Izou

Izou was the former commander of the 16th division of the Whitebeard Pirates and prior to this, a retainer of the Wano Country daimyo Kozuki Oden. He was the older brother of fellow retainer Kikunojo.

Izou came aboard the Whitebeard Pirates' ship in a failed effort to keep Oden from joining the crew; later, he remained with the crew after Oden was recruited to the Roger Pirates, and upon his return to Wano, Oden elected to not retrieve Izou as he knew the retainer was content to stay with them. Izou sailed with the Whitebeard Pirates until he and the rest of the crew dispersed after the Payback War.

About a year after the Payback War, Izou returned to Wano alongside Marco in order to ally with the Kozuki Family's forces in their attack against the forces that killed Oden and reunited with his sister. However, Izou was killed while fighting CP0 agents Guernica and Maha, taking down Maha in the process.

Appearance
Izou was a cross-dressing man who wore a pink and purple kimono. He had a pale complexion and hair tied in a way resembling that of a geisha. He had a loose, long strand of hair that hangs over the right side of his face. He also carried another Japanese-looking, light-red spotted indument tied around his waist.

After the timeskip, he had a small scar over his right eye, his hair appeared longer, and he had a second shorter strand of hair hanging over the left side of his face. During the Wano Country Arc, he wore a red, pink and white kimono bearing the simplified version of the Whitebeard Pirates' Jolly Roger with an added flame motif, as well as a black cape. Izou also wore black gloves.

He had the crest of the Kozuki Family tattooed on his back.

When he was a child dancer, he wore a kimono with a diagonal spot design, had the top of his head shaven, with his bangs parted and the back tied up and pinned, and carried a pair of fans.

Personality
Izou was very loyal to the Whitebeard Pirates and Whitebeard, as he was willing to risk his own life in order to save Ace from execution during the Summit War of Marineford.

Prior to joining the Whitebeard Pirates, Izou was loyal and very close to Kozuki Oden after he found both him and his younger sibling Kikunojo on the streets of Ringo dirtied and hungry. Even 20 years after Oden's death, Izou was still very loyal to him, having returned to Wano in order to take revenge on Orochi and Kaidou.

As a samurai, Izou appeared to value a glorious and meaningful death in battle over his own life, stating that he missed the chance to have one too many times, and is therefore ready to lose his life in the raid against Kaidou's dominion over Wano. At the same time, Izou did not believe it was fine to simply accept death too readily as long as a person has something to fight for.

Kikunojo


Kikunojo was Izou's only sibling. After their father was arrested and convicted, they stayed together to survive in the streets of Ringo and they both joined Kozuki Oden. When Oden, Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, and Izou went missing, Kiku expressed worries as she could not find her brother and the others while crying. Later, when Nekomamushi and Inuarashi returned to Wano and informed Kiku about Izou staying with the Whitebeard Pirates, Kiku expressed positivity, knowing that her brother would be happy. During the raid on Onigashima, they reunited for the first time in over 25 years, and he was pleased to see Kikunojo again. Right before his death, Izou's last words were for Kiku to survive the battle and live on.

Crew
Before Izou joined the crew, he was cold towards Whitebeard when Oden’s life was in grave danger. After Oden officially joined the Whitebeard Pirates, his attitude changed as he became close with the crew. When Oden left the crew, Izou chose to remain and had been a member for more than twenty-five years and became the sixteenth division commander. He was willing to rescue any of his crew when he was at Marineford. Izou, like the rest of the crew, was saddened when Whitebeard and Ace died.

As they were both interested in liberating Wano from the Beast Pirates and Kurozumi Orochi both Marco and Izou would travel to Wano together alongside Nekomamushi and the Guardians to join the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance. Follow Izou's own death, Marco agreed with Kin'emon to have Izou buried in Ringo as Izou would be laid to rest in his homeland.

Kozuki Oden
Like the Nine Red Scabbards, Izou was one of Oden's closest confidants and retainers due to Oden taking him and his sister under his care during his journey around Wano. When Oden stubbornly tried to follow the Whitebeard Pirates in setting sail, Izou joined him. Even after twenty years since Oden's death, Izou was still extremely loyal to Oden as he would go along with Nekomamushi to assist the Nine Red Scabbards and Straw Hat Pirates in the Raid on Onigashima to avenge his master's death.

Nine Red Scabbards
Izou and his sister Kiku both served Oden alongside his other retainers, who would later come to be known as the Nine Red Scabbards, with Kiku being one of the members of the scabbards. Due to living alongside them and Oden, Izou grew very close to all the scabbards, and years after Oden's death, Izou happily returned to aid the scabbards in the fight to take back Wano and defeat Orochi and Kaidou. After hearing of Momonosuke's capture and Kanjuro's betrayal, Izou backed the Scabbards up in the assault to save Momonosuke, and later on in joined them in the fight against Kaidou.

