Yamato

Yamato
Statistics
Japanese Name:	ヤマト
Romanized Name:	Yamato
Official English Name:	Yamato
Debut:	Chapter 983
Affiliations:	Beasts Pirates (allied, former); Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance
Alias:	"Kozuki Oden" (光月おでん, Kōzuki Oden?) (self-proclaimed)
Status:	Alive
Age:	28

Yamato is the daughter of Kaido of the Four Emperors and self-proclaims to be "Kozuki Oden." This profound admiration for the legendary samurai has led to the decision to embody everything related to the samurai to the extent of proclaiming to be a man as well, and hence Yamato is widely referred to as Kaido's son.

Appearance

Yamato wearing their mask and full kimono.

Yamato is slightly over twice Luffy's height, but not nearly as tall as Kaido, and has long, light-colored hair that is tied into a ponytail at the back, which turns dark further down and ends in rectangular locks similar to Kaido. Yamato also has large eyes with prominent eyelashes, and wears hoop earrings on both ears and has horns that start out light-colored but then turn darker. Clothing-wise, Yamato wears a pair of hakama pants and sandals, and, much like Oden, wears a large nio-daisuki on their back.

Originally, Yamato had on a sleeved, multi-colored kimono that had diamond-shaped design on both sides; but the sleeves were later ripped off, leaving the garment sleeveless and making it more form-fitting. When in disguise, Yamato wore a hannya mask, which has a wig with an extremely long and wild mane attached to the top and a long goatee attached to the bottom.

Personality

Yamato holds immense admiration for the legendary samurai Kozuki Oden, emulating every aspect of him, including his appearance, goals, and even his gender, reasoning that, since Oden was a man, then it was also necessary to become a man. Yamato wishes to fulfill Oden's dream of reopening the borders of Wano Country. Due to this admiration of Oden, Yamato often does things and considers certain actions based on assuming the identity of Oden himself.

Relationships

Kaido

— Yamato disowning their father.

Kaido is Yamato's father and the two have a strained relationship, as Yamato idolizes Kaido's enemy Kozuki Oden. When Yamato told Kaido of the desire to be Oden, Kaido responded with violent beating. However, Yamato has emulated Oden for the past 20 years to the point of even dressing up as a man like him, and although Kaido disapproves of this idolizing of him, he does refer to Yamato as his son. Kaido does not seem to be aware that Yamato wishes to fulfill Oden's dream of opening Wano's borders, a cause which he is opposed to. Kaido has been cruel to Yamato numerous times since childhood and had kept Yamato imprisoned on Onigashima since the age of eight years old. He even put Yamato cuffed with explosive handcuffs to prevent a possible escape. Yamato originally doubted the handcuffs were explosive, but after Luffy removed them and they did in fact explode, Yamato realized that Kaido was actually willing to kill his own daughter and, as a result, chose to sever relations with Kaido, such to the point of proclaiming that there would not be any concern for Kaido if he were killed during the raid on Onigashima.

Kaido's overall view of Yamato is unknown. Though he has called his daughter an "idiot", he wished to have Yamato participate in his party during the Fire Festival and later announced across Onigashima his intention for Yamato to replace Orochi as shogun which, unknown to him, was flat-out rejected.

Monkey D. Luffy

Luffy and Yamato charge into battle.

After failing to set sail with Ace, Yamato had been waiting for his brother, Monkey D. Luffy, to arrive at Onigashima. For this reason, Yamato chased and clashed with Luffy after finding him, ignoring the young pirates time constraints in order to talk to him, even if for just five minutes. Yamato then trusted Luffy enough to request his help in achieving Oden's dream of opening Wano's border, and then expressed a wish to be freed from Kaido and an intent to leave Wano with Luffy's crew as a means to be free and explore the sea like Oden did. Therefore, after Luffy removed the explosive handcuffs Kaido had used to imprison Yamato, the two decided they would fight Kaido together. Their trust has slowly grown and Luffy even entrusted Yamato to help them in helping protect Momonosuke.

Luffy refers to Yamato by the nickname "Yama-o" (ヤマ男^?), similar to the nickname he uses for Trafalgar Law. Yamato appears to dislike this nickname, as evidenced by the attempt to correct Luffy with the former's actual name.

Portgas D. Ace

Yamato had met Ace at some point in the past and had tried to sail out of Wano with him, but was kept prisoner on Onigashima due to the explosive handcuffs. Yamato seems to respect him, as evidenced by the conversation with Luffy in which Yamato fondly stated that Luffy was reminiscent of Ace and that, although it was not possible to set sail with Ace, it would be possible to leave with Luffy due to them being brothers.

Abilities and Powers

Yamato is a very powerful warrior, with Black Maria noting that bringing Yamato back to Kaido's fortress after having escaped would be a difficult task.

Physical Abilities

Yamato possesses monstrous strength resembling Kaido, being capable of wielding a large and heavy kanabo and using it to knock out Ulti, an Ancient Zoan user and one of the Tobiroppo, with just one blow. Yamato was also able to physically match Luffy's strength with relative ease, even when the pirate increased his strength exponentially with Gear Second and Gear Third. When Yamato countered a punch from Luffy with a kick, the powerful collision destroyed much of the surrounding wall and ceiling and blew back the Beasts Pirates around them. Luffy was even easily picked up and held with just one arm while running due to Yamato's stature.

