islands as his territories. With Caesar Clown and Doflamingo as his associates, Kaidou created an army of over 500 Artificial Zoan-type Devil Fruit users, known as the Gifters.

Physical Abilities
Even without his Zoan-type Devil Fruit powers, Kaidou is legendary for his supreme physical power as the world's "Strongest Creature". With a one-handed swing of his kanabo, he can send normal-sized people flying into the distance with one blow, and he broke past the tremendous defensive power of Luffy's Gear 4 with great ease. He once sunk nine enormous prison ships singlehandedly. Sengoku once said that even as a mere apprentice in the Rocks Pirates, Kaidou was able to earn the respect of his vicious companions through his strength alone.

Most remarkably, Kaidou's body is nigh-indestructible far more that his former crewmate and fellow Emperor Big Mom, and even attacks strengthened by ordinary Busoshoku Haki cannot damage his incredibly tough defense. He took multiple powerful hits from Luffy's Gear 3 while in his dragon form and transformed back into his human form after being pummeled into the ground and proceeded to receive a barrage of Gear 4 hits that were even more powerful yet only became sober and felt nothing more than annoyance, received no injuries, and was able to quickly get back up and counterattack without issue. This all changed once Luffy learned how to emit his Busoshoku Haki and attack his enemy's insides during his training while in Udon, making Kaidou bleed with his newest Gear 3 technique, which used advanced-grade Busoshoku Haki, yet the damage inflicted was still "too shallow" according to Luffy.

While the Red Scabbards were able to accomplish the rare feat of drawing blood from him with their swords and attacks, these wounds were shown to have very little, if any, effect on him. He could withstand having his own immensely destructive Bolo Breath redirected at him by Raizo's Maki Maki no Mi, as well as assaults from Nekomamushi and Inuarashi's Sulong-enhanced attacks, Kawamatsu's Amano-gawa, Izou's Dangirigan, and Kikunojo's Zansetsugama, ultimately requiring Kin'emon, Denjiro, Inuarashi, and Ashura Doji to focus and coordinate their Togen Totsuka attacks together at his scar to finally inflict significant damage. However, Kaidou himself stated that the injuries were still shallow in comparison to when Oden inflicted him with a massive scar.

This durability has given Kaidou the reputation of being unable to die. He was caught and tortured 18 times, and organizations as powerful as the Marines, and other Emperors have attempted to execute him 40 times, only to fail as Kaidou survived every single attempt because every execution weapon broke when used on him. Most notably, Kaidou jumped 10,000 meters from a Sky Island onto the ground, creating a massive crater and shockwave strong enough to sink a large ship nearby, and emerged with only a small headache; it has even become a hobby for him to attempt suicide, only for it to fail. In fact, it is implied that during his early days, Kaidou allowed himself to be captured the majority of the time, due to being hungry, and used his captivity as a restaurant. Kaidou also clashed with Big Mom continuously for one to three days and emerged without any injuries or signs of fatigue, showing incredible stamina.

The first known time he ever suffered a significant injury was in a battle against Kozuki Oden, a legendary samurai who was dual-wielding two of the twenty-one Great Grade Blades, Enma and Ame no Habakiri, gaining a scar on his body. When he was simultaneously attacked by Luffy, Law, Kid, Roronoa Zoro, and Killer, Kaidou also sustained damage. Even in his hybrid form, despite taking more lasting damage from the members of the Worst Generation, Kaidou continued fighting regularly, becoming more irritated than alarmed by their growing ability to damage him, showing that his endurance and pain tolerance are similarly anomalous like his durability. Kaidou was, however, visibly surprised at Law's ability to continually bypass his defenses, as well as Luffy's and Zoro's growing skill with Haoshoku Haki and how both were able to seriously injure him. Despite the young pirate's increased strength and skill with Haoshoku Haki infusion, however, Kaidou was still capable of defeating Luffy singlehandedly, though Kaidou admitted that the fight caused him to get more excited than he had been in a while. Afterwards, Kaidou clashed with his son, Yamato, a powerful warrior in his own right, and consistently overpowered him. Even after enduring countless powerful attacks that were greatly enhanced with advanced applications of Busoshoku and/or Haoshoku Haki, and being weakened in the process, Kaidou was still able to emerge victorious over Luffy in their third fight after landing a lethal blow, though not without unwanted assistance in the form of Guernica. Even the stone-melting flames created by his Kaen Daiko technique seemed to cause no damage or discomfort to his body in the slightest, showing a tremendous near-immunity to fire.

