Kozuki Momonosuke is a descendant of the Kozuki clan, the creators of the Poneglyphs. His parents were Kozuki Oden and Kozuki Toki, and he has a sister named Hiyori. He was born 28 years ago, but because he was sent 20 years into the future by his mother Toki, along with some of his vassals, he remained an 8-year-old child.
Contents
Appearance
Momonosuke is a young boy of eight years old at . He is from Wano Country and therefore has the outward appearance of a typical samurai. His hair is tied up in a samurai knot, while part of his hair is shaved above. Through the devil powers of Kinemon, Momonosuke was given a peach pattern kimono and an Obi (sash). He also wears Geta (footwear) and, while on Punk Hazard, a red scarf.
In his dragon form, Momonosuke has the typical appearance of a pink Chinese dragon.
On Dress Rosa, Giolla briefly transformed him into a work of art. In the process, Momonosuke’s head took on the appearance of a peach, in keeping with his name.
Personality
Like Kinemon, Momonosuke has a lot of pride as a samurai. He was even willing to starve for ten days because he wouldn’t accept help from anyone. Like Kinemon, he doesn’t seem to have much knowledge of the world, so he doesn’t know anything about devil fruit or anything like that. He also has a somewhat strange image of pirates and therefore didn’t believe Luffy when he introduced himself as a pirate. Momonosuke thought all pirates were very tall, fat and extremely brutal guys. He also seems to have a perverted disposition for his age, arousing feelings of motherhood in Nami and Robin, which he shamelessly exploits when taking a bath with Robin, for example. This does
Skills & Strength
By accident, Momonosuke possesses the powers of an artificial Devil Fruit, which is considered a failure. It was the result of Dr. Vegapunk’s attempt to create an artificial Devil Fruit, using Kaidou’s stem genes as the basis for it. Since then, he has been able to transform into a serpent-dragon, but was initially unable to control it and is only learning to use it properly. In the meantime, he seems to be able to at least control the transformation itself. As a dragon, he is able to fly by climbing up small (smoke) clouds that he creates himself, but he cannot remember flying. In fact, he claims to never want to fly.
Momonosuke also seems to be traumatized by Doflamingo. Thus, he unexpectedly flies off with Luffy when he remembers Doflamingo’s silhouette, or refuses to fly after being surprised by a memory again.
Momonosuke could hear Zunesha’s voice just like Gol D. Roger, his father Kozuki Oden, or even like Luffy. But unlike the others, he was able to give orders to the giant elephant. Moreover, the ability of the Observation Shaki has awakened in him.
Furthermore, Momonosuke seems to train with a wooden sword every day, but he is still a beginner.
Past
Early life
Momonosuke was born 28 years ago aboard the Moby Dick when his parents were discovering the world with the Whitebeard Pirates. Later, his sister Hiyori was also born there, and the two of them naturally accompanied their parents on the Oro Jackson and had more adventures with the Roger Pirates. But when his mother fell ill 25 years ago, the children left the ship with her on Wano Country while Oden sailed on. There they quickly gained great popularity due to their mother Toki’s efforts, but about six months before their father returned to Wano Country, they were attacked by Kaidou’s minions and his mother was injured while protecting Momonosuke. When his father finally returned and heard about it, he stormed off towards Orochi in a rage, but his assassination attempt failed and ended in him publicly making an ass of himself for five years. Still, his family continued to stand by him. Oden’s display was part of a deal, but Orochi broke it. While Toki and her two children waited in the castle, protected by Shimotsuki Yasuie, Oden and his companions went on the attack, but Oden was ultimately defeated by Kaidou when Kurozumi Higurashi impersonated Momonosuke and was able to distract Oden. Oden and his companions were then sentenced to death.
After his father was then executed 20 years ago, Kinemon and others were able to fight their way free from the execution site and ran to Oden Castle to protect Momonosuke. However, this was already burning when they arrived. Kozuki Toki was inside the castle with her two children and uttered a prophecy that in 20 years, nine shadows would come and usher in the dawn. She then sent Kanjuro, Kinemon, Raizo, Kiku, and Momonosuke 20 years into the future with her devil powers. Coming to the same place, they quickly realized that this was no longer their Wano Country of old and saw an alien world until they finally found allies. While Kiku was to gather information on the ground, the rest of the group left Wano Country in hopes of finding more allies and headed to Zou. It was the last will of his father, Kozuki Oden, that the borders of isolated Wano Country be opened.
