Kaidou

Kaido of the Beasts, also known as the "Strongest Creature in the World", is the general of the Beasts Pirates and one of the Yonko. He is the third to be mentioned by name and the last one to debut. He and his crew currently occupy Wano Country.

He was first referred to by Monkey D. Garp at Water 7 and then directly mentioned by Gekko Moriah shortly after he obtained Monkey D. Luffy's shadow. His title of Yonko was revealed just after the Straw Hat Pirates defeated Moriah. He is the main antagonist of the Wano Country Arc and one of the central antagonists of the Yonko Saga.

Appearance
Kaido is a tall man who seems to be of middle age, distinguished by his utterly enormous constitution, shown to abundantly tower over normal humans. He has an extremely broad, well-muscled torso, wide-set shoulders, and accordingly massive, toned arms. Out of proportion in terms of mass are his legs (at least his lower legs), which appear a little minuscule by comparison to his upper self, far less heavily built than his arms yet about the same length (with his feet also tiny compared to his hands).

Kaido's head, atop his extremely bulky neck, is disproportionally small as well (smaller than his hands), and has a pair of large, heavy horns colored light-gray protrude from near the ears, first front- and then upward. He has a veined forehead, a big, hairless brow ridge that is usually lowered in the middle, as well as narrow, upturned, bloodshot eyes below, which are parent to small, amber irises. He has a hook nose, and a large, full-lipped mouth. His face is rather long, as well as moderately furrowed: crow's feet and tear-troughs are present around his eyes, as are short creases in place of eyebrows, and laugh lines due to his near-perennial frown and sneer. His dark-brown head hair consists of an unruly, mostly swept-back mane, revealing his forehead, forming distinctly flat, rectangular locks of which some fall down the front, framing his face and hiding his ears, or jutting upward. His facial hair is neat, done in a wavy, waist-length Fu Manchu mustache paired with a spiked goatee across his broad chin. To the right of his well-defined abs is a massive, recessed scar, shaped like an X, which reaches up to his right pectoral. A tattoo of dim-reddish segments resembling reptilian scales, outlined in golden color, goes from his left pectoral down the front of his left arm, ending in correspondence to the wrist with a white (dark in the manga), traditionally-shaped skull on the lower forearm.

Clothing-wise, Kaido dons a dark-bluish-purple, feathered overcoat draped on his shoulders, and below a plain, lavender, tight-fitting, open shirt with long sleeves. He has a black bracelet with yellow (dark in the manga) spikes above each of his wrists. Upholding said shirt is a thick, light-gray shimenawa as a rope belt, which has from two of its frontal, central interstices a pair of white shide hanging down. More outwardly from below the rope hang two additional pieces of fabric: rectangular, hemmed flaps that each have, from two hemmed holes at their bottom, a short, thick, golden torus chain attached to themselves. Further, Kaido has two yellow straw-cord waistbands below the shimenawa to secure a short, hanging row of thin, reddish ribbons. Finally, the rest of his lower wear consists of simple, baggy pants of gray-green color, tucked below the knees into simple, blackish boots.

20 years before the current storyline, Kaido had a shorter mustache, no beard and lacked the scar on his chest.

Personality
Kaido is a merciless, aggresive, and confident warrior who never misses an opportunity to gain an advantage in war, as evidenced by his plan to attack Whitebeard during the latter's attempt to save Portgas D. Ace from execution. Kaido seems to harbor a general sense of unconcern for most things, including the very nature of the world and the lives of himself and his subordinates. He apparently desires excitement and chaos, as he is prepared to start the largest war in the world because he felt it was too mundane. This recklessness, coupled with his apparent inability to die, has caused Kaido to make attempting suicide as his hobby.

However, Kaido seems unusually invested in his goal of creating a formidable all-Zoan crew, to the point where he attempted to drown his sorrows in alcohol after receiving the news that he could no longer buy Zoan Devil Fruits in large quantities. Kaido also has a great interest in Raftel, having taken a Road Poneglyph under his ownership and also went to the brutal extent of threatening Kozuki Oden for his knowledge and ruthlessly hunting down his three retainers Kin'emon, Raizo, and Kanjuro.