The World Government and the Marines
As one of Whitebeard's commanders and a veteran pirate, Izou was viewed as an enemy of the World Government in general and would often clash with the Marines as a result. This also extends to government agencies like Cipher Pol as well, as Izou was more than willing to fight CP0 to protect the Straw Hat Pirates, and even died doing so.

Marshall D Teach
As the man responsible for killing Thatch, betraying the Whitebeard Pirates, capturing Ace, starting the Summit War of Marineford, and ultimately for killing his Captain; Whitebeard and stealing his devil fruit powers, Izou like many other members of the Whitebeard Pirates have an extreme amount of distain and hatred for the traitor Marshall D. Teach, also known as Blackbeard as well as his entire crew for their actions. In an effort to prevent Blackbeard from taking all of Whitebeard's territories, the remaining Whitebeard Pirates started the Payback War against the Blackbeard Pirates. Their failure to stop him also allowed Blackbeard to officially take Whitebeard's position as one of the Four Emperors.

Kurozumi Orochi and Kaidou
As the men responsible for the death of his master Kozuki Oden, Izou greatly wanted to return to Wano to stop the Tyrant Kurozumi Orochi and his ally, the Emperor Kaidou. Izou asked Whitebeard for help and talked about going to war with Kaidou to liberate Wano, but Whitebeard never agreed to this request and refused to let Izou go.

Years later, alongside Nekomamushi and Marco, Izou finally got his wish to return and help liberate Wano. After reaching Onigashima, Izou even joined the Nine Red Scabbards in fighting Kaidou, and later in dispatching Orochi to find and save Momonosuke.

Kurozumi Kanjuro
Despite once being friends and fellow retainers for the Kozuki Family, Kurozumi Kanjuro ultimately betrayed them all by spying on them for Orochi and for feeding him intel. After learning of this betrayal and that he kidnapped Momonosuke, Izou showed no concern or sympathy for the traitor at all, and simply stood as he watched Kanjuro get cut down by his sister Kiku. Later when Kanjuro returned disguised as Kozuki Oden, Izou was furious, and was prepared to finish him off alongside the others after Kanjuro escaped and Ashura sacrificed himself to save them all.

Abilities and Powers
As the commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' 16th division, Izou had authority over the lower-ranking subordinates. Like the other former commanders, he was very powerful, further corroborated by his impressive bounty of 510,000,000.

During the raid on Onigashima, the CP0 agents that encountered Izou preferred to avoid fighting him in favor of their current mission, despite Izou being heavily injured and it being two on one. While Izou was ultimately defeated and killed, he was able to take one of them down with him.

As the heir of a dancing school, where he was raised prior to his father's arrest, Izou was capable of performing traditional dancing routines.

Marksmanship


Izou was an extremely adept sniper, especially in close quarters combat. Izou developed sharpshooting skills back when he was still a street-dwelling child, as part of his entertainment routine. Izou was both swift and precise, easily capable of shooting down multiple opponents in seconds.

As the Scabbards prepared to attack Kaidou, he was shown disarming King of his sword with a single shot.

Techniques

 * Dangirigan (弾斬丸): After imbuing his bullets with Haki, Izou shoots his bullets in a manner that produces a flying slash-like barrier around each bullet, generating an attack that pierces and slashes his opponent at the same time. This attack was first used against Kaidou in battle alongside his sibling Kikunojo.

Weapons


He wielded a pair of flintlock pistols.

During his time in Wano Country, he was seen wielding a sword in order to assist Oden to fight against Ashura Doji. He was also seen carrying a sheathed sword by the end of the Summit War of Marineford. However, despite being a samurai Izou admitted that he was not a very good swordsman and so he heavily preferred to use guns.

Busoshoku Haki
Izou possessed an advanced level of Busoshoku Haki, which he could imbue into the bullets he shot. With it, he was able to penetrate Kaidou's tremendously tough skin by shooting it.

Kenbunshoku Haki
Izou possessed the ability to use Kenbunshoku Haki.

Past
Izou and his sibling, Kikunojo, were born in Wano Country. During their childhood, they were raised in the dancing school Hanayanagi School (花柳流) but their family was torn apart after their father was arrested. For the two of them they had to survive on the streets of Ringo, forced to entertain depraved adults. One of the tricks that Izou used was to take precision shots, in which he was impeccable. When Kozuki Oden arrived and gave them food, they joined him.