Into the future
During their journey, the troupe was shipwrecked on the coast of Dress Rosa. On land, Momonosuke and Kinemon witnessed Doflamingo’s atrocities against one of his gladiators. Since then, Momonosuke panics if anything even reminds him of Doflamingo. Later, the samurai were chased by Doflamingo’s men, after which Momonosuke hid on a ship that unexpectedly left for an unknown destination. In order for Kinemon to pursue him, the samurai Kanjuro allowed himself to be captured. Through this sequence of events, Momonosuke had ended up on a ship that was supposedly taking sick children to Punk Hazard, where they would apparently be “treated” by Caesar Clown.
Momonosuke tried to distance himself from the other kids and didn’t want their help or charity, so he refused all the food he was offered. He thus also refused Caesar’s sweets and did not become dependent on NHC10 like the rest of the other children. For ten days, Momonosuke managed to fast. On the tenth day, he attempted an escape and made it to the Secret Room. There he found a devil fruit created by Vegapunk, but it was deemed a failure. Momonosuke didn’t know about it and ate the fruit driven by hunger. Shortly after, a girl he knew from the ship found him. The two got to talking when suddenly the guards who were looking for the two came in. At that moment, the Devil Fruit began to take effect, turning Momonosuke into a dragon. He escaped the guards, but later suffered a fright when he saw his reflection. As he continued to escape, he overheard a conversation from Caesar, as he explained that the children would die in five years if his treatment continued, but Caesar didn’t care much. Momonosuke tried to warn the children, but when he briefly hid in a trash can, he was thrown into the disposal room of the lab.
Present
Punk Hazard
When Luffy was forced to break through the floor beneath him by a confrontation with Mone, he ended up in the disposal room, where he met Momonosuke. The latter told him his story and what Caesar was planning. Luffy got angry and promised Momonosuke to help him and the kids. Momonosuke collapsed from hunger shortly after. When Luffy told him to pull himself together, Momonosuke imagined seeing Donquixote Doflamingo, which gave him a big scare. He suddenly began to fly upwards. Luffy got on his back and flew out on him.
After this event, however, Momonosuke was quite exhausted and was carried to the surface by Luffy. He also later witnessed Luffy’s fight against Caesar. When the lab threatened to collapse and the rest of Luffy’s friends joined them, they all got into a vehicle to get to safety. Momonosuke learned in the process that Kinemon was also with them. After managing to escape the lab, capture Caesar, and also defeat his reinforcements, the pirates, the navy, the kidnapped children, as well as Caesar’s former servants celebrated for getting this adventure over with. After Kinemon was freed from his statue-like state, Momonosuke revealed himself to him, who even managed to return to his human form. Kinemon was overjoyed to have him back, hugged him and gave him some clothes. But Momonosuke suddenly collapsed from hunger, whereupon Sanji prepared something for him. However, after Momonosuke regained consciousness, he refused the food and even wanted to throw it away, much to Sanji’s annoyance. However, Kinemon set a good example for him and ate some to show him that it was okay to accept the Straw Hats’ help, eat some food, and move on. In tears, Momonosuke then began to eat and thus celebrated with the others.
Dressrosa
Along with his bodyguard Kinemon, Momonosuke also traveled to Dress Rosa to free a captured samurai friend. However, he remained with Nami, Brook and Chopper on the Thousand Sunny to protect the ship. To cheer Momonosuke up, since he seemed to care a lot about his bodyguard, Nami and Chopper played shogun with him, the two being his servants. However, the ship was unexpectedly attacked by Giolla, who used her devil powers to turn the Straw Hats, Momonosuke, and the ship into “works of art”. However, a trick by Brooks still managed to disable the enemy, but this in turn drew Donquixote Doflamingo’s attention to the Sunny. When the latter then attacked the foursome, Sanji stepped in to protect his nakama. However, after a brief showdown, the Cook was far outmatched, so Trafalgar Law took over the fight and moved it to Green Bit. Before that, he used his devil powers to swap his hostage Caesar Clown with Giolla. A little later, Big Momon’s pirate gang finally attacked, which is why Sanji sought permission from Luffy to return fire. As a result, Momonosuke, along with the four Straw Hats, set out for the latter’s next target, Zou, in order to relocate the clashes.
