The Reverie arc was a brief pause for One Piece to catch up on world events after Whole Cake Island, but Wano arc is back into the frenzy. The Straw Hat Pirates land in the country of Wano, where the closed-off borders keep even the World Government out. They’re there to help Momonosuke and the other samurai take back their country from Kaido, the villainous Emperor of the Sea. Follow along for an explainer of the Wano Kuni arc of One Piece!
Due to the length of the Wano arc in One Piece, it’s going to be split into two articles. This first part will cover the time in Wano up until the Raid on Onigashima, which has its own article here.
Where is Wano?
Wano is the next destination in the New World, one of three after Totto Land. The country has adhered to an isolationist policy for the last eight hundred years, overseen by the Kozuki clan. Kozuki is the original family that carved the Poneglyphs so long ago, with reasons for Wano’s borders closely tied to the Void Century. When they say Wano’s borders are closed, they mean it, as the country is nearly impenetrable from the sea.
The country is above sea level, with its own small seas raised far above the cliffs. While waterfalls are constantly flowing, there is one official port in and out of the country. Otherwise, it’s up to the sailors attempting to get in to figure out a way up without dying. Even still, the waves above Wano are constantly raging, sending many ships to the bottom as soon as they reach the seas above.
Wano Advance Team
While half of the Straw Hat Pirates were at Whole Cake Island rescuing Sanji, the others have been in Wano preparing. Franky takes on a job as a carpenter, Robin goes into training as a geisha, Usopp becomes a salesman, and Zoro… finds trouble. Typical Zoro, he ends up lost in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnesses a murder, only to be framed for it by the murderer!
Just as he’s being made to execute himself by seppuku, he instead kills the murderer and goes on the run. The good news is, he can outrun or fight whoever may follow. The bad news is he’s supposed to be laying low, and letting Zoro loose anywhere is a bad idea, much less an unfamiliar country. Now he’s on the run through the countryside, with no clue where he’s going.
Otama
The Straw Hats don’t make it into Wano so easily, and the Thousand Sunny gets thrown around a bit while Luffy is tossed out. When he wakes up, he’s on the shores of Wano as a young girl is running from a giant, fierce animal. Luffy stops them with a blast of Conqueror Haki, while the girl introduces herself as Otama, or Tama as Luffy calls her. She’s a young girl, orphaned not long after birth, and living with a swordsmith on Wano’s shores. Tama ate the Millet-Millet Fruit at some point, which allows her to control animals by feeding them the dumplings her cheeks produce. When she takes Luffy in, she gives him a bowl of rice to eat even though it’s the only food she has. This is when Luffy learns about Wano’s terrible plight.
Tama insists that she’s not hungry, but she also hasn’t eaten in days. When Hitetsu, an old man in a mask shows up, he reveals Tama saves her money all year for that rice, just to give it to Luffy when he needs it. Instead, she drinks some water from the river to try and fill her stomach, but is poisoned by the water instead. Luffy learns that Wano is in a worse state than any of them could have feared. The twenty years since the death of Kozuki Oden have seen the entire country fall to ruin at the hands of Kaido and Orochi.
The Plight of Wano
Wano is in trouble, to put it lightly. There’s no food for the common citizens, with only one special garden reserved to feed the royalty and Kaido’s army. The people are starving, with many at the point of death or severe illness. Wano gets especially dark, as there are panels in the manga of a mother starting to kill her crying baby out of mercy before Luffy steals a massive food shipment.
That’s not all though, as Orochi has weapons factories all over the continent. Now they’re polluting the rivers and killing the land around them. It’s a sad state of affairs for a once beautiful country. Once the land of Cherry Blossoms heard about since Drum Island. The country is in bad shape, and it’s not going to get better as long as Kaido is in charge.
Straw Hats Reunite!
The last time every Straw Hat was together before everyone met in Wano was the beginning of the Dressrosa arc. It’s been a long, long time coming but the reunions are welcome. Zoro and Luffy meet up as Zoro is being chased down and Luffy is trying to get Tama help. Luffy also happens to steal a sword from Hitetsu, and he has no earthly idea of how to use it. In true Luffy fashion, he punches enemies while holding the sword, totally negating the purpose, and royally pissing Zoro off as he wants to hold it.
Meanwhile, Sanji opens up his own soba stand in one of the towns to feed people for free, and Orochi’s people try to shut him down. Sanji pulls out the Raid Suit his father gave him before parting and discovers the insane speed upgrades it gives. Not only that, but it starts to awaken the latent genetic engineering in Sanji’s DNA that his mother originally suppressed through medication. Now he has to struggle with who he is after he thought he was free of his family. Everyone gets to enjoy Wano except Brook, who is kept to the former Kozuki family home ruins, lest he scare the locals into thinking he’s a demon.
