One Piece icon here
(Author's note: While I was present for a lot of the drama as I follow the manga weekly, this article will be very light on actual links to articles or drama itself, and most of the source will have to be of the "trust me bro" kind. i checked various reddit threads and saw some twitter discussions on the subject at the time, but nothing was kept. Also, i am a cishet dude, so while i attempted to be careful with my wording, i may be potentially transphobic in how i write what happened)
One Piece is a (mostly) weekly manga series written by Eichiro Oda. The serie chronicles the story of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy who ate a "Devil fruit" (fruits that grants a superpower when eaten, basically) and his journey to sail the seas in order to become "Pirate King". On his way to that goal he forms "The straw Hats" (named after Luffy's treasured... straw hat) a crew of pirates/friends, and they have many adventures, meeting and fighting many different people on many different islands.The latest arc (that ended three weeks ago) took place in the land of Wano, a country which is basically inspired by feudal japan.
While One Piece is extremely popular, it recieved some criticism for how many female characters have the same face (yes, they are supposed to be three different, unrelated characters, no, no one in-universe comments on the similarities), blatant fanservice (which the anime adaptation somehow intensified), the inability for Oda to write physically strong female characters (with supposedly badass gladiatrix Rebecca not actually ever hitting anyone, being drawn as sexy as every other standard One Piece woman, and the likes) and somewhat problematic content when it comesto gender representation and queerness (the less said about Okama Kingdom and Ivankov, the better). despite that, the serie is extremely liked, and representation seem to have been much better beginnig with the Whole Cake Island arc.But anyways.
Some characters to know for this writeup:Kaido: One the Four Emperors of the Seas, big bad of the arc (and "bigger bad" of a few others), the tyrant reigning over Wano with an iron fist.Kozuki Oden/Oden Kozuki (first name is Oden): Former rightful Shogun of Wano, and man who was executed twenty years ago. Notable for his opposition to Kaido (Kaido is considered "the strongest creature alive", and Oden was the only one to ever actually wound him prior to that arc). He was also, for a time, a pirate who explored the world before coming back to his home country. His execution is particularly noteable, as he stood in a boiling pot of oil carrying his retianers on his shoulders for an entire hour.O-Kiku/Kiku/Kikunojo: One of Oden's retainers, member of the "Nine Red scabbards" (the name collectively given to his retainers). Extremely skilled samuraï, but, most importantly to this writeup, transwoman (it took a while for her to be even revealed as trans)
It all begins in chapter 977, when Kaido suddenly inquire about his son's whereabouts. Prior to that chapter, nothing indicated that Kaido had a child, but here he was, and it was enough to let speculation fly. Why was this son not mentionned before? Were there disagreements between him and Kaido, Would he be an opponent to our protagonists? An ally? Speculations flew widely, as everyone had their idea on who this "son" was going to be, what his name/powers would be, his role in the current arc, what he'd look like and so on...Then, in chapter 983, Yamato appears in person, aiding Luffy against one of his father's cronies before taking him to safety, where he introduces himself and his name is revealed.Then, in chapter 984, yamato takes his mask off and is given a narrator-patented introduction box (yes, i will come back to that panel later).Yamato's story is as such: when he was little, seeing Oden's fighting Kaido and his execution made a great impression on him, so great that he vowed to emulate and become Oden himself, wanting to live up to the legendary man who had explored the seas and opposed Kaido.From that point on, Yamato assisted Luffy, helping him reach and fight his father (even holding off kaido for a few chapters while Luffy recuperated from having the everloving shit beaten out of him by Kaido).And then oficially joined the crew when the arc ended.But as the arc went on, a fierce debate was going on in various comment sections, reddits, twitters and general fandom space:Is Yamato a transman?
Now, you may have noticed from some of these panels that Yamato, to put it bluntly, doesn't look like a man. But he is referred to with male pronouns by other characters, he does want to "become Oden Kozuki" (up to having some moments where he calls Momonosuke, Oden's son "my son") and the end of the arc, during chapter 1052, featured two panels where Yamato joins the men in the baths, refusing to be with the girls because "there's no mixed bathing in the castle" (while, in the second link, the girl asking nami if she can joins her in the bath is the transwoman kiku).So, since Yamato emulates the man Kozuki Oden, uses male pronouns, is referred to both by other characters and himself with male grammar, and refuses to bath in the women's baths, he's a transman, right?Well...
(a brief note on pronouns: Japanese has gendered pronouns, such as multiple masculine "I", but they're not automatically a "this character is a transman" when used. For example, in One Piece itself, the ciswoman Big Mom uses one of the masculine "I" often, but it's as a symbol of her self-assertiveness and confidence rather than as any indication that she might be a transman. And it's not uncommon for tomboy characters in japanese manga to use another masculine form of "i" as a "i'm not like other girls" deal. And when talking about/to someone, japanese rarely uses gendered pronouns, preferring to use title or more neutral ones like "this person", "my offspring" rather than "him" or "my son". So the japanese version uses gender-neutral pronouns when discussing Yamato, while gendered languages (or languages which don't have this kind of ambiguity) refer to Yamato with male pronouns/grammar)
Setting aside the very obvious reactionnary takes that could be summed up as "If yamato was a man, me masturbating to him would make me gay, and i'm not gay, therefore he's a woman", there are actually multiple elements that go in this direction as well.
First, the narrator box upon his introduction makes it a point to introduce him as "Kaido's daughter (self-styled Kozuki Oden)", and the narrator is generally treated as being omniscient (the one time in this arc the narrator was "wrong", it was by announcing the victor to a fight upon the loser's death (actual death, mind you, multiple people who don't really have a reason to lie said explicitly that Luffy was dead) when said loser came back to a life a few chapters later and proceeded to win the rematch). Furthermore, this "daughter of kaido, self-styled kozuki oden" is repeated in the volumes' "who's who" on the back of covers.
Second, and this is a "it's not transgender-ism unless it comes from the actual transgender region of France, otherwise it's sparkling body issues" take, but Yamato doesn't "act" like a transperson: He clearly doesn't mind being called his birth name, makes no real effort to hide or change his body to "be kozuki oden", and Yamato's decision to be "kozuki oden" doesn't seem to stem from any particular body disphoria, and is rather a kind of very agressive cosplaying/kinning/fanboyism. As pointed out by a commenter on here when i talked about it in a scuffles thread "it does sound like that character has a fixation on the guy they're trying to emulate/idolize (is this the One Piece version of kinning ? lol) rather than on any gender. As in, if the idol had been a woman or idk a sentient giant squid, the character's appearance/mannerisms would have changed accordingly.
Third, and this concerns "out of universe" things, but when it comes to merchandising, Yamto is grouped with the women (for example one of the gacha games has him in the "Women of One Piece" category), his VA is the female Hayami Saori (whom, again, does not make any particular effort in making yamato sound "not-female") and, most damningly, the Vivre Card databook explicitely and more than once describe yamato as female, whereas the transwoman Kiku is descirbed as "female at heart"
As you can expect, from the moment Yamato's face was revealed, the fanbase was split, arguments on Yamato's gender erupted daily in the One Piece subreddit (to the point that the r/onepiece mods declared a blanket ban on posts discussing the topic for the current manga hiatus and forseeable future).
But, ultimately, the Vivre Card Databook seems to have put (mostly) and end to that debate, as these databooks, beign overseen by Oda himself, are rarely outright wrong (they will, at worse, end up incomplete/contradicted by information revealed after they come out, but the latest one came out sometime after Yamato was introduced). The debate will still flare up every now and then, but the general consensus seems to be in line with the narrator box: Yamato is Kaido's daughter, but self-style as Kozuki Oden.
