I have waited for this to happen for this to happen since July 3rd 2020, 2 years and 67
chapters ago, where Eiichiro Oda first introduced us to Yamato,
son of Kaido, self-declared Kozuki Oden and one of the most fun and awesome characters
in all of One Piece. And now with the release of chapter 1051,
I'm gonna take a risk and declare, that it is now official that Yamato is gonna be the 11th straw
hat that will join Luffy's quest to become king of the pirates and find the One Piece.
I have been praying for this to happen for so long, and just couldn't help
jumping around the room grinning when Yamato introduced herself to the straw hat crew.
Also, just to get it out of the way, I will refer to Yamato as a she in this video,
because I personally think Yamato isn't identifying herself as a man,
like Kiku or Izu do as a woman. Much rather she wants to be Oden, for what he represented
and stood for. A man that gave her hope, strength and courage in her lonely and painful childhood,
that she embraced as a sort of mental shield to not break under Kaido's tyranny.
Being Oden for Yamato seems to be a value and personality-based thing to me. It's something
that she will actually have to learn to drop as she will go and travel with the straw hats to
accept herself and her own strength. Trying to be someone else I think is actually a character flaw
that Oda-sensei gave her, that she will need to overcome. Because Yamato has, as we know already
an incredibly strong will and personality, that is quite unique and distinct from Oden. If anything,
her true self seems to be much closer to Luffy I think. And apart from Oden's ideology,
I personally think she very clearly embraces her femininity and so I will refer to her as 'she',
at least until we get any evidence to the opposite. I hope that makes sense.
But with that out of the way. Here's why I think that Yamato is and always has been the perfect
candidate to join the crew and how she will make the straw hats journey
even more enjoyable to follow than it already is.
I think it's really really easy to see, that Oda-sensei had a lot of fun developing and
writing Yamato into the story. I'd like to think, that the idea for this character
has been ready somewhere in his drawer for a long long time, where he was itching to finally
reveal her. Even though character-writing is Oda-sensei's absolute supreme discipline,
Yamato stood out as something special to me right from the start. With every single
chapter and every single panel that she was in, we learned so much about her personality,
her fears and hopes and what she stands and fights for. Her dream is not only connected to Luffy, it
literally is traveling with the straw hats and seeing the real world outside Wano for the very
first time. You know how Luffy liberated every single Straw hat that joined the crew from some
sort of prison, either literal or mental. Zoro from the nave base, Nami from Arlong,
Sanji from his sense of worthlessness, Brook from his loneliness, Jinbe from a freaking impel down.
And he liberates Yamato from both her physical chains that had forced her to stay on Wano,
but also from her fathers tyrannical rule alongside with the people of Wano.
What I'm probably most excited about is the dynamic that Yamato will bring to the crew
overall. Let me know if you feel the same way, but to me, her character brings back a
ton of pre-time skip energy. A true powerhouse with the the same nativity and enthusiasm of
early Luffy. Everything she sees will be new and awesome to her. Seeing the sunny,
riding on it on the ocean. Meeting new people, fighting enemies outside of wano. I can
absolutely see Yamato, in true Oden-fashion running of with a grin attacking random pirate
ships and just like luffy talking to and exploring everyone and everything she sees.
Just think about how great her chemistry with the crew will be.
Even though she is arguably one of the most powerful characters in the story,
she will be eager to see Chopper create medicine, be the ultimate audience for all of Usopps lies,
help Robin with the Poneglyphs through Oden's diary, be a true sparring partner for Zoro,
Sanji and Brook of course already love her anyways and I don't see how she wouldn't get along with
Nami. I like to think that Yamato will refresh all of our experiences with the crew as well.
Chemistry is the most important factor for me personally when it comes to any new straw hat,
but of course power plays a role as well. But do we even need to talk about that?
Yamato was going head to head with Kaido, alone, for quite a while while Luffy was out. I really
don't want to rank her among the straw hats, maybe Zoro is stronger, maybe she is, but I'm not sure
anyone besides Luffy would have been able to do that. With Yamato we basically get a mini-kaido
joining the crew. She has been trained by the Yonko, knows all his moves, can use advanced
conquerer's Haki and will be the third Zoan fruit user to join the crew with
her mythical inu inu no mi, that even gives her ice powers. So a mini Aokiji on top.
Not only does Yamato have room to grow and develop as a person traveling with Luffy and co,
as I talked about earlier, but there is still quite a lot unclear about
who she really is? As far as we know, she does in fact seem to be Kaido's actual child,
but we don't know why Kaido had a kid to begin with and who Yamato's mother is. No matter
from what angle I look at it, I couldn't think of anyone better to become part of the crew of a new
emperor, that will be an invaluable asset in the terrifying fights and trials that are yet to come.
I'm also really curious what bounty Yamato will get once the new posters arrive.
It will definitely be more than me. My current one is 59.000.000 100 berries for each of you
who is subscribed. So our first priority right now as a crew is to overtake at least
this terrible man here. Trebol, who despite his constantly running nose has a
99M berry bounty on his head. So please help us overtake him by subscribing.
Oh! Also, I absolutely love Tama's reaction to Yamato
telling the crew she will sail with them. It would be awesome to have
her on board as well, after all she and Yamato both hoped to join Ace one day.
Tama's flashback during this chapter made the entire thing even more emotional than it already
was. We already got Toko's memories of Yasu and their poverty growing up, and Tama's hits
just as hard if not harder. We see her losing her parents and trying to make a living selling
the same hats, that she showed Ace how to make. At least she had a puppy Komainu by her side,
which makes the entire thing somewhat more bearable to read
until finally Tenguyama steps in to take her in. I'm still pretty convinced that he will turn
out to be someone we have seen before somewhere. One of the former Damyos or some other important
person from the past. I'm really curious to find out who he is, and whether that entire
Tengu thing with the mask and the wings is a fashion choice or a Devil Fruit power.
But as if ecstasy about Yamato and sadness and relief for Tama weren't enough for my poor heart
in one chapter, Oda-sensei had to throw in awe and shock as well. Because finally, finally,
finally we get to see Momo's 28 year old self. And oh boy, adult momo in the shogun's kimono
with the giant Kozuki crest, flowing long black hair and a determined look on his face
is so so much more than what I ever expected. He looks absolutely badass, there is no other
way of saying it. Comparing this kid, no MAN giving a fierce speech to his people to the
momo we first met on Punk Hazard. Momo had by far the most underrated character arc throughout
all of Wano. His change has been absolutely incredible and his reunion with his sister,
who also has suffered through so much is truly heart-warming to see.
Honestly, after the last two chapters did leave the end of the raid feel
quite unresolved and open, seeing Momo like this, seeing Tama and Toko being freed from
their pain and everyone cheering, this felt like a immensely satisfactory ending to the battle,
even if there might still be more fighting to be done in wano and the arc seems far from over yet.
But most importantly, we now have Yamato, my personal best girl in one pice,
finally join the ranks of the crew, giving the straw hats 3 powerful Zoan devil fruit users.
And if you want to know whether Luffy, Yamato and chopper are amongst the best 5 zoan devil fruits,
you really shouldn't skip this video right here.