Talk:Yamato

New Information (Chapter 1052)
The official release of chapter 1052 has occurred, so I figure I might as well bring up the new information from it as the top of this talk page points out: "This ruling is subject to being revisited and changed based on the release of new information from official sources."

In chapter 1052, Yamato points out that there is no mixed-bathing option in the castle so she doesn't bathe with the other women and instead bathes with all of the male characters. It is worth noting that Kiku, who identifies as female, chooses to bathe with the other women. This seems like more significant evidence (beyond being referred to as Kaidou's son) that Yamato identifies as male. Even if the actual reasoning for why Yamato identifies as male is unique, there is strong evidence presented here for us to accept that Yamato should be treated as male and perhaps the wiki page should be updated to reflect this if others agree. Damage3245 (talk) 15:08, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Here we go again... AcXAcX (talk) 15:10, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Oh, lord, not again... Might I point out that it was also stated that in the past Kiku bathed with the men as well? So, yeah, that doesn't really prove anything. Timjer (talk) 15:14, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

It should go without saying but please stay on-topic and comments complaining about the topic are not necessary here. This is a wiki and discussing new information that comes up as the chapters are released is part of the wiki's business. Regarding Kiku bathing with men in the past, Oda has stated that she's been very social from a young age and Kiku says in this chapter that she only bathed with Oden and the others because she was familiar with them, and doesn't choose to bathe with a group of men willingly. Also, Yamato states that there is no mixed-bathing in the castle. If she identified as female and bathed with all the male Straw Hats, that would make it mixed-bathing. Evidently Yamato is considering themselves to be male here. Damage3245 (talk) 15:17, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Thing is, Damage, please understand that most if not all of the entire fandom is utterly TIRED of the Yamato gender discussion. People tend not to like it anymore when others bring it up to change it to how they want it to be. And you seem to be very obsessed with proving yourself right. Look, I admit that the whole bathing stuff muddles it a bit. But I still don't consider it absolute proof yet. If you ask me, once Yamato joins the crew and finally drops the "I'm Oden" shtick, then we'll see how Yamato still identifies herself. If Yamato outright comes out and declares himself male, then I'll accept it. But for now there is still not enough proof. Timjer (talk) 15:26, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Oh, and about Kiku being more comfortable around Oden becaus she's familiar with them? Guess what, who is Yamato most familiar with amongst the bathers? That's right, Luffy and Momo. So, yeah, your argument doesn't really work. Timjer (talk) 15:32, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Please keep your personal assumptions out of this. I am not "very obsessed with proving myself right". If this chapter had come out and shown Yamato choosing to bathe with the female characters instead of the other male characters then I would have taken it as supporting evidence that Yamato identifies as female. I don't have a set agenda that I am setting out to prove; I am bringing new evidence to the table because somebody has to. If you're tired of the discussion and don't want a part of it then you can just stay out of the discussion. Also additional headcanon like "Yamato will join the crew and drop the Oden shtick" is inappropriate here. I don't think you could get a more outright declaration than Yamato in an earlier chapter saying "I became a man too" and Yamato in this chapter intentionally bathing with other male characters instead of female characters. Damage3245 (talk) 15:34, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * "I would have taken it as supporting evidence that Yamato identifies as female" Somehow I doubt that, but that's not the point here, so please just adress my actual argument rather than use ad hominems and saying I should stay out of it. Now the argument "I became a man too" doesn't really work. Yamato DIDN'T "become a man". Biologically, Yamato is still female afaik. And also afaik, one doesn't just choose to identify as another gender. Look, I may be wrong here, but gender dysphoria is NOT a choice people make. If you are the opposite gender as you're born with, it's not because you suddenly chose to be that. No, what Yamato is saying is that she adopted the persona and mannerism and such of ODEN, because she believes Wano needs an Oden. We'll see how long that lasts now that Momo is the "new Oden". Timjer (talk) 15:41, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Anyway, the BEST argument you can make is that Yamato is gender fluid or something. But not that she's male. Timjer (talk) 15:43, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Infoboxes are from Oda himself which called Yamato a female. Every other source including Vivre Cards called her female. SeaTerror (talk) 15:42, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

I'm not disputing that Yamato is still biologically female. I'm interpreting "Became a man" in this circumstance to mean identify as a male, which is supported by the latest chapter. This isn't a discussion about whether Yamato has true body dysphoria and we don't need a complete medical diagnosis on Yamato. What we do know from this chapter if that Yamato considers themselves to be among the "male" group of characters and additional assumptions like "Yamato is just familiar with them" are disproved because Yamato says there is no mixed-bathing here. I'd like to also point out that I haven't used ad hominems once here and I never said you should stay out of it. If you have any issues with me personally, take it off this talk page. Damage3245 (talk) 15:48, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * So you admit that Yamato is not trans? And therefore not male? Because afaik that means Yamato is male just as much as Mulan is male.; putting up a male persona does NOT mean you identify as male. "This isn't a discussion about whether Yamato has true body dysphoria" Well, forgive me, but a LOT of people do think it IS that. "If you have any issues with me personally, take it off this talk page." I don't have issues with you. I haven't been in any way impolite in this thread. But YOU did say to me that I should stay out of this if I don't like the discussion and you DID get offended when I expressed my (justified) frustration that this discussion is being pointlessly revived. Timjer (talk) 15:54, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

@Timjer; I never said you should stay out of the discussion, I said that anyone who is tired of the discussion can stay out of it. I do get offended when people misquote me and derail the topic from its intended purpose. And regardless of my personal opinion of whether Yamato is trans, male or has body dymorphia, I am preferring to go off of what the manga is presenting rather than my personal opinions on it. Whether I "admit" that Yamato is not trans or whatever has no bearing on it. Damage3245 (talk) 15:58, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Except I did NOT derail the topic in any way! My VERY FIRST comment on this thread was on-topic and compared Yamato to Kiku. You're derailing it by getting offended at anything I say and you're the one who keeps bringing that up instead of staying on topic. Timjer (talk) 16:01, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

@Timjer; can you please stop now? Let us make this the last post on this and from now on let the talk page be focused on discussing the new information. Any further posting outside of that will be derailing. I'm just trying to get us back on track. Damage3245 (talk) 16:05, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

This debate is just absurd, Yamato is Oden, you have to apply that logic to any decision she mades. She said that Momo was her son because "she is Oden", and she takes baths with the boys because Oden was a man and he took baths with men, end. Cracker-Kun (talk)

"I am preferring to go off of what the manga is presenting" Oda himself trumps the manga. I already mentioned what he decided. SeaTerror (talk) 16:10, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

"I'm tired of this discussion" is not a valid argument. If you are tired of it then feel free to not participate on this talk page. There is a legitimate reason as to why this discussion has started back up again.

"Oda trumps the manga" makes no sense as Oda wrote the manga. Especially when you are using that argument to support an earlier development over a later one, in almost all instances of the author overriding their text it is the later version that is correct.

Where Kiku bathed in the past has no bearing on this discussion especially considering that she is bathing with the women in the present day because that is how she identifies, and we even get further explanation that she bathed with Oden and the other Scabbard men because she felt comfortable with them. As far as we know, Yamato is in the men's bath for the same reason Kiku is in the women's bath, and saying that Yamato joined the men because of "comfort" the way Kiku bathed with the Scabbards is completely unfounded.

At this point, I think it is clear that Oda is not treating Yamato adopting Oden's identity as though it is a joke. Obviously, there are objective differences between them that Yamato cannot change. Even if Yamato considers Momonosuke as a son, Momonosuke does not accept Yamato as a father, and thus they cannot be considered parent and child for the same reason that Judge and Sanji are not considered parent and child, as Sanji does not recognize Judge as his father. However, I believe that the things Yamato can change have been changed. We acknowledge that Yamato has elected to use the name "Kozuki Oden" in addition to Yamato, and I believe the bath scene makes it clear that Yamato has chosen to go as a man, which he can choose to do. I am open to further discussion into how we should treat Yamato's intent to become Oden, but this is my conclusion based on the facts presented. Kaido King of the Beasts (talk) 16:59, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

""Oda trumps the manga" makes no sense as Oda wrote the manga. Especially when you are using that argument to support an earlier development over a later one, in almost all instances of the author overriding their text it is the later version that is correct."

The infoboxes are directly from Oda. What part of this chapter did Oda reintroduce Yamato's infobox? SeaTerror (talk) 17:04, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

I agree with Kaido's view on how this development changed the narrative slightly. Then again, both sides have solid grounds to stand on, since what people see as correct matters on perspectives based for a large part on personal viewpoints and ideologies. A long discussion isn't going to help anything here. Yeah, sure, Oda said this and that in the past, but as others have brought up, this chapter did give a slightly more nuanced message to the overall picture. I say keep this discussion short and poll it. 17:10, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Upon further reflection I do want to acknowledge that a lot of out-of-universe references to Yamato do state or at least imply that Yamato is female. However, I still believe firmly at this point that in the story Yamato fully identifies as a man and other characters have accepted this. Until these sides are resolved more cleanly, I would be okay with reverting to what we did before and electing to refer to Yamato as gender neutrally as possible. Kaido King of the Beasts (talk) 17:42, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Gender neutality as an option here seems more than fair, and we can always keep the Gender section on Yamato's page to explain the out-of-universe material. Damage3245 (talk) 17:49, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

I don't think whether or not Yamato qualifies as transgender matters to this discussion, but since it came up I want to point out that there are many real transgender people without gender dysphoria, Yamato doesn't need to have gender dysphoria to identify as a man. A hang-up for some people seems to be the idea that Yamato doesn't meet some criteria to truly identify as a man, but this criteria doesn't even exist in real life.

Yamato said that he became a man, which is a direct statement of his identity. He has referred to himself as Kaido's son since he was eight years old, and has introduced himself to people as Kaido's son on multiple occasions. When there was no mixed bathing, Yamato chose to bathe with the men. On the other hand, there is absolutely nothing in the story which indicates that Yamato identifies as a woman. Yamato's infobox and Vivre Card CALL him a woman, but they don't make any statements which clarify Yamato's identity in a way which explains why he acts the way he does in the manga (for example saying something like "Yamato only calls herself a man for X reason but otherwise feels like a woman"). So why should the infobox or Vivre Card be considered above the events of the story itself which have repeatedly had Yamato demonstrate that he identifies as a man?

Yamato called Momonosuke his son because Momonosuke was Oden's son. But in other scenes where Yamato is referring to himself as Yamato and not Oden, he calls himself Kaido's son. And Oden was not Kaido's son. If Yamato only identified as a man when "roleplaying" as Oden, but otherwise thought of himself as a woman, why does he not call himself Kaido's daughter when referring to that relationship which has nothing to do with Oden? It's clear that Yamato thinks of himself as a man whether or not he's "acting" as Oden.