Luffy Imprisoned
Luffy feeds a small town, stealing a shipment of food for the Flower Capitol in the process. When the Beast Pirates find out, he’s beaten quickly by Kaido. Instead of killing him, the Emperor of the Sea throws the Straw Hat Captain in the prison labor camp in Udon. Now, he’s made to mine while wearing sea prism cuffs, which amazingly are barely affecting Luffy’s strength. In the prison camp, Luffy will come across some important allies in the fight against Kaido.
Hyogoro the Flower is the first to help him and teaches Luffy how to channel his Conqueror Haki into his attacks. This will help Luffy form the Gum-Gum Red Roc later, which is an even more devastating attack. That’s not the least of it though, as he also ends up in a cell with Eustass Kid. Kid has been there since Kaido gave him a beatdown and took his arm while killing his crew. Worse, the Straw Hats find out that Killer has been forced into eating a SMILE Fruit, and wasn’t compatible. Now, he wanders the land of Wano, laughing helplessly while forgetting his identity.
Kaido’s Lead Performers
Jack the Drought was only one of Kaido’s lead performers, the others being Queen the Plague and King the Famine. Though Jack is formidable with the Fishman strength and Ancient Zoan Fruit, King and Queen are at another level. They both have Dragon-Dragon Fruits of Ancient Types, Queen holds the Brachiosaurus Model, while King eats the Pteranodon Model. They’re Kaido’s top enforcers, with King also belonging to an ancient race known as the Lunarians.
Queen proves to be a real bastard. He’s on the same level as Caesar, making biological weapons just for the hell of it, except even more callous. He willingly poisons his own men to experiment on them, or just to get rid of enemies. His attempts to poison Luffy don’t get far though since the Straw Hat Captain has resistance from his fight with Magellan. Still, it’s a tough fight against these two, and Queen especially keeps Udon in check.
SMILE Fruits
After the buildup to SMILE Fruits since the Dressrosa arc, we finally get a payoff on the knockoff Devil Fruits. The SMILE Fruits are simultaneously hilarious and depressing, as they only come in Zoan Fruit forms. This wouldn’t be so bad, but the animal transformations are all over the place, with strange proportions or animals. Seeing some guy with his entire human body hanging out at the end of a Giraffe’s neck, with an entire giraffe body, is hilariously stupid. The designs here were definitely something Oda had fun with.
The bad part about SMILE Fruits is that they only work for about half of those who eat them. The other half turn into emotionless humans, only capable of laughing instead of crying or any other emotions. It’s bleak, and more prevalent throughout Wano than it should be anywhere.
Who Was Kozuki Oden?
The former Daimyo of Kuni and the rightful Shogun of Wano when he died, Kozuki Oden is legendary. He’s a descendant of the Kozuki clan from Wano, who pass down their secret art for crafting the Poneglyphs. Oden is also somewhat of a rebel in his home country, so his father banishes him to Kuni, which has previously been an area of strife and crime. Despite everything here, Oden gets things into shape, recruiting his vassals along the way which includes Kin’emon and Kanjuro. They meet up with others throughout like Izo and Okiku, before Oden decides he doesn’t want to be Shogun, and instead joins the pirate crew that arrives there one day, the Whitebeard Pirates.
He sails with Whitebeard for some time, even making his way to being a division leader for the Emperor, until he meets Gold Roger. Roger is on his famous voyage to find Laughtale, discovering the One Piece and making his name as King of the Pirates. He invites Oden with them since he knows how to read the Poneglyphs, and the samurai joins them for their journey. Throughout his time with the pirates, Oden welcomes two children with his wife Toki- Momonosuke and Hiyori. After he finds the One Piece with Roger, Oden returns to Wano where he finds something very different than he left.
Kaido
The captain of the Beast Pirates and one of the original members of Rocks D Xebec’s infamous pirates, Kaido is a menace. He’s incredibly powerful, with advanced Color of Conquering and Observation Haki. As if that’s not enough he has a Mythical Zoan Fruit, the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon. While Kaido didn’t get the Fruit until after the God Valley Incident, he was a prisoner of the Navy not long after he ate it. When Vegapunk makes a clone of his Devil Fruit, it’s considered a failure, but Momonosuke proves otherwise.
Kaido breaks out of the Navy lab, freeing his First Mate King along the way. The two build a crew from there, striking fear across the seas as Kaido takes on his Emperor title. Eventually, Kaido comes to Wano, not too long after Oden takes off to join Whitebeard, and backs up Kurozumi Orochi as the new Shogun of Wano. It’s his power that keeps the people of Wano from openly rebelling and keeps even Oden in check when he returns to find things in disrepair.
