Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Okuchi no Makami

The Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Okuchi no Makami is a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit that allows the user to transform into a hybrid and full version of an ancient wolf deity at will. It was accidentally eaten by Yamato.

As noted by Kaidou, said wolf is the "Guardian Deity of Wano", making this Zoan particularly valuable. Its power was first hinted at during Yamato's confrontation with the Armored Division when Yamato briefly flashed his fangs, before its power was properly introduced in Yamato's later fight with Kaidou on the Skull Dome's roof.

Etymology

 * Inu (犬) is Japanese for "dog".
 * The Ōkuchi-no-Magami or Ōguchi-no-Makami (大口真神) is the deification of the extinct Japanese gray wolf, once worshipped in Japan as a guardian of humans.
 * In the Viz manga, the fruit is called Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Type, Model Okuchi-no-Makami.

Appearance
The fruit is round and somewhat flat with an orange exterior, resembling a persimmon. Its surface is mostly bare save for a pattern of fishhook-like Devil Fruit swirls that go from the stem halfway down the fruit, with this pattern circling all the way around. On its top, the fruit possesses a small set of brownish leaves and the typical Devil Fruit stem in lighter-orange color, swirling upward on the left side.

Transformations
This Devil Fruit grants the power to transform into a hybrid and full version of the Okuchi no Makami—a legendary wolf that, according to Kaidou, is a "Guardian Deity of Wano Country" (ワノ国の守り神). While transformed, the user's hair becomes longer and more untamed, they gain a ribbon-like trail of cold air around their shoulders, and grow a large tail.

Strengths and Weaknesses
The transformation greatly bolsters the user's physical abilities and, as a carnivorous Zoan, presumably bestows heightened predatory instincts, on top of equipping the user with canine fangs and claws well-suited for combat. More specifically, the wolf deity form seems to come with a dramatic increase in physical strength, in Yamato's case enough to let him clash near-evenly with his father Kaidou, who was an Emperor of the Sea, while the latter has assumed his extremely powerful human-dragon form.



Moreover, as with other fruits of the Mythical Zoan variety, this one blesses the user with at least one special ability: in particular, the user is able to generate ice, which they can expel as blasts from their mouth or otherwise make appear from their body, and can even use such ability without transforming.

No weaknesses are currently known of this ability beside the standard ones for a Devil Fruit user.

Usage
Yamato utilizes this fruit's power for battle. He has proven able, in his Human-Beast Form, to fight on nigh-even grounds against his father, Kaidou, while the latter was in his half-dragon form, with Kaidou commending his level of strength. In hybrid form, Yamato prefers to still wield his kanabo, Takeru, like he does in human form (similarly to Kaidou), enhancing his melee combat prowess.

Yamato makes use of his ice-generating ability for offense, by breathing out the substance to freeze targets solid or enveloping his club in it for strengthened melee attacks. For defense, Yamato may clad his body in a layer of ice to absorb damage like armor or erect protective walls of ice.

Techniques



 * Namuji Hyoga: A technique where Yamato rears his head back, takes a deep breath, and then abruptly exhales forward a dense blast of cold air at his target of choice, ideally freezing that target solid. First seen used by Yamato in his Human-Beast Form against Kaidou atop the Skull Dome, the attack proved strong enough to clash against and counter Kaidou's Bolo Breath (used by the latter in his own hybrid form). Namuji is a reference to the Japanese deity Ōkuninushi, who is also known as "Ōnamuji". While Hyōga is a pun on "glacier" (氷河), large, thick masses of ice that form on land when fallen snow gets compressed into ice over many centuries. In the Viz manga and Funimation subs, the technique is called Namuji Glacier Fang.