Despite his enormous size, Kaidou is extremely fast in combat and can instantly move from one spot to another. He completely blitzed Luffy in an instant while attacking him and appearing behind him afterwards. Another testament to his speed, he was fast enough to nearly once again blitz Luffy despite the latter perceiving the future using Kenbunshoku Haki, only barely avoiding a head-on attack.

Devil Fruit


Kaidou ate the Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu, a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit that allows him to transform into a full serpentine Azure Dragon and a human-dragon hybrid at will. His full Beast Form is massive, roughly half the size of a small town, and is covered with extremely durable, blue scales, dramatically increasing the tremendous natural durability of Kaidou's body. His Human-Beast form grants him a massive increase to his speed, agility, and mobility, while further increasing his vast resilience and physical strength to even greater levels.

As a dragon, Kaidou is capable of creating special clouds called "Flame Clouds" and using them as footholds, allowing him to move through the air. These clouds can also be used to lift other objects; they are even capable of lifting an entire island out of the sea. He can also release devastating blasts of fire from his mouth, which can instantly deal significant damage to or fully obliterate large structures, such as an entire mountain and the ruined castle that stood upon it. By breathing flames in the shape of a dragon around his body, Kaidou can coat himself in a layer of heat so intense that it can instantly melt substances that come in contact with it, which discourages physical attacks. Aside from his fire breath, Kaidou can also release other elemental attacks from his mouth; he can release bolts of lightning by roaring, or invisible, sharp wind blades by blowing. By twisting his massive body, Kaidou can create tornados which can blow his enemies off the battlefield and into the air.

Kaidou has mastered his Devil Fruit powers to the level that he can access some of his draconic abilities without needing to transform, such as generating Flame Clouds to levitate Onigashima. He was even able to do so while battling against five members of the Worst Generation alongside Big Mom.

Haki
Kaidou is one of the few people in the world who can use all three forms of Haki, and so far, only him, and Monkey D. Luffy have showcased the advanced application of each one. Law stated that he could not directly move Kaidou around inside his ROOM due to Kaidou's Haki being too strong.

Haoshoku Haki


Kaidou possesses immense mastery in the usage of Haoshoku Haki, as first shown when he clashed against a fellow Emperor and Haoshoku Haki user, Big Mom; producing a lightning effect and burst that shook Onigashima and split the heavens. Additionally, Kaidou can release extremely potent bursts of Haoshoku Haki that can damage the landscape around him and blow away opponents.

Most notably, he is among the small "handful" of users capable of using the advanced application of "infusing" Haoshoku Haki into things, particularly, his Hassaikai, signified by the thin streams of black lightning radiating from it. When used in conjunction with his natural strength and Busoshoku Haki, Kaidou can knock out powerful pirates, such as Luffy, Zoro, and Law in one or two strikes.

Busoshoku Haki
Kaidou is an immensely skilled user of Busoshoku Haki, which he is capable of imbuing into his kanabo. During the raid on Onigashima, similarly to Katakuri, his Busoshoku Haki was strong enough to damage Luffy, who hardened both of his arms. He is capable of utilizing the advanced application of this type of Haki, projecting his Busoshoku Haki out from his kanabo, allowing him to strike opponents many meters in front of him with devastating power without the need to make direct contact, and the attack power can be increased further if the kanabo is imbued with Haoshoku Haki.

In the anime, when Kaidou uses advanced Busoshoku Haki, it is shown as a purple-colored flowing aura.

Kenbunshoku Haki
Kaidou is an extremely skilled user of Kenbunshoku Haki, as he was able to sense the "voices" of the Super Rookies in the wake of his and Big Mom's combined attack, which enabled him to tell they were still alive. He can also use the advanced form that allows him to briefly see into the future, which helps him dodge powerful blows, as shown when he avoided Luffy's Red Hawk and Snakeman attacks.

Weapons


Kaidou wields a large, black, spiked kanabo named Hassaikai as his signature weapon, which he already possessed during his apprentice days in the Rocks Pirates. Thanks to his massive strength and ability to imbue the club with Busoshoku and Haoshoku Haki, Kaidou can perform incredibly powerful strikes by swinging it, allowing him to produce large shockwaves, severely injure foes, knock mighty adversaries unconscious with a single hit, and send people flying off into the distance.