One day, Oden separated from his followers and went alone to Kuri, to face all the bandits there. Realizing this, they all ran over with the intention of supporting him. However, when they arrived, they saw that he had already defeated everyone, including Ashura Doji. After Oden became Kuri's daimyo, he decided to turn all of his followers into his retainers. Six years later, Oden brought Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, and Kawamatsu to the castle to feed them, where he then made all three his servants as well. One day, he and other servants tried to steal money from Shimotsuki Yasuie, but were caught. Instead of punishing them, he gave them more than they were going to steal and encouraged them to use it to become better people for the sake of Oden and the country. Following the daimyo's advice, they educated and trained to become worthy warriors.

30 years ago, when the shogun fell ill, all of Oden's retainers took the latter to the Flower Capital.

In the same year, when the Whitebeard Pirates were shipwrecked in the Itachi Port of Kuri, Oden headed there, so his retainers headed to stop him. After the confrontation between Whitebeard and Oden, they had a feast, where the latter wanted to join the crew, but both his servants and the pirates did not accept that.



Two weeks later, at night, Oden decided to secretly follow the crew as they left the country, where he clung to the ship with a chain. Izou, who was already suspicious of his intentions, chased after him to bring him back, clinging to him. However, Marco took him to the ship, where he asked Whitebeard to bring his lord as well. But the pirate told him that the latter was still insisting despite the fact that he had already been rejected and that someone as unpredictable as him would only endanger his crew, so he would have to convince him. So he proposed to Oden that if he held the chain for three days he would join the crew. Seeing how Oden was holding up for the three days, Izou angrily told Whitebeard not to forgive him for putting his lord through all that. With only ten minutes left, Oden heard a woman in trouble and broke free to go to the island he was on. The next day, Izou and the crew arrived at said island, where Whitebeard decided to accept Oden on board. So Izou, although not very happy at first, also got on board, along with his companions, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, who had also sneaked onto the ship; as well as the woman his lord rescued, Toki.

One day, when Izou demonstrated his marksmanship to the crew, Vista told him that he should use it to protect others, as there was no point in a samurai obsessively clinging to a sword if he couldn't protect his lord with it. Izou then gave up the sword and began to use the weapon.

After two years with the Whitebeard Pirates, Oden and Toki's son, Kozuki Momonosuke, was born and Oden received a bounty. Izou urged Oden to return to Wano for the sake of his wife and son, but Oden insisted on continuing with his adventures.

Another two years later, the Whitebeard Pirates arrived at an island and noticed a commotion that frightened even the animals. Where they then engaged the Roger Pirates for three days before the skirmish turned into an exchange of gifts. Oden decided to join Gol D. Roger for one year to assist him with his final journey. Rather than follow him, Izou decided that he would rather continue sailing with the Whitebeard Pirates and chose to wait alongside Inuarashi and Nekomamushi for Oden to return, but the latter two left him behind when they snuck onto Roger's ship without him.

The Whitebeard Pirates learned about Oden's death several years after it happened. Many times they thought about going to Wano, but they gave up because of the consequences that this would cause in the country.

At some point, the crew expanded to sixteen divisions, where Izou became the commander of the 16th Division.

Izou oversaw the sake cup ceremony that officially welcomed Portgas D. Ace into the Whitebeard Pirates.

Some time after Ace became the commander of the 2nd Division, the latter tried to convince Whitebeard to go to war with Kaidou to liberate Wano Country, where Marco tried to warn him of the consequences if that happened. After Whitebeard beat up Ace for wanting to go alone, both Izou and Marco told him that they would be willing to accompany him when Whitebeard agreed. Ace told them that with them they could defeat Kaido, to which the two said that they doubted it.

Marineford Arc
When it was revealed that Ace was going to be publicly executed in Marineford, Izou joined the rest of Whitebeard's fleet and their subordinate crews to his comrade. Arriving at the Marines' headquarters, they fought to save their captured comrade alongside some late additions to the war.

After Kizaru kicked Monkey D. Luffy, Izou asked the latter if he was tired yet. Izou and several other division commanders then led a charge, hoping to break through the lines of the retreating Marines. Izou was shocked when Squard turned on Whitebeard and stabbed him. After Squard realized that he had been tricked, the Marines raised the siege walls keeping the pirates from entering the plaza, so Izou and the other pirates boarded Whitebeard's hidden paddle ship. Little Oars Jr. then pushed the ship through the hole that the giant had created.Later on, he fought alongside his subordinates against the Marines gathered in the plaza.

