One Piece - Raizo

Raizo
Raizo of the Mist is a ninja from Wano Country, a comrade of Kin'emon and Kanjuro, and a retainer of the Kozuki Family. He is also a member of the Nine Red Scabbards. Raizo is very large, standing about as tall as Kin'emon; his head is large enough to carry Luffy, an average sized human. His body is very disproportional, having a very large head with the rest of his body being relatively small in comparison. His hair is styled into six antennae, with three at each side of his head, a small spike on the middle, and a widow's peak. His hairstyle bears some resemblance to Gedatsu. He has bolt-shaped eyebrows and large sideburns. He also has a crescent moon-shaped scar on his forehead. He wears a dark-colored Ninja shozoku robe. As the Straw Hats pointed out, Raizo is very ugly, a fact that Raizo himself acknowledged as his fellow female ninjas of the Wano Country refused to even look at him. He bears the crest of the Kozuki Family somewhere on his body.

Raizo is a reserved individual who takes his profession as a ninja very seriously. He does not like it when people talk about ninja, such as himself, in a joking manner, and can become very emotional about it, but he will gladly demonstrate his skills if coerced enough. Despite his claim that ninja do not say 'Nin Nin', Raizo ended up adopting the phrase in his speech as shown when he demonstrated ninja skills and again when he greeted the minks.

He is also sensitive about his bizarre and ugly appearance and is severely depressed by the fact that the female ninjas also known as kunoichi from Wano Country do not find him attractive and would not even look at him, and does not like it when people point out his ugliness.

He is extremely kind, noble, and caring, and was so against the fact that the Mink Tribe was sheltering him at the risk of dying, that he had to be chained up to prevent him from fighting and making his presence known. He was worried to the point of tears over the fact the minks were heavily wounded from protecting him. It also moved him greatly that the minks were worried about his safety and glad to see he was okay. His kindness is also shown when the Straw Hats began to depressingly sulk after he refused to demonstrate his ninjutsu skills and immediately relented by showing his skills to them.

Sometime after the Nine Red Scabbards were assembled, Yasuie caught them stealing money from him. Instead of punishing them, Yasuie allowed them to take the money and encouraged them to use it to become better people for the sake of Kozuki Oden and Wano. Twenty years ago, after Oden was executed in the Flower Capital by the shogun, Raizo, Kanjuro, Kin'emon, Kiku, Inuarashi, and Nekomamushi escaped the execution site and fled to Oden Castle, but Inuarashi and Nekomamushi were captured by the shogun's forces and were left behind. By the time Raizo's group reached Oden Castle, it was set ablazed by Kaido. The retainers went inside the castle and found Momonosuke as well as his sister and mother. Toki then sent her son and the retainers 20 years into the future. After arriving at the future, they went around Wano and discovered how much it changed over the years. However, they discovered allies they could still count on and began forming a plan to take back Wano. Momonosuke, Kanjuro, Kin'emon, and Raizo decided to travel to Zou to seek aid from the Mink Tribe, but when they were leaving Wano, they were spotted by the Beasts Pirates.

On the way to Zou, they were shipwrecked, during which Raizo got separated from the others. He later ended up on Zou.

Jack attacked the Mokomo Dukedom to find Raizo. The Mink Tribe, being firmly loyal to the Kozuki Family, lied to Jack that Raizo was not on the island, resulting in the near destruction of their civilization. Raizo being unwilling to let his mink comrades risk their lives for him, tried to turn himself in. This led them to chain Raizo up to a poneglyph in a secret room inside the whale-shaped tree in order to keep him hidden.

Seventeen days later, the Straw Hat Pirates, Law, Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, and Raizo's samurai comrades visited him in the whale-shaped tree. Raizo wept for the minks, begging them to tell the truth about the country's status and why they did not turn him over. He was overjoyed to see his comrades and was freed from his chains, but grew annoyed as the male Straw Hats told him to perform various ninja arts that they came up with in their imaginations. Eventually, he performed various tricks for them, greatly impressing them.

Raizo, Kin'emon, and Kanjuro then stood outside the Whale Tree. When he saw all the destruction the Beasts Pirates had left behind, Raizo felt deep remorse and swore to repay the Mink Tribe for their selfless actions. When Nico Robin deciphered the red Poneglyph, Nekomamushi called them back in. After Nekomamushi explained to the Straw Hats about the creation of the poneglyphs by the Kozuki Family, Raizo and the samurai revealed that Momonosuke was not able to inherit the knowledge of the poneglyphs and expressed sorrow in explaining that Lord Oden was executed by Kaido and the shogun of Wano Country.

The samurai and the two rulers of Zou revealed Oden's will to open the country of Wano to the world and to defeat Kaido and the shogun of Wano Country. The samurai also explained that they needed allies which was the reason why they journeyed to Zou. They then formed an alliance with the Mink Tribe and the Straw Hats.

They later left the secret room and Raizo and the samurais explained that they never went with Oden during his travels as leaving the borders of Wano is a crime. While discussing their plans to defeat Kaido, the alliance decided to split up and meet up again at Wano Country. Law agreed to take Raizo and the samurai back to Wano Country in his submarine. Right after they left the Whale Tree, Raizo was overjoyed to see the minks and went to greet them. This joy was short-lived as they felt Zou shaking and heard Zunisha crying.

Zou's shaking was because of Jack returning and assaulting the giant elephant. On Momonosuke's command, Zunisha retaliated and sank Jack's fleet. With the threat of Jack ended, everyone became calm again.

After Momonosuke decided to stay on Zou in order to communicate more with Zunisha, Raizo and his comrades prepare to go back to Wano with Law and Zoro accompanying them. As the Sanji Retrieval Team departed from Zou, everyone, except for the Straw Hat members left behind, was shocked when Monkey D. Luffy jumped off Zunisha with his party.

Raizo and his group later infiltrated Wano Country, where they remained hidden until the alliance was ready to strike. After Luffy was sent to a prison in Udon by the Beasts Pirates, Raizo informed the alliance that he would assist with rescuing Luffy. He later infiltrated the prison and while Luffy was working, Raizo appeared beside him and informed him that he located the keys to Luffy's Seastone handcuffs but it was heavily guarded. Raizo then asked Luffy to wait a little longer before vanishing.

Raizo eventually managed to steal the key from the Prisoner Mine executive tower and made his way back to Luffy. However, he then discovered that Luffy was brought before Queen for causing an uproar in the prison. While Raizo was hiding behind a small wagon, Kawamatsu called out to him from a nearby cell.

Raizo told Kawamatsu about the decisive battle during the Fire Festival before the latter asked Raizo to free him from his cell. Raizo was then spotted by the guards, forcing him to disappear in a smokescreen. When Queen had Luffy's handcuffs removed so he could fight in the Sumo Inferno, Raizo was dismayed that he went through a lot of trouble for nothing.

With the key in his possession, Raizo freed Caribou from his cuffs and hid inside his body. After the Sumo Inferno was put on hold for the night, Caribou approached the ring with Raizo. After revealing himself, Raizo reunited with Hyogoro and learned of many potential allies locked in the prison.

During the night, Raizo and Caribou stole Queen's o-shiruko supply and fed it to Luffy and Hyogoro. On the next day, Raizo and Caribou hid in the shadows and noted that Luffy and Hyogoro were obviously going to stand out after eating too much food. Raizo soon tearfully witnessed Shimotsuki Yasuie's execution when it was being broadcasted.

Caribou later told Raizo how Wano Country's communication network operates. While Caribou disabled Udon's communications, Raizo worked on stealing the keys to free Kawamatsu.

No comments:

Post a Comment