Yamato

Yamato is the son of Kaidou. Born as Kaidou's daughter and groomed from a young age to be his heir, Yamato instead developed a profound admiration for the samurai Kozuki Oden. After his death, Yamato chose to become Oden, impersonating him and adopting his mannerisms. As a result of this desire to become Oden, Yamato decided to become a man and identify as Kaidou's son, and Kaidou and his crew refer to him as such as well.

This path has put Yamato at odds with Kaidou, with much of his life being spent imprisoned on Onigashima. Yamato befriended Portgas D. Ace during his visit to Wano Country, and after learning of Ace's death waited for the arrival of his sworn brother, Monkey D. Luffy. Initially desiring to join Luffy's crew, Yamato ultimately elected to remain behind on Wano, though still intends to go out to sea in the future.

Yamato is a major ally of the Straw Hats during the Wano Country Arc.

Appearance

Being assigned female at birth and not usually choosing to explicitly present as male, Yamato has typically been referred to as a woman by people when they first encounter him. Yamato is taller than an average human, standing at 263 cm (8'8"). He has long, white hair that is bound between orange rods into a ponytail at the back, which fades into aqua green and then blue the further down it goes, and ends in rectangular locks similar to Kaidou. Yamato also has large, orange eyes with prominent eyelashes, wears gold hoop earrings on both ears, and has horns on the top of his head which are mostly red, but gradually become more flesh-colored toward the base.

Yamato's current outfit is a sleeveless white garment with a diamond-shaped design on both sides and an indigo, wisp-patterned bottom half. He wears a pair of red hakama pants and sandals, and, much like Oden, wears a large purple and white nio-dasuki behind his back.

Personality

Yamato greatly admires the legendary samurai Kozuki Oden to the point of even proclaiming to carry his identity. Yamato has self-identified as Oden on multiple occasions and has even emulated his gender, proclaiming to be the son of Kaidou due to Oden being a man. Although initially carrying doubts as to how to present as Oden, Yamato has steadily expressed a straightforward attitude regarding this identity as time has gone on, even proclaiming this as such to Oden's son Momonosuke, to the boy's horror. Although having wholeheartedly embraced this identity, Yamato retains his original persona, referring to Yamato as his "other name". Yamato does not seem to like being misnamed, having quickly corrected Luffy when given a nickname.

Abilities and Powers

Yamato is an extremely powerful warrior, with Black Maria noting that bringing him back to Kaidou's fortress after he had escaped would be a difficult task. In the past, Yamato was able to clash against Ace, a powerful Logia user, on equal ground. Afterwards, Ace acknowledged Yamato's abilities, saying he could not believe someone so strong was not the captain and lamenting that he could not join his crew. During the raid on Onigashima, Yamato clashed with Kaidou, a particularly notable feat considering the Emperor's nearly unparalleled physical might, with Kaidou himself acknowledging his son's strength and value as a soldier.

Physical Abilities

Yamato possesses immense physical strength resembling that of Kaidou, 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 he increased his strength exponentially with Gear 2 and Gear 3. When he countered a punch from Luffy with a kick, the powerful collision destroyed part of the nearby wall and ceiling and blew back the Beasts Pirates around them. Yamato could easily run while carrying Luffy with just one arm and was able to shatter the extremely tough armor and weaponry of the Beasts Pirates' Armored Corps.

Devil Fruit

Yamato ate the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Okuchi no Makami, a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit that allows him to transform into a divine wolf, as well as a human-divine wolf hybrid. According to Kaidou, this beast is a "Guardian Deity of Wano Country". Yamato ate this fruit purely out of hunger, with Kaidou not intending for him to be the one consuming the fruit.

As a Zoan, this fruit greatly bolsters Yamato's physical abilities. He was able to clash near-evenly against Kaidou, an Emperor of the Sea, while the latter had assumed his extremely powerful human-dragon form. Furthermore, being a carnivorous animal, this animal transformation grants Yamato heightened predatory instincts, as well as equipping fangs and claws that are well-suited for combat.