The most important thing when deciding what gender to refer to a character as should be how that character personally identifies, and there continues to be more and more evidence that Yamato sincerely identifies as a man. Until there's evidence of Yamato's identity changing, I don't see any reason why referring to Yamato as a woman should be a valid option. DewClamChum (talk) 19:37, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Yamato's a woman. She's in the men's bath because that's what Oden would do and because it would be weird to party with the icky girls. It's a gag. Unless Oda explicitly states "Yamato is male", we should go with what we've seen, that she's a woman who acts like she's "one of the boys".

You have to consider that Oda's track record with gender identity isn't...particularly great. Kiku was a rare exception to his usual "ha ha cross dresser funny" shtick, but now with Yamato people are grasping at straws looking for things that aren't there. With Kiku, there was a single line revealing that she was born male but literally everything else about her is female.

At most, I'd say include the bath scene in the gender paragraph displaying how it makes things more confusing, but Yamato preferring to hang out in a bath with the boys doesn't suddenly mean she identifies as male. She's doing it because it's what Oden would do.

And yes, she refers to herself as "Kaidou's son", "Oden", etc. But in addition to the infobox describing her as "Kaidou's daughter", the vivre card (which comes from Oda) said she's female (with no caveats like Kiku, if her gender was described as "male at heart" or even "Oden" then things would be different), plus she appears with other women in a lot of additional One Piece content (that World 100 video or whatever, the Heroines novels, etc.).

Honestly, I get the feeling that in the next chapter or two, depending on whether Yamato joins, Oda's gonna have to come to a point where he lets Yamato be her own character instead of just an Oden cosplayer. We'll see what happens, but I think he'll let Yamato come into her own. Until then, I say we keep things as is and just add an additional note that the situation remains thorny. The Pope 19:51, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

I have to agree with Kaido now, regardless of Yamato being female we've seen that he still prefers and wants male pronouns. Also, I need to say that him being a girl isn't incompatible with using male pronouns. We ain't really here to discuss which gender he relates to but how is he described and refered, and it is clear that it is with male pronouns so there shouldn't really be a lot of discussion after chapter 1052 proving once again how he should be treated. 20:04, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

I agree with changing the page to reflect Yamato's identity as a man. But like AOD, I think this should be a poll. I have no patience for people being rude or dismissive in this discussion. If anyone is tired of the discussion, you don't have to participate. Otherwise, please present your ideas/opinions in a respectful way.

To the arguments saying we should wait, every week we mark characters as unknown or deceased, but Oda fakes us out on deaths all the time. Should we wait until the end of the arc for that, too? I know it is not the exact same thing, but what I'm trying to articulate is that we base articles off chapters each week. If Yamato identifies as female in two or three chapters, we can change it back. But going off the info we have right now, he identifies as a man. 20:07, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

I still believe Yamato should be kept identified as a female until we see how Oda play things out after Wano, I don't think we should change it immediately however I also have no problem if it gets changed to gender neutrality for the time being.Opera298 (talk) 20:53, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

By the way, to anyone saying "Yamato prefers male pronouns"...uh, no? You do know that gendered pronouns don't exist in Japanese, right? It's what's caused all this confusion to begin with. The Pope 21:10, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * This is not actually true. Gendered pronouns are extraordinarily rare in Japanese speech/writing compared to English, but they exist.  The original Metroid specifically used them as a misdirection tactic regarding Samus's gender reveal in the best ending https://legendsoflocalization.com/qa-was-samus-called-a-he-in-japanese-too/ MugMonster (talk) 18:32, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

There's a lot of evidence to suggest that Yamato is a man, as he identifies, within the story itself. Also as DewClamChum pointed out, Yamato does not always "roleplay" as Oden, and still calls himself a man and a son independent from anything with Oden. I feel like The Pope's comments about him is really short-sighted about Yamato's character. He doesn't just characterize himself as Oden, and not everything he does is because "it's what Oden would do". Yamato doesn't even mention Oden in regards to the bathhouse scene, so this idea that he would join the men only because "that's what Oden would do" is just a subjective inference, and it's one that I don't find very agreeable. I could even say that the panel with Yamato and Kiku choosing their bathhouses was a deliberate nod from Oda on their gender identities. It just seems a little too perfect, but that's also a subjective inference. But at least it's based on the content and structure of the story and not a flanderized interpretation of the character in question. As for content such as Vivre Card that mentions Yamato's apparent gender identity, that's a pretty strong case for the idea that Yamato is a woman. However, it isn't the manga, and it's not really about how he refers to himself in the manga or how other characters refer to him in the manga. If the content that Oda is directly, 100% involved with treats Yamato as a man, why is this superfluous external material that serves a different purpose from the main narrative medium, and is mostly just a collection of information that Oda only needs to give an "okay" on to pass, treated as higher than the narrative itself? The manga IS higher in our "canon hierarchy" than the databooks, after all. That's not even getting into the fact that Vivre Card itself isn't fully reliable. The VERY first page of this new chapter, in fact, contradicts it: Caesar Clown did not escape Whole Cake Island. That's not to say databooks should never be taken into account, but they aren't the be-all-end-all of information. Having said that, while I'm in full 100% support of treating Yamato as a man given the evidence in the narrative, it might be a good compromise if Yamato was treated more ambiguously. Avoid pronouns, or use they/them, until the situation is fully clear. I also, personally, think we should wait a week before making a real decision. Only because next week is the final chapter before Oda goes on a month-long break, and there could be more useful information then. But I understand if that's a bit counter-productive. My vote is for treating Yamato as a man, because Yamato is a man. 21:28, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

EVERYTHING about Yamato's gender is subjective except the following:


 * "Oden was a man, right? So I became a man too."
 * Yamato's intro card as "Kaidou's daughter"
 * The Vivre card

Everything else is what we, the viewer, have taken away with it with a western, progressive gender perspective. We can feel like Yamato identifies as a woman, but at the end of the day, it's Oda's word over ours. We can include all this other information in the gender translation section, but for the meantime, we need to go with the facts that Oda has objectively laid out. Everything else about Yamato's gender can be construed one way or another, but at the end of the day, the overwhelming objective evidence is in that Oda considers Yamato a woman who prefers to behave and be treated like a man, not necessarily that she completely identifies as one. The Pope 21:36, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

If you want a manga only argument then Sanji's reaction in the latest chapter would also point against Yamato not being male. SeaTerror (talk) 21:41, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

The Pope, then you are agreeing that since he prefers to be treated like a man we should use male pronouns to talk about him like all the characters in the series do. 22:05, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Like I said, gendered pronouns don't exist in Japanese. So "all the characters" don't refer to her as anything. The closest you can get is the Beasts Pirates calling her "Kaidou's son", which is already super confusing. Considering her cantakerous relationship with her father, I highly doubt Kaidou said "you know, my daughter's taking on the name of my sworn enemy but I should really accept his new gender identity, I'm a good dad". Like...in what universe does that happen, lol. It's more likely Yamato came out as a girl, Kaidou said "what no I want a son, you're my son, deal with it", and that's how this whole thing started. That's certainly conjecture, but that's the thing, we don't know. What we do know is that Oda referred to her as a woman in the vivre card. Therefore, he considers her a woman, regardless of what us gender theorists may think. The Pope 22:25, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

I can't say anything about pronouns as I can't read Japanese and I'm not sure how they approach gendered pronouns, if any at all. But all characters HAVE referred to Yamato as a man. You ask "in what universe does that happen" with your fake Kaido quote, and yeah, that doesn't happen. Kaido does not say "my daughter" at any point in the entire series. He only refers to Yamato, even before he's introduced, as "my son", and Yamato refers to himself as "son of Kaido". He's called a man throughout the couple of years we've known him at this point. He's even in the bathhouse, with the men, with no protest or confusion from anybody. If you want to act like he's not being referred to by a man in the story itself or treated as a man by the characters with that, well, I can't control your personal thoughts. But the literal only instance that Yamato is ever referred to as female in the manga is in his infobox. This whole debate is kind of on that infobox, if you think about it. It all centers on whether or not we respect how characters feel or stick with the undiagetic information, which is prone to error and change. Oda's involvement with Vivre Card isn't even as clear-cut as his involvement with the manga, but that's a different debate. I feel like what's really missing is actual evidence that Yamato SHOULD be treated as a woman. The story doesn't, the characters don't, and even Oda clearly doesn't. He's the one who's writing the characters, after all. Objectively, we have conflicting information from Oda himself about what Yamato should be referred to as. At that point, I think it's best we go for how Yamato is referred to in the story itself. I think you know really well that if Oda did treat Yamato as a woman, none of us would be talking about this. 22:47, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

"If you want a manga only argument then Sanji's reaction in the latest chapter would also point against Yamato not being male."

Yeah that's not a very good argument as no one is expecting characters who aren't acquainted with Yamato to instantly know that he identifies as male. This happened before in Ch. 999 with the Spade Pirates and Ch. 984 with Luffy, and Yamato quickly explained to Luffy why he states to be Kaido's son. Kaido King of the Beasts (talk) 22:54, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

"He's even in the bathhouse, with the men, with no protest or confusion from anybody."

um

Momonosuke is clearly confused, lol. Sanji and Brook are having mini freakouts. It's pretty clear they view Yamato as a woman, regardless of how you think of her.

Meanwhile, Luffy's basically asexual so he doesn't care, and Zoro's never been a horndog so it's reasonable he wouldn't care either. Chopper's innocent (and doesn't like humans, the only woman he's ever shown attraction to was that reindeer mink) and then Jinbe and Nekomamushi are just whatever about it.

At any rate, "no confusion from anybody" is just objectively wrong to a funny degree.

As for "how much involvement from Oda is clear-cut with the Vivre Cards", I'm pretty sure it's confirmed that every piece of information there comes straight from his mouth. And he didn't put down Yamato's gender as "man at heart" or anything like that. This week's chapter aside, I honestly believe it's still pretty clear-cut. The Pope 23:26, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Yamato has also been refered by the Beasts Pirates as "Oni Princess" (ch. 1024) as well as "Beasts Pirates Princess (Vivre Card), that should be also taken into account. Cracker-Kun (talk) 23:31, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Ah, that's right. He is called Ogre Princess, according to Viz, in that chapter. Which Yamato responds demanding he's Oden. Though this is when he's a child, and probably really believed he was Oden, or wanted to convince himself as being Oden. A slightly different mindset than now, but still. That's an instance where he's called female. The Vivre Card part I think is strong too, mainly because it's a specific alias (although maybe a slight error? Shouldn't it be Oni/Ogre Princess?). Either way, Yamato still identifies as Yamato while stanning Oden, and identifying as a man. I still think man is necessary, but it really shows how not clear-cut this whole thing really is. Dunno what else to say except I stand slightly corrected. lol 03:11, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

"Kaido does not say "my daughter" at any point in the entire series. He only refers to Yamato, even before he's introduced, as "my son", and Yamato refers to himself as "son of Kaido".