Zou
The crew of the Thousand Sunny successfully defended themselves against the attacks of Big Mom’s crew, outran them, and the next day reached Zou Island, which is on the back of a giant elephant. With the help of Caesar’s gas balloon, they were able to reach the elephant’s back. At the gates of Mokomo, they were able to rescue the fleeing Tristan from the pirate Sheepshead. After Luffy and the rest of Dress Rosa reached the Minks’ home, the samurai from Wano Country split up with the others because they had fallen off the elephant while climbing on. Since Jack asked the Minks about Raizo and didn’t get the information he wanted, Jack started fighting and later torturing the Minks. When Nami, Brook and Chopper found out about this, they feared that the samurai around Kinemon and co. would cause trouble. Momonosuke therefore hid them in his room. Robin, Franky and Brook now wanted to prevent the other samurai from entering the land. However, the trio fell asleep and the samurai were able to cross the main entrance, whereupon they introduced themselves to Bariete as samurai from Wano Country. Due to this, the Mink set off to join his people and both Nekomamushi and Inuarashi made their way to the main entrance, but when the two met, they began to argue.
Meanwhile, the Straw Hat Pirates tried to stop the samurai and when the situation threatened to escalate, Momonosuke showed up and was actually able to put an end to the years-long dispute between the dog and the cat. Still amazed by this reconciliation, Kinemon explained that he was not Momonosuke’s father and it turned out that the real father was a former member of Gol D. Roger. The father’s name was Lord Kozuki Oden and he was a descendant of the people who made the Poneglyph and also carved the writing into those stones. Also, there was one of four Road Poneglyphs on Zou, which was a key to Laugh Tale. However, Oden was killed by the Emperor Kaidou and the Shogun of Wano Country, after which Kinemon, Raizo, Kanjuro, and Momonosuke set out to find allies who would fight against Kaidou and the Shogun. After word got out, Momonosuke asked the Straw Hats, and Luffy in particular, to help them. Luffy agreed and so a new alliance, the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance, was formed.
A short time later, Zou suddenly trembled because Jack came back. The latter tried to bring down the giant elephant with well-aimed cannon shots, but Zunesha communicated with Momonosuke. Luffy also heard Zunesha’s voice, however only Momonosuke could give orders to the elephant. Zunesha then sank Jack’s fleet.
After the excitement, the alliance parted ways. Momonosuke stayed on Zou with Inuarashi, as Momonosuke wanted to talk to Zunesha and get more information from him.
Wano Country
Later, Momonosuke also left for Wano Country and met his followers at the mountain where Oden Castle used to stand, but now only ruins can be seen. He proudly told Luffy that he had improved his sword skills in the meantime. They went to the ruins and Momonosuke as well as the others present listened intently to Kinemon telling them the story about Lord Oden and how they were sent into the future by Kozuki Toki, Momonosuke’s mother and Oden’s wife, to survive and make her husband’s dream of an open Wano Country come true. Afterwards, the plan to defeat Kaidou was discussed and the allies were given new clothes for camouflage. But then Law alerted the group, as this same Kaidou had appeared in Kuri, whereupon Momonosuke transformed into his dragon form for reasons as yet unknown.
Luffy then ran towards Kaidou and Trafalgar Law followed him, Kinemon and Kiku also left the place to save Tsuru. The rest remained at Oden Castle for the time being, but Kaidou was put on their trail by Basil Hawkins and fired a huge beam of fire at the hideout. However, they were saved by Shinobu’s devil powers, which caused a hole to appear. In the principality of Kuri, they finally came across Ashura Doji, whom they wanted to win over to their plan, but the latter indicated that he would only serve Lord Oden and not the entire Kozuki family, and that they had simply gone into hiding for the past 20 years, abandoning the country. He went to Kuri, to the village of Amigasa, and continued training. Tama then approached him about his sister and Momonosuke replied that he was sure she was still alive.
Later, he went to the beach with Chopper and others and found Big Mom, but she had lost her memories. They planned to take her to Udon and on the way Momonosuke continued to hone his swordsmanship, but he used an exclamation he learned from Zoro that Kiku said he shouldn’t say in Wano Country. Finally, they reached Udon and Big Mom caused plenty of commotion. Momonosuke, meanwhile, kept himself hidden so as not to be recognized. After taking over Udon, he showed himself to the other inmates so they were encouraged to join Luffy and his fight. He later returned to Kuri and attended a meeting on strategy. Then, one day before the planned attack, he set out for the rendezvous point with Shinobu and the seven Akazaya present.
