#character meta

Short answer? No.

Longer answer, Yamato has no reason to think or believe that Kaido cares about him in any way other than as a heir to his legacy.

Which he's not wrong to believe, with how Kaido refuses to listen to him about things like Oden and being better for Wano, and the bomb bracelets and the ongoing fights between them.

There is a clear lack of communication happening between them, and even if Kaido could supply the words for his reasoning (which is that the world would be extremely hostile to anyone who shares his blood), it's reasoning that Yamato wouldn't buy anyway.

Yamato and Ace may have exchanged words on how much they hate the blood legacies that they are part of (if I'm remembering correctly), but there is no way that Ace would have put to spoken words his own reasoning for why he hates his legacy as Gold Roger's son.

And that is, pretty much every stranger he hung around with when he was younger talked shit about how repulsive Gold Roger and anyone related to him is. Which is the real reason, not anything that Roger did himself, unlike with Kaido and Yamato where Yamato sees the evil his father is doing and despises it.

And it's Ace's reasoning for hating his father that supports Kaido's idea of why he can't let Yamato leave Wano or be known to the world.

Not to say that Kaido still isn't extremely in the wrong, or Yamato wouldn't be right in cutting off any kind of connection between them if he had the chance, BUT there's actually solid evidence that Kaido's fears for Yamato are correct in the worst way possible.

you know, as much as i say sakura is a pretty straightforward and tame character (and i’m not even that much of a fan of hers), i do think one aspect of her character i find genuinely interesting is her inferiority complex.

compared to the rest of team 7, sakura had a relatively sheltered and privileged upbringing. she wasn’t burdened by a clan massacre, a tailed beast or the expectations of a prestigious bloodline. but just because her struggles were less extreme doesn’t mean she didn’t have any.

from her childhood flashback, we see she was bullied, deeply insecure and lacked confidence in herself. i think that’s where her inferiority complex really begins. we see it throughout the story.

- during the chunin exams, she constantly compares herself to naruto and sasuke and feels like she’s the weak link who always needs saving.

- when sasuke leaves the village, she breaks down and begs naruto because she feels completely powerless to stop him herself.

- when naruto loses control and enters his four-tailed state, she once again realises how little she can do.

- during pain’s invasion, where all she can really do is call for naruto’s help.

- even her relationship with sasuke reflects this. sakura repeatedly tries to reach him with her words because, for most of the story, that’s all she feels she has to offer. but her words never reach him in the way she hopes they will.

linking back to her childhood, after ino befriends her and stands up to the girls bullying her, sakura gradually becomes more confident. ino even points out how much she’s changed.

people love mocking sakura for ending their friendship over a crush (which i also think is pretty ridiculous, but they were literally around 10 years old), yet i’ve always seen it as more than that. to me, it felt like the breaking point of a friendship that was already changing. sakura no longer wanted to live in ino’s shadow or constantly rely on her protection. she wanted to prove that she could stand on her own.

and i think that motivation quietly stays with her throughout the rest of the series.

one of sakura’s defining traits is that she almost always throws herself into situations where she’s clearly outmatched because she wants to help, even when she knows she isn’t the strongest person there. we see this:

- when she fights the sound ninja while naruto and sasuke are unconscious.

- when she jumps in against gaara despite knowing she’s completely outclassed.

- after the first VoTE fight, instead of wallowing in self-pity, she decides to train under tsunade because she wants to stand alongside naruto rather than constantly relying on him.

- she tries to comfort naruto during his four-tailed transformation even though it resulted in her being harmed.

- during the five kage summit arc, she convinces herself that killing sasuke is something she has to do alone because she wants to carry that burden herself and free naruto from the promise he made to her, even if the way she goes about it is deeply flawed.

- against sasori, she’s willing to sacrifice herself for chiyo and even offers her the last antidote she has.

- during the war, she insists on fighting alongside team 7 instead of staying behind, and later uses the last of her chakra to help obito rescue sasuke.