That would be because only males can be shogun. SeaTerror (talk) 03:22, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Pretty sure Yamato objecting to Onihime was due to not wanting to be thought of as an Oni's child, not because "gender bad". Again, I find it hard to believe that Kaidou and the entirety of the Beasts Pirates would refer to her as Kaidou's son out of respect for her choices when it's clear that Kaidou has zero respect for her, or her choices. The Pope 04:09, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Arguments like "Kaido only refers to Yamato as his son because he wants Yamato to be Shogun" are entirely rooted in headcanon and not necessary on this wiki. Damage3245 (talk) 10:07, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Right. MOST things regarding Yamato's gender are rooted in headcanon, beyond the three points I mentioned ("Oden was a man, so I chose to become a man too", the infobox, the vivre card). Everything beyond those is subjective. The Pope 16:49, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

The information from the latest chapter is not subjective. It's extremely direct information from Yamato themselves. Damage3245 (talk) 17:53, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Yamato wanting to go into the men's bath is direct. Why she wanted to do it (she identifies as a male, she identifies as Oden, Oden would be in the male bath, she'd rather just be with the guys because she'd be more comfortable, etc.) is subjective. She does not say the words "I want to go into the men's bath because I am a man." Everything beyond her being in the men's bath is subjective. The Pope 18:14, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Yamato said she couldn't go bathing with Nami because there was no mixed bathing. If she identified as a woman, why would the "no mixed bathing" rule stop her from bathing with other women? Damage3245 (talk) 18:21, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Because "Oden is a man" and she wants to do what Oden would do? Reading into her identity as Oden, or Oden AND male, or as two separate things, or one in the same, it's all subjective. Whether it's "I want to be in the men's bath because I'm a man" or "I want to be in the men's bath because I'm Oden", we don't know the real answer (it's more likely the latter), and reading deeper into it is subjective. Oden is male. She wants to be Oden. That's all that's objective. If Oden was a woman, would she go in the women's bath? Maybe, probably? We don't know. It's a thorny issue, and one that we can't make assumptions on based on our own thoughts and feelings. The Pope 18:24, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

If Oden was a woman we wouldn't be having this discussion. But speculating on how Yamato would act differently if Oden were anything different is pointless. What we have to deal with is how the series actually is, AKA what Yamato actually identifies as in canon. And we have three cases now of Yamato affirming a male identity; saying they chose to become male since Oden was, saying that they're Kaido's son and choosing to bathe in the male area in a no-mixed bathing area. Damage3245 (talk) 18:38, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

You're right. What Yamato identifies as is canon. Because the Vivre cards are canon. And the Vivre card states she's a woman.

The latter two things you mentioned, again, are completely subjective. Why does she call herself "Kaidou's son"? Is it because she identifies as male? Because Kaidou wanted a son, so he forced her to be called his son? We don't know, and trying to read gender theory into it is being subjective. All we can go off of is objective information, and the fact is that Oden labelled her as "Daughter of Kaidou" and that in the Vivre card listed her as a woman. If Zoro spent the first 30 chapters of his introduction claiming "I'm a big green pickle" regardless of all word of Oda stating otherwise, would we refer to him as a big green pickle? Yes, gender is a complicated issue and we don't want to misgender someone. But your own progressive well-meaning mindset isn't what needs to be making the deciding factor, it's what Oda himself has stated as fact. The Pope 18:45, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Hi everyone, I’m pretty new to this community but I’ve been following this discussion for a while now and I wanted to give my thoughts on it.

My thoughts are solely based on two pieces of evidence, the first is Yamato’s quote (“Oden was a man, so I chose to become a man too") and second, the discussion that takes place in chapter 1052.

But first I’d like to reiterate two basic facts. First, Yamato is an adult who is capable of making their own choices. Second, Fictional characters should be treated with the same amount of respect as living people due to the fact that they are analogs for real people.

To start I’d like to take a look at the quote. “Oden was a man, so I chose to become a man too.” This is a declaration of intent, and it is also a declaration of reasoning. In this sentence Yamato states that they chose to become a man, and that the reason was because Oden was a man.

I’ve noticed a lot of people taking issue with the reasoning behind this statement, but I’d argue that the reasoning isn’t actually very important. If we look at real world examples of trans people, we can see that there are many reasons why one might choose to transition. This ranges from gender dysphoria, intersex, and even simple personal preference. There are no “correct” or “incorrect” reasons for a person to feel the need to transition, and a person’s reasoning shouldn’t invalidate their choice.

Now once a person chooses to transition, it is followed by action. The type of action that is taken differs from person to person, but it usually leads to a behavioral change, a physical change, or both. In chapter 1052 we see Yamato make a decision that is a direct result of behavioral change.

When Nami asks to bathe together, Yamato’s first instinct is not just to decline, but to give a reason as to why they can’t (“this castle doesn’t have mixed baths”). This shows that Yamato has no problem with the notion of bathing with Nami, specifically, their problem lies with the fact that a man should not use a woman’s bath. This behavior only makes sense if Yamato sees themselves as a man, and thus, is taking action that reflects the choice they made when they decided to become a man.

Which means at in its simplest terms, Yamato chose to become a man, Yamato see’s themselves as a man, and Yamato makes decisions that reflect their choice to become a man.

It is out of respect for this that I believe that Yamato should be referred to as a trans man.

Lastly, a few other points of note: Kiku, who is a trans woman is allowed to bathe with the women, this shows respect for their preferred gender. Kiku’s who is a trans woman, has a vivre card that states their biological sex as male, therefore it would make sense for Yamato’s vivre card to state their biological sex as well. FacelessGiant (talk) 19:13, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Except Kiku's Vivre card doesn't state that she's male. It states that she's a "woman at heart" (the Japanese equivalent of "trans woman"). So it's two completely different situations here.

One thing you need to keep in mind is the difference between a desired reading and authorial intent. Even if it makes perfect sense to you that Yamato identifies as a man, if Oda says she's a woman, she's a woman. That's it. End of story. You can even call Oda "transphobic" for that if you want, but it's his world, and it's his decision how to label characters, not ours. The Pope 19:27, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Oda can say Yamato is a woman and we can still use male pronouns or gender-neutral pronouns to refer to Yamato. The two things are not mutually exclusive and we're not forbidden from choosing that course of action. Also, the information from the manga takes higher priority than past statements in the databooks. Databooks can be outdated. Damage3245 (talk) 20:35, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

The databook is...what, half a year old? Pretty sure Oda didn't suddenly have a radical change of mind in that time given Yamato's been in the series for years now. The only new relevant information is "Yamato chose to bathe with the boys", which is not in and of itself instant solidification of her true gender identity. Also, Oda said one thing but we're gonna say another thing" is...basically us as westerners writing our own fanfiction instead of sticking to the facts as Oda laid them out. The Pope 20:37, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

I'm also new here but have been following this discussion for quite some time. While the Vivre card stating female is indeed a solid piece of evidence for Yamato being female, I think we have much stronger evidence in Yamato's words and actions in the manga itself. Yamato has repeatedly referred to himself as a man or as Kaido's son, every character in-universe also addresses and refers to Yamato in this way, Yamato said that they "became a man", and now Yamato chooses to bathe with the men instead of the women. Honestly, does it really matter whether or not Yamato has gender dysphoria? It has been made abundantly clear by Yamato himself that he views himself as a man. Even if that is stemming purely from a desire to become Oden, that is still how he views himself and chooses to present himself. K3fka (talk) 22:00, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Literally the only time Yamato ever referred to herself as a man was when she said "Oden was a man so I became one too". Literally ever other instance is just the phrase "Kaidou's son". No other claims of gender whatsoever. The Pope 22:03, 13 June 2022 (UTC)


 * I'm sorry, but...do you seriously think Yamato's decision to bathe with the men, with the context that they don't mix genders in the baths, isn't a direct claim of gender?? You're acting like these two things are completely unrelated. The fact that he says he's joining the men at the same time as Kiku joining the women is the JOKE of the panel! No claims of gender? It's literally related TO gender. You're the one who's claiming that it's an Oden thing, without evidence. 02:46, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

I'm not saying it's an Oden thing. I'm saying it could be an Oden thing, and that we genuinely do not know. She didn't say "I'm going to bathe with the men because I'm a man," she said "I'm going to bathe with the men." That's literally it. Reading into it is entirely subjective. And until we do know for sure, it's better to stick to only facts that Oda has deliberately spelled out (that being "Yamato is female" in the vivre card). The Pope 03:05, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

"Arguments like "Kaido only refers to Yamato as his son because he wants Yamato to be Shogun" are entirely rooted in headcanon and not necessary on this wiki." Wano is based off the Edo period. It is not headcanon.

"The information from the latest chapter is not subjective. It's extremely direct information from Yamato themselves. " There was no direct info from Yamato because Yamato never stated any pronouns. SeaTerror (talk) 03:10, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

"I'm not saying it's an Oden thing. I'm saying it could be an Oden thing, and that we genuinely do not know. She didn't say "I'm going to bathe with the men because I'm a man," she said "I'm going to bathe with the men.""

You may not know this, but a lot of us do genuinely know this. I don't think there is any room for this to be an "Oden thing" unless you had direct evidence of Yamato stating "I'm going to bathe with the men because that's what Oden would do." Saying that information should be kept off the wiki because there are hypothetical possible alternatives is like saying Ashura Doji and Izo should be marked as still alive because there's a chance everyone mistook them for dead and they're just sleeping. There's a limit to how far we can refuse clear information being communicated to us in the manga. I say that we do know better and Yamato explicitly stating that they can't bathe with the women because of a no-mixed bathing rule, is as clear as you can get. At this point there is more evidence supporting Yamato viewing themselves as male than otherwise. Damage3245 (talk) 07:42, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

The Pope...So is Yamato's comment about the gendered baths...just a coincidence? Yamato literally says that they don't allow mixed baths. If Yamato did not view himself as a man, which he's expressly said he does, he would have bathed with the women. Unless you assume that he's just being hypocritical. Or, do you assume that "mixed baths" refers to one bath being mixed with soap from Udon and the other bath being being mixed with soap from Kibi and both soaps aren't allowed to cross into the other baths? Or something? You're being really weird avoiding the fact that Yamato directly acknowledged the gendered bathhouses. That's not speculation. It's not a subjective interpretation. That's what he SAYS! He doesn't even say what you're quoting, man. They don't allow mixed baths, so he's not mixing the baths. We also know for a fact that it's not an Oden thing, because he doesn't say it's an Oden thing. He says it's a gendered thing. That's what "mixed bath" means. As for facts that Oda has deliberately spelled out, here's a few reminders. Yamato calls himself a man. Other characters call him a man. He's called the son. He went into the men's bath with the expressed idea that the baths do not mix the genders. Oda even wrote (or technically Stephen Paul (or technically Vanessa Satone)) "Men's Bath" in the panel with the men's bath, where Yamato, the person who directly says women do not belong in the men's bath, is in the men's bath, and Oden has nothing to do with it. I'm sorry that I have to keep repeating it, but you keep deliberately avoiding it. The fact that Yamato is choosing to bathe with the men is, objectively, demonstrably, supported by the text itself, a gendered thing. That isn't subjective, because it's provable. This IS spelled out by Oda, and it's from a much more reputable source as well. Yamato is acknowledged and treated like a man. Oda wrote it that way. This fact cannot be disputed. Please acknowledge it. 07:54, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

If I still may put forth my opinion; while I still believe that Yamato identifies as female (as per the author's statements and such), I do agree the issue has become even more muddled than it used to be. Hence I propose a compromise to put this temporarily to rest; until Yamato outright confirmes in the manga how they view themselves (probably by dropping the "I'm Oden" Shtick) maybe we should just refer to Yamato with gender-neutral pronouns. That way at least the heated discussion can be calmed down just a bit. Timjer (talk) 08:07, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

uknownada, please read what I said closer.

