Izou

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

Appearance
Izou was a man who had a pale complexion and had his black hair tied up in the manner of a geisha with a lock of long, loose hair falling over the right side of his face. He had the crest of the Kozuki Family tattooed on his back. He was a cross-dressing man who wore a pink and purple kimono and a scarlet obi with black spots tied around his waist.

After the timeskip, he had a small scar over his right eye, his hair appeared longer and he had a second shorter strand of hair hanging over the left side of his face. He also wore a light pink kimono very similar to the previous one with the simplified version of the pirate flag of the Whitebeard Pirates on the legs, along with a purple obi with pink spots, a black cape and black gloves.

At 15, he wore a black, white-edged kimono with two crescent moons at chest height, closed by a purple sash at the waist. Plus a light white cape with lots of pink crescents on top.

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

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

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

Kikunojo


Kikunojo was Izou's only sibling. After their father was arrested and convicted, they stayed together to survive in the streets of Ringo and they both joined Kozuki Oden. When Oden, Inuarashi, Nekomamushi and Izou went missing, Kiku expressed worries as she could not find her brother and the others while crying. Later, when Nekomamushi and Inuarashi returned to Wano Country and informed Kiku about Izou staying with the Whitebeard Pirates, Kiku expressed positivity, knowing that her brother would be happy.

During the raid on Onigashima, they reunited for the first time in over 25 years, and he was pleased to see Kikunojo again. Right before his death, Izou's last words were for Kiku to survive the battle and live on.

Crew
Before Izou joined the crew, he was cold towards Whitebeard when Kozuki Oden’s life was in grave danger. After Oden officially joined the Whitebeard Pirates, his attitude changed as he became close with the crew. When Oden left the crew, Izou chose to remain.

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

Nine Red Scabbards
Izou, along with his younger sister Kikunojo, served Oden along with other vassals, which would later be known as the Nine Red Scabbards, where he was very close to all of them and had a lot of fun with all of them. When Izou happily returned to help his former teammates in the Raid on Onigashima, everyone was very happy to see him again.

Kozuki Oden
Because Oden fed him and his sister Kikunojo, Izou along with the latter decided to follow him. When Oden decided to make him one of his servants, Izou cried with joy. His loyalty to his lord was so great that he and some of his companions attempted to steal money from another daimyo, Shimotsuki Yasuie, to support Oden. When the latter gave them more money and told him and the other servants to educate themselves and become proper servants, Izou and the others spent years studying for the sake of his lord's reputation.

However, Izou like the rest of the Retainers did not like Oden's insistence on joining the Whitebeard Pirates and leaving Wano Country. Therefore, when his lord decided to follow the crew in secret, he tried to bring him back. But once Oden was accepted, he followed without any objection. Although not following Oden, when the latter joined the Roger pirates, he still patiently wished for his return. Once he found out about Oden's death, Izou was one of those who wanted to go to Wano to avenge him, but he didn't do it because of the consequences he would have on the country.

After a long time, Izou was finally able to go to Wano so that he could avenge his lord.

Abilities and Powers
As the former 16th division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Izou had authority over the lower-ranking subordinates. Also Jinbe, who was a former Warlord of the Sea, stated that each commander was a very powerful individual. The World Government has given him a bounty of 510,000,000, proving how dangerous he was.

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

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

Marksmanship


Izou was an extremely adept sniper, being able to destroy a person's sword with a single shot. In the same way he was able to disarm an individual like King. He developed sharpshooting skills back when he was still a street-dwelling child, as part of his entertainment routine.

Techniques

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

Weapons


Izou wielded a pair of flintlock pistols.

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

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

Kenbunshoku Haki
Izou possessed the ability to use Kenbunshoku Haki.

Past
Izou and his sibling, Kikunojo, were born in Wano Country. During their childhood, they were raised in the dancing school Hanayanagi School (花柳流), but their family was torn apart after their father was arrested. For the two of them they had to survive on the streets of Ringo, forced to entertain depraved adults. One of the tricks that Izou used was to take precision shots, in which he was impeccable. When Kozuki Oden arrived about 41 years ago and gave them food, they joined him.

One day, Oden separated from his followers and went alone to Kuri, to face all the bandits there. Realizing this, they all ran over with the intention of supporting him. However, when they arrived, they saw that he had already defeated everyone, including Ashura Doji. After Oden became Kuri's daimyo, he decided to turn all of his followers into his retainers.



Six years later, Oden brought Inuarashi, Nekomamushi and Kawamatsu to the castle to feed them, where he then made all three his servants as well. One day, Izou and other servants tried to steal money from Shimotsuki Yasuie seeing that they ran out of funds, but were caught. Instead of punishing them, the daimyo gave them more than they were going to steal and encouraged them to use it to become better people for the sake of Oden and the country. Following Yasuie's advice, they educated and trained to become worthy warriors.

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

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



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

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

After two years, Oden and Toki's son, Kozuki Momonosuke, was born. Because his lord received a reward, Izou urged the latter to return to Wano for the sake of his wife and son, but both Oden and Toki reassured him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

Wano Country Arc
After Marco told Nekomamushi about Izou's whereabouts, the mink along with his Guardians headed towards him. As he found out that they were going to Wano, Izou joined them to avenge Kozuki Oden.

Later, when they were climbing the waterfalls at the entrance to the country, he sees a huge ship fall where he reveals to Nekomamushi that it was Marco's work. Later, Izou spoke to the latter, thanking him for helping him. Marco claims that he liked Oden, but since the news about Wano did not reach the sea, he would never have imagined that he would experience a similar situation.

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

Later, Izo asked Kikunojo if she could continue with her amputated arm, to which she jokingly replied that it was nothing more than an itch compared to the pain she felt when he left her in Wano. So Izou told her that he's sorry for abandoning her without saying anything. Kawamatsu then asked him what would happen to the country once the borders were opened. However, Izou replied to talk about it tomorrow if they can survive. At that moment, Kin'emon told them that he was only going to protect Momonosuke, seeing how the situation worsened, ordering his companions to help the alliance. So Izou and Kawamatsu split up and then reached the second floor, where they met Sanji, who was carrying an incapacitated Roronoa Zoro. There the first one told them that he was going for Momonosuke, but Kawamatsu explained that Kin'emon would take care of it. Suddenly, Zoro wakes up and advises them to go to the Live Floor.

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

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

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



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

Following the success of the Raid on Onigashima, Izou's corpse was laid to rest along with his pistols at the Cemetery in Ringo.

Major Battles

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

Playable Appearances

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

Non-Playable Appearances

 * One Piece: Burning Will

Trivia

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

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