He is also pitiless and not open to negotiations or excuses, making it unwise to provoke or underestimate him; this is enforced dramatically when Donquixote Doflamingo, a former Shichibukai and former World Noble known for his fearless attitude, was very afraid of angering Kaido when he became potentially unable to fulfill his end of their business deal due to Trafalgar D. Water Law holding Caesar Clown hostage. One of his crewmates later stated that Kaido would be very angry once he heard the news of the SMILE Factory's destruction. This unreasonable attitude caused a group of Kaido's subordinates including X Drake to attempt to deliver the news of Doflamingo's defeat to the Yonko from a distance rather than approaching him in person. Kaido has also shown to be extremely cruel, even towards children. After he murdered Kozuki Oden, he viciously insulted Oden right in front of his son Momonosuke, adding mockery to Momonosuke's sorrow and hopelessness.

Kaido is highly confident in his power and considers himself to be far above the likes of Supernovas, referring to their actions as "little pirate games", even refusing to take the Straw Hat Pirates and Heart Pirates seriously despite them crippling his SMILE trade; this is reinforced by his belief that defeating a Shichibukai is nothing to be impressed with and his dismissal of Donquixote Doflamingo as being weak. He was also quick to threaten to kill Big Mom when she announced her intention to come to his territory, showing no reservations despite Big Mom possessing power equivalent to his own.



Kaido is a very heavy drinker and while drunk, his mood changes erratically, such as when he quickly went from being melancholic over his inability to increase the number of his Gifters and fulfill his dream of having a crew consisting of only Devil Fruit users to becoming angry and violent, brutally beating his subordinates and cursing Luffy and Law.

Like other people, Kaido has a unique laughing style: "Worororo" (ウオロロロ).

Crew
Kaido cares somewhat for his subordinates, as Scotch confirmed that Kaido would be angry if he were to be attacked. His subordinates seem to respect him, as Scotch refers to him as "Kaido-sama" while Sheepshead calls him as "His Majesty". However, Kaido acts callously toward his subordinates when in an angry mood, having once sent two of his subordinates flying out of his fortress with brute force while smashing wanted posters of his enemies. Prior to his supply of SMILEs being cut off, Kaido's dream was to have a crew composed entirely of Devil Fruit users, which he wanted to be the best crew the world had ever seen.

Jack
Jack is one of Kaido's three right-hand men, implying that the Yonko has great trust in him and his power. However, when learning about Jack's failure to rescue Doflamingo, Kaido appeared to care more about the loss of his SMILEs than the loss of his subordinate. Jack is shown to be afraid of his superior as he trembled when seeing Kaido.

X Drake
Prior to the timeskip, X Drake seemed to be interested in meeting Kaido, having willingly provoked his subordinate Scotch on the Yonko's favorite winter island in order to gain his attention. He is now apparently subservient to Kaido, being stationed with his subordinates. His allegiance with Kaido was first shown when he squashed a rebellion perpetrated against Kaido's subordinates on the same winter island.

Donquixote Doflamingo and Caesar Clown
Kaido is a black market customer of Donquixote Doflamingo. Caesar Clown produces and delivers large amounts of the substance SAD to Doflamingo, who uses it to manufacture artificial Devil Fruits called SMILES, which in turn are sold to Kaido to create his army of Artificial Zoan Devil Fruit users. Despite this, they do not seem to be on friendly terms, as Law asserted that Kaido would kill Doflamingo if he were to be rendered unable to supply Kaido with Zoan fruits anymore; Doflamingo himself displayed great fear at the thought of angering Kaido.

However, Kaido does not appear to resent Doflamingo despite his defeat, as he felt sympathetic for Doflamingo not being powerful enough to defeat Luffy and Law; however, this may have been a result of Kaido being drunk at the time.

Scratchmen Apoo
Kaido encountered Scratchmen Apoo along with fellow alliance members Eustass Kid and Basil Hawkins when he fell onto their base after jumping from Ballon Terminal. While what happened during their confrontation is unknown, Apoo now appears to be allied or, at the very least, a subordinate to Kaido, as he contacted him to reveal that they had lost contact with Jack. During the conversation, Apoo referred to the Yonko as "Kaido-san".