The reason she preferred the men's bath when mixed baths weren't an option isn't clear. Maybe she identifies as a man. Maybe it's what Oden would do. We don't know, and I hate that I keep having to repeat myself.

Anyway, I believe her gender should remain the same throughout the article (nothing has changed; she's Kaidou's daughter, as Oda described her as, and she's female as Oda described her as). At most, an additional note should be added to the gender section about this whole bath thing and how it's just made the issue more confusing. The Pope 08:21, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

"Maybe it's this thing that's directly stated by the character and scene and supported by the consistent characterization, or maybe it's this completely unrelated thing that there is no evidence for. There's just simply no way to tell. Either could be plausible!" By the way, reading your comments back, you absolutely treated the idea that Yamato only joined the men's bath "because Oden would do it" as a matter of fact. Even saying that "it would be weird to party with icky girls" which is an unsubstantiated statement about Yamato AND Oden! And once again, you are deliberately avoiding the fact that Yamato joining with the men is a gendered thing. It's so explicit that you'd have to be purposefully misreading it. Which I guess you are if you're making up quotes like "I'm going to bathe with the men", which, by the way, if it was a real quote, would be great evidence that Yamato is a woman. Because logically, he wouldn't separate himself from the men if he didn't identify as one, because he literally says they don't mix baths. but maybe it's because Oden would do it idk 08:56, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Right now the talk page stands at 9 in overt favor of male and 3 in favor of female, with two users (Opera298 and Timjer) supporting a more gender neutral approach. Based on this, here is what I propose:
 * We generally write about Yamato in a gender neutral style eschewing pronouns.
 * If pronouns are used, they should be masculine (he/him/his)
 * Once this style has been implemented, users should not edit text solely to make it more or less gender neutral.
 * Yamato's article will acknowledge the discrepancies in how he is referred to, namely how other characters treat him as male while official material slants more toward female. It will be acceptable to refer to Yamato as the daughter of Kaidou, but son of Kaidou is also fine, better even.
 * This may be a bit more controversial, but I would propose adding *both* the Male and Female Characters categories to Yamato's page for the time being, given that Yamato has been identified as both in official material. Kaido King of the Beasts (talk) 09:25, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

I wanna make it clear, I'm in full support of masculine pronouns, but I'm also in support of a gender-neutral article. I think that may be best given how divisive the debate has become. With conflicting evidence between the manga and databook, it does feel like the only "correct" option. Yamato's discrepancies is absolutely necessary to point out. Of course, I also think this should be polled. And if Oda does outright give an answer via SBS or an interview, then maybe we can finally put this discussion to a definite close. 09:38, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Would it go to a poll with gender neutral too? SeaTerror (talk) 15:13, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

I agree with Kaido's proposal. Nevertheless, we'll make the change on the Catalan wiki. 18:36, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

My preference is just referring to Yamato as a man, especially because so many people seem to be in favor of it, so I still want us to vote on that. But I think Kaido's proposal is good as a second option, even better than gender-neutral pronouns. DewClamChum (talk) 21:30, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Given that a clear majority definitely prefers going back to gender neutral at the very least, I amended Yamato's article to reflect this, as otherwise the page would reflect a current minority viewpoint for multiple weeks longer while we do a poll, which has been set up below. Kaido King of the Beasts (talk) 23:50, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

It's possible for women to do activities with men without being trans/changing pronouns. Crazyface201 (talk) 17:02, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Yes, of course it is. But Yamato is specifically against women doing this particular activity with men. 08:30, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

When was that established? I do not remember that.(GoldenOath20 (talk) 10:24, 16 June 2022 (UTC))

In chapter 1052, page 13. Damage3245 (talk) 10:52, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

I haven't had time to read this entire discussion (hopefully I can later tonight), but I wanted to let people know where I'm at with this issue: There is a lot of evidence pointing either way towards Yamato identifying as either gender. But what there's not is any evidence of the character themselves saying "do not call me this gender." In 1051 Yamato states "I am Kozuki Oden, otherwise known as Yamato" which to me read like Yamato is fine with either identity. 1052's comment about "there's no mixed bathing in this castle" read to me like Yamato would prefer mixed bathing over gendered bathing.

My main concerns over this issue have always been 1) How can the wiki use accepting language on an issue that people have different (and valid!) opinions on? and 2) What can we actually cite as a encyclopedic enitity?

My personal reading of the character and all the evidence is that I think Yamato could very well be accepting of both gender identities and is more fluid than some readers want to admit. But my opinion alone can't be cited, all we have now is two piles of evidence for two genders, and no clear explanation from any source on the character's identity that acknowledges the controversy directly. We have all these piles of evidence saying "x is the correct gender" but nothing saying "X is the incorrect gender". I think until we have that cite-able piece of evidence that any gender identity is wrong, no reader, wiki, or opinion can be proven incorrect, and we'd be doing a disservice to the wiki's readers to claim it goes one way or the other. It's a complicated issue, and it think it's best to leave it complicated and explain the complexity to the best of our ability until we can make a clear and obvious decision,

In my mind right now, I think the best solution is to say that character "is sometimes identified as female, and sometimes identifies as male" and only use gendered pronouns when talking about series content that is explicily gendered. I also suggest using both male and female in the infobox/wiki categories until anything else changes. Using they/them or gender neutral in most other contexts for now. If we have the evidence to cite both positions, let's just do that very thing.

I'm honestly hesitant to poll the issue, because I don't think that majority rules will help us stay in line with Fandom's Gender Idenitiy Guidelines. 12:57, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

I agree with JustSomeDude, both that we probably shouldn't poll (as that might just make things worse) and that the source material is too unclear to make a proper decision. It's why I, despite my personal opinion on the matter, suggested we should probably just remain gender-neutral. Timjer (talk) 13:40, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

Poll Discussion
Here is the preliminary draft of the poll. To be clear, there is not a "female outright" option on the poll as per what FANDOM staff specified in our last discussion on this topic. The gender neutral/female preferred option would essentially maintain the status quo that occurred following that discussion.

The start date of the poll is midnight next Monday; this will allow us to respond to any potential new information from Ch. 1053. In the meantime, post here if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding this poll. Kaido King of the Beasts (talk) 23:50, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Gender neutral literally means they/them with no pronouns. They/them is the flat neutral option so that there are no preferred pronouns. SeaTerror (talk) 02:30, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Because FANDOM has ruled on this topic, we will no longer be having a poll. Kaido King of the Beasts (talk) 21:45, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

Trivia permission or question
Because of ep 1009, is it possible to put the Trivia that Yamato (in the anime), is first female-based character to NOT express a "blank and aloof" upon seeing Franky's Iron Pirate?

That sounds rather trivial for trivia. Also probably not true. 02:41, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Fandom Staff's Direction on Language Used for Yamato
Hello all,

I'm Lucas DeRuyter, Fandom's Anime Community Manager, and today I wanted to provide some direction on how gendered language should be used in reference to Yamato, based on the most recent events of the manga.

As per Fandom's Gender Identity Guidelines, he/him pronouns should be used for Yamato and Yamato's character page should belong to the "Male Characters" category. While Yamato's gender identify was ambiguous in his introduction, since then an overwhelming number of characters, including Yamato himself, use he/him pronouns in reference to Yamato and he's appeared in situations that reinforce his male identity.

I'm aware that an instance of narration, some language used in a flashback, and supplementary material to the One Piece text use feminine terminology in reference to Yamato, but these do not outweigh Yamato's use of masculine terminology in reference to himself and this element of his character should be acknowledged and respected.

For this reason, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disallow the use of a community poll to determine the language the One Piece wiki uses in reference to Yamato. While reaching a community consensus before making significant changes to a wiki is encouraged, Fandom has explicit guidelines on how write about a character's gender identity. As such, the poll is essentially a vote on if the community wants to violate Fandom's platform policies, and that's not allowable.

In the coming days I will be coordinating with One Piece wiki leadership on how to best implement and reinforce these language changes, as well as moderate conversations that arise from them. To be completely clear, using anything besides he/him pronouns in reference to Yamato will be considered misgendering and will result in local wiki and global bans.

I apologize for taking so long to address this issue and provide direction to this community. I did not want to raise tensions on a wiki that is near and dear to my heart and, like all One Piece readers, I was not sure of how Yamato's story arc might evolve as the series went on. I can say with confidence now, though, that he/him pronouns must be used in reference to Yamato, for this wiki to meet Fandom's standards of respect and inclusivity.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this message and I hope you have a great day.

Lder1995 (talk) 16:14, 16 June 2022 (UTC)


 * My personal opinions on this overruling aside (who even decided that? Was it a fully informed decision, a popular vote made by staff, or just a random dart toss?), there is one question that I have to ask because the implications really frighten me. You said, and I quote "using anything besides he/him pronouns in reference to Yamato will be considered misgendering and will result in local wiki and global bans", isn't that a bit excessive? I mean, should a newcomer make a discussion post and refer to Yamato as "her" or "them", are they going to receive an immediate global ban!? I can understand combating transphobia, but Yamato's gender identity is discussed for a reason, it's not that clear cut as some people might think and many newcomers might be genuinly confused by this and make an innocent mistake. Timjer (talk) 16:49, 16 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Also, on a side note, is this excessive ban only enforced for Yamato as your wording suggests, or are characters like Kiku or Morley (who are much more clear-cut exampls of trans people) also included? Timjer (talk) 16:56, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

Misgendering Policy Clarification
Thank you for the questions, Timjer. While this decision is primarily mine as the Anime Community Manager, Fandom's entire Community team was consulted and we're in agreement that the changes I've described are needed for this Community to be compliant with Fandom's Gender Identity Guidelines. These guidelines were formed by a panel of Fandom users and staff who are all a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Additionally, One Piece wiki leadership were informed of this decision prior to this announcement, and members helped me craft the language and communication strategy used to inform the broader One Piece wiki community of this decision.

Bans for misgendering, a form of bullying and hate speech, have been enforced on the Fandom platform for years. Willful misgendering of Yamato or any character on the Fandom wiki platform will be met with the consequences I've described. I hope this response clears up any confusion or ambiguity.

