Kikunojo

Kikunojo of the Lingering Snow is a samurai from Wano Country and a retainer for the Kozuki Family, serving as one of Kozuki Oden's Nine Red Scabbards. She is also the younger sister of Izo, and the daughter of the dancing school head of the Hanayanagi School in Ringo. After traveling 20 years forward in time, she donned the alias O-Kiku and worked as a tea house poster girl in Okobore Town. Although biologically male, Kikunojo has a feminine appearance and presents herself as a woman. She is very tall, easily towering over Luffy and Zoro at 287 cm. She has long dark violet (dark blue in the anime) hair that falls onto her back and indigo eyes. She also wears sandals and a yellow kimono with chrysanthemum floral patterns and a pink and cream and lavender obi. When Kikunojo prepares for combat, she ties her hair into a ponytail with a red ribbon, and when heading towards Onigashima for the battle against the Beasts Pirates, she wore a full set of Japanese armor. Before being transported to the future, Kiku dressed in more male-like clothing typical of a samurai. After arriving in the future, Kiku began showing a significantly more effeminate side, such as wearing red lipstick and dressing more in feminine clothing.  Kikunojo identifies herself as a "woman at heart", and thus presents herself in a traditionally feminine manner.​ She is a very upbeat and friendly person. To friends, she is helpful and nurturing, as seen when she treated Zoro's injuries and tended to Tama when she was being healed of her poisoning.​


Kikunojo is shown to be a confident, hardened warrior whose friendly nature translates into a strong sense of justice and desire to protect those around her. This was first demonstrated when she served as an ally to Luffy in his mission to rescue Tama from the Beasts Pirates. Kiku even went as far as to cut off Urashima's top-knot (a sign of great disrespect to someone of the samurai class) after hearing him use dehumanizing language toward a crowd of Bakura Town residents, regardless of the fact that just moments prior the same people had berated her due to low social standing. When Kin'emon contemplated the possibility of one of the Nine Red Scabbards being a spy, Kikunojo rebuked him for being indecisive about the matter and told him that they should identify the spy immediately.



Kikunojo's desire to do right can sometimes result in her making rash actions, as she acknowledged when she inadvertently showed her samurai abilities in front of the Bakura Town citizens while living in hiding. Afterwards, she showed more restraint about going to fight enemies, and had to be convinced by Zoro to use her abilities to help save Tama. Kikunojo typically becomes extremely emotional when she loses something dear to her, as she quickly teared up and ran off to be alone after going to the ruins of Oden Castle for the first time since Oden and Toki's deaths. Additionally, she was very emotional when Kanjuro revealed himself to be working for Orochi. Kikunojo takes pride in her role as a retainer of the Kozuki clan, and occasionally refers to herself using ​sessha​, an archaic pronoun similar to "I" in the English language, which is used primarily by male samurai.​ When Momonosuke used the word "Sunacchi", Kikunojo quickly rebuked him for doing so as she believes members of a noble family like the Kozuki should not use coarse words associated with commoners. As a samurai and a member of the Nine Red Scabbards, Kikunojo is an extremely skilled swordswoman. Her strength was acknowledged by Orochi himself. Kikunojo wields a katana with expert precision, as she was capable of swiftly cutting off Urashima's topknot and fought against several Gifters and samurai effortlessly.


Kikunojo and Izo were born in Wano Country. During their childhood, they were raised in a dancing school, but their family was torn apart after their father was arrested. Afterwards, they had to survive on the streets in Ringo. When Kozuki Oden arrived about 39 years ago and gave them food, they joined him. After Oden became daimyo of Kuri, Kikunojo became one of his retainers. For the next few years, Kikunojo and the other retainers educated themselves and trained to become dignified warriors. 30 years ago, they visited the Flower Capital with Oden. After meeting the Whitebeard Pirates, Oden and his retainers had a feast with them. After the Whitebeard Pirates left Wano two weeks later, the retainers discovered Oden, Izo, Inuarashi, and Nekomamushi to be missing. During Oden's absence, Kikunojo and her fellow retainers protected Kuri. When Oden and the two minks returned to Wano with the Roger Pirates, the retainers greeted Oden, but before they could say anymore, Toki stopped them from convincing Oden to stay in Wano so he could continue his journey with Roger. Nekomamushi and Inuarashi told Kikunojo about Izo's stay with the Whitebeard Pirates. Around six months before Oden finished his voyage, Kikunojo and her fellow retainers were furious at Kurozumi Orochi for abusing his position as shogun. While Inuarashi and Kawamatsu stayed behind at Oden Castle, the other retainers marched to the Flower Capital to confront Orochi only to discover that a group of Beasts Pirates were in Kuri threatening Oden's family. When Oden returned to Wano after finishing his journey, the retainers (except Denjiro and Ashura, who were elsewhere at the time) welcomed him back and told him about Wano's situation. Oden then ordered his retainers to protect his family and Kuri before charging to the capital by himself. After Oden failed to kill Orochi, the retainers remained loyal to him for the next five years despite Oden acting like a fool and losing the respect of most of Wano's people. 20 years ago, Oden finally had enough and decided to take down Kaido. The retainers eagerly followed him and marched with him to Onigashima. On the way to Onigashima, the group was confronted by Kaido and his crew in the Udon region. In the ensuing battle, the samurai were joined by Shinobu. Unfortunately, the samurai were overwhelmed in the end. Oden and the Scabbards were then imprisoned in the Flower Capital and sentenced to be boiled alive in three days. All ten prisoners were later brought to the execution site, at which point Oden made a deal with Kaido. After Oden stepped into the pot of boiling oil, the retainers were about to join him, but Oden grabbed a plank and ordered them to stand on it as he held them over the pot. As Oden endured the hour, he explained to his retainers the reason Wano Country was isolated and requested them to open Wano's borders for him. Oden successfully survived the hour, but Orochi summoned a firing squad to execute Oden and his retainers. Oden once again told his retainers to open Wano's borders before throwing them far away from the pot. The Scabbards fled with tears as Oden met his demise. As they were chased by an army of pursuers, Shinobu gave the Scabbards their weapons. On the way back to Oden Castle, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi were captured by the shogun's forces and Denjiro and Ashura split from the group to fight their enemies. By the time the rest of the group reached Oden Castle, it was set ablaze by Kaido. The retainers went inside the castle and found Momonosuke as well as his sister and mother. Toki then sent Momonosuke, Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Raizo, and Kikunojo twenty years into the future.