Kurozumi Orochi of One Piece

Kurozumi Orochi was the shogun of Wano Country, the home of the samurai. As such, he controlled the island of Wano Country, which he massively ran down during his reign. He allied himself with the Emperor Kaidou and oppressed his people. However, during the Fire Festival on Onigashima, he was betrayed by Kaidou and beheaded, ending his reign.

His name was first given by Kinemon on Wano Country.

Appearance

Orochi is a middle-aged man with a stocky build. His head, however, is noticeably large and rounded. He wears a crown on his head, and Orochi appears to have very little hair, which he has tied into a samurai braid. He has small eyes, a round nose, and a large mouth, with his canines being particularly prominent. He also wears a small mustache that curves upwards. His clothing is limited only to a kimono decorated with fan patterns. Overall, Orochi’s appearance seems less fearsome, but rather simple-minded.

Personality

Orochi is of a very confident nature. As the Shogun of Wano Country, he rules with an intimidating and violent approach. He oppresses the country’s inhabitants and ensures that the country remains closed off from the outside world with his policies. Nevertheless, Orochi maintains some relations with the outside world, such as with Emperor Kaidou and his 100-beast pirate gang. He has allied himself with them, who support him in his rule. Because of this, he has no shortage of arrogance, believing himself invincible under the Emperor’s protection. He is not afraid of either the navy or the World Nobles. He also invited the CP0, the strongest intelligence agency of the World Government, to his castle to negotiate with them directly. He even fired a pistol at one of the CP0 agents and didn’t have to fear any consequences because of his title.

Except in the flower capital, the people suffer from great famine and the pollution that Kaidou’s factories have brought to the land. Orochi himself, on the other hand, claims the Paradise Plantation for himself, from which he receives food and clean water without restrictions. Only the best food and the best geishas are good enough for his banquets in his castle, not caring at all about throwing away food he doesn’t like while the rest of his country suffers great hunger. With Komurasaki, the number one prostitute of Wano Country was also present in his castle, and he was in love with her. Therefore, he was very hesitant to attack her when she suddenly raised her hand against him. Instead, he attacked his other subjects until finally Kyoshiro slashed Komurasaki, which angered Orochi greatly since he had not given the latter permission to do so.

Despite his position and his support from Kaidou, Orochi is afflicted with a particular fear. He worries about Kozuki Toki’s prophecy from 20 years ago, which states that on a night lit by the moon, The Nine Akazaya will appear and take revenge on him. Orochi believes that these will be led by Kinemon and will be dethroned and killed by them. Therefore, Orochi had all types of weapons and martial arts such as kendo, karate, and judo banned throughout the country to discourage rebellion. Only samurai are allowed to carry swords. However, his subjects do not believe in Toki’s prophecy and secretly mock Orochi’s fears. If Orochi does notice someone mocking him, he becomes very ruthless towards them and attacks them, even if it is a child.

Skills & Strength

Orochi holds the highest title of his country as Shogun of Wano Country. As such, he rules the country alone, with the samurai at his disposal as a powerful army and his own ninja bodyguard, the Orochi Oniwabanshu, protecting him. He has also formed an alliance with the Emperor Kaidou, who provides additional support for his position and the execution of his policies with his band of pirates. Because of this, Orochi believes that not even the World Government or the Navy can overthrow him and his country.

Orochi has eaten from a cryptid zoan fruit, which allows him to transform his body into a Yamata no Orochi, an eight-headed snake. Theoretically, he also possesses a hybrid form, though he has not shown it. The assumption is that his devil power also gave him seven more lives due to the seven extra heads. Thus, he managed to survive an execution by Kaidou even though he cut off his head. Aside from that, Orochi is also proficient in the use of a sword and a pistol. In general, however, Orochi doesn’t seem to have any real fighting skills. While his physique does increase in Zoan form, which can be used to inflict quite a lot of damage (to buildings, for example), the red sword sheaths were still able to defeat him with ease and no real opposition.