Kurozumi Orochi
Almost every One Piece arc has that character that’s an absolute bitch of a person. Someone everyone universally hates like Trebol or Sain Charlos, that couldn’t die off quicker to get them out of here. Orochi is a sniveling little coward, barely able to defend himself from a fly much less Oden, but constantly takes advantage of his cousin Oden’s good nature. He uses his constant borrowing of money from Oden to convince the others he should be the stand-in Shogun until Oden comes back. Which they allow based on the dying words of Kozuki Sukiyaki, Oden’s father, although it’s actually his relative Kurozumi Higurashi, who has the Clone-Clone Fruit.
Of course, Oden gets back to reclaim his rightful place, but Orochi won’t give any kind of power up. So Orochi calls in Kaido, who Oden knows he probably can’t defeat, but the Beast Pirates captain allows a deal. Oden will play the fool around Wano for the next three years, after which Kaido will leave and Oden will assume his rightful place. He only agrees to the twisted deal thanks to Kaido’s threats against the people of Wano, though it all goes to hell anyway.
Oiran Komurasaki
The most beautiful woman in all of Wano and the one that Orochi wants, She’s also the daughter of Kozuki Oden, and the younger sister of Momonosuke, though only Denjiro knows. Oiran Komurasaki knows the power she holds. She lives in one of the nicer teahouses of Wano, protected by Denjiro who is in disguise as Kyoshiro. She helps Tama after the young girl drinks the river water, saving her from death. Meanwhile, she also looks over Otoko, looking after the young girl after her SMILE Fruit fails, leaving her only able to laugh.
Despite how much Orochi desires her, he has her put to death for spurning his advances. Denjiro quickly takes the situation under control and fakes Hiyori’s death. Then taking her into hiding for unknown reasons. She’s grown to adulthood in the twenty years since her parents died, making the reunion with Momonosuke even more surprising.
Big Mom Washes Up
Problems for the Straw Hats are already bad with Luffy in jail and their plans for vengeance hitting snags. Now, Big Mom washes up on the beach where Tama found Luffy, and Tama does it again with Charlotte Linlin. Except thanks to a good knock to the head, Big Mom doesn’t remember who she is! So, Tama takes her in and befriends her, giving her a Wano makeover. Then, promising her there’s a good meal waiting at Udon since she’s hungry, leads Big Mom there. The kid is a tactical thinker if anything, and leading Big Mom to Kuni causes enough chaos for Luffy’s escape.
Big Mom is given a hit to knock her out cold as Beast Pirates take her back to see Kaido. It was a short-lived friendship between Linlin and Tama, but Big Mom will remember her when it counts later. Now, the Beast Pirates leave Udon behind as the Straw Hats and Samurai alliance take it. The good news is, that higher-ups got out early, leaving it to Gifters (Beast Pirates who ate working SMILE Fruits). They take advantage of this with Tama’s powers to keep their plans secret while getting a revolt ready.
Gecko Moria
Time for a fun side adventure to check in on things around the world, as Gecko Moria pulls Thriller Bark up to Fullalead Island. He’s there to take on Blackbeard and get Absalom back, who apparently came before him as a scout. Absalom comes running out to greet him only for Moria to get cut down from nowhere. Turns out Absalom is already dead, and the fake one is Caterina Devon, one of the prisoners of Impel Down. Her Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Nine-Tailed Fox allows her to take on the appearance of others, in addition to Zoan abilities.
Meanwhile, Shiryu of the Rain appears above Moria, becoming visible after deactivating his new Clear-Clear Fruit. There’s still no idea about how the Blackbeard Pirates are stealing these Devil Fruit powers. One thing for sure, it obviously doesn’t end in anything good for the original user. They give Moria the choice to join them or have his Fruit taken the hard way. The scene is left at that with no resolution as the focus turns back to Wano.
Planning the Revolution
Despite the massive amount of planning that goes into letting everyone know the Revolution is coming secretly, it slips out. The clues the samurai and pirates leave around Wano are ruined when someone in Orochi’s camp figures out the symbol and has everyone with it arrested, which leads Yasuie to sacrifice himself. He’s the strange laughing old man around Ebisu Town, a failed SMILE Fruit, and father of Toko. Yasuie is also secretly one of the former Yakuza bosses who was friends with Oden, and knows that the reclaiming of Wano could all turn to dust if things get out. He sacrifices himself and takes suspicion off the rebel alliance, dying in the process as Toko cries, all of Wano watching.
The Straw Hats have more reason than any now to take on the dictators of Wano. For their friends and those who rely on them, they’re going to free the country from Kaido’s stranglehold. The revolution is in motion now, and preparations are in place. The Raid on Onigashima is next, and the Straw Hat, Heart, and Kid Pirate alliance will have the toughest fight of their lives in the second half of the Wano arc!