When Kaidou killed Oden, he used a pistol to shoot Oden in the head.

Kaidou borrowed King's sword to behead Kurozumi Orochi.

Shuron Hakke


By consuming alcohol, Kaidou can enter a state called Shuron Hakke. In this state, his movements become more unpredictable, he switches rapidly between his Zoan forms, and his Haki becomes stronger.

Major Battles

 * Rocks Pirates vs. Roger Pirates and Marines (unseen)
 * Kaidou vs. Gecko Moria's first crew (unseen)
 * Beasts Pirates and Kurozumi Higurashi vs. Kozuki Oden, the Nine Red Scabbards, and Shinobu
 * Kaidou vs. Kozuki Oden
 * Kaidou vs. Ashura Doji and Denjiro (unseen)
 * Kaidou and King vs. Red Hair Pirates (unseen)
 * Kaidou vs. Eustass Kid and Killer (unseen)
 * Kaidou vs. Speed
 * Kaidou vs. Monkey D. Luffy
 * Kaidou vs. Charlotte Linlin
 * Beasts Pirates and their allies vs. Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance and Kid Pirates
 * Kaidou vs. The Nine Red Scabbards (minus Kurozumi Kanjuro) and Izou
 * Kaidou, Linlin, Zeus, Prometheus and Napoleon vs. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, Kid, Killer and Trafalgar D. Water Law
 * Kaidou vs. Kin'emon
 * Kaidou vs. Yamato
 * Kaidou vs. Luffy, Yamato and Kozuki Momonosuke
 * Kaidou vs. Luffy

Name
Kaidou's name was first officially romanized as "Kaido" in One Piece Green: Secret Pieces. It is shown to be spelled "Kaidou" in his wanted poster in Chapter 957 of the manga, but the letter "U" was mostly obscured by sound effects and Brannew's hand during the scene. In the anime depiction of the scene, Kaidou's wanted poster was not obscured, and his name was written as "Kaidou." Kaidou's Vivre Card and the fourteenth volume of One Piece Magazine entry uses the "Kaidou" spelling, and in Chapter 1049 and Episode 1076 Kaidou's first wanted poster with the name "Kaidou" is clearly shown.

Epithet
The "hyakujū" (百獣) part of Kaidou's epithet is an idiomatic noun meaning "all kinds of beasts/animals" (referring to the animal kingdom), combining the kanji for "hundred" (百) and "beast" (獣); it is usually found in the Japanese title attributed to the lion, "hyakujū no ō" (百獣の王), meaning "king of beasts". With Kaidou's title an obvious derivation ("Kaidou" replacing "king"), it can be translated as "Kaidou of the Beasts". In the VIZ manga translation, as well as the subs and dub of the anime, Kaidou is instead called "Kaidou, the King of the Beasts" to make the connection more obvious.

Anime and Manga Differences
During his clash with Big Mom at Onigashima in the manga, he was shown wearing his shirt. In the anime, he is not.

Playable Appearances

 * One Piece Thousand Storm
 * One Piece Treasure Cruise
 * One Piece Bounty Rush
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4
 * Jumputi Heroes
 * One Piece: Burning Will
 * One Piece Bon! Bon! Journey!!

