One Piece characters, as fans know, come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them are simply quirky and strange, but some are complete enigmas in some ways. Emporio Ivankov and Yamato are probably the best examples, but Izou is also a great one. The character obviously dresses like a girl, makeup included, but the character doesn't seem like a girl either. In fact, he also fights like a boy. So, is Izou, whose role will expand in the upcoming episodes, a man or a woman? In this article, we'll tell you who Izou is, and we'll reveal the character's gender in this article.

Izou is a man in One Piece; this has been confirmed. He is a former commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and the older brother of Kikunojo, his younger sister. But, despite being a man and seemingly never questioning his gender, Izou is actually a cross-dresser because he constantly dresses as a woman, wears a woman's kimono, has long hair made up like a woman's, and wears makeup all the time. So, he is a man, but he is also a cross-dresser.

The rest of this article will focus on Izou and the question of his gender in One Piece. We'll give you all the known details about this issue, which is one of the most intriguing character-related issues in the current One Piece narrative. However, you should be aware that there will be some spoilers in this article, so be careful how you approach it.

Izou is a man, but he is also a transvestite

Izou is a male; this has been confirmed, and it is a well-known fact in One Piece. There was no doubt about his gender at any point in the story, and even Izou himself never really questioned his gender (as Yamato did; Ivankov is a case in point). He has a masculine physique; his sister calls him her older brother; he behaves, fights, and considers himself a man. All of this undeniably proves that he is a man and considers himself a man. But he dresses like a woman, doesn't he?

Well, he is, but that doesn't make him a woman or trans. It makes him a cross-dresser, which is relatively common in Oda's world. Izou wears a woman's kimono, he also has his hair done in a woman's hairstyle, like a Geisha, and he also wears feminine makeup. He's been doing this since he was a child, and while Oda hasn't provided us with a proper explanation for his habit, we think we know what inspired Oda to design it like this.

Namely, the samurai-like characters of Wano Country are, in many ways, inspired by Japan's pre-modern (shogunate) history. Back then, during kabuki performances, young, feminine-looking boys played female roles on stage because women were forbidden to perform. Based on this, we assume Izou is inspired by an old kabuki performer since his attire would fit perfectly into a kabuki play.

Now, this could very well be the inspiration for his design, but Oda hasn't really given us an in-universe explanation behind Izou's habits, which isn't great, but we're guessing it ultimately doesn't matter since there are other, more important elements to Izou's story than just this one habit.

Unfortunately, the reasons for his cross-dressing habits were never revealed.

He was born in Wano Country. He and his younger brother grew up in their mother's Hanayanagi-style dance school, but the family fell apart when their father became a criminal. The two were forced to live on the streets of Ringo while still very young, dancing and performing for depraved adults. To entertain them, Izou used precision shooting, at which he was impeccable. Thirty-nine years before the beginning of the story, when Kozuki Oden fed them, they joined him on his journey.

One day, Oden broke away from his followers and went alone to Kuri. When they realized this, they ran in the same direction. By the time they reached him, however, he had already defeated all the villains present, including Ashura Doji, and was claiming that he wanted to become their leader. Soon, Kuri became a habitable region, and the shogun made Oden his daimyo. Oden's followers thus became his servants.

Six years later, Oden returned to the castle, followed by Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, and Kawamatsu, after saving them from a group of Kuri residents who believed them to be demons. The daimyo gave them food, and after they told him their stories, he decided to keep them in his service.

One day, Shimotsuki Yasuie discovered Oden's servants trying to steal Hakumai's treasure to help their lord, and instead of punishing them, he gave them more of what they wanted to steal so they could improve their education and buy clothes without tarnishing Oden's name. And that's what they did.

Twenty-eight years before the beginning of the story, when Kozuki Sukiyaki fell ill, all of Oden's servants accompanied him to the Flower Capital. That same year, the Whitebeard Pirates were shipwrecked in Itachi Harbor. Oden asked to join the Newgate crew, but neither the pirate nor his servants accepted. Two weeks later, the daimyo decided to secretly leave his servants and chained himself to the Moby-Dick, while Izou, who had understood his intentions, followed him to bring him back.

Whitebeard ordered Marco to bring the servant aboard, who asked him to do the same with Oden since he was in danger of dying. The pirate explained to him that the latter continued to insist despite numerous refusals and that the arrival of such an unpredictable person in the crew could have endangered the entire crew.

To do this, he would have to be convinced, so he promised to welcome the daimyo and crew on the condition that he cling to the chain for three days. Seeing his lord in pain, Izou was furious, but the two were welcomed aboard with a woman Oden had saved, and Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, who had hidden on the ship, were convinced that their master would board.

When Izou showed the crew his marksmanship skills, Vista told him he should use them to protect others, as there was no point in obsessively wielding a sword if he couldn't defend his lord with it. Izou thus abandoned it in favor of the pistol. Two years later, Izou asked Oden to return to Wano Country because, having become a wanted man, he had allegedly put Toki and his eldest son in danger. The daimyo refused, however, while his wife reassured him.

The crew was then divided into five divisions and, after another two years, landed on an island where Roger's Pirates had just defeated a handful of marines. The two crews fought for three consecutive days, finally feasting together on the fourth day. Shortly after the Kozuki family boarded the Oro Jackson, Roger asked Newgate to lend him Oden for a year to decipher the Poneglyph and achieve his goal.

Although he disagreed with this, Whitebeard accepted the request since Oden himself had asked him to, as he wanted to discover his family's connection to these inscriptions. In return, the Roger Pirates left their supplies and all the treasure they possessed to the rival crew. In the future, the Whitebeard Pirates noticed that Inuarashi and Nekomamushi were no longer on board, sensing that they were following Oden. He and the rest of the crew did not learn of Oden's death until several years later.

They often thought about going to Wano Country, as one might expect, but they gave up because of the consequences it would entail. One day, when Ace had already become the commander of the 2nd Division, he heard him trying to convince Whitebeard to attack Kaido, but Marco tried to make him understand the multiple consequences such a move could have, so the boy asked him to allow him to go alone.

The Emperor then attacked him with his weapon, covering him in bumps. Izou told Ace to bring him along as well, if Whitebeard would allow him to launch an attack on Kaido, and Marco joined in. Ace responded so that with them, he could have defeated him immediately, however, he was criticized.

Now, we're not going too far into the future. We just wanted to explain what happened to Izou during his youth and childhood so you can see that he started dressing like a woman at a very early age, but Oda never really gave us an explanation as to why he became a cross-dresser in the first place.