Attack on Onigashima
To their horror, however, they found that there were no allies and no ships in sight. The weather also seemed to have turned against them. Per Smart Tanishi, no one could be reached and the harbor looked as if a battle had taken place. Desperate to set sail anyway, the Akazaya and Momonosuke’s attempts to stop them had no effect. Bursting into tears, he was finally restrained by Shinobu. But in the open sea, Kanjuro revealed himself to be a traitor, tricking them by means of a doppelganger drawing, and was still ashore. He overpowered Shinobu and managed to escape with Momonosuke, but the young Kozuki heir motivated his allies to continue the fight and not follow him, as he promised them he would survive. The traitor took Momonosuke to Onigashima, where the boy made his escape and as a result was badly beaten up by Kanjuro.
He handed Momonosuke over to Shogun Orochi, who had tied him to a cross and tried to kill him. After Kaidou then executed Orochi, he turned to the Kozuki boy and asked him his name. Should he deny his origins, he would be spared, but Momonosuke remained brave and bellowed out that he was Kozuki Momonosuke and the future Shogun of Wano Country. Before Kaidou could execute him, the Akazaya stormed the stage and attacked Kaidou and his main representatives. Following this, Shinobu was able to break his bonds, but was discovered by King, at which point Sanji intervened and rescued Momonosuke. He handed him over to Shinobu, but as soon as they landed, they ran into Yamato, who was posing as Oden and was trying to protect the two on Luffy’s orders, but they didn’t trust her. While the two were now running from her as well, Sasaki attacked, but Yamato protected her and managed to convince her that she was on their side. Franky and Hatcha’s emergence finally allowed them to escape through the floor, and Yamato took them outside near the harbor, where they found that Kaidou had lifted the entire island. Back inside in a storage room, they spotted a damaged dragon statue, whereupon Yamato told them both about Ace and that he was not only Roger’s son, but also Luffy’s brother.
Furthermore, she gave Momonosuke his father’s logbook. However, when they were discovered again by the Beasts Pirates, by the Marys, Yamato hid the Kozuki heir in her clothes and together with Shinobu, she fought her way out. Disgusted with himself for not being much help and hiding under Yamato’s clothes, Momonosuke transformed into a dragon, but was quickly able to control this and change back to his human form. After making contact with Kinemon and hiding in the attic, Yamato separated from Momonosuke and Shinobu to go into battle. The young Kozuki heir then began reading his father’s log. After that, events began to flash by.
First he heard Luffy’s voice after it was announced that he had died, then Kinemon and Kikunojo joined them, however they were also discovered by the Beasts Pirates Pirates. Finally, Momonosuke’s father Oden appeared, however he turned out to be a copy, created by Kanjuro. When Kaidou himself appeared, Shinobu and Momonosuke escaped once again.
Miscellaneous
- Because of his appearance, Luffy thought Momonosuke wasn’t a dragon at first, but an eel.
- Since Momonosuke’s name was too complicated for Luffy, he nicknamed him “Momo”.
- His father Oden gave him the name Momonosuke, which means “unsurpassable”.
- Momo (モモ) means “peach”. Therefore, Kinemon also gave him a kimono with a peach pattern.
- Momonosuke is introduced as “dragon” with the old kanji for dragon 龍, which is read according to Furigana Ryu (りゅう), in Chapter 685. The other dragons are referred to by the newer, simplified kanji 竜, which is however read separately from the normal reading according to the Furigana as per Eiichiro Oda as Dragon (ドラゴン – Doragon). It should be pointed out here that when Kinemon is surprised to see Momonosuke in his snake-dragon form in Chapter 698, he uses the usual kanji for dragon 竜, which in this case, according to the Furigana, however, reads Ryu (りゅう).
- His name is both a reference to the well-known heroic figure of Japanese folklore Momotarō and to the actor Yorozuya Kinnosuke (note: needs link), to whom the name Kinemon also refers, as Eiichiro Oda is a self-confessed fan of Kinnosuke.
- His favorite dishes are white peaches and Odes (disambiguation).