Past

Ascent to the Shogun

Orochi grew up in misery and fear after his family was stripped of their status due to his grandfather’s crimes and the members were hunted down from then on. Then, over 41 years ago, he met Kurozumi Higurashi, who revealed his family’s past to him and gave him the opportunity to become Shogun Wano Country himself. Orochi listened to her instructions and received his Devil Fruit from her. Some time later, he met Kurozumi Kanjuro, whose parents were murdered. Orochi claimed to have avenged them and involved him in his plan. Thus, Kanjuro agreed that he would play a role as a member of the Kozuki clan until his death, but would secretly work for Orochi and provide him with information.
Forty-one years ago, he began working as a servant for Shimotsuki Yasuie, and shortly after, Kozuki Oden spent some time at the daimyo’s house. When he left again, Orochi stole money from Yasuie and accused Oden. However, he later gave up his employment there and took the rest of Yasuie’s gold. In Kuri, he was able to secure more gold by convincing Oden, by now a daimyo himself, to lend him gold.
About 30 years ago, Orochi went with Higurashi, who transformed into Oden with the help of her devil power, to the ruling shogun, Kozuki Sukiyaki, and got a job at the castle there. In the time that followed, rumors spread that the shogun was gravely ill, but Higurashi merely pretended to be the sick shogun, and about 28 years ago, she designated Sukiyaki Orochi as his successor.

Shogun Orochi

Then, 26 years ago, he had allied himself with the pirate Kaidou and started building weapons factories in Wano Country and oppressing the inhabitants. When Oden then returned a year later, he learned of this and attacked Orochi, but his attack was blocked by Kurozumi Semimaru’s devil power. Kaidou then appeared and they made a deal with Oden: if he made himself a jerk lord for five years, they would spare the residents and leave the land peacefully. Oden eventually agreed.
However, five years later, Orochi appeared in Kuri and it turned out that he did not keep the deal, whereupon Oden and his vassals went on the counterattack. However, they lost the battle to Kaidou and were sentenced to death in the cooking pot. On the day of the execution, Orochi was then present and agreed to the deal that those who survived an hour in the cooking pot would be spared. However, as the hour drew to a close, Orochi took this back and ordered the execution by firing squad, at which point Oden was shot by Kaidou. His followers, however, managed to escape. Subsequently, Oden’s family was also to be murdered, but before her death, Oden’s wife, Kozuki Toki, uttered a prophecy that revenge would follow in 20 years. Since the bodies of Oden’s followers were nowhere to be found, Orochi was very worried.
He later gave the daimyos the choice of submitting to him or dying. They refused the offer, whereupon they were defeated by Kaidou and assassinated except for Yasuie. A few years later, Kaidou and Orochi began trading weapons for artificial Devil Fruit with Donquixote Doflamingo, and Orochi gave the failed Smile Fruit to the people of Ebisu.

Present

The banquet in the castle

The procession of the Oiran Komurasaki was in full swing in the capital when Orochi was informed that she would soon be arriving at the castle to attend his banquet, which pleased him greatly.

Shortly after, three agents of the Cipher Pol “Aigis” 0 paid him a visit at his castle to negotiate with him. With Donquixote Doflamingo out of circulation as an underworld intermediary, the Cipher Pol now wanted to make a deal directly with Orochi to buy weapons. Knowing that he held all the cards, he demanded nothing less than Dr. Vegapunk in return, which one of the agents deemed impossible. Orochi then shot the latter with a pistol, whereupon he left for his banquet.

Orochi was happily and pompously celebrating with the geishas when the disguised Robin asked him about Onigashima. Shortly after, Orochi steered the topic to the nine Akazaya that Toki predicted would be an army of vengeance 20 years ago. He believed the recent attacks in Kuri and the capital were the work of Kinemon and his men, so he urged caution. While the guests present secretly mocked him for believing in this prophecy, Komurasaki’s Kamuro O-Toko could not suppress her laughter. Orochi got angry at being laughed at and wanted to attack her despite Komurasaki’s objection. Komurasaki then slapped him in the face, causing the latter to assume his snake form. In this, Orochi ramped around the castle, managing to catch Komurasaki with one of his heads. Of necessity, however, he had to let go of her as the ceiling fell on his head thanks to Shinobu’s devil powers. Afterwards, when Kyoshiro took his chance and called Komurasaki to account for her resistance to the Shogun and slashed her, Orochi was beside himself with rage. He turned back to O-Toko, as this would not have happened if she had not laughed at him. Nami then attacked him with a lightning attack.