- smaller moments support this, during the chunin exam, when she calls sasuke a coward (yes, it was definitely a facepalm moment).

it shows that sakura’s instinct is to push forward rather than retreat. she expects herself, and sometimes others, to keep fighting no matter how difficult the situation is. in a weird way, her inferiority complex becomes the thing that motivates her. because she constantly feels like she isn’t enough, she keeps pushing herself to become someone who can actually help the people around her instead of standing by and watching.

i also think this explains another aspect of her character that often gets overlooked is the way she hides her own feelings.

throughout the series, sakura often puts on a front or forces a fake smile around the people she cares about. i’ve always read that as another consequence of her inferiority complex. she doesn’t want to become another burden that other people have to worry about because, to her, that’s the role she’s spent most of her life trying to escape.

i honestly wish kishi explored this side of her character more because it makes her feel really human and realistic in a way.

the rest of team 7 begin the story with extraordinary abilities, tragic pasts or powerful legacies that allow them to hold their own from the very beginning. sakura didn’t really have that.

You’ve kinda talked about some of your ideas on Kaido’s character but what is your actual perception of him and his life, what do you think of him and his relationship with those around him?

My second question is are you ever going to write a fic with your ideas about him in it or include your ideas in an existing fic?

Kaido is a man entirely shaped by his belief in "survival of the fittest" and "might makes right."

If I met him or someone like him in real life, I would hate him a lot because I find that mindset annoying. Thankfully he's fictional so I can look this over with wanting to stab him.

It's a belief system definitely introduced to him in his childhood in the Vodka Kingdom's treatment of him as a soldier and how Xebec 'recruits' him. But it's solidified by his later experience in the labs of MADS and the WG. Because it is his strength that allows him to survive, to break free, and it's that same thing that allows for the one survivor he finds to live as well, which is Alber. King.

To Kaido, honor is weak. It doesn't protect you. It's a concept that exists for the people on top to bind those below to them. The weak claim honor and it does not make them strong. The weak betray you the first chance they get.

Which is why Oden sticks in his mind. Because Oden is honorable and strong, strong enough to leave a mark on Kaido where none other has managed it. It's a contradiction.

The person that Kaido cares most about and is influenced by the most is King. Would Kaido not be so interested in the concept of Joyboy, if not King's strong belief in that?

Kaido also cares about Yamato, but that care is heavily disturbed by how much Kaido does not trust the world (he knows what the WG would do to someone related to him, after what happened at God Valley to Xebec) AND the fact that Yamato believes in honor. Honor that doesn't exist to Kaido. If Yamato proved he was strong to Kaido, then he would be free to do what he liked, because might is right. But since he isn't, Kaido has the right to lock him up to 'protect' him using whatever means he sees fit.

(Honestly, even if Kaido was a good guy, I think he and Yamato still would have clashed as parent and child. Personality types and all.)

Kaido also has found nothing worthwhile to use his strength on. All he's used it for is to fight and win, and in Wano, he's done that. He's won. There's nothing more for him to use his power on. Thus, the sinking into the depression from his trauma.

It's also important to me that Kaido has very much internalized that he's a monster. Everyone for his entire life has told him that and the people who admire him admires him for that monsterhood (example: Kaido killing all the scientists to free King). That's another reason he doesn't really go for honor, is because monsters are never honorable. He's a monster so he can't have honor.

He's a guy who has, had, the potential to be great. To help others with his strength, to want to free slaves and fight the WG's evil. He has reasons that would compel him to do good! But he chose otherwise, mostly because he believes that he has no other choice in what he is.

Ah, Inconvenient Miracles is THE fic that I'm investigating a lot of these aspects of Kaido, my Lunarian SI that gets picked up by King and brought to Wano.

In many ways that fic is going to force Kaido to more deeply confront his 'survival of the fittest' mindset, mostly because the SI, Amaya, is not considered the 'fittest' by any terms.

But she's always there when you need her the most.

THAT, more than anything, mean so much more. So Shank have no need for Newgate's Pity. He doesn't need him to understand this unconventional family of theirs. He knows he is Loved.