Basil Hawkins
Kaido encountered Basil Hawkins along with fellow alliance members Eustass Kid and Scratchmen Apoo when he fell onto their base after jumping from Ballon Terminal. While what happened during their confrontation is unknown, Hawkins now appears to be allied or, at the very least, a subordinate to Kaido, as he is now one of the Headliners of the Beasts Pirates.

Kurozumi Orochi
Kaido formed an alliance with Kurozumi Orochi, the current Shogun of Wano Country, and together they executed the daimyō Kozuki Oden.

Gekko Moriah
Kaido once had a rivalry with the former Shichibukai Gekko Moriah. The two of them fought in the New World, and eventually Kaido won after slaughtering Moriah's entire crew. This had an adverse effect on Moriah's consciousness of subordinates and led him to seek revenge against Kaido by building an army of undead soldiers.

Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar Law
When Trafalgar Law offered to form an alliance with Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates allegedly to dethrone Kaido, Luffy eagerly agreed to the alliance and even declared that he would defeat all four Yonko. Though Law suggested that their chances of success are only 30%, Luffy remained undeterred.

However, it is later revealed by Law himself that he formed an alliance with Luffy not as a means to dethrone Kaido, but instead because he wanted to get Kaido angry at Doflamingo by having the Straw Hats destroy the SMILE Factory. Law also notes that if they kill Doflamingo and destroy the factory, Kaido will transfer his grudge to the pirate alliance.

Kaido knew of the two crews before he heard what they had done at Punk Hazard and Dressrosa, and when he heard about them destroying his source of SMILE, he wept and cursed them. However, he still does not take them seriously, viewing himself as far stronger than they are.

Despite underestimating them, Kaido held murderous hatred towards Luffy and Law, going as far as to brutally smash their wanted posters along with his own subordinates holding them just to vent his anger. Kaido stubbornly refused Linlin's request to allow her to kill Luffy as he wished to kill the Straw Hat captain himself.

Kaido and Luffy finally met in person after the former destroyed Oden Castle while some of Luffy's friends were still there. Luffy attacked Kaido out of anger and he was further enraged after hearing that Kaido attacked Tama. Luffy attempted to defeat Kaido but his attempt ended in failure as Kaido rendered Luffy unconscious with a single blow. To add insult to injury, Kaido mocked the defeated Luffy's statement of being Pirate King.

Eustass Kid
Kaido defeated Kid during their encounter at Kid's base and threw him in a jail cell. Later, Kaido used Kid as an example when illustrating the difference in power between him and the Supernovas.

Kozuki Family
Kaido became the sworn enemy of the Kozuki Family after he executed Kozuki Oden and his wife. To learn the secret that Oden knew, he hunted down Oden's son and his retainers Kin'emon, Kanjuro, and Raizo. He entrusted his right-hand man, Jack, to search for Raizo at Zou. Kaido explained to Momonosuke that his father Oden was a foolish lord.

To fight Kaido and his crew, the Kozuki Family's retainers journeyed to Zou to seek aid from the Mink Tribe and worked to gather allies within Wano Country.

Edward Newgate
As they were both Yonko, Kaido and Edward Newgate were not allies. Under normal circumstances, they did not provoke each other; however, Kaido saw the opportunity to engage his rival prior to the impending Battle of Marineford and did not hesitate to attempt to do so. Two years later, Kaido cursed Whitebeard for being able to die while he remained alive.

Shanks
When Kaido tried to stop Whitebeard from going to Marineford, Shanks interfered and clashed with him in order to allow the other Yonko to rescue Ace. It is not known what happened during their encounter, but Shanks arrived at Marineford unharmed.

Charlotte Linlin
Linlin seems to recognize Kaido's strength as after Luffy declared that he would defeat him, Big Mom responded by telling Luffy that he had no hope of accomplishing that feat while referring to Kaido as a "thing". Kaido in turn does not seem to hold much respect for Big Mom either, referring to her as an "old hag". When Big Mom contacted Kaido about letting her be the one to kill Luffy, Kaido refused to cooperate and threatened to kill her if she came to Wano Country. He apparently owed her a debt long ago, which he tried to brush off, but Big Mom held it against him as a lifetime debt.

