Hyogoro

Hyogoro of the Flower was the most famous yakuza boss in Wano Country during the Kozuki Family's reign. During Kurozumi Orochi's reign, he was imprisoned in Udon's prisoner mines until he was freed by Monkey D. Luffy. As a prisoner, he was known as Grandpa Hyo. Hyogoro is a small, elderly man with a cyan tuft of hair and goatee that resemble small flames. He has a blue tattoo covering his shoulders and upper back that resembles a vest with pink flower patterns and a border. As an inmate of the Prisoner Mine, he wore a black and white striped yukata undone above the waist, leaving his upper body bare aside from a small orange scarf. He also wore small round orange glasses and warabi sandals. He later draped a short light cloak over his shoulders. At the battle at Onigashima, he wore a light-colored yukata with dark cherry blossom patterns and a dark cloak with bird symbols somewhat similar to the Kozuki Family crest. Over twenty years ago, he was a taller heavyset man with longer hair and goatee resembling wilder flames. Hyogoro is an extremely honorable and kind man who was once famous throughout Wano for his unmatched chivalry as a samurai. Countless samurai and even Oden himself held utmost respect for him. Hyogoro deeply despises the tyranny of Kurozumi Orochi and the Beasts Pirates, denouncing their oppression of Wano's citizens and murder of everyone who stood up to them. When given the chance to submit before Orochi, he refused, yearning for the old days when honorable people were still alive.


After spending a long time in the prison, he became somewhat timid, although still voiced his disappointment with his lack of food despite such an attitude being punishable. However, when Luffy gave him more dango, Hyogoro took the pirate's honor very seriously and made no secret of his new fortune, being willing to accept death for it because of how it fulfilled his memories of the past. By his admission, he consigned himself to a miserable death in prison. Upon reuniting with Raizo and made aware of the whereabouts of the alleged deceased members of the Nine Red Scabbards and Momonosuke, Hyogoro came to appreciate a new will to live, being very relieved that he did not die before knowing everything, and requesting to join the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance to crush Orochi and Kaido. He can be bold, staying in the path of an angry Big Mom just to test Luffy. Hyogoro was respected by all the samurais of Wano for his immense chivalry and kindness towards the citizens. Shinobu believed that if Hyogoro joined their campaign in overthrowing Kaido and Orochi, he could rally all the samurais to their cause.


Hyogoro's patriotism towards Wano is so great that he absolutely refused to cooperate with Orochi's plans for mass weapon factory industrialization despite the consequences of going against Orochi. After being imprisoned, most of the citizens thought he was executed by Orochi for defiance and his fellow prisoners no longer recognized him as the legendary Yakuza, simply referring him as Grandpa Hyo. They cared deeply for Hyogoro who no longer had the strength to work in the hard prison labor, but lack the courage to help him by defying the Beast Pirates. When Daifugo attacked Hyogoro for cheating the system, they pleaded him to stop hurting Hyogoro as he could possibly die due to his old age. However, when seeing him use an advanced Busoshoku Haki technique on a Gifter, the prisoners realize that he is Hyogoro. Hyogoro also expressed sadness at the death of the former benevolent Hakumai Daimyo Shimotsuki Yasuie after seeing his execution. Hyogoro held immense sympathy towards the poor Wano citizens's immense suffering and misery from Kaido and Orochi's tyranny, as when Luffy was silently angered at the Ebisu Town citizens laughing at Yasuie's death, Hyogoro solemly explained about the side effects of the defective SMILE fruits whom Orochi had fed his own citizens including some of their fellow prisoners who had fallen victim to Orochi's twisted cruelty. When Daifugo and the other Beast Pirates attacked his fellow prisoners, Hyogoro rushed to their aid, though was disappointed by their broken morale that led them to simply give into the Beast Pirates's oppression, when Luffy successfully convinced them to retaliate back at the Beast Pirates, Hyogoro was elated while praising Kinemon for making an extremely wise choice of recruiting Luffy as their ally.


In the past, Hyogoro was once Wano's most famous yakuza boss, being in charge of all Underworld dealings in the Flower Capital. He curried enough respect to hold authority over the five yakuza bosses of the other regions of Wano. In fact, his popularity among the Wano population was so massive that Shinobu was certain that, even after two decades, Hyogoro alone would be able to recruit the necessary amount of samurai to stand a chance in the revolution against Orochi. In the past, Hyogoro was respected by countless samurais, Yakuzas, and even Kaido and Orochi themselves for his legendary strength. However, due to long term malnutrition due to his imprisonment, along with the effects of old age, Hyogoro's strength has significantly declined. However, he is still strong enough to move five massive stone blocks. After eating Queen's oshiruko supply, Hyogoro regained enough energy and strength to overpower the Beast Pirates with his swordsmanship. Hyogoro has exceptional endurance despite his old age, as he could withstand a Artificial Zoan Devil Fruit enhanced Gifter, Daifugo's brutally kicking him without spitting out the food Luffy offered him. This combined with his superior Busoushoku Haki skills, he survived getting sent flying and crashing deep into a wall by the Yonko Big Mom, an incredible feat, as Big Mom is powerful enough to destroy cities, sink battleships, and even kill strong giants with just her bare hands. Despite suffering this injury, he is able to fight the Beasts Pirates later on. Hyogoro has displayed great agility in spite of his old age. He was able to avoid the sword attacks of Alpacaman and counterattack fairly easily, though he did have Luffy's future vision to tell him what would happen next. Hyogoro is an extremely skilled and experienced Busoshoku Haki user, which is called "Ryuo" in Wano. He can harden parts of his body and can utilize an advanced application of Busoshoku Haki that allows him to emit his Haki a short distance without a medium. It is strong enough to strike down a Gifter without touching him. He also withstood an attack from Big Mom by guarding himself with Busoshoku Haki. He was skilled enough as a teacher to teach Luffy in the same advanced technique. Hyogoro is an extremely skilled veteran samurai as despite his old age and twenty years of imprisonment, he manages to dispatch dozens of Beasts Pirates easily with his sword.