One Piece Sneaks in Very Important Cameo With Newest Episode

05/03/2021 07:31 pm EDT

One Piece snuck in a very important cameo with the newest episode of the series! The anime is currently in the midst of the Wano Country arc's third act, and with an exploration of Oden Kozuki's past and what it means for the current state of the country. The flashback is now in its climactic final moments now that Oden has attempted to raid on Kaido's forces in the effort to retake the country from Orochi's clutches, and the newest episode of the series revealed Orochi's response to all of this as Oden has been sentenced to execution.

But while this is a pivotal moment all on its own, the anime actually went an extra step further with a very important cameo that will make sense in a much later episode of the series. With the anime pulling in some of the manga's later reveals to further flesh out its current events, this cameo came as a major surprise that will hopefully make the full appearance of this character hit that much more. Spoilers for One Piece's Wano Country arc to follow:

Episode 972 of the series sees Oden and the rest of the Akazaya Nine sentenced to a horrible execution in which they'll be boiled alive in oil. This is such a notable kind of execution that it's drawn the attention of Wano's citizens. This includes a young Yamato, who has now made his first appearance in the anime long before he was originally scheduled to. It isn't a full reveal, but the outfit is a dead ringer for Yamato's official look seen later.

Without giving too much away for fans not caught up completely, Yamato is Kaido's son who is later introduced to the series during the final climactic battle of the arc overall. He reveals that he once attended Oden's execution, and that day continued to have a huge impact on him years later when we meet him in the current day. This cameo does spark some questions, however.

Yamato's later comments seemed to tease that he was a child, but this is clearly someone pretty huge. Then again, if he's Kaido's son that can make a lot of sense too. But either way, this is a pretty huge tease for someone very important that we'll meet in the anime soon enough.

But what do you think? Did you catch this secret cameo snuck into One Piece's newest episode? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

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