Lder1995 (talk) 22:18, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

Ya know something, with all due respect to women like Kiku, and but also taking Yamato trying to take on Oden's identity (some may say "impersonation") into account, I somehow get the feeling that how you're using gender terminology, and how the Community Team might be using gender terminology, might be quite a bit a ways away off from Oda's use of terminology, which prob isn't the best approach to take at least when you get to banning people out of the way and such.



Crazyface201 (talk) 23:41, 16 June 2022 (UTC)

It’s probably not possible, but I have a suggestion. Split the page into multiple pages, one with male pronouns, one with female pronouns, and one with gender neutral pronouns. Let the individual reader choose which one they want to read. Could that be possible?(GoldenOath20 (talk) 00:01, 17 June 2022 (UTC))

So you're saying you're going to ban people who happen to use she/her pronouns on discussion/talk pages or chats SeaTerror (talk) 03:02, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

While I strongly object to the decision made (and believe that referring to Yamato as female on talk pages being subject to banning when her gender is still an extremely confusing matter is utterly ludicrous), I believe that Oda will clear up the issue and put it to rest (one way or the other) in the near future, at which point I'll accept what he says (and no, I don't believe the bath issue decided the matter whatsoever). The Pope 04:24, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

@Lder1995 - "I hope this response clears up any confusion or ambiguity." It really does not, to be honest. For starters, you did say that "this decision is primarily mine" but aside from the fact that this more sounds like you're forcing your own, personal opinions on everyone else, you never answered my questions; is it TRULY a fully informed decision!? Likewise, I FULLY understand banning users for cyberbullying and hatespeech, but you once again did not answer my question; "should a newcomer make a discussion post and refer to Yamato as "her" or "them", are they going to receive an immediate global ban!?" Because accidentally referring to a fictional character with the wrong pronouns is NOT in any way the same as cyberbullying and hatespeech. Timjer (talk) 05:35, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Ah great, instead of having the ability to decide about the characters in our wiki, someone from "above" has to come and impose their rules and regulations on us, ignoring our guidelines and ways of doing things. Why should we be able to vote or have a voice if in the end the wiki has the ability to impose its decision whether we agree or not? Cracker-Kun (talk) 11:07, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

No disrespect of course, I don't doubt your professionalism, but how do we know that your decision is based on what we have seen of the manga and databooks or is it a personal decision? Are you up to date with One Piece? Have you read Yamato's Vivre Card? It is a very complex subject and that is why we are discussing it. If it were that simple, as was the case with Kiku, the issue would be resolved. That's why we decided to make a vote, because that's how things are done, not imposing them by ignoring our ability to inform the reader as best as possible. Sorry if it sounds a bit rude, that's not my intention, I just want to show my point. Cracker-Kun (talk) 11:17, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Agreed. The decision should be based on consensus of the majority. It's only fair.(GoldenOath20 (talk) 11:40, 17 June 2022 (UTC))


 * To make it even worse, according to Lder1995 themselves, they based their overruling almost solely on the localized versions. They LITERALLY said, and I quote: "this decision is made to reflect the pronouns used for Yamato in the official Viz translation of the manga". So clearly, they did not take the Vivre Card data or the OG Japanese wording or even cultural differences and nuances into account at all. So, yeah, this (combined with the disproprotionate penalty for breaking the ruling) makes it seem like Staff's decision was not objective at all, but rather a single user abusing their authority and forcing their own opinions on everyone else. Timjer (talk) 12:09, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

The majority of the users involved in the discussion were in favor of the change already. Fandom stepping in to make things official might be unnecessary but it shouldn't cause any grief. The community doesn't have a right to violate Fandom's rules after all. Damage3245 (talk) 13:28, 17 June 2022 (UTC)


 * You're missing the point, Damage. I mean, not only is "globally blocking every newbie who accidentally misgenders Yamato in a discussion" completely disproportionate, but we had internally agreed, civilly, with our Admins to vote on it first, and many were in favor of using, as is probaby most appropriate, gender-neutral terms. Regardless of what the eventual result of the vote would be, not only is Staff arbitrarily overruling us (and kinda abusing their power) before we even made any choice, but they're doing so for very bad reasons. As I just said, Lder1995 themselves outright admitted to making the choice almost by themselves and not making any proper research for their choice (right for the wrong reasons is a thing). Plus the lack of any decent communications certainly doesn't earn them any favors. What Staff is doing (especially outright silencing one side of the argument) is only further pouring fuel onto the fire. Timjer (talk) 13:49, 17 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Likewise, Damage, can you honestly and with a straight face say that accidentally misgendering a fictional character is the same as cyberbullying and hatespeech!? Because that is pretty much exactly what Lder1995 claims. Timjer (talk) 13:55, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

I wouldn't claim that, and I don't think that accidental misgendering is something that would automatically be given a global ban. Bans of that magnitude don't just get handed out for accidents. Vandalizing the profile by intentionally changing all of the pronouns on there would be more along the lines of what would be ban-worthy as far as I'm aware. Damage3245 (talk) 14:09, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Lder1995 mentioned gender identity guidelines that were formed by a panel who are all a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. But you should keep in mind that that community only makes up less than 5% of the population on average. Their votes are as valuable as anyone else's, no one can deny that. However that small percentage of the population is pretty far from a majority decision.(GoldenOath20 (talk) 14:15, 17 June 2022 (UTC))

"Bans of that magnitude don't just get handed out for accidents." I'd normally agree with that, Damage. Hence why I deliberatly asked Lder1995 if I didn't misunderstand them. I said, I quote, "should a newcomer make a discussion post and refer to Yamato as "her" or "them", are they going to receive an immediate global ban?" and Lder1995 literally responded with "Willful misgendering of Yamato or any character on the Fandom wiki platform will be met with the consequences I've described." So, yes, it does seem that any ignorant newbie who makes a comment post and thinks Yamato is female is going to get a global block. That is by no way acceptable. Timjer (talk) 14:22, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Not only that, GoldenOath20, but if the only Staff members who were allowed to make a decision on the Yamato overruling were "all a part of the LGBTQIA+ community", then it doesn't seem to me that the choice was not in any way prejudiced. Even if not intentional, you cannot say that all voters weren't people with a small bias towards Yamato being trans. Timjer (talk) 14:27, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

If we're going by what's in the Viz manga, guess it's time to change Zoro's name to Roronoa Zolo, yeah? Only fair, I suppose. The Pope 16:43, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Timjer I believe it is exactly the opposite. A newbie coming in and referring to Yamato with other pronouns isn't "Willful misgendering". If they get corrected and continue to refer to him with female pronouns, that would probably be considered "willful". Grdtfrrt (talk) 17:03, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Yeah, except you're "correcting" them with information that remains vague and unclear. Oda's still been very weird about establishing Yamato's gender, so saying "we gave you all this information, now if you keep calling her a woman you're a transphobe" is super insincere and, quite frankly, wrong. The Pope 17:26, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

My comment was only about the concerns of disproportionate bans. I personally don't think calling him a woman or confusing genders is inherently transphobic, but there are other factors that, when compounded, might be considered transphobic alongside that. For example, if I were to misgender somebody and, when they themselves corrected it, I started frantically looking for small pieces of info (birth certificate, ID, medical records, etc) to refute that and insisted on calling him a man, that would be transphobic. To make it clear, I'm NOT saying that's what's happening here, since we can't magically turn Yamato into a real person and ask them. What I AM trying to say is that gender is a complicated matter in general, but it's usually considered transphobic to defer to biology or official documents rather than self-identification when stating somebody's gender. From that perspective, I think constantly deferring to Oda stating that Yamato's official sex is female (rather than what Yamato himself decides) can be considered transphobic, since it's informed/reinforces these stereotypes that trans people can't just decide their gender and/or must be delusional. Grdtfrrt (talk) 17:51, 17 June 2022 (UTC)


 * The difference being that Oda is the RL person who writes the fictional Yamato. Besides, Oda confirmed in the very same source that Kiku is undeniably female and that Yamato is not trans. Timjer (talk) 18:03, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Equally valid then, should be the manga that Oda wrote were Yamato stated he became a man, refers to himself as such, and visits the male baths. Leaving aside that one of them is the main source from which most canon information is revealed, how do we reconcile these two facts? I can only think of four reasons: 1. Oda wrote Yamato as a trans man (their biological sex is female, but their gender is masc), and the Vivre Card is only talking about Yamato's sex. 2. The Vivre Card was mistaken for some reason. 3. Oda wrote Yamato as a woman who is, for some reason, deliberately and knowingly lying about their gender, and the Vivre Card is right about their gender (This is very unlikely, but nonetheless a possibility) 4. Oda wrote Yamato as a woman that delusionally thinks they're a man, and the Vivre Card is right about their gender. It's this last reading that generates problems with their gender, because it is unironically transphobic from Oda's perspective (since it reinforces the stereotype I was talking about before, and invalidates Yamato's self-identification). To me, this last option also seems unlikely, but for some reason it's the one that a lot of people seem to be jumping to. Now, even if this was clarified and ratified by Oda himself, reproducing that idea all over the wiki would still be transphobia (which is not allowed according to the community guidelines of fandom.com (and frankly, pretty uncool in general)). I'm also not saying that in that case we should ignore Oda's intended meaning, but in that case a paragraph surrounding all this information could be added in Yamato's wiki page, without infecting every single use of his pronouns with transphobia. Grdtfrrt (talk) 18:42, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Well, concerning your points...
 * The Vivre cards state the characters gender, not sex (as it does the same with Kiku and Morley). So it cannot be that.
 * The Vivre cards might be mistaken, I admit, but so far we have no reason to believe it is. Besides the manga itself (through the NARRATOR) also calls Yamato things like "Kaido's daughter" and "Oni Princess".
 * This is what I think is most likely. Yamato is putting on an "I'm Kozuki Oden" act, and since Oden was a (very manly) man, Yamato therefore also claim to be male. Many people have compared Yamato to Mulan on that front.
 * I doubt Oda would do that. So far, he has shown to be pretty progressive by portraying Kiku as a very positive example of a trans person. So I personally don't appreciate that Oda and his fans are portrayed as "transphobic". Especially since even IF Oda is transphobic on that front, it' still unjust to "shoot the messengers rather than the message", as it were. Timjer (talk) 18:50, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

I'm not trying to label anyone as transphobic, in fact it's because I don't believe Oda to be transphobic that I'm arguing so much. It doesn't seem like the "Kozuki Oden act" is insencere, though again, I grant it's a possibility. If that ends up being the case I'll accept it, but discussing whether or not Yamato is lying about it based on the Vivre Card is, at the very least, toeing the line regarding transphobia. I'm not saying you are transphobic, I'm sorry if I implied that, but it's a bit hard explaining my positions on this subject without talking about transphobia. It bears mentioning I don't think all transphobia is at the same level, and I don't believe one single instance of Oda writing something like this would undermine his larger work, specially since as you mentioned he has been pretty progressive before. But I also believe when deciding which gender to refer to a character all over a wiki, deferring to higher entities like a narrator or a supporting databook rather than the self-identification of a character, without any indication from that character that they're insencere in that identification, is a bit transphobic. That's why I think the current "gender" section for Yamato is enough, and the rest of the wiki should not make assumptions based in anything other than self-id. Grdtfrrt (talk) 19:34, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

While I'm still in favor of keeping Yamato female (because I'm still convinced that she's a woman who likes acting like Oden, not a trans man separate from her Oden obsession), I'd at least rather keep things gender neutral than saying "he's a man and if you refer to him otherwise you're a transphobe." Also, I don't buy the whole "using the vivre card to demand she's a woman" is transphobic thing. Again, the stuff with Morley and Kiku. If Yamato genuinely identified as a man, there's no reason Oda wouldn't say as much. But he didn't, so it's far more likely she just likes to role play as Oden. In summation, I'm strongly in the female camp, I could accept a "it's complicated" gender-neutral compromise, and outright using male pronouns everywhere is stupid and is a case of the LGBTQ community desperately seeking representation when it isn't there. I'm very happy that Kiku exists as positive representation, but calling Yamato a definitive trans man is cramming a square peg into a round hole. The Pope 20:33, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Staff Follow up Response to New Messages
Hi all, this post is a response to messages posted here during my off hours.