After Luffy freed Ace from the gallows, Izou was surprised when Whitebeard announced his willingness to sacrifice himself while they escaped. Although they did not want to, they reluctantly agreed. But as they made their way to the ship, Admiral Akainu called Whitebeard a failure; so Ace quickly turned around and Izou tried to persuade him to ignore him, but he was unsuccessful. The admiral then took Ace's life.

When Blackbeard arrives at the battle, Izou watches as he and Whitebeard clashed.



Afterwards, Izou and the other division commanders battled Akainu to ensure that Luffy sees the New Era.Upon the arrival of Shanks and Sengoku calling the war to a close, Izou, like the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates and their subordinates, mourned for the outcome of the war and left the battlefield.

Post-War Arc
Izou and the rest of the crew attended the funeral of Whitebeard and Ace at an undisclosed location somewhere in the New World.

During the Timeskip
One year after the war at Marineford, the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates fought against the Blackbeard Pirates but ultimately lost. They went into hiding and have not been seen since their defeat.

Wano Country Arc
During the Raid on Onigashima, Izou returned to Wano Country along with Nekomamushi and at the same time as Marco.

Marco led both Izou and Nekomamushi towards the Onigashima coast, where the two encountered some of the Scabbards. Here Izou, seeing his sister, points out how much she has grown, where the latter hugs him. After Marco left to check on a shadow he saw at sea, the group was confronted by Kanjuro and an army of Beasts Pirates. While Kikunojo clashed against Kanjuro, the rest fought the other enemies. After Kanjuro and the Beasts Pirates with him were defeated, Izou reunited with Kin'emon and Denjiro.

Izou and the Scabbards then entered Kaidou's castle, fought their way to the Performance Stage, awhere Izou disarmed King with a single shot. Then, he, along with the Scabbards, push the emperor, who is also injured by his companions. When they landed on the lower deck, Kaidou stood up again and taunted the samurai for siding with the pirates.

Hearing Luffy's challenge, Kaidou transformed into his dragon form and flew to the roof of the Skull Dome, with Izou's group grabbing onto him. Upon arriving, Kaido told the group that he plans to fight everyone like he did about twenty years ago; except that Oden is no longer with them. When Nekomamushi declared that he will be different, many of the minks appeared. Jack and a squad went up to the roof to help Kaidou. Here the Guardians and Musketeers transformed into sulong, to face the enemy. However, the minks began to get outmatched, so both Nekomamushi and Inuarashu transform into sulong and attack Jack. When the latter and his forces are defeated, Kaido intervenes and decides to defeat all the samurai alone. To which the Emperor tried to burn them with his fiery breath, but Kin'emon cut him off. Where then Izou and the Scabbards declared that they are ready to die, but they will take Kaidou with them.



Kaidou roared lightning at them, but they dodged it, where Izou along with Nekomamushi, Kawamatsu, Inuarashi and Kikunojo, took it upon themselves to hurt the Emperor. Where then Kin'emon, Denjiro, Inuarashi and Ashura managed to hurt Kaidou, injuring him in his scar. When the latter fell to the ground, everyone wanted to give him the final blow; however, Kaido stood up and told them that even though he saw Oden's spirit, they could never cut him down like he did. Kaidou then retaliated with a roar that created slashing wind scythes in the air, where Izou was alarmed when Kikunojo's left arm got sliced off. Izou wrapped a tourniquet around his sister's arm, and Kin'emon cauterized the wound. Subsequently, all the samurai were ready to continue fighting Kaido, who praised them and later reverts to his human form.Where they are then overwhelmed by the Emperor.

Eustass Kid, Killer, Roronoa Zoro, Luffy, and Trafalgar Law later arrived at the roof. Upon Luffy's request, Law teleported Izou and the Scabbards to a safe place. They were placed in the treasure room on the second floor, where a mysterious person was tending to them. hey later recovered, but the mysterious figure was already gone. When they were ready to continue the battle, someone entered the room; which turned out to be Kozuki Oden himself, who happily greeted his former retainers, where they were astonished to see him.

Their lord told them that he had traveled back in time thanks to Toki's powers and now it was time to finish off Kaido. Izou, like the rest, was very happy to see him, but Ashura Doji and Raizo told everyone that the Oden they saw was fake. There Ashura pushed Kin'emon, who was about to be attacked by "Oden", and proved to everyone that it was fake when he didn't bleed from attacking him, where he was later stabbed by the impostor. Since the only one capable of imitating Oden perfectly was one of them, it was then revealed that it was a drawing by Kanjuro. The latter told them that he controlled the drawing from a distance and that he was going to die from his injuries; but he was going to kill Momonosuke before that. At that moment, the drawing ignited a large amount of dynamite under his clothing, but Ashura Doji dragged him out of the room before it exploded, sacrificing herself to save his comrades. Izou and the Scabbards then went after Kanjuro, but they ran into Jack again; Inuarashi stayed behind to fight him.

