Warning: Contains minor spoilers to Chapter 1052 One Piece.
Few One Piece heroes have caused as much controversy as the new Straw Hat gang member, Yamato. While fans have undoubtedly spent countless hours arguing about which pronouns should be used when referring to a powerful fighter, the new chapter of the series seems to have solved the problem once and for all.
Introduced in Chapter 971 of One Piece, Yamato is the only child of an incredibly powerful Yoke, Kaido. Despite being a Kaido child, Yamato grew up admiring the samurai Kazuki Oden. Touched by Oden’s heroism and strength, Yamato decided to completely change his personality, imitating the fallen warrior. While this applies to obvious things like manners, personality, and belief systems, it also expands Yamato’s gender identity. As a result, Yamato not only calls himself the son of Kaido, Kaido and his team call Yamato the son of Yoyo. While this should make it obvious that Yamato identifies as male, a few points complicate this. An information card was issued for Yamato, in which his gender was listed as female, which apparently solved the problem for many fans, including the wiki of the series. On the other hand, in the English translation of the series, male pronouns are constantly used to denote Yamato. While the debate is certainly complicated with many nuances, fans who consider Yamato a trans man have just won thanks to the manga.
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Chapter 1052 of One Piece takes place after the Straw Hat Team has won perhaps the hardest battle in its history, defeating Kaido and freeing Vano from his oppressive rule. Yamato officially joins the One Piece Straw Hat Pirates and takes part in the team’s fun after the victory. As the team heads for a nice relaxing dip in the hot tubs, Nami asks if Yamato would mind joining Nami and the other girls, to which Yamato refuses, telling Nami that there are no mixed baths in the castle. Although Nami doesn’t seem to understand, the Straw Hat Pirate men are more than welcoming, and Luffy, Zoro and Chopper treat Yamato the same as any other male member of the team.
As long as the fans can continue the discussion, this scene should settle it forever. Regardless of what is written on the information card, it is clear from the actual text of the series that Yamato considers himself a man. Aside from the gender identity Yamato received at birth, nothing in One Piece suggests that fans should have any reason to doubt that Yamato is the person he is talking about. Fans claim that Yamato considers himself a man only because he imitates Auden, but does the reason why Yamato considers himself a man matter? Although Yamato’s performance is far from perfect, he is still a very positive step forward in portraying trans characters. There’s a reason Yamato is a popular theme for One Piece cosplayers.
Of course, it’s possible that Yamato will change his mind about his gender identity later in the series. If this happens, it is important to respect the new gender identity of the hero, whatever it may be. Although the gender of Yamato in One Piece is a difficult question, the last chapter of the series should resolve the dispute once and for all.
