Kurozumi Orochi

Kurozumi Orochi is the current shogun of the Wano Country and an ally of Kaido, one of the Yonko. Due to his actions and role, he is the secondary antagonist of the Wano Country Arc and one of the central antagonists of the Yonko Saga. Orochi is a rather large man with a big head and stocky build. He appears to be balding, with his dark purple hair being mostly seen on the sides and back of his head, and he has a long topknot in the back, as well as a thin mustache that sticks upward. His two upper canine teeth are longer than his other teeth and are blunt. They remain blunt in his hybrid form. He wears a gold kimono with a fan-shaped pattern on it, a blue robe with flowers on it, as well as a crown on his head. In his transformed state, the main head is a darker olive green with red scales while the other heads are a lighter shade with yellow scales. Every head has black horns, orange eyebrows, and light purple scales. Each head also has red eyes with blue irises and purple tongues. As one of the last members of the Kurozumi Family, who were disgraced and stripped of their power and authority, Orochi developed immense greed and thirst for power from an early age due to being forced to live in poverty since birth. When he worked as a servant for Yasuie, Orochi outwardly exhibited a timid and servile attitude, but this was all an act to steal money by preying on the sympathies of others.

Having been twisted by the Kurozumi Family's unfair persecution since his childhood, Orochi is an extremely cruel and oppressive tyrant who takes joy in making his subjects suffer as revenge for his family's persecution. Under his rule, the people of Wano have suffered great famines. The officials under him also harshly enforce his regime, and he collaborated with Kaido to not only kill Kozuki Oden, but also allowed the Beasts Pirates to turn Wano into a nearly complete wasteland in exchange for borrowing Kaido's power and protection, disregarding his country and people in favor of his own self-interest. Due to his power and connections, he is completely fearless and arrogant, as he proclaimed to CP-0 that he does not fear the Celestial Dragons nor the Marines. He even shot one of the CP-0 agents, confident that they could do nothing against him. Although he hates his country, Orochi desires to create an image of him being a heroic and strong ruler with a happy populace. During his reign, he has had schools teach propaganda about him being the one to defeat Oden and maintain the country's isolation, when in reality Kaido was the one to do those. When meeting with CP-0, he claimed that the citizens around them were happy, although this reality only exists in the wealthy Flower Capital. To give the impoverished citizens the facade of happiness, Orochi put defective SMILE fruits in their food supply to render them unable to express negative emotions, and he sadistically danced in delight when in the midst of the laughing Ebisu Town citizens who in reality were deeply sorrowful over the loss of their great friend Yasuie.

Orochi is extremely domineering and unreasonable with absolutely no tolerance of anyone defying him or speaking ill of him, even if it is out of his earshot and in casual discussion. He has made those actions a capital crime, which the Gifters enforce. He is petty enough to mercilessly attack and kill anyone who offends him, whether they are a man, woman, or child (though may hesitate with a woman he has feelings for). He gets angry if his target ends up being spared from his wrath, as shown when Kyoshiro struck down Komurasaki to give her mercy. He also will not let a grudge go, as after Toko escaped his grasp, he hired an assassin to hunt her down. He does not tolerate failure from his ranks, as he sent the assassin to the Prisoner Mine for failing to kill Toko. When Zoro and Sanji protected Toko, Orochi was utterly enraged at their interference with his execution, and ordered his subordinates to kill Zoro and Sanji in cold blood. Before he left Rasetsu Town, he gave his men specific orders to kill the Straw Hats at all costs for defying him. Orochi will put the blame on others for events that displease him, such as blaming Toko for causing Komurasaki to appear to be killed even though he was in an uncontrollable rage against her for defying him. Orochi has proven himself to be quite hypocritical. While he is propagandized as a hero for defeating the Kozuki Family and maintaining Wano's isolationism, Orochi has allied himself with Kaido, a pirate who in turn has various connections to the outside world. Orochi allied with Kaido by funding weapons factories, and he is willing to broker weapon trades with outside parties desperate enough to match his exorbitant demands. One such party was CP-0, which Orochi first brokered with in exchange for a battleship before demanding that they give him Vegapunk to continue trading. He is also extremely ungrateful, as he abused both Yasuie and Oden's kindness of giving him a job and money by using what was given to him to further his own agenda, and then betraying them by stripping them of everything before ultimately killing them. Additionally, he is dishonorable and typically does not honor deals, as he had no intention of leaving Wano despite agreeing to do so in exchange for Oden humiliating himself for five years. When Oden made a deal with Kaido for him and his retainers to go free if he withstood being boiled for an hour, Orochi changed the deal after Oden survived the hour and ordered for him to be shot to death.

As shogun, Orochi has full control over Wano Country and its inhabitants. He has government officials working under him who enforce his rule, and has a group of elite ninja known as the Orochi Oniwabanshu as well as samurai known as the Mimawarigumi who serve and protect him without question. He also possesses the backing of Kaido of the Yonko, so if he and his subordinates are threatened, Kaido will hear about it and deal with the threat, which is proven in the past when Kaido brutally ended a massive rebellion staged by countless samurais banded together led by the daimyos serving the Kozuki Family against Orochi's new rule. He believes that, with Kaido's support, not even the World Government nor World Nobles can overthrow him nor topple Wano. Orochi has an extremely sharp intuition and a strategic cunning as he orchestrated Kanjuro to infiltrate the Nine Red Scabbards as a mole. Unlike most of his complacent subordinates, Orochi was right to take Toki's prophecy seriously, which allowed him to correctly deduce that Oden's son and retainers are still alive and that certain incidents around Wano Country are connected to Kin'emon, which is confirmed after his spy Kanjuro contacted him after Kanjuro traveled twenty years into the future. He whole-heartedly believes that they are planning to overthrow him and his ally Kaido, even though there is no concrete evidence to support his suspicions. Through his spy, Orochi received information regarding Kozuki Hiyori, the time travel of the Nine Red Scabbards, and the assembly location and numbers of the enemy alliance. This allowed him to correctly figure out their plans and take effective actions to prevent them from mobilizing, by destroying the cave containing the Thousand Sunny and blowing up all the bridges connecting the country's regions ahead of time. However, Orochi's efforts failed due to Kin'emon misreading Yasuie's message as well as Orochi miscalculating the distances of the provinces, acting too late in stopping them. In the Flower Capital school, Orochi has been lauded as being a powerful swordsman said to utilize a sword-style known as Orochi Nitoryu, literally meaning "Orochi Two Swords Style"), and according to propaganda, he uses this style to defeat Kozuki Oden and his retainers. However, this is all false information to paint him as being a powerful Shogun, as it was Kaido who defeated Oden, with Orochi not even being present during the battle. After hearing Toko laughing after his raving about the Kozuki Family, he used a katana to slice wildly through a thin wall while completely missing Toko, displaying little to no skill in swordsmanship. Orochi has great marksmanship skills, having been seen wielding a flintlock pistol and rifle. He was able to quickly draw his pistol and shoot a CP-0 agent in the head with it, although the agent was unharmed by the bullet. With his rifle, he was able to shoot Shimotsuki Yasuie to death from a great distance away, and was shown aiming directly at Toko's head when trying to shoot her.

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.