 * Kagamiyama (鏡山): A defensive technique, Yamato fully encases himself in ice, which initially cannot be distinguished from his body. Should Yamato be struck by an enemy attack, said armor-like coating will absorb the damage, becoming visible as it cracks and breaks off Yamato like glass. The technique was first seen following a Raimei Hakke clash between Yamato and Kaidou; however, it failed to block the full force of the attack. Kagamiyama (鏡山), or Mount Kagami, is the name of a mountain in the Saga Prefecture of Japan. According to an old legend, Matsu-ura Sayohime bid farewell to her husband Ōtomo no Satehiko at the mountain's top and prayed for his return so intensely that she turned to stone. In Viz manga and Funimation subs, the technique is called Mirror Mountain.




 * Himorogiri (氷諸斬り): An offensive move where Yamato, in his Human-Beast Form, leaps into the air and starts vertically spinning his kanabo to his left, making a swirl of ice form around his claws. Therewith, he consequently strikes down upon his foe from above. When first using this attack against Kaidou, he struck the back of his head and knocked him to the ground despite Kaidou blocking with his own club. The attack's name is a pun on himorogi (神籬), a Shintō term referring to sacred spaces/altars used for kami worship, consisting of square areas demarcated by green bamboo or sakaki. In Viz manga and Funimation subs, the technique is called Hallowed Glacier Slash.




 * Mahoroba: An attack that Yamato has used in his human form. After imbuing Takeru with a frosty aura, he swings the kanabo to strike whomever he targets with great force, simultaneously freezing them. Yamato showcased this technique during his efforts to stop Kurozumi Kanjuro's "Kazenbo", but to no avail. The attack's name is a reference to the ancient concept of Mahoroba (まほろば), which describes a far-off land full of bliss and peace within Yamato (Japan).

History
Kaidou claims to have had a difficult time acquiring this Devil Fruit and never intended for it to be eaten by his child. Regardless, at some point, Yamato came across it and, not knowing the fruit's nature, ate it out of hunger, gaining its powers at the cost of losing the ability to swim, and thus giving him even less hope of ever escaping from Onigashima on his own.

Trivia

 * This fruit is the second model of the Inu Inu no Mi series that is based on a wolf species, the first being Jabra's regular wolf Zoan. It is also the second (canon) Mythical variant of the dog Zoan, being introduced in the same story arc as the first one (that is based on another canine found in Japanese folklore).
 * The Ōkuchi-no-Magami—or simply Makami/Magami (・)—is the deification of the now-extinct Japanese wolf, which was traditionally worshipped as a sacred beast in Japan, in places like the Yamato Province. For centuries, the Makami was held as a guardian deity that understood human language and protected humans from misfortune, fire and theft, their crops from despoilment by animals, etc. Once a rather popular folkloric figure, the Makami's worship fell into decline with the rapid depopulation of Japanese wolves following the Edo period, during the Meiji era when systematic wolf hunting culled the species until it went extinct in the early 1900s. Today, the Makami is a relatively obscure deity, though it remains enshrined at various locations, like the nearly 2000-year-old Mitsumine Shrine in Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park.
 * Yamato possessing this fruit's power may reference a particular mythological tale from the 2nd century AD, about the legendary Japanese prince of the Yamato dynasty, Yamato Takeru (possibly Yamato's namesake, and hence the name of his weapon, Takeru). The story tells of a white wolf whom said prince encountered in a moment of despair, after having gone astray in the mountains. Said wolf guided the prince out the mountains' deep forests and thereby saved his life. In appreciation, the prince supposedly had many shrines constructed in dedication to the wolf god of the mountains, including the above-mentioned Mitsumine Shrine in Chichibu, Saitama (the supposed location of said mountains).
 * The trail of cold air around Yamato's shoulders, forming a circle behind his head, resembles the floating, ribbon-like drapery called "tenne/ten'i" (天衣) in Japanese, which is found with certain depictions of East Asian (especially Buddhist) deities, including on Japanese statuary, and thus befits the Ōkuchi-no-Magami's own status as a deity.
 * Yamato's strip of cold air is akin to the smoky ribbons featured with the transformations of Zoan users who have successfully awakened their powers.
 * This is the only Devil Fruit design revealed first in a supplementary publication and later shown in the anime before being revealed in the manga.

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