Kozuki Family

The Kozuki Family is a powerful family that ruled over Wano Country until their downfall twenty years ago. The family has existed for centuries in which they invented the poneglyphs and became friends with the people of the Mokomo Dukedom. After Kaidou and Orochi's defeats, the Kozuki family regained their shogunate.

Crest
The crest of the Kozuki Family depicts a bird, likely a crane or a heron, with a glowing orb in its chest and spread wings. Around the bird figure, there is a circle with four sprout-like symbols coming from it at each ordinal direction.

Retainers of the Kozuki Family have this crest tattooed in their bodies in order to allow recognition. The crest can also be found in locations affiliated with the family.

Emblem


Those loyal to the family, even after Kurozumi Orochi slandered their name, have a crescent moon tattooed on their ankles to mark their loyalty yet remain hidden in Wano.

Members
The Kozuki Family was a clan of master craftsmen, specializing in stonemasonry. The earliest known ancestors created the Poneglyphs during the end of the Void Century. Confirmed members of this family are former shogun Sukiyaki; his son and the former daimyo of Kuri, Oden; the latter's wife, Toki; their son and heir, Momonosuke; and their daughter, Hiyori.

The clan has retainers loyal to the family members. All of them bear the Kozuki Family crest on their bodies as a way of identification. Jibuemon was the retainer of Sukiyaki and remained loyal to the family even during Orochi's reign.

Notably, Oden had a group of nine extremely powerful men serving him as retainers, the "Nine Red Scabbards" led by Kin'emon.

On gravestones in a cemetery near Oden's Castle in Kuri there are two unnamed gravestones.

Past


The Kozuki Family existed for at least 800 years. The family also formed a bond with the Mink Tribe and agreed to help each other whenever one of them in trouble. On top of that, they invented the poneglyphs that are scattered throughout the world in present time. Moreover, in the distant past, they had something to do with Wano Country's closed country policy. Over 20 years ago, they ruled Wano Country. Kozuki Oden was the son of shogun at the time, Kozuki Sukiyaki, but Oden was exiled from the Flower Capital for getting into violent fights.



He then went to the Kuri region, a lawless area where criminals roamed free, where he defeated the strongest of them and worked to make Kuri a better place. Sukiyaki revoked the disownment, while promoting Oden to be the daimyo of Kuri. When Nekomamushi and Inuarashi drifted to Wano Country and were bullied by locals, Oden rescued and befriended them, allowing his family to honor the ancient agreement between the two sides.

After meeting with the Whitebeard Pirates, Oden joined the crew along with Izou, Nekomamushi, and Inuarashi. Later on, Oden met his wife Toki when saving her from Karma and his crew. Two years after Oden joined the Whitebeard Pirates, Momonosuke was born and Hiyori was born two years later.

The Whitebeard Pirates encountered the Roger Pirates at an island and the two crews fought. After three days of fighting, the skirmish ultimately became a gift exchange. To help Roger achieve his goal of reaching the end of the Grand Line, Oden joined the Roger Pirates along with his family, Inuarashi, and Nekomamushi.

With the Roger Pirates, Oden's journey took him through Skypiea, Water 7, and Fish-Man Island. Upon Toki becoming sick, the pirates dropped her and her children off at Wano alongside Nekomamushi and Inuarashi. Oden later visited Zou with Roger and after gaining information from all four Road Poneglyphs, the crew reached Laugh Tale. After Roger disbanded his crew, Oden returned to Wano and reunited with his family and retainers.

Oden then learned about Kurozumi Orochi becoming shogun during his absence. After hearing about Orochi's oppression with the Beasts Pirates' support and the attempt on Momonosuke's life, Oden rushed to the Flower Capital and tried to kill Orochi. Oden's attack failed and he agreed to a deal with Orochi and Kaidou to spare the citizens of Wano Country. Believing in their promise to eventually leave Wano, Oden followed their terms and danced naked in the Flower Capital once a week for the next five years.

Once he heard about Hyogoro's capture, Oden realized that Orochi and Kaidou never intended to honor their deal. He then gathered his retainers to march to Onigashima while leaving Yasuie to protect his wife and children. On the way to Onigashima, Oden and his retainers were confronted by Kaidou and his crew at Udon and a fierce battle took place. Oden and his allies were overwhelmed and captured, and they were sentenced to be boiled alive.

On the execution day, Oden made a deal with Kaidou to allow those who survive the execution to go free and Kaidou gave him an hour. Oden stood in the boiling pot and held his retainers over him with a wooden plank. Oden managed to survive the hour, but Orochi summoned a firing squad to execute the prisoners anyway. Oden threw his retainers away from the execution site and as the Scabbards fled, Kaidou killed Oden with a shot to the head.

We're done for... because we could not believe in the Kozuki Family... and Lord Oden... we will now receive the divine punishment that we deserve. Now begins an eternal night that never breaks.



Kaidou later set Oden Castle ablaze. He threatened to kill Momonosuke but decided to leave him in the burning castle. Toki used her power to send Momonosuke and his retainers Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Raizo, and Kikunojo twenty years into the future. Kawamatsu escaped the castle with Hiyori and Toki fled to Bakura Town. Toki gave a prophecy and met her demise. With Oden's death, the family's knowledge of how to read the text on the poneglyphs and write its language ended.

After staying with Kawamatsu for seven years, Hiyori separated from him and wandered into the Flower Capital. She was found by Denjiro, who was masquerading as Kyoshiro. To protect her from Orochi and Kaidou, he began grooming her into a geisha and had her adopt the name "Komurasaki".