The execution of Yasuie

Still incensed by the course of these developments, Orochi received word from Fukurokuju days later that the former daimyo of Hakumai and supporter of Kozuki Oden, Shimotsuki Yasuie, had been arrested in the capital after claiming to be the Ushimitsu boy and being crucified there. Orochi then ordered his men to make an example of him and that he himself would attend both Komurasaki’s funeral and Yasuie’s execution. When the latter arrived at Rasetsu District, Yasuie insulted the shogun, whereupon Orochi executed him with gunfire. To the desperate grief of the people of Ebisu, who could show no emotion except laughter, Orochi responded with joy. However, when he caught sight of O-Toko, who was responsible for the chaos in the banquet, he became enraged and attempted to shoot her as well. However, this attempt was thwarted by Zoro and Sanji, who positioned themselves protectively in front of Toko. After Zoro handed Toko over to Sanji, he set about attacking Orochi. However, his technique “Slash 720 Sense Phoenix” was blocked by Kyoshiro, who reprimanded Orochi for his carelessness and advised him to retreat while stopping Zoro. Orochi then retreated, but not without sending out orders to kill anyone who opposed him. He later learned from Fukurokuju that the Straw Hats had escaped, but that Trafalgar Law had been captured in exchange and the city was on lockdown.

The Fire Festival on Onigashima

The day before the Fire Festival, Orochi learned from Kanjuro about the alliance’s plan and also that Hiyori was still alive. He then gave the order to destroy the bridges at night so that the rebels couldn’t make it to the meeting place and finally traveled to Onigashima on the day of the Fire Festival. Once there, he enjoyed himself. Later, Kanjuro appeared with a badly battered Momonosuke and handed him over to Orochi, however his joy was quickly dispelled when he heard that the samurai rebellion had not been stopped and they were on their way to Onigashima. He clawed Momonosuke and had him tied to a cross in front of his subordinates. While he was telling the story about the time travelers to the Beast Pirates and his subordinates on the main stage, Kaidou appeared with his main representatives and interrupted the Shogun. The pirate emperor now addressed his subordinates and then cut off Kurozumi Orochi’s head.

However, Orochi survived this and acted from the background while everyone thought he was dead. In revenge for Kaidou’s betrayal, he set the building on fire and planned to slaughter everyone. Together with Fukurokuju, he met the sword sheaths. Although Fukurokuju told him to flee and take care of the samurai himself, Orochi confronted them in his Zoan form, thinking them too weakened after the fight against Kaidou. However, these would not be stopped by him and cut off more of his heads. Orochi once again lay motionless on the ground.

Miscellaneous

• Kurozumi (黒炭) translates to “black coal” and Orochi (大蛇) to “giant snake”.
• Orochi possesses a distinctive pool: Gufufu.
• Orochi carries the title of a shogun. The Shogun, also called a general, was originally just a military title in Japan from the 12th to the 18th century, designating the leader of the samurai warriors. But over time, the shogun became even more influential and powerful than the Japanese emperor (called the Emperor of Japan) and eventually gained control of the country. In the Edo periodJapan was divided into fiefdoms and the shogun had them administered by Daimyo, or princes. During this period, the Tokugawa clan ruled over the Daimyō with an iron fist. During his reign, the shogun Tokugawa leyasu increasingly isolated Japan from the rest of the world. With severe restrictions on trade, a ban on Japanese people leaving the country, and a ban on foreigners entering the country, the shogun eventually led the country into isolation. The isolation of the country at that time is a clear parallel to Wano Country, as it is also largely cut off from the outside world and the samurai around Kinemon desire to reopen Wano Country’s borders.
• His favorite dishes are Pacific mackerel pike and yashiori no sake. The latter comes from the legend of Susanoo and the eight-headed snake Yamata no Orochi and refers to the eightfold brewed sake that Susanoo used to get Yamata no Orochi drunk.