Why Kaido Did Not Need A Deep Backstory

Kaido is a phenomenal character from One Piece who served as one of the biggest antagonists, especially in the post-timeskip of the story. Having been the main villain of the Four Emperors Saga, Kaido was a massive challenge for Luffy to overcome in the story, and it is safe to say that in his own arc, that is, Wano Country, Kaido lived up to and surpassed all expectations.

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Kaido’s display on Onigashima was absolutely phenomenal, and his ideological clash with Luffy was one that fans enjoyed quite a bit. However, numerous One Piece fans believe Kaido to be underwhelming simply based on the fact that he didn’t get a 10-chapter backstory. In essence, Kaido is a complete character and one who doesn’t need additional backstory at all, and there are many reasons for that.

Kaido’s Past and How It Shaped Him

• Kaido Was Sold To The Government
• Eventually Joined The Rocks Pirates

Kaido’s backstory takes a very different approach than most in One Piece. While the vast majority get their own backstories across a few chapters, such as Doflamingo, not all the stories work similarly. Kaido, for instance, had his story fragmented across various parts of Wano, and fans got to see quite a lot from him, even how he turned out to be the way he was.

Kaido was born in Vodka Kingdom 59 years ago, and this country was seemingly always at war. This was largely due to them wanting enough funds to stay as a part of the World Government, and Kaido became a big pawn in this game. Kaido was utilized as a mercenary by the country, and when they were done with him, they sold him to the Government. Kaido was supposed to be a Marine, but with his phenomenal strength, he managed to escape from their clutches time and again.

With a bounty of 70 million berries on his head, Kaido was already a ferocious fighter at a very young age, and it was at this point that Kaido started to believe that only the fittest could survive. Eventually, Kaido made it to Hachinosu, where he met Whitebeard and Big Mom, and eventually, Captain Rocks. He became a part of the Rocks Pirates, sailing with the crew for years upon years. At some point, Kaido even became mesmerized with Gol D. Roger, and this was likely after Roger defeated him, as was implied from the short glimpse of the God Valley that fans got. During the God Valley Incident, the entire Rocks Pirates crew disbanded, and Kaido, after eating the Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryuu, went his own way.

Four years later, Kaido had accumulated a lot of strength, such that he was considered to be one of the most dangerous pirates in the New World, along with Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Shiki. Kaido’s life was certainly not easy. He was still chased by the Marines and even captured and tortured at times. On Punk Hazard, Kaido was experimented upon, and fans eventually saw him breaking free, which is also when he got Alber to join him, naming him King.

Kaido’s Ideology And His Fall In Wano

Kaido Was Beaten By Luffy In Wano

Through his many experiences in life, right from when he was sold off, Kaido knew that without strength, life meant absolutely nothing. To him, only the strong got to be free, and because Kaido himself craved freedom in essence, he wanted to be the strongest. To Kaido, those who weren’t strong weren’t worthy of living and he believed that the mightiest had a divine right to lead others or even eliminate them. Kaido’s ideology essentially stemmed from his being sold at a very young age and used as a pawn. Kaido never wanted to be a pawn again, so he sought strength. Kaido saw the wretched Celestial Dragons rule without having the right to do so, and he decided to bring them down with his own strength.

We’re going to take all of those pampered noble-born rulers and drag them off their ivory thrones down to the battlefield with us! That’s what I call equality and freedom! A world where war decides a man’s true worth! — Kaido

In doing so, Kaido believed himself to be Joy Boy at one point. Even King believed that Kaido was Joy Boy. Kaido’s enemies were those of the World Government and just as Luffy believes that freedom is what makes someone King, Kaido believed it was strength that made people kings, which is why he held a grudge against the Celestial Dragons. According to Kaido, someone’s worth could only be gauged on the battlefield, and the positions of Gods couldn’t just be given to people based on their birthright.

On the battlefield, everyone was equal according to Kaido, and had an equal right to defeat the other, which is the one who could come out on top would be fairly chosen as the King.

In many ways, Kaido, Luffy, and Big Mom all sought equality and freedom. Luffy believes that everyone is owed freedom simply because they exist. Big Mom wanted to create a world where everyone saw eye to eye, although she misconstrued what Carmel told her and started the process of gigantification instead. Kaido, on the other hand, thought true freedom could be achieved on the battlefield, where everyone is equal, and that war was the only fair way to decide someone’s worth. It makes sense why Kaido believed war to be the only way to make people equal. After all, he grew up in a war-torn country, and eventually, the moment he was useless to them, he was sold off to the Government. Kaido established the idea that strength and all-out war were important to be truly free and to make everyone equal.

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This also explains why Kaido wanted to be Joy Boy at some point. But, later down the line, Kaido himself acknowledged that he was far from Joy Boy and instead made up his mind that Joy Boy would be the person who would defeat him.

Another astounding fact is that Kaido eventually wanted to bring down the Celestial Dragons, as that was his ultimate goal. His idea of building the strongest pirate crew, seeking many allies, and making Onigashima the hub of all the pirates, was all to build a mighty crew that would, one day, challenge the World Government, and bring down the Celestial Dragons, another similarity he shared with Joy Boy. By doing so, he believed he would bring freedom and equality to all, as everyone would then have the chance to fight for their own freedom and power.

Not Every Antagonist Needs A Flashback

Kaido Most Certainly Didn’t Need One

While flashbacks definitely are exciting to watch, not every character needs one. Some characters have their stories told brilliantly across the narrative and everything is pieced together so well that a look at their whole life doesn’t matter. Whatever Oda gave the fans of Kaido was absolutely sufficient to openly say that he’s arguably One Piece’s best villain with a fascinating ideology. Kaido’s only problem was that fans had already set expectations for a sob story from him, or a tragic flashback like that of Doflamingo, when that in itself is very rare in One Piece and some of the biggest villains like Crocodile and Enel have never had one either. Kaido is perfect the way he was portrayed, although it takes more than just being a surface-level reader or a power scaler to understand this character truly.

One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus apps. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1139, is set to be February 9, 2025.

One Piece

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

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  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

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  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)

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  Akemi Okamura

  Nami (voice)

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