Kozuki Oden

Kozuki Oden was the daimyo of Kuri in Wano Country, Momonosuke's father and the patriarch of the Kozuki Family. He was also a member of the Roger Pirates.

Personality
Oden was extremely noble and selfless, as he sacrificed himself in order to allow his son and retainers to escape Wano Country. A man of great compassion, Oden defended Nekomamushi and Inuarashi from discrimination in Wano and also reformed the criminals of Kuri into becoming law biding citizens. Even Roger and Newgate held incredible respect for him.

He had somewhat of a disregard for rules, as he left Wano Country despite that being a crime.

Family
Oden cared deeply for his clan as he sacrificed himself to enable his son and retainers to escape the Beasts Pirates. Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Raizo, and Momonosuke were shown grieving over his death.

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

Inuarashi and Nekomamushi
As retainers, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi are very loyal to Oden. However, when Momonosuke saw Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, he questioned whether Oden was the reason for their bitterness toward each other. Momonosuke claimed that his father would be saddened if he saw them fighting, a remark that caused the two to reconcile their feud, showing their respect toward his father. Alongside Momonosuke, Kin'emon, Kanjuro and Raizo, they too grieved at the mention of Oden's demise.

Beasts Pirates
Kaido sought the Kozuki Family because Oden had been to Raftel. Not wanting Kaido to get the information, Oden sacrificed himself to allow the rest of his family to escape. The Beasts Pirates were eager to kill him in sadistic ways, including boiling him like his namesake.

Abilities and Powers
As a descendant of the Kozuki Family, Oden inherited from his ancestors the knowledge and skill to read poneglyphs and write its ancient language and was the last member of the family with the skill as he failed to pass on the philological knowledge to his son before he was murdered by the Beast Pirates. As daimyo, Oden had a large amount of power and influence over the area he ruled over before his death. Nami deduced that given his position, he must have had a large amount of wealth. He also had the ability to hear the "Voice of All Things".

Physical Abilities
Oden was an extremely powerful samurai, as according to Kinemon, Oden singlehandedly defeated Ashura Douji the most dangerous criminal of that time and restored order to the extremely chaotic land of Kuri which is rampant with dangerous criminals and and outlaws of Wano.

Swordsmanship
In a flashback during his fight wth Ashura Douji, Oden wielded a katana and was capable of defeating him in battle.

History
Oden was originally born in the Flower Capital of the Wano Country, as the son of the former Shogun Kozuki Sukiyaki, but was eventually exiled from the capital in his youth by his father due to his wild behavior and constant stream of violent fights he would get into. During that time, he traveled to the most dangerous and lawless area of Wano Country, now known as Kuri. There, he began a fight with the leader and most dangerous man of the area, Ashura Doji, and eventually defeated him. Shortly after that, he rounded up every other criminal in the land, trained them how to be workers and farmers, and together they created the Paradise Farm and turned Kuri into a lively and peaceful region. His father eventually heard word of this, and rewarded his son by making him the Daimyo of the region, becoming the youngest Daimyo at the age of 20. After becoming Daimyo, he would later meet and get married to Toki and have two children, Momonosuke and Hiyori. A couple years later he would also meet a young Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, who drifted into the country, and openly excepted and befriended them. Because of this, his clan formed a pact with Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, making them both retainers, and afterwards he eventually decided to leave the country and travel the seas together with them. For a time, they traveled on Whitebeard's ship and later with Gol D. Roger's crew on the Oro Jackson, with Oden even becoming a member of the crew. Oden also had been to Raftel with Roger.

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

Legacy
After this, Kaido would later attack the rest of his family and retainers and burn down Oden Castle in an attempt to kill his heirs and prevent the Kozuki Family from fulfilling Oden's final wishes, an attempt that was ultimately foiled by his wife sending Momonosuke and the remaining retainers 20 years into the future with her Toki Toki no Mi power.

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

His dream to open Wano to the rest of the world now lives on in his son, Momonosuke; as well as his retainers, as they have planned to recruit allies from both inside and outside of the country to overthrow Kurozumi Orochi and his ally Kaido. After meeting and befriending Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar D. Water Law, their respective crews, as well as the entire Mink Tribe have formed an alliance in the pursuit of achieving this goal, forming the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance as a result. Jibu'emon, a former retainer of Oden's father, Sukiyaki, has gathered people who still support their cause within the country, all in anticipation for the return of the missing members of the Kozuki Family, who agreed to their assistance in their plan.

A simple grave with a wooden post bearing his name was later made for him on the ruins of his old castle which stood alongside the "graves" of his son and retainers who are apparently presumed deceased by Wano's natives.

Major Battles
Kozuki Oden vs. Ashura Doji

Trivia

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

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