As they raced through the fortress, they encountered Orochi and Fukurokuju. Orochi transformed into the Yamata no Orochi to face them all seeing how injured they were, but they responded by swiftly decapitating his multiple heads at once. They continued on, with Raizo staying behind to fight Fukurokuju.

When Kikunojo asked Kin'emon to leave Kanjuro to her, Izou asked how she was dealing with her severed arm, to which she jokingly replied it was nothing more than an itch compared to the pain she felt when Izou left her in Wano, which Izou took as a sign of high spirits from her. Izou and Kawamatsu then separated from the group and ran into Sanji carrying an incapacitated Roronoa Zoro, and the four headed to the Live Floor together.

The group arrived at the Live Floor to hear the announcement of Luffy's defeat, which Izou noted would hurt the morale of the Wano forces. When Marco decided to leave King and Queen to Zoro and Sanji, Izou protected him from incoming bullets shot by Beasts Pirates, shooting and defeating them in retaliation while also berating Marco on his carelessness. When Marco asked Izou if he thinks that gods once lived on the Red Line, Izou disgruntledly replied that Marco sounded similar to Whitebeard when he was drunk. He was then startled by the sudden interruption of Luffy riding a huge pink dragon on his way back to the roof.

A while later, Marco and Izou were still on the Live Stage, reacting shocked at the sight of Queen separating his brachiosaurus neck and tail from the rest of his body to attack Sanji. After that, he continued to fight the enemies; however, upon hearing about some kind of large fire apparition in the castle, Izou got worried and asked Marco to take him there, who agrees to that.

Izou made it to the penthouse between the first and second floors of the building, in time to save Usopp, Kikunojo, and Kin'emon from a group of Beasts Pirates. Kikunojo tried to speak to her brother, but Izou told her to focus on surviving instead and ordered Usopp to carry away the two injured Scabbards.



After defeating the Beasts Pirates and suffering several injuries, Izou descended towards the the First Floor attic. Afterwards, Izou commented that even though his opponents were low level, they were still part of the Beasts Pirates. When he wished that Kikunojo and Kin'emon had already been able to escape, two agents of the CP0 appeared. However, they were willing to ignore the presence of the pirate Whitebeard in their pursuit of the Straw Hats, but Izou refused to let them pass. He then fought the two agents; where after some time, Izou asked Kikunojo to survive, just before he shot Maha, who also hit him with a Shigan, dying on the ground.

Legacy
Following the success of the Raid on Onigashima, Kin'emon expressed a desire to build a temple in Ringo that would honor Izou alongside Oden, the former daimyo and Ashura Doji.

Major Battles

 * Whitebeard Pirates vs. Roger Pirates (unseen)
 * Whitebeard Pirates and their subordinate crews vs. the Marines and Seven Warlords of the Sea
 * Izou vs. Marine Officers
 * Whitebeard Pirates Commanders (minus Ace, Jozu and Thatch), Crocodile and Andre vs. Admiral Akainu
 * Whitebeard Pirates (under Marco) vs. Blackbeard Pirates (unseen, during timeskip)
 * Izou and the Nine Red Scabbards (minus Kanjuro, Kin'emon, and Denjiro) vs. Kurozumi Kanjuro and Beasts Pirates Gifters (unseen)
 * Izou and the Nine Red Scabbards (minus Kanjuro) vs. Kaidou
 * Izou and the Nine Red Scabbards (minus Kanjuro, Ashura and Inuarashi) vs. Kurozumi Orochi
 * Izou vs. Beasts Pirates
 * Izou vs. Guernica and Maha

Playable Appearances

 * One Piece Treasure Cruise
 * One Piece Thousand Storm
 * One Piece Bon! Bon! Journey!!
 * One Piece Bounty Rush

Non-Playable Appearances

 * One Piece: Burning Will

Trivia

 * Izou's favorite food is ganmodoki.
 * Fittingly enough, ganmodoki are one of the main ingredients in oden, just as Izou was one of Kozuki Oden's main retainers.
 * Izou's name may come from Okada Izō, a samurai of the late Edo period who was feared as one of the four most notable assassins of the Bakumatsu period.
 * While without one in the series, Treasure Cruise gives him the epithet "Flintlock Pistols Izou" (短筒使いのイゾウ).

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