One Piece is the best-selling Japanese manga of all time and has remained popular since its release. The story of a bunch of pirates and vagabonds out to get treasures hidden in the vast oceans have been able to connect with people across ages and borders.
The manga also has many characters that have topped the popularity charts as Monkey D. Luffy, Portgas D. Ace, Crocodile, Shanks, and Kaku. Kaku in One Piece is one of the most loved villains in the manga world, so Let’s take a dig into the character of Kaku.
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Who is Kaku in One Piece?
Tall and slender, Kaku’s most defining trait is his long rectangular nose. He has round black eyes with only three eyelashes on each of them. Another quirky feature is the way he talks. He is just 23 years old but speaks like an old Japanese man using a formal dialect.
Kaku falls under the category of ‘The comically serious.’ He is not a man with many expressions on his face but is still able to add an air of comedy to the scene.
First introduced in the Water 7 arc, he is one among the five foremen of Galley-La Company’s Dock One, the Da Quan carpentry forearm. He specializes in mechanics and shipbuilding.
When the straw hats approach Galley-La, Kaku is the one assigned to check the condition of ‘The Going Merry,‘ and is the character who reveals to the straw hats that their ship is unrepairable.
Later on, we come to know that Kaku’s life as a shipwright is a disguise, and he is a member of Cipher Pol 9, a rouge agency working as an intelligence service for the world government.
The members of Cipher Pol 9 were generally assigned missions of espionage or assassinations. The members of CP9 are all highly -intelligent and specialists in many arts and tricks.
Kaku and three other members of CP9 are on a mission to infiltrate Water 7 and obtain the blueprints of an ancient and powerful weapon Pluton.
In the Enies Lobby Arc, Kaku takes a Zoan-type devil fruit which gives him the ability to turn into a Giraffe. He has a one-on-one fight with Zoro.
Kaku had little control over his devil fruit but yet he was able to incorporate it into his fighting style. He is defeated, but Kaku accepts his defeat with a smile.
He makes an appearance again during CP9 Incident Report Cover Story when they carry out money-raising activities for Rob Lucci’s medical bills and training the younger generation of CP9.
This was the last formal appearance of Kaku in the manga before a time skip. Kaku is shown again as a member of CP0.
He makes an appearance with other CP0 members in the Levely arc of Whole Cake Island Saga. He is present in Wano Country Arc, preparing to take over the Wano Country if Kaiduo falls.
In the final Egghead Saga, Kaku again plays the main antagonist on a mission to deal with Vegapunk and his satellites. In this very arc, he encounters Zoro and awakens his beast mode but he fails to defeat him.
Kaku: Power and Abilities
Kaku is both powerful and intelligent as a member of Cipher Pol. The cipher police’s principal work is to consolidate power for world government by using any means.
Kaku has many powers as the second strongest member of CP9. As a current member of CP0, the most elite Cipher Pol wing, he is an Intimidating as well as a valuable agent of the world government.
Abilities:
- Physical Strength: Kaku has trained from a very young age to enhance his physical abilities to bring them to par with the formidable Roronoa Zoro. He has strong legs that he uses to jump over cityscapes and run fast. He earned the nickname ‘Mountain Wind’ when working in Galley-La.
- Carpentry Skills: Working for Galley-La, Kaku gained great carpentry skills. Within five years, he became the master carpenter and the best shipwright in the company. His evaluating skills are excellent as he diagonalized and explained to the straw hats about Going Merry.
- Adroitness: Kaku is clever and shrewd. He successfully disguises himself as a shipwright under his espionage mission. He also has a talent for masquerading, ranging from fun-loving and childish to cruel forms. Kaku master’s the devil fruit even without no prior experience and can hold back Roronoa Zoro.
- Rokunshiki: Kaku is the master of all six forms of Rokunshiki. Combined with the devil fruit, he was able to slice the massive tower of Justice in half. He is by far the second-strongest assassin in CP9 and the strongest in his generation.
- Swordsmanship: Kaku is a master swordsman. He reveals himself to be the user of the four sword style or Yontoryu when facing Zoro.
- Devil Fruit: Kaku, after returning from water 7 to Enies Lobby, ate a Zoan-type devil fruit given to him by his boss Spandam. The fruit allowed him to turn into a Giraffe or a giraffe-human hybrid. This increased his strength and durability by great measures. Kaku tested out his new abilities when fighting Zoro. He had no prior experience with it, yet he was able to hold him off and even overwhelm him at times.
Devil Fruit Awakening Abilities
Kaku was able to give Zoro a tough time during their brawl. The elongated neck of the giraffe enabled him to perform Rankyaku. At the time, it seemed that Zoro would have a clean sweep victory when Kaku had his awakening.
Unlike others, his awakening is different. Kaku’s personality is not overshadowed while in beast mode. It enhances his strength, attacking power, and healing speed.
His already long giraffe neck becomes bulkier and elongated like a serpent, and his attacks become sharper.
Kaku’s awakening has the same clouds as the awakening of Lucci’s. Being of the herbivore type, Kaku’s attack is not as powerful as a carnivore one.
He was able to push the Zoro to the end, but Stussy bit Kaku in the neck rendering him unconscious.
Kaku’s Future role in One Piece (Theory)
The latest fight of Kaku against Zoro failed to settle a long-time debate about Zoro’s strength and who is more powerful among the two with their current abilities.
Future chapters may reveal why Stussy bit Kaku. We might see an internal rivalry brewing within the Cipher Pol. Kaku’s reaction when he is conscious again will be a thing to watch. Kaku and others may be disbanded again for failing in their mission.
One thing is sure in the future; we will again see a duel between Kaku and Zoro, which might settle the debate of who is stronger forever.
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A Fitness Instructor and Therapist based in West Bengal, Durgapur. She is pursuing her Post Graduation in Literature and also pursuing her passion for manga and anime with Seinen Manga. She has been a fan of manga and Anime for long and is honing her writing skills as a Content Writer. A regular at anime cosplay events, when not reading a manga, she will be busy sketching her favorite anime characters.