Shutenmaru
Kaido respects Shutenmaru's strength as he wants the latter to become his subordinate. Jack claims that this is the only reason why Shutenmaru is still alive. Shutenmaru, on the other hand, refuses to join Kaido's crew and tries to avoid him. The two have fought in the past but Kaido is willing to forgive him if Shutenmaru joins him and even had a big smile on his face when he thought about it, though that might have been because Kaido was drunk at the moment.

Abilities and Powers
People often say "If it's one-on-one, Kaido will win." On land, sea, and air... among all living things, he is a pirate who is known as the "strongest creature"!!!

As one of the Yonko, Kaido is one of the strongest pirates alive, renowned as the "Strongest Creature in the World". He attempted to take Whitebeard's life, something few would dare, and subsequently clashed with Shanks. When Gekko Moriah was in his prime, Kaido fought him and emerged victorious, having killed his entire crew. The Five Elders mentioned Kaido as one of the few people able to stop Blackbeard. His strength was also recognized by his fellow Yonko Big Mom, who could not fathom the idea of Monkey D. Luffy defeating him.

Additionally, Trafalgar Law stated Kaido to be able to easily kill Donquixote Doflamingo, a world-famous and extremely powerful pirate in his own right. Law speculated that even with an alliance with the Straw Hats, their chance of defeating Kaido is only about 30%, although the statement is questionable, seeing as at that time Law was not serious about fighting him. Kaido in fact defeated another member of the Worst Generation, Eustass Kid, whose bounty is 470,000,000, with apparent ease, and refused to take Law and Luffy's alliance seriously regardless of what they accomplished, due to viewing the defeat of a Shichibukai as being nothing special. He then later went on to defeat Luffy himself with no effort, rendering him unconscious with a single hit.

Similar to the other Yonko, Kaido has many underlings and other pirates allied with him and is able to claim self-governing islands as his own territories. With Caesar and Doflamingo as his associates, Kaido has created an army of over 500 Artificial Zoan-type Devil Fruit users, his Gifters.

Physical Abilities
Befitting his bulk, Kaido is legendary for his physical power as the strongest beast in the world, and is capable of swinging his weapon hard enough to send a normal-sized person flying into the distance in one blow. He once sunk nine enormous prison ships singlehandedly.

Kaido possesses immense durability, even without using Busoshoku Haki. He took multiple powerful hits from Monkey D. Luffy's Gear Third while in his dragon form and transformed back into his human form after being pummeled into the ground, and proceeded to receive a barrage of Gear Fourth hits that were even more powerful, yet he felt nothing more than slight pain, received no injuries, and was able to quickly get back up and counterattack without issue. This durability has given Kaido the reputation of being unable to die. He has been caught and tortured 18 times, and people as powerful as the Marines and other Yonko have attempted to execute him 40 times only to fail as Kaido survived every single attempt because every single execution weapon broke when being used on him. Most notably, Kaido has jumped from 10,000 meters from the sky onto the ground, creating a massive shockwave strong enough to sink a large ship nearby, and emerged only with a headache; it has even become a hobby for him to attempt suicide, only for it to fail.

Despite his massive size, Kaido is extremely fast as shown when he moves past Luffy in an instant while attacking him.

Devil Fruit


Kaido appears to have eaten a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit that allows him to turn into a serpentine dragon. In this form, he is capable of flight and dark clouds fill the sky wherever he goes. He can also release devastating flames from his mouth, which can easily blow apart a large area.

Attacks

 * Boro Breath (熱息 (ボロブレス)): Kaido releases a massive fire blast from his mouth towards a target. It travels very quickly and is extremely powerful, being capable of instantly decimating large structures like the ruins of Oden Castle. This is called Blast Breath in the Viz Manga.

Weapons


Kaido wields a giant metal kanabō covered in spikes as his weapon of choice. In conjunction with his immense strength, he can use it to smash adversaries over vast distances. Using it, he was able to knock Luffy unconscious with a single blow, even while Luffy was in his highly resilient, Busoshoku Haki-covered Gear Fourth form.

