One Piece Introduces New Wano Villain, Urashima

The Wano Country Arc continues to present the Straw Hat Pirates of One Piece with a series of deadly threats, both old and new. With powerful enemies waiting around every corner, such as the new Beast Pirate named "The Bat-Man" and an old foe in the form of the scarecrow creating member of the "Worst Generation" in Hawkins, Wano isn't giving the Straw Hats any time to breathe as they bring in one of the largest antagonists of Wano to date with Urashima. The villainous sumo wrestler is a member of the high class of Wano and will throw his weight around in order to get whatever he wants, and that weight now is directed at Luffy and company!

Urashima, as mentioned earlier, is a sumo wrestler, leveraging his giant frame and exceptional skills into devastating attacks that line up well with his expertise. When he first encounters the Straw Hats, he is clearly completely full of himself and treats those around him with nothing but disdain, thinking insanely highly of himself. Immediately falling in love with Luffy and Zoro's companion Kiku, the giant sumo proposes that the pair get married but is flatly rejected.

Still pining for Kiku and believing that she will tie the knot with him, Urashima attempts to impress her following a sumo tournament where he is dominating the competition. Attempting to boost himself, the narcissistic wrestler states that all those in Wano beneath him are simply "tools" for him to use as he seems fit. Kiku, of course, doesn't take this kindly, and deals him a giant blow to his ego by cutting off the top of his hair. Akin to a "slap in the face", Urashima barely has time to react to the secret samurai before Luffy challenges the sumo to a fight of their own.

Urashima is a perfect villain for the current arc, representing the aristocracy of Wano and the power that the country manages to create which is steeped in corruption. While not necessarily as striking as Kaido and his Beast Pirates, the giant sumo is an imposing villain to be sure.

What did you think of Urashima's debut? Who has been your favorite villain of Wano to date? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the Straw Hat Pirates!

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best-selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.