After the events of Chapter #1016, the One Piece Straw Hats will have a new friend… if all goes well.
Chapter # 1016 of One Piece revealed that the Straw Hats will have a new member – that is, if he survives. Yamato, son of Kaido, officially announced his intention to join Luffy and the others after Kaido and Big Mom were kicked out of Wano once and for all. If he survives the war with his father, he will be the tenth official member of the Straw Hats.
After attacking Shinobu and Momonosuke, Kaido was confronted by Yamato, who stated that he intended to sever their family ties for good in one final battle. Luffy has just been rescued by the Heart Pirates after being thrown into the sea after his battle with Kaido, but he plans to return for a rematch. Until then, Yamato planned to duel with the Beast Pirate Captain to prevent him from chasing anyone else.
Yamato and Kaido’s relationship was always destined to fail, Kaido representing everything that Yamato’s idol, Kozuki Oden, was up to. Not only did Kaido abuse his son, but he also imprisoned Yamato in Onigashima from the age of 8, even using explosive cuffs to make sure he didn’t escape. While Kaido respects Yamato’s pronouns and identity, that doesn’t make his actions any less horrible.
Initially, Yamato wanted to go sailing with Ace but couldn’t, so he waited for Luffy to arrive on Onigashima to try to join his crew. The two have since bonded together because of their desire to take Kaido down, especially after Luffy freed Yamato from the dynamite shackles, showing Yamato that Kaido was indeed willing to kill his son in order to get his way. me. That, along with all of Kaido’s other decisions, brought Yamato to where he is now.
The main question now in the One Piece manga is whether Yamato will survive the war against his father. Yamato was able to confront Luffy, even with the latter using Gear Third. He is shown to be a very capable fighter, so if he can hold out long enough for Luffy to recover and return to combat, he could truly surpass Onigashima in 20 years.
However, Kaido has made it clear that he is ready to kill Yamato and will not go against him, so Yamato needs to be ready to fight for his life and freedom. Together, he and Luffy can finally remove Wano from Kaido once and for all.