Attacks

 * Raimei Hakke (雷鳴八卦): Kaido charges towards his opponent at high speed, swinging his mace horizontally to strike them with devastating force. It was first used against Luffy in his Gear Fourth form, knocking him unconscious with a single hit.

Past
Not much is known about his earlier life, but sometime when he became a pirate, he had been defeated seven times and was captured eighteen times by the Marines and the other Yonko, causing him to live as a criminal. During those captures, Kaido was repeatedly tortured and given the death sentence forty times. However, no execution device was effective on him, and Kaido managed to sink nine massive prison ships.

Sometime long ago, he was involved with Big Mom, and she did something that put him in her debt. At one point in his life, he fought with Gekko Moriah and defeated him in the New World. Though the details of the battle are unknown, Moriah lost his entire crew.

Kaido also managed to gain possession of a Road Poneglyph, one of the four poneglyphs that could reveal the location of Raftel when deciphered. Kaido was not recognized as one of the top pirates in the world until around the time when Gol D. Roger was executed. He, along with Shanks, then joined Whitebeard and Big Mom among the ranks of the Yonko.



20 years ago, after Kurozumi Orochi, the shogun of Wano Country, executed Kozuki Oden, Kaido attacked and burned down Oden Castle before Oden's retainers returned. He told Momonosuke that his father was a foolish lord and killed his mother in addition to his father. At some point after taking over Wano Country, he also battled against the thief Shutenmaru.

Sometime within the last four years, he began collaborating with the Shichibukai Donquixote Doflamingo and the rogue Marine scientist Caesar Clown to create an army of artificial Zoan Devil Fruit users, via SMILE.

Marineford Arc
When Whitebeard attempted to save Ace from his execution at Marineford, Kaido tried to attack him. However, Shanks intercepted Kaido before he could reach Whitebeard. It is unknown how their encounter ended, but Shanks arrived unscathed at Marineford by the end of the war.

Dressrosa Arc


Kaido went up to Ballon Terminal, where he encountered Urouge, who learned of his intention to attempt suicide and allowed him to proceed. Kaido jumped off the sky island and landed 10,000 meters below on the Kid Pirates' base. However, he only received a minor headache and found himself face-to-face with the Kid, On Air, and Hawkins alliance. After cursing Whitebeard for having been able to die, Kaido yelled that Doflamingo needed to make preparations for battle before promising to start a massive war due to the world boring him.

Zou Arc
After their encounter, Kaido badly defeated Eustass Kid and placed him in a cell, while Scratchmen Apoo and Basil Hawkins became his subordinates. After Jack's defeat, Apoo contacted Kaido in his fortress, revealing that they had lost all contact with Jack's fleet after they went to attack Zou for a second time.



After learning that Jack's attempt to rescue Doflamingo failed, Kaido was enraged at not being able to acquire any more SMILEs, which meant he could not gain any more Gifters. As he drowned his sorrows in alcohol, Kaido's despair turned to rage when his subordinates mentioned Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar Law, causing him to smash one out of the building with his mace. Kaido angrily stated that the two Supernovas were nowhere near him in power, pointing to the defeated Eustass Kid as an example.

Levely Arc
As the news of Luffy's exploits at Totto Land spread across the world, Kaido read the newspaper and angrily wondered why Luffy was in Big Mom's territory. A few days later, he was contacted by Big Mom, who demanded the right to kill Luffy. He rejected her request since he wished to take care of Luffy himself, but Big Mom was unbending as she reminded him of a debt.

Wano Country Arc
After getting drunk, Kaido flew to Kuri in Wano Country. On the way, he found Speed and Tama and attacked them after hearing a report of the former's treachery. He then went to Okobore Town and called out to Jack to bring Luffy and Law to him. While flying over Okobore Town, he recognized Shutenmaru and asked him to become his subordinate. Basil Hawkins then came and told Kaido that Luffy and Law were hiding in the ruins of Oden Castle, and Kaido immediately flew toward it and shot a heat breath at it, instantly destroying it. However, he was then hit in the head by a giant punch from Luffy.