Which is better really? A parent who's always there, but failed when you need them the most? Or the parent who's always absent, but came through when you need them the most?

(not saying WB is bad. He tried but failed the judgement roll. It's just how things turned out)

It's different ways to show love, that's all.

It's not perfect, either way, either path. But it's a love of trying with all you have, with what you can muster.

Edward Newgate's love is the love of keeping and holding, gathering his children about him always.

Magnolia's love...hers is the love of letting go.

In another time, in another life, she would have been able to raise her children in a way more acceptable to individuals like Whitebeard. Raise her children in a life of peace.

But this life...is not that life. She sees Shanks among the Roger Pirates, happy and well and growing up, and she lets go.

She doesn't try to take him from Roger, though it would be in her rights, some would say, as Shanks' mother who loves him.

In the ficlet where she runs into an injured Shamrock, she lets go of him because to take him would hurt more than help at that point in time. In the we weep part where she does take Shamrock, it's prevent herself from killing him. From fulfilling her revenge on Celestial Dragons.

Magnolia is a ghost obsessed with vengeance. With what is lost.

But.

If she absolutely had to, no other choice...

She would let go of that vengeance.

Newgate is someone who want stability for his family. Someone who would chose the balance of power in the world, rather then shaking the boat. Like how he didn't go after Kaido for what happened with Oden. He trust his family, no matter what.( Enough that Teach and Squard happened. ).

Because of that, he would disagree with Magnolia. Rather then staying with her sons, who are alive, she went after the deranged suicidal quest of hunting down CD. She's constantly rocking the boat for the sake of vengeance, not caring even if it cost everyone else. Magnolia doesn't trust anyone. (After what happened in God Valley) . Even those that are in her son's fleet.

So yeah. I don't think Newgate like her all that much.

You've hit the nail on the head.

From his rivalry with Roger, he's always been aware of the Rainmaker's here and there presence and also scornful of it. Because Red Hair may be an uppity brat, and a brat with power now as an Emperor, Newgate supposes, but he deserves better than a family member who abandons him over and over again.

With Ace, that dislike would...worsen. Driven by Newgate sincerely caring about Ace like Magnolia does, because that's far more interesting than either side not caring as much.

Like to Whitebeard, it looks like Magnolia only claimed Ace as her own when he got strong. When he became useful to her.

He'd also worry about her revenge obsession, how that might end up hurting Ace. How she might throw Ace under the bus for her vengeance.

(How Ace might let her, with how suicidal that boy is.)

But of course, we know, that ironically, it's Whitebeard's own that proves to be the real danger to Ace.

And that Magnolia sacrificed herself right away on their son's behalf, instead of the other way around.

Don’t mind me, just throwing around screenshots that are a decade or so apart from one another

ohhh that makes sense, tbh I read the books but it was a while ago. I'm so non religious that my parents forgot to teach me that Jesus wasn't just a swear word for the first few years of my life (fun day at church...) so unless a character mentions their religion frequently it's not usually something I think about. Russian orthodox culture is definitely something that would be interesting to explore though- I think fandom has a tendency towards exploring religion through a North American lens so getting different perspectives on that could add a lot of depth to Ilya's upbringing (especially his relationship with his mother, if presumably she was the more religious one of his parents).

i was also raised non-religious (in the bible belt no less 🫠)!! in college one time i had to ask who joseph was and when the girl next to me said jesus’s dad i was like ?? is that not god??

anyways

the ussr was not religious at all and russia didn’t start utilizing the orthodox church as a propaganda tool until later on in the 90s/early 00s, though they use it more for upholding tradition vs. actual theistic belief. which i think makes irina being religious and marrying a high ranking soviet military man fascinating. like where did her belief stem from? and for ilya, how does his belief manifest? does he believe in jesus or just in god? did he go to church often as a kid? did he go when he was homesick for russia at 20 and alone on a whole different continent? does he ever pray when he’s scared?

the plane crash scene doesn’t have him praying to god (from what i remember) which i also think is worth noting.