After arriving at the future, Momonosuke and the retainers discovered how much Wano had changed over the years, but they discovered allies they could still count on. Momonosuke and his retainers decided to travel to Zou to enlist aid from the Mink Tribe, and Kin'emon pretended to be his father in order to avoid drawing attention. However, as they departed Wano, they were discovered by the Beasts Pirates. On the way to Zou, they were shipwrecked, which caused Raizo to be separated from them. They ended up on Dressrosa, where they were chased by the guards. Momonosuke stowed away on a ship heading for Punk Hazard, and Kanjuro sacrificed himself in order to allow Kin'emon to head for Punk Hazard.

Momonosuke was kept in Caesar Clown's facility on Punk Hazard with other children he was experimenting on. Momonosuke ate Vegapunk's Artificial Devil Fruit out of hunger and ended up in the garbage dump after being chased by the guards.

Punk Hazard Arc
Luffy discovered Momonosuke inside the trash heap, and the two managed to escape. After escaping from the facility, Momonosuke reunited with Kin'emon, and the two headed with the Straw Hats to Dressrosa to rescue Kanjuro.

Dressrosa Arc
Momonosuke was put on the team protecting the Thousand Sunny because Kin'emon forbade him from going on the island. His group was attacked and turned into art by Giolla, but Brook tricked and defeated her, returning them to normal. Law then arrived and told the Sunny crew to head for Zou with Caesar, which they did. They were chased by the Big Mom Pirates during the journey, but managed to escape.

They arrived on Zou the next day, and chased off the remaining Beasts Pirates that were devastating the island. They then went to work on healing the Mink Tribe which the pirates had poisoned. However, Momonosuke did not feel well and stayed in his room.

Zou Arc
Momonosuke reunited with Kin'emon and Kanjuro when they made it onto Zou several days later, and the minks took them to Raizo's location. During this, Momonosuke and the retainers revealed the true purpose of their mission to the Straw Hats. Upon Momonosuke's request, Luffy agreed to ally his pirate alliance with the samurai and the minks, creating the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance. The Kozuki Family then decided to head back to Wano Country with the Heart Pirates and part of the Straw Hat Pirates, under the cover of Law's submarine. However, Momonosuke decided to stay on Zou to further communicate with Zunisha, and Inuarashi agreed to stay behind with him as well.

Wano Country Arc
Sometime after returning to Wano, the retainers hid with the Straw Hats and briefed them on the politics in Wano before splitting way to gather allies while the pirates assimilate themselves with the residents under false identities. Their plans were interrupted when Luffy was imprisoned in Udon after being defeated by Kaidou, however, Luffy managed to escape and settle up a riot in Udon(with the help of an amnesiac Big Mom, Chopper, Hyogoro and the Nine Red Scabbards), resulting in the Udon Prison to be destroyed and many prisoners escaping, like Kid, Killer and Caribou, thus recruiting a lot of allies for the alliance. The alliance then had to mourn the death of their ally Shimotsuki Yasuie, but they managed to cause confusion in the Flower Capital, as well as discover the surviving Kozuki Hiyori and her friend, Toko.



After gathering enough allies and weapons, with the help of Kawamatsu, the alliance prepared to start their attack on Onigashima.They set their fleet on Tokage Port, but after arriving there discovered in horror, that their entire fleet was destroyed as well as their plans were spoiled to Orochi himself. The scabbards were still determined to continue their raid, knowing there would not come another chance. On their way to Onigashima, Kine'mon wondered about a traitor among them, spoiling their plans to Orochi. Kanjuro then reveals himself as the traitor, saying he was born as a member of the Kurozumi Family and having been spying for Orochi for all the time he was a retainer of Kozuki Oden. He then claims they should have already known that there must have been a traitor among them after several maneuvers. As Kine'mon sliced him, it was revealed as a clone, while the true Kanjuro held Momonosuke hostage and planed to bring him to Onigashima, and ships of the Beasts Pirates arrived. However, the ships were then attacked by the Straw Hat Pirates, Kid Pirates and Heart Pirates, leaving Kanjuro surprised, as he had not heard they would be going to do this.

Trivia

 * The bird depicted in the Kozuki crest is likely to resemble a heron. In Japanese literature, herons are hailed for their patience and determination, as they stand motionless for a long time before finally striking their prey. This reflects the willingness of their retainers to wait for two whole decades before striking at Kaidou and Orochi.
 * A pattern similar to the family crest was presented on Luffy's samurai outfit on the cover of Chapter 310. The cover also features a pink oriental dragon, which is something that Momonosuke can turn into.
 * Luffy would later wear an almost identical set of armor while in Wano.
 * In Chapter 816, the clan was introduced as the "Kogetsu Family". However, the subsequent chapter changed it to "Kozuki". Both share the same meaning and kanji characters. This is fixed in the Volume release, where the dialog was changed to "Kozuki" in Chapter 816.
 * The name Kozuki contains the kanji for "light" (光) and "moon" (月).
 * The male members of the family seem to have a food theme to their names: sukiyaki and oden are both Japanese dishes while "momo" (the first part of Momonosuke's name) means "peach".
 * Momonosuke and his retainers traveling to the future is the first canonical time travel in the series. It is the second overall, with the first being the Rainbow Mist in the anime-only Ruluka Island Arc.
 * The legendary swordsmith Kotetsu is an ancestor of Sukiyaki and his line, but it is unknown if he was part of the Kozuki bloodline or if his descendants married into it.

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