I'd like to begin by reinforcing Fandom's commitment to making our wiki platform a welcoming and inclusive space to individuals of historically oppressed groups and marginalized identities. This is a priority to Fandom as a company and the people working here. Any efforts related to this commitment are not the rogue actions of individuals who work at Fandom, they are an intrinsic part of the platform and Fandom's company values.

I'd also like to assure this community that I'm deeply familiar with One Piece and was hired as Fandom's Anime Community Manager partially because of my anime/manga expertise. I've read the entirety of the One Piece manga, and have been following the franchise for the past eighteen years. I've written about various anime and manga series professionally for a number of outlets -- including Fandom, AnimeFeminist, and Anime Herald -- and have a quarterly segment on my podcast where I discuss seasonal anime and the manga I've experienced recently. It is a facet of my job to be aware of releases and discourse in the broader Anime sphere, so I promise this Staff direction is coming from a member of the anime fandom.

There will not be multiple versions of Yamato's page that use different pronouns.

As several folks have noted supplemental material, such as the Vivre Card - One Piece Visual Dictionary, in arguments in favor of using pronouns besides he/him for Yamato, I want to note that such material was a factor in this decision. However, it does not outweigh the language used in the manga itself. Furthermore, these supplemental materials have a history of inaccuracy across various manga IP. For instance, the official databook for Hunter X Hunter misspells the names of various characters and lists the character Alluka as being male, despite the manga repeatedly noting that she is a trans girl. Rather than be a definitive source of truth, information in databooks and similar materials should be taken into context with all other material related to the franchise.


 * The thing is is that if you're going to dismiss material like Vivre Card on the basis of possibly being inaccurate, then what's to stop one from saying that Kaido and the beasts pirates may possibly be inaccurate in what they're saying? Repeating something many times doesn't guarantee it to be automatically be more right.

Crazyface201 (talk) 23:47, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

As for my previous messaging on bans for misgendering, my intent was to remind this community of the policies that have existed for a considerable amount of time and that they will be enforced as they always have been. Fandom as a platform is a space where users can make mistakes and grow from them, but this can only happen when everyone is engaging with each other in good faith on the platform. Ignorance is forgivable, but not excusable and anyone who insists on misgendering Yamato will receive local and global bans of varying lengths depending on the severity of their edits and posts.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this follow up response.

Lder1995 (talk) 20:30, 17 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Lder1995, I understand most of your arguments, even if I don't agree 100% with all of them. And I'd like to add by saying that I really am an "LGBTQ+ rights supporter" myself, and I despise people who deliberatly discriminate against them. Hell, I'm autistic myself, so I know what it's like to be part of a minority who's often misunderstood and caricaturized by ignorant bigots. You know, the ableist bigots who think we have a disease that makes us "screaming retards" (if you'll forgive my language).
 * HOWEVER, that all being said in all honestly, there is still something I do have to say. I cannot in good conscience support giving any newcomers to this fandom and site a global ban just because they used the wrong pronoun for a character they may have only seen fanart of so far. That comes across as very toxic and in no way welcoming to any newcomers who genuinely did not mean any harm. There's a huge difference between accidentally misgendering a fictional character than there is to genuinely deadname and cyberbully and such an actual LGBTQ+ person. I hope Staff takes this argument of mine to heart. Because no fictional character is worth hurting RL people over. Timjer (talk) 20:52, 17 June 2022 (UTC)


 * And to clarify, I don't mean that people who insist on sayo,g "Yamato is obviously female because she has big boobies" shouldn't be banned. Screw those blatantly sexist and transphobic jerks. I just mean that a newcomer who says "who's this hot girl character from One Piece?" Doesn't deserve an instant global block no matter how short it may be. I'd know, as I was once given a global block under false accusations. It was EXTREMELY stressful for me and it took me several tries until I FINALLY managed to find a Staff member who was willing to dig enough to find out I WASN'T responsible for what I was accused of. Timjer (talk) 21:05, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

I think that Lder1995's final post up above should reassure those potential concerns. As he says, users acting in good faith on the platform is fine and only the people who insist on misgendering Yamato (as in, repeated offences after being warned) would be given bans. Damage3245 (talk) 10:51, 19 June 2022 (UTC)


 * There is no "misgendering" on Yamato. The story has emphasized time and time again that Yamato isn't trying to go against her birth gender, but is a person trying to carry on Oden's will and growing up tomboyish in the process. One can't tell me that motivation doesn't matter if that motivation will be repeated time and time again for doing what she's doing. I know I'm respectfully in the right, as talking of Yamato as being the same as Kiku would be the actual disrespectful action as the woman at heart Kiku made herself clear as for her own life, and that bath gags and Kaido's desire for a male shogun patriarchy doesn't make "impersonation = trans" more respectful either. I say that as just humbly offering my two cents on that note since I wouldn't want Kiku disrespected based on a misunderstanding with Yamato, but I know that many here including the higher ups would rather go about with the agenda of being an LGBTQ supporter rather than trying to analyze the whole field of context the manga's info has for what it has. It's not a bad agenda, but is one some are willing to run with to the point of willingfully disregarding info like Vivre Card info. Crazyface201 (talk) 21:01, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

I have made the decided changes to Yamato's page and am closing this discussion. Further attempts at debate are unproductive and will be removed. This discussion can ONLY open up again if relevant new content is released. If lder wishes to engage in further discussion about this ruling, he can post a place to do so. The page will remain locked to editing for about a week longer, depending on certain factors.
 * The facts behind why Yamato is referred to as male, and the discrepancies with sources that call him female, have been noted in the "Gender" section on Yamato's page. Please redirect any unknowing users there.
 * Users who are new and try changing pronouns in good faith will be warned about our policy and reasons for it. If said new user ignores this, or an established user who should know very well what this talk page decided tries to change anything, there will be consequences.
 * You are free to feel however you like regarding Fandom's involvement in this; I trust and hope that it is a rare event. Do know, however, that the majority on this talk page supported going to male, and Fandom's involvement merely expedited what we would have likely decided to do anyways.

Kaido King of the Beasts (talk) 17:17, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

"Four Emperors Saga" > "Wano Country Saga"
Title says it (Haresen12 (talk) 03:04, 5 October 2022 (UTC))

Page shouldn't have gender-related tags
The character has a section devoted entirely to the contradictions in their gender and how there isn't a clear answer. I understand the need to have a consistent set of Pronouns for articles, but Tags are meant for inarguable facts like "This character has Conquerors Haki", and "This Chracter is from Wano", not "This Character might be Trans, its kind of hard to tell and there are two full pages of arguments between users". Gender-related tags should be removed entirely until concrete information is given on the characters gender. DarkinBladeGaming (talk) 00:45, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

Categories reflect information presented in the article. We can't simply treat categories as ambiguous when a final decision is made for the article itself. According to the wiki, Yamato is a male character and assigned female at birth. So he belongs in "Male Characters" and "Transgender Characters" categories. This should stay consistent. Otherwise, where would Yamato go? 07:41, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Yamato's article would be perfectly fine having no Gender-related tags. Imu's article doesn't have any either, because we don't know Imu's gender. And while it is true that tags are meant to reflect the information in the article, this article has an entire section of information on how there is conflicting information on Yamato's gender and we don't actually know what it is because there has been no definitive statement from the source material or creator. The Wiki does need to take a stance because the English language requires defined pronouns to function, and otherwise there would be constant editing clashes between the he crowd and she crowd. Yamato's gender is still ambiguous, so the tags should reflect that. DarkinBladeGaming (talk) 05:47, 24 April 2023 (UTC)

Chapter 1084 Color Spread
Hello everyone, with the upcoming release of 1084, it's obvious to me that people are going to want to discuss Yamato's gender as result of it. Wiki leadership is willing to allow it for a short time here on this talk page, and nowhere else on the wiki.There are a few things I'd like to clarify about how the discussion will proceed:


 * 1) This discussion is only for new evidence after the June 2022 discussion shown above. Things like Yamato's Vivre Card, etc have already been talked about at length.Please read the older thread and archived tabs if you plan to discuss anything besides Ch. 1084.
 * 2) As with any discussion on the wiki, anyone participating in this discussion must remain civil. To insult any other user, staff member, person, etc using any kind of language (with or without obscenities) will result in at least a 2 week wiki ban. This post will serve as everyone's final warning.
 * 3) Anyone posting extreme transphobia will be instantly banned, and have their posts removed. Examples of that type of extreme transphobic content would be claiming trans identities don't exist, saying trans people are sick, etc.
 * 4) This discussion cannot end in a poll, as that would violate Fandom's policies. Things will only change if a near unanimous majority, and Fandom staff agree to change the current status.

Once the chapter is officially released tomorrow, this talk page will be unlocked and then discussion can start. I will save my own opinions on it until that later time. 14:45, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Talk page should be open to edit now.

Personally, I am not in favor of making any changes based on this color spread.


 * It would be very unprecedented to make a change of this scale based on conclusions drawn from a color spread drawing. Perhaps if there was a caption saying something like "Women of Summer" there might have been more ground to stand on. But drawing hard conclusions based on color spreads is not something to be done lightly. In fact, we have prior examples to warn us against this. When the 1031 color spread came out, some fans began claiming it as "proof" that Zoro (and Bepo) held the title of First Mate. However, Oda would later clarify in the Vol. 102 SBS that he just drew the "No. 2s" of crews and not all of them held the title of First Mate, with Zoro being among that group. Perhaps we may be so lucky for him to revisit this spread in the SBS.
 * It's not necessarily shocking that Yamato is perceived/referred to as a woman in certain instances, even if you 100% believe that Yamato is male at the end of the day. Kiku, who most can agree should be referred to as a woman, has still been referred to in a masculine manner when her biological sex comes up. Without making overstepped assertions about Japanese language & culture, it does seem clear that how they refer to transgender people is not necessarily as "progressive" as English, and more references tend to be made to original/biological sex than most of the current English LGBT lexicon is comfortable with. So Yamato being lumped in with women/on'na in a drawing is not necessarily a huge revelation regarding what Yamato ultimately considers his gender to be.
 * Finally, a question: why should we consider this color spread to be solid proof Yamato is a woman, but we should not consider the bathhouse scene in the manga proper to be solid proof Yamato is a man?