Support Appearances

 * One Piece: Great Pirate Colosseum

Trivia

 * As with Big Mom's, Kaidou's first-shown silhouettes prior to his debut greatly differed from his actual looks revealed much later:
 * His first silhouetted self was seen when the Four Emperors were first explained by Garp in Water 7, depicting Kaidou as having a much wider face, a pointier, beak-like nose, and a huge, evil-looking grin.
 * When Jinbe briefly talked about the Four Emperors at the end of the Fish-Man Island Arc, the anime showed a similar silhouette of Kaidou as the earlier one, with his hair much puffier and wavier than it would turn out to be.
 * His current look was first seen on the cover of Chapter 693, 102 chapters before his manga debut in Chapter 795.
 * The person who provided what turned out to be Kaidou's voice in Episode 630 is uncredited.
 * The anime episode of Kaidou's debut first aired on May 1, which is also Kaidou's given birthday.
 * Kaidou's bounty is the highest currently revealed active bounty, the second highest among the Four Emperors past and present (below Whitebeard's), and the third highest known overall.
 * His bounty (like the other Emperors') also represents a goroawase-type numerical pun: in 4,611,100,000, the digits 110 as the whole number "one-hundred-ten" would be read as "hyakujū" (百十), making it homophonous with the "Beasts" (百獣) part of Kaidou's epithet.
 * Kaidou seems to be inspired by oni, ogre-like yōkai who are among the greatest icons of Japanese mythology:
 * Oni are usually depicted as having a giant, hulking frame, one or multiple horns on their heads, wild hair, and a fierce visage, traits shared by Kaidou.
 * Like Kaidou, oni are said to possess immense body strength. In addition, they are often depicted carrying kanabo as their signature weapon, like Kaidou does.
 * Kaidou's residence on Onigashima (literally "island of oni") is based on the Japanese folktale hero Momotarō's tale, wherein Momotarō, upon maturing into adolescence, went to defeat a band of oni dwelling on an island of said name.
 * A resemblance of Kaidou's character can be also observed to a particular oni of Japanese myth, Shuten-dōji, whose story is one of Japan's most popular oni tales (and whom Ashura Doji is also based on):
 * Shuten-dōji was a giant, powerful oni and leader of a bandit gang who lived at Mt. Ōe in his fortress. He was born human, but as a child was referred to as a "monster child" (怪童) for his supernatural strength and wit (which Kaidou's name may derive from, with the word "kaidō" is also translatable as "an unusually large or strong youth").
 * Since his youth, Shuten-dōji had a matchless thirst for sake (hence his name that means "sake-drinking boy") and after becoming an oni would often go on drunken rages, similar to Kaidou's own drunk persona. In fact, Kaidou's sake gourd has the kanji for "heaven" (天) on it, which is also contained in a variant of the name "Shuten-dōji" (酒天童子).
 * Kaidou's name may further derive from Kintarō, also called Sakata no Kintoki, another folk hero of Japanese myth. Not only is Kintarō connected to the figure of Shuten-dōji (capturing him at one point), one of his other (Edo-period) names is "Sakata Kaidōmaru" (坂田怪童丸).
 * Kaidou's rank as head of the Beasts Pirates is called "governor-general" (総督), which is also translatable as simply "governor" or "viceroy". In a Japanese context, such term can refer to certain military commanders that were active in Japan from the Bakumatsu to the early Meiji era. Additionally, from 1910 to 1945, Japanese-administered Korea had a governor-general, as did Japanese-administered Taiwan between 1895 and 1945.
 * Kaidou's belt, a twist of white rope with zigzag paper streamers, is based on the ropes (綱) traditionally worn by yokozuna (the highest-ranked sumo wrestlers, hence their name) during their entrance ceremonies so as to denote their rank. Said belts are a variation of the much larger shimenawa used to mark off sacred Shinto spaces like shrines; similar to the shimenawa, the yokozuna belts hold religious meaning as objects of purification.
 * Kaidou's Wano-bound reputation as a "Wise King" (明王) is based on the Wisdom Kings (their Japanese name), who are Vajrayana Buddhist deities. The most popular of them in Japan is blue-skinned Fudo Myoo who can turn into a dragon.
 * Kaidou is widely regarded as the "strongest creature" in the world. In comparison, Whitebeard is said to be the "strongest man" in the world.
 * Kaidou is currently the only one of the Four Emperors whose flag ship has not been seen or named.
 * Kaidou shares his Japanese voice actor with Bear King, whose crew also had a playing card motif.
 * In the 6th and 7th fan polls of most popular characters, Kaidou was ranked 97th and 65th, respectively.
 * Kaidou's favorite food is alcoholic beverages. While not his favorite food overall, his favorite part when eating fish is the skin.
 * Kaidou's hobby is attempting suicide. Suicide as hobby may be inspired by a Russian children’s joke: “One day Koschei the Deathless went to drown himself. He threw himself into a stormy river from the highest bridge... Then he threw himself under a train... Then he jumped off a skyscraper... Then he jumped into a pool with hydrochloric acid... Then he swallowed cyanide... In short, he had as much fun as he could!”
 * Kaido is a real-life name, but it's an Estonian name of European origin (a masculine form of "Catherine") rather than a Japanese one, despite the Japanese mythology inspiration behind the character Kaido.