Yamato is quite fast, being able to lunge forward with blinding speed to attack, as well as outrun members of the Beasts Pirates in pursuit, and eventually completely elude the pirates and escape to attic with Luffy without anyone seeing them.

Weapons

File:Yamato's Kanabo.png

Yamato's kanabo.

Yamato wields a giant kanabo club much like Kaido, albeit studded and more slender, while Kaido's is spiked and a bit thicker. In addition to the kanabo being a powerful blunt weapon, Yamato has masterful technique with it, being capable of moving it to counter Luffy's rapid attacks with little effort.

Attacks

• Raimei Hakke (雷鳴八卦, Raimei Hakke^?, literally meaning "Thunderclap Eight Trigrams"): A technique used by Kaido and imitated by Yamato, in which the user lunges forward at their target with blinding speed and swings their kanabo horizontally, striking the target with tremendous force. The attack was first seen used against Ulti in her full-beast transformation, knocking her out instantly. It is called Thunder Bagua in the VIZ translation. However, while Kaido uses only one hand to swing his kanabo, Yamato swings it with both hands instead, and Ulti considers this attack to only be half as powerful as Kaido's, calling it Raimei Yonke (雷鳴四卦^?, literally meaning "Thunderclap Four Trigrams;" Viz: "Blunder Bagua") instead, though the people around her pointed out that it still hurt her greatly.

History

Past

At some point in the past, Yamato went to their father Kaido and told him of the desire to be the great samurai Kozuki Oden, resulting in Kaido violently opposing it through beating. Later, Yamato was present during Oden's execution in the Legendary Hour twnety years ago, and became saddened upon the samurai's death. Some time afterwards, Yamato found Oden's logbook in Kuri and held onto it dearly while starting to emulate everything about Oden, to the point of beginning to present as a man to emulate Oden's gender, and has since been widely referred to as Kaido's son. Around this time, Kaido placed explosive shackles on Yamato, preventing any chance of escape from leaving Onigashima.

At some point between two and five years ago, Yamato met the pirate Portgas D. Ace. At a later point, Yamato began waiting for Monkey D. Luffy to come to Onigashima.

Four Emperors Saga

Wano Country Arc

Yamato saves Luffy from Ulti with Thunder Bagua

On the day of Kaido and Kurozumi Orochi's party during the Fire Festival, Yamato disappeared from Kaido's mansion to look for Luffy. Yamato passed Eustass Kid's group which raised a small commotion, and ended up finding Luffy fighting Ulti near the front entrance of the mansion. In response, Yamato knocked Ulti out in one blow, and gave an introduction to the young pirate while trying to take him to a private space to talk. However, Luffy had no desire to talk and so attacked, but Yamato managed to counter his attacks before the duo engaged in a powerful and destructive clash. In the immediate aftermath of the clash, Yamato took Luffy to the attic and was able to get him to stay and talk for five minutes. Yamato then removed the mask hiding the aspiring samurai's true appearance and told Luffy about their devotion to Oden and asked for help to achieve the legendary samurai's dream of opening Wano's borders. When Luffy was incredulous, Yamato remarked that Luffy was just like Ace. During this conversation with him, Yamato revealed to Luffy how it had been impossible to leave Onigashima, due to the explosive handcuffs, despite wanting to do so, and asked the young pirate for a ride on his ship. Kaido's speech then started and the two listened on, but then fell out of the attic when the floor collapsed below then. Afterwards, Kaido exclaimed that he planned on making his "son" the next shogun of Wano, but Yamato immediately refused out loud.

As the two fought through the Beasts Pirates, Luffy informed Yamato that Momonosuke and his retainers were alive the whole time. Luffy then removed Yamato's handcuffs and tossed them away before they detonated and caused a huge explosion that sent them flying to the Performance Stage. Seeing the explosion, Yamato realized that Kaido was really willing to kill his own child, and so chose to sever relations with Kaido. The two then arrived at the Live Stage and Yamato clashed against Ulti again. When one of the Beast Pirates reported on Kaido being attacked by the Scabbards, Yamato made it clear that they were now on opposing sides and that it did not matter if Kaido died..

After Momonosuke was freed from the crucifix, Luffy asked Yamato to help Shinobu protect him.

Major Battles

• Yamato vs. Monkey D. Luffy
• Yamato vs. Ulti (Onigashima Live Stage)

Trivia

• "Yamato" (大和（やまと）^?), meaning "Great Harmony", is an ancient name for Japan (originating from the Yamato Province) and can can also refer to the Yamato period of Japanese history, which lasted into the 8th century. Relating to that, Yamato is the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial House of Japan and further refers to the dominant ethnic group of Japan, the Yamato people. Otherwise:
  • Yamato Takeru is a legendary Japanese prince of the Yamato dynasty, prominent in mythology.
  • Yamato is the name of a prominent WWII-era Japanese battleship.