One of the bigger surprises heading into the climax of One Piece‘s Wano Country arc was not only that Kaido had a son, but that his son Yamato wants to defeat his father and leave the country someday. Now the newest chapter of the series has clued us in as to why Kaido’s son hates his father so much. When Yamato was first introduced into the series it was hinted that the two of them don’t see eye to eye as Kaido had the Tobi Roppo hunt down his son and bring him to the Onigashima announcement.
We started to see more of the strain between the two in the following chapters, and Chapter 985 of the series really gets to the root of why Yamato had been worshipping Kozuki Oden rather than his father. As it turns out, Yamato has had an incredibly abusive upbringing and is now willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that his father is taken down once and for all following years of abuse.
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When Yamato surprisingly asked Luffy to leave the country on his ship, he revealed that years before he had wanted to leave with Ace’s crew but had been held back by a set of shackles that are supposedly rigged to explode if he steps outside of the island. Part of him believes that wouldn’t actually explode as he doesn’t think even Kaido would kill his own son, but it’s also not a risk he’s taking lightly.
He explains to Luffy that even imagining the possibility has frozen him in fear, and after Luffy gets a confirmation that Yamato really wants to join their side, Yamato reveals he’s fine with seeing his father taken down because he would do the same given the chance. He has been a prisoner in Wano for over 20 years at this point, and is just over his father’s tyranny. Now this definitely explains why he worshipped Kozuki Oden as a hero for all these years. He was the one person that stood up to Kaido!
What do you think of Yamato’s abusive past with Kaido? What kind of picture does this paint of Kaido’s pirate organization that he treats his son so poorly? What role do you think Yamato will ultimately play in the final battle? 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!