After Kaido was sent crashing into the ground, Luffy got his attention by yelling at him. Kaido attacked with a fire breath, but Luffy dodged and used Elephant Gatling. Kaido then returned to human form, and Luffy activated Gear Fourth: Boundman and assaulted Kaido with Kong Organ. Luffy's attacks were ineffective, as Kaido then struck Luffy with "Raimei Hakke", rendering him unconscious with just one hit.

Major Battles

 * Kaido vs. Gekko Moriah's first crew (unseen)
 * Kaido vs. Shutenmaru
 * Beasts Pirates vs. Red Hair Pirates (unseen)
 * Kaido vs. Eustass Kid (unseen)
 * Kaido vs. Monkey D. Luffy (Kuri)

Translation and Dub Issues
Kaido's epithet, Hyakujū (百獣), literally translates to "Hundred Beasts". However, in Japanese, its meaning is somewhat closer to something along the lines of "all kinds of beasts." "Hyakujū" is often used for lions as Hyakujū no Ō (百獣の王), meaning "King of Beasts". In Chinese mythology, dragons have been described as "symbol of emperors and kings", "chimera to possess physical characteristics of various different animals and ogres/demons/monsters/spirits", and "king of 366 types of scaled animals such as snakes and fish". All these descriptions correspond with etymology and usage of "Hyakujū" in Japanese along with Kaido's backgrounds.

Support Appearances

 * One Piece: Great Pirate Colosseum

Trivia



 * As with Charlotte Linlin, Kaido's silhouette from Monkey D. Garp's explanation greatly differs from when he made his first appearance. He was originally portrayed as having a wide face, a pointy beak-like nose, and a sinister grin when shown in the silhouette. However, Kaido's final design featured some continuity with the original, as he retains a similar shaped nose and brow upon his reveal.
 * In Japanese culture, the type of rope Kaido wears as a belt, shimenawa, is used to denote that the area within it is important or sacred.
 * Kaido seems to be heavilly inspired by Oni of Japanese mythology. Common traits include horns, a massive stature, and use of a kanabō club as a primary weapon.
 * The episode of Kaido's physical anime debut aired on the 1st of May, Kaido's birthday.
 * In the anime, the palette of Kaido's dragon scale tattoo is very similar to the coloration of Doflamingo and Caesar Clown's SMILE.
 * There are some similarities between Kaido's dragon form and Shenron, the mythical dragon from the Dragon Ball franchise, as dark swirling clouds accompany the arrival of both characters.
 * Kaido's dragon form has very long beards and 4 toes on each arms. These characteristics correspond to that of Korean dragons than other east-asian dragons while dragons with similar traits can also be found less frequently among Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, and Vietnam.
 * Dragons with flamboyant, colorful, warm colored bodies, and transform into humanoid forms including dragon kings, are much more common on Eurasian continent including India than in Japan.
 * Kaido's habits to favor alcohol and to lose self controls are similar to the legend of Yamata no Orochi, a famous hydra like dragon and incarnation of floods, or a god of mountains and rivers in Japanese mythology, and Shuten-Dōji, lord of demons and bandits who was slain by famous Shitennō including Sakata no Kintoki (either son of an ogress and a Thunder God, or son of a red dragon and a woman in some legends), who is the inspiration source of Sentomaru. Both Yamata no Orochi and Shuten-Dōji were slain by being incapacitated with alcohol. There is a proverb in Japan Oni no Me nimo Namida (鬼の目にも涙), meaning "even the hardest of hearts can be moved to tears". This also fits to Kaido's side to be a maudlin drinker and pitied for Doflamingo.
 * In a legend, Yamata no Orochi is said to fathered Shuten-Dōji. Kaido (怪童) or Kaidomaru (怪童丸) are also old names for both Shuten-Dōji and Sakata no Kintoki in their youths. Kaido's other characteristics such as his weapon, appearance, position as King of Onigashima (for being "king of ogres/demons"), also corresponds to the character of Shuten-Dōji and Momotarō legend inwhich orges of Onigashima were defeated by Momotarō and three animals, a possible inspiration source of Momonosuke, Tama, and her befriended animals.

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