As I noted in the first point, I'm definitely open to (and hoping for!) Oda explicitly revisiting this. But until then, there's just not enough foundation to indicate that current consensus is off base. Kaido King of the Beasts (talk) 16:53, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

I think it works contextually like this: from Oda's perspective, he's drawing Yamato in that shot, not Kozuki Oden, Yamato believes their essentially Kozuki Oden, the male. Though Oda is not drawing Kozuki Oden, he's drawing Yamato for this shot with all the women present. So yes, Yamato is still male because they believe they're Kozuki Oden, but Oda is drawing Yamato if it makes any sense. GiverOfThePeace (talk)

A case that reminds me of this color spread is that one celebratory film "WE ARE ONE" uploaded on the official OP YT channel, which was tweeted about by the official @Eiichiro_Staff Twitter account. Said video is about female OP fans and female characters specifically, and prominently features Yamato as such. I would group this "new information" together with that older piece of info but would be hesitant to call it more solid "proof" than anything we've discussed before (since, while we know Oda hand-drew this color spread, he's also directly addressed a fan inference about a color spread before as @Kaido noted). Hence I agree that we should probably, at this point, simply wait/hope for Oda giving explicit clarification. Karama20 (talk) 17:26, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

May I chime in? Due to certain religious beliefs in Japan, the body and spirit are not considered always one and the same. Physically, Yamato is definitely female, unless things down below don't match up. But when she identifies herself as "he", she is saying her "soul" or ego is that of a male. This is a harder concept for a western prospect to understand. Its because a physical body is sometimes regarded as just a shell or "avatar" to house a spirit in. You can see this at play in certain parts of Shinto religion which certains on the "Kami". A object such as a toy can be the house and act as an avatar for a Kami "damashi" (which loosely translates to soul or spirit, but as someone once said thats not 100% true as its more like essence or force, but these make less sense from a western POV).

Either way, this is what Yamato is doing, especially worth noting that the arc is focused on old Japanese culture. A Japanese person would likely understand fully whats going on. And several people here could likely try and confirm what I'm saying is true, hopefully as well, if they know how the Shinto religion works. I've encountered this same issue in another fandom that I shalt not name, because when this was explained about piracy they got a bit snotty. Long story short, it was over piracy, Japan does have piracy but its not viewed the same because products stolen via piracy as seen at times as bad because people put a heart and soul into those products and by pirating you've essentially stolen part of that products soul. (Edit: while this note about piracy seems irrelevent, it is my attempt to explain how "spirit" and "Avatar" becomes a big deal in perspective).

If this is true and it is the case, then Yamato is not like the current issues going on in the western world over transgenderism and gender in general, its something very different entirely and the situation is not 100% the same. Its going to be complex to understand what exactly is going on here unless you can get into the correct mindset. In this case, Yamato is saying that while she was born female, she had to become spiritually male to get anywhere, and this will not be the same. For now, "male" is likely correct, but its an awkward situation to explain. all this to anyone ad should not be compared 100% the same as a western POV on the situation. But this creates issues because the true definition here doesn't fit a wiki category system as idyllically as it should be and I'd argue that even the definition of "male" grossly overlooks the actual explanation of the situation, if this is indeed the case.

This sort of thing is always, and always WILL be hard to explain, because unless you understand what is involved in Shinto religious stuff, its not going to be easy to understand. I've tried my best, regardless theres a LOT of shinto references in the arc overall that will go over most heads and I think this is one of them. Angel Emfrbl (talk) 18:09, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

I'm in favor of changing back to female. I know many would say that actual manga events overweigh color spreads or other official media, and while I can agree with that, I would also like to point out that official media with explicit declarations trump over manga events that are open to speculations. I would also like to remind you folks that this wiki explicitly states that there is no room for speculations. The upheaval regarding Chapter 1052 is, in my eyes, based on speculations alone, even though other official media stated otherwise. I know the Vivre Card had already been discussed, but think about it this way: they would have changed it there too if Yamato had indeed been a male in the eyes of the officials. Furthermore, we have a case of an extreme fangirl who pretty much gave up on her personality to mimic someone she idolizes in a rather unhealthy manner.

As for solid proof, Chapter 1052 isn't solid proof because the reason for Yamato bathing with the men isn't stated explicitly. Other media had more explicit declarations, and explicit declarations trump over speculations like I had stated earlier. This color spread is an explicit declaration.

These Devil Fruits are making me thirsty! Piposh D. Hezi 20:20, 21 May 2023 (UTC)


 * Except 1084's color spread makes no such explicit declaration. There is no mention of it being a woman-only group shot in the captions, and even setting aside Yamato, that wouldn't be an entirely accurate description of the color spread. Chapter 1052, however, is explicit. Nami suggests that she and Yamato take a bath together, but Yamato refuses, stating that there is no mixed bathing in the castle, and instead bathes with the other men. Dragonus Nesha (talk) 20:42, 21 May 2023 (UTC)


 * I disagree, Yamato stated there is no mixed bathing because this is what Oden would have done, not herself had she not given up on her personality, and she's pretty much surrounded by people who don't want to bother with her and they're weaker than her, she can easily overpower anyone who'd want to stop her from bathing with the men. And I don't quite understand why you're saying the description of the color spread isn't accurate. "There are no mixed baths" is pretty much an empty slogan that Yamato uses as an excuse to live as Oden and not as herself. These Devil Fruits are making me thirsty! Piposh D. Hezi 20:49, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

First time I've done this, so sorry if I mess something up. Angel's explanation above is something I hadn't heard before, and actually makes quite a bit of sense. I will however say that I'm not so sure it doesn't transfer to current western english as it is. Consider the definition of sex and gender, one is the physical description (ie body above), while the other is the role that was originally decided by society, but is now held in the hands of those who wish to have a certain identity different from the common beliefs (ie soul, as above). Therefore, it is actually realistic to refer to Yamato as he/him, or at the very least they/them. Even if you were to have, as we see above, a color spread stating "Women of One Piece" or something like that, that could still only be referring to the body, not the soul, which would possibly be how the vivre card case works. So I am in favor of not only not changing anything, but also using this explanation in the future to explain why it won't be changed until and unless Oda says something directly. KeA Bannings (talk) 22:12, 21 May 2023 (UTC)

I'm still of the mind that she's a woman who identifies as Oden. This has been dug deep into the ground, but if Oden were a woman, she would identify as a woman. It's less "I am a man, and Oden was a man" but rather "I am Oden". She's essentially an extreme Oden cosplayer, and nothing about her has shown that she specifically wants to identify as male beyond "I wanna bathe with the boys".

This was part of my original post (which got scrubbed since I posted it before the chapter was officially out, oops), but at the end of the day, fan interpretation should take a backseat to word of Oda. There are basically three pieces of information that Oda put out there, regardless of what's come out of Yamato's mouth:


 * Her intro card, which ID'd her as "Daughter of Kaidou"
 * Her Vivre Card, which ID'd her as female
 * Her inclusion in a spread that included only other female characters (and Zeus, but he's basically Nami's weapon so that's neither here nor there)

There's plenty of information in favor of either gender in other sources, but at the end of the day, I think what matters is Oda's interpretation. We might interpret her gender as one way, but if Oda interprets her as "a woman who believes she is Oden", then at the end of the day, that's the truth of it. The Pope 02:21, 22 May 2023 (UTC)


 * Well then perhaps it should be put this way: "Yamato is a woman (sex) with the soul of Oden (gender) and since Oden was male, her pronouns are he/him." The idea here is that pronouns are a separate thing: they're based on gender, but gender, in our current society, is deliberately not binary! So you could totally (per se, remember this is Oda's story, doesn't necessarily need to be realistic) say his "gender" is Oden. Like I said above, all it really means is that no matter what new info comes out, so long as it isn't a direct statement from Oda or Yamato, we'll still keep with the decisions stated above, just honestly in order to have peace of mind and not deal with constantly shifting goalposts. Because again, even if there was a color spread called "Women of One Piece", and Yamato was on it, I still wouldn't consider that to be enough proof, considering what we've said above! Simply, because both are true! Yamato, unless he goes through surgery (Ivankov?), still has his sex as female. ...Almost makes me want to start calling him Yoden, and just use she/her with Yamato when we're talking with that context in mind. But I dunno. Think about it, I guess? KeA Bannings (talk) 02:57, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

I'm seeing some comments on here spreading a very bad misconception about Yamato, which I see a lot especially in the One Piece subreddit. I really want to get it out of the way because it's a seriously poor reading. Yamato does not just "identify" as Oden. He identifies as Yamato. Frequently, from his first appearance with Luffy to his last appearance with Ryokugyu, Yamato introduces himself as Yamato, the son of Kaido. This idea that Yamato literally believes he's Oden is honestly poisoning a lot of discussion about the character, because it's based on nothing. Yamato knows he is not Oden, and he has no delusions that he is anybody except for Yamato. I want to stress this, because I think the misconception is affecting the way people talk about him. Even Chapter 994 is titled "My Other Name is Yamato". Whether Yamato is a man or a woman, there is one thing that cannot be disputed: Yamato identifies as Yamato. Having said that, our canon guildelines state that the manga story takes precedence over other material, such as color spreads. As previously discussed at length, Yamato's gender identity can be observed independent from his admiration for Oden. The color spread is not more important than Yamato's own stated identity. Whether or not you think Yamato identifies as a man because Oden was a man, that does not change the fact that Yamato identifies as a man (who, I repeat, is named Yamato). His inclusion in the lady colorspread does not change this, and it would go against our canon policy to make it so. Even without considering our policy, the colorspread is still weaker evidence than the notably similar bathhouse scene. 05:07, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

I agree with The Pope. I disagree with Uknownada, Yamato's identification as a male is NOT independent from her identification as Oden. If Oden had been a woman, this whole controversy wouldn't have even been dreamed of. Even if you see the color spread as weaker evidence, official statements like the introduction box or the Vivre Card should not be seen as weaker evidence. They are pretty much the words of Oda himself, and Oda even made the color spread, he knows better than anyone of us. Plus, saying our comments are "spreading a very bad misconception about Yamato" and "it's a seriously poor reading" is very judgemental. Plus, "My Other Name Is Yamato" could pretty much also be interpreted that "Yamato" is merely a subsidiary because Yamato literally thinks she's Oden. In one of the chapters she even asked "Were you talking about me?" (a comment which, in my eyes, deserves a facepalm).

Furthermore, Yamato's lack of personality also stems from Kaido's physical abuse towards her, causing her to admire Oden even more and to further self-confirm that she as herself is worthless. So Kaido not only abused his own daughter physically, but psychologically as well. He calls her his "son" not because of her admiration for Oden, this wouldn't make sense. Kaido obviously has his own agenda, and historically speaking, there were never any women shoguns.

As for KeaBanning's comment, it doesn't have to transfer into the Western English as it is, because we are talking about a Japanese series here, and I personally think we should go with their standards. I would also like to point out that the Fandom staff did not handle the matter well, because they based their decision on localized material alone.

In fact, I personally think there is more proof of Yamato being a female rather than male. Let's play a little game, a game that counts all the statements that claim Yamato is either female or male and see if they're facts or speculations. Each fact adds one point, but speculations don't. So, let's begin:

1. A woman is an adult human female. Yamato is a human, she's an adult, and she was born a female. So Yamato answers that definition. FACT. (Score 1 for Female)

2. Yamato claims she became a man. FACT. (Female 1, Male 1)

3. Yamato didn't actually become a man. FACT. (Female 2, Male 1)

4. Yamato identifies as a male because of Oden. SPECULATION (No points added).

5. Yamato doesn't even try to look like a man. FACT. (Female 3, Male 1)

6. Oda keeps emphasizing that Yamato is a woman. FACT. (Female 4, Male 1)

7. Oda explicitly stated Yamato is a female in the introduction box (Kaido's daughter). FACT. (Female 5, Male 1)

8. The Vivre Card magazine, which is an official source, explicitly states Yamato is a female. FACT. (Female 6, Male 1)

9. Yamato uses male pronouns like "boku" and such. FACT. (Female, 6 Male 2)

10. But Big Mom also uses such pronouns, and she aims to be King of the Pirates (and not Queen), and she does not identify as a male. FACT. (Female 7, Male 2)

11. Yamato uses pronouns like "boku" because sometimes females do that as a tomboyish trait. SPECULATION.

12. A fan commented on Yamato's sideboob and asked how it'd be if it were personified, thus acknowledging Yamato's feminine anatomy. FACT. (Female, 8 Male 2)

13. Yamato was referred to as "Oni Princess". FACT. (Female 9, Male 2)

14. Yamato is referred to as Kaido's son by many characters, including Kaido himself as well as Yamato herself. FACT. (Female 9, Male 3)

15. Kaido refers to Yamato as his son because he respects her decision. SPECULATION (which makes no sense because Oden was his sworn enemy, and Yamato idolizes him).

16. Kaido refers to Yamato as his son because he's in denial he has a daughter, and he does it for his own agenda. SPECULATION (which makes more sense than the previous statement).

17. Yamato bathed with the men. FACT. (Female 9, Male 4).

18. Yamato bathed with the men because she identifies as a male. SPECULATION.

19. Yamato bathed with the men because she identifies as Oden, and this is what Oden would have done. SPECULATION.

20. The bathing scene contributed nothing to the plot. FACT (that adds no points to either side).

21. Yamato was drawn by Oda with many female characters in the most recent color spread. FACT (Female 10, Male 4)

That's pretty much 10 for female in comparison to 4 for male. This is my conclusion.

These Devil Fruits are making me thirsty! Piposh D. Hezi 05:33, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

Edit: I also want to point out that I have no offensive intentions with my list, or anything else I had written for that matter. The list I made was written in a purely objective perspective, thus separating facts and speculations and giving them their own clauses. That's all.

These Devil Fruits are making me thirsty! Piposh D. Hezi 05:43, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

I do certainly agree that using the western perspective here to begin with brings in some important issues, but really a point here is that there's two arguments: How Yamato should be perceived in JP (which would practically be how Oda sees him), and how Yamato should be perceived in the west. The first one should take priority, the only reason it hasn't is because this is a touchy subject, and I have seen a few people from the LGBT community saying that Yamato needs to be seen in a certain way because otherwise (and I'm probably misquoting here, but it's important to mention) "It would put a bad light on such situations", I think is the correct wording here. Now to break that down, all uses of pronouns or localizations regarding the beliefs surrounding Yamato lie directly in the second path, because that is a perception which is only required by the west. As stated above by Angel, we should never have been looking at it like that to begin with, but due to the manga being localized, that was an impossibility. We can't get around the use of pronouns and the controversy surrounding it, because the localization already forced that issue to front and center with effectively no other options.

On a separate note, Uknownada, the common belief held is that Yamato identifies as both, and yet somehow neither. The reason for this being, obviously, that we had conflicting information show up on multiple occasions from Yamato himself and other sources. Yamato's exact words in the past were "Well, Oden was a man, so I chose to be a man too!" (This is, as far as is known, fully accurate in JP as well.) One cannot be unlinked from the other, because the very definition of Yamato as Oden, is Oden as a man. However, Yamato still uses Kaido's style of attacking, with a kanabo, as well as using Eight Trigrams (Raimei Hakkei). And, as you mentioned, he also directly states "My other name is Yamato" with no "daughter of Kaido" or "son of Kaido" attached to it (which would make sense when you consider that he doesn't really want to accept being the son or daughter of Kaido to begin with). All in all, it's a bit of a confusing mess. To say that Yamato only identifies as one or the other would actually be directly false, because he clearly identifies as both! So what is this supposed to mean? In the end, we come right back to the start: Fandom staff decided to step in on a conversation that can't be de-escalated, thanks to a localization existing, and everyone settled on he/him for lack of better choice. Up until the point where that choice becomes available (ie, when Oda decides to clarify, or Yamato directly states something that would contradict anything of what we know so far), we are currently stuck with the above choice. It truthfully does not matter what belief you or anyone else here may hold, because it isn't and will not be a subject that can be de-escalated easily, even IF Oda does indeed say something. In the end, Yamato is an amazing character, regardless of how we may need to refer to him in english, and that's all I really care about. KeA Bannings (talk) 08:28, 22 May 2023 (UTC)


 * I personally think that how Yamato should be perceived in Japan trumps the Western perception. We are talking about a Japanese series after all, including the pronouns issue. That being said, the Japanese perception should trump the LGBT perception of Yamato as well. Furthermore, like I said earlier, the decision for settling for the male option was done based on speculations influenced by the Western perceptions, and the staff's decision ignored official Japanese sources outside the manga, plus it was based on the decision of people who already hold a certain view on how things should be seen regarding Yamato, and that this certain view should outweigh the Japanese view on the character. In addition, things like the introduction box, color spreads, and other official sources outside the manga should be seen as the word of the creator, eventually he is in charge of everything and he acts as the all-knowing narrator when it comes to introduction boxes and narrator texts. Oda never said "Yamato is a man", and the Vivre Card didn't change Yamato's gender. As for "a perception which is only required by the west", the Japanese perception should outweigh this because this is still a Japanese series.

Moreover, I digress, but I cannot say Yamato is an amazing character. On the contrary, I think Oda made a very dangerous move when creating that character because of her overall personality and the controversy surrounding her.

These Devil Fruits are making me thirsty! Piposh D. Hezi 09:15, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

I'm noticing an awful lot of comments on here that don't have much to do with the new color spread but just talking about Yamato overall. We are not rehashing the whole evidence over and over again. Taking just this new color spread into consideration, I don't think that this is anything new that would warrant a change to Yamato's page since the Gender section already covers the contradictory information that has been given outside of the main story. Damage3245 (talk) 09:58, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

I'd also like to note that people should really stop making the disingenuous argument that "Yamato only identifies as a man because he's roleplaying as Oden" and "If Oden was a woman, then Yamato would identify as a woman too." They're hollow, worthless statements. The first one is easily dismissed by the fact that Yamato refers themselves as Kaido's son. Is Oden actually Kaido's son? No, obviously not. So Yamato is saying that Yamato is Kaido's son. This is an undeniable example of Yamato expressing a desire to identify as male outside of being Oden. And regarding the whole "If Oden was X then Yamato would be X"... Yes, so what? If that was the case, then we'd simply update Yamato's page accordingly. Getting into speculation of "How would Yamato act differently if something else was different" is for the realm of fanfiction, not this Wiki. People should drop these speculative arguments if they wish to be taken seriously here. Damage3245 (talk) 10:09, 22 May 2023 (UTC)


 * These statements are not hollow or worthless. It is very judgemental to say such a thing. If they've been said, people had their reasons to say them. As for "This is an undeniable example of Yamato expressing a desire to identify as male outside of being Oden", this is also inaccurate. Another possibility that she says that is because this is what Kaido had pumped into her head since day zero. He too desired to break Yamato's will and use her for his own plans, and even though he failed, Yamato is still psychologically damaged and cannot introduce herself primarily otherwise.

These Devil Fruits are making me thirsty! Piposh D. Hezi 10:52, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

Yes, I am judging those arguments as hollow. Some of them come dangerously close to offensive levels of arguing such as "This character is only identifying as male because they were psychologically abused." I'm pretty sure you can understand why we would not think that is a good argument to make if it hasn't been explicitly stated in the manga. Also it's not our business to be judging how or why Yamato is the way that he is; all that matters is whether or not Yamato identifies as male. Not the underlying cause. Damage3245 (talk) 11:03, 22 May 2023 (UTC)


 * I probably digressed, but I was only stating my opinion on the matter without trying to sound offensive. I do agree we should all take things in proportions, we're only talking about a fictional character after all. I won't use such statements any longer, but I still stand my ground and don't think Yamato actually identify as a male. What I do want to add is that according to a poll I saw in this wikia (which has been removed by the staff), the vast majority of the voters voted for female. If you say this is irrelevant, I'll leave it alone. These Devil Fruits are making me thirsty! Piposh D. Hezi 11:17, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

Damage, I did say above already that I believed we shouldn't have brought up the color spread to begin with, because nothing will change. Whatever you believe, until Oda says something, ''we. are. stuck.'' The color spread won't change things, other characters won't change things, specifically because you need to be careful, Yamato needs to define themselves, not other characters defining them. (Which mind you is also why Oni Princess and other such titles may not necessarily matter.) Separately however, Damage, the exact argument is not necessarily discounting Yamato as a male: Yamato identifies as Oden, therefore he identifies as male. Saying Yamato does NOT identify as Oden, would bring the same issue as saying "Yamato only identifies etc". However, it is correct that if Oden was a woman, Yamato would probably identify as a woman too, but that is neither here nor there, because Oden was male. So none of this matters. As for your statement about identification as male outside of being Oden, I feel more that this is "Since Oden was male, I (as in Yamato) am also male". This is still being placed in context of Oden, not Yamato. You'll probably still disagree, but like I said a second ago, I don't believe this discussion should've been reopened to begin with, because there's no way a color spread is changing anything. KeA Bannings (talk) 17:34, 22 May 2023 (UTC)