Oden KOZUKI

My favorite himbo and the greatest character in one piece 

@Sedes I don't think you're being fair to Oden. Like at all. We know since Episode 910/Chapter 920 (So 50 episodes/40 chapters before the Oden flashback), that Oden is a Samurai who feels cramped in Wano because of it's strict rules. In Wano, it is forbidden to leave the country, so Oden, who wanted nothing more than to leave Wano and explore the world, was forced to stay in Wano.

Kinemon about Oden feeling too cramped in Wano (Chapter 920):

Oden at the start of the Oden flashback, saying how it's too cramped after having failed to leave Wano again (Chapter 960):

Kinemon mentions that Oden was a troublemaker (Chapter 920):

Oden's troublesone youth is being told to us and his father disowns him, like it was told to us 40 chapters ago (Chapter 960):

 

It's being made clear to us that Wano was too small for a guy like Oden (Chapter 920):

And the Oden flashback makes it clear that Oden has tried leaving Wano 38 times by the time he was only 18 (Chapter 960):

Dogstorm recalls Oden saving him, Catviper, and Kawamatsu in the past, and we see that Oden hates discrimination (Chapter 920):

Oden saves Dogstorm, Catviper, and Kawamatsu from getting burned alive and beats the people up responsible, telling them that they're ignorant (Chapter 963):

We're told that Oden went to Kuri, defeated Ashura, took command of all the ruffians in Kuri, created a paradise for the citizens, and that his father made him the Daimyo of Kuri because of that (Chapter 920):

Oden went to Kuri alone, defeated Ashura and all the bandits there, rounded them all up, turned Kuri into a paradise, and was made Daimyo by his father (Chapter 962):

So Oda has been consistent with Oden as a character. He never retconned anything. I'm not sure why you expected a mysterious samurai when it's being made clear to us from the beginning that Oden is a troublemaker.

And Oden IS tough as nails. He's the definition of it. Can it get any tougher than this?

As for your other points:

The Scabbards didn't follow Oden because he was strong. They followed him because they had nowhere to go and were a bunch of orphans.

Kinemon? He followed Oden because Oden saved his ass. Kinemon is the reason why the Mountain God attacked the Flower Capital, and Oden defeated the Mountain God and then took the blame for it, which made Kinemon want to follow him.

Izo and Kiku followed Oden because they were hungry orphans living on the street, and Oden had food.

Ashura followed Oden because he experienced peace for the first time in his life because of Oden.

Dogstorm, Catviper, and Kawamatsu followed Oden because he saved their lives and fed them.

As for the other scabbards: Raizo followed Oden because he was lonely and Kanjuro followed Oden because he was a spy from Orochi. So Denjiro is the only one who seemingly Oden because of his strength, as he was fanboying over Oden when he met him for the first time. (though that could also just be because of Oden's charisma).

Oden decided to make them his Retainers because he trusted them more than anyone at this point (that was years before Oden met Toki).

They were like a family, they were living under the same roof and Oden couldn't say no to any of them after all.

The flashback kept reminding us that Oden still wanted nothing more than to explore the world for once. It's his childhood dream. That's why the first thing he did when he heard that Pirates (the Whitebeard Pirates) arrived in Wano, was running to them and telling them to let him on their ship (in this case, Whitebeard's).

After being turned down several times, Oden caught the Whitebeard Pirates as they were about to secretly leave Wano, to join them.

Whitebeard promised to let Oden on their ship if he held onto the chain attached to thei ship for 3 days.

Oden almost made it, but when he heard the screams of a woman (Toki), he let go of the chain and decided to go save her instead. Oden didn't even think twice about abandoning his childhood dream and wish, to save a woman he didn't even know at that point.

Whitebeard respected this selfless choice from Oden, came back for him, and decided to let him on his ship.

Then Oden was finally able to do what he always wanted to do since he's a child: Explore the world.

Oden fell in love with the woman who he saved and their love and romance was genuine, Oda didn't use some bad trope for their relationship, he just showed Oden and Toki being in love, which makes them come off as such a genuine and believable couple.

Then Oden met Roger, who left Oden speechless with his ambition. Roger needed Oden for his journey to the last island because Oden can read the poneglyphs.

 

Roger's ambition made Oden interested in the last island and history of his clan, so he pleaded to Whitebeard to let him join Roger for the journey to the last island.

 

At that point, Oden's adventure wasn't a adventure anymore for the sake of it, but to learn more about the history of the world and the Kozuki clan.

When Toki got sick, Oden wanted to stay with her and their children in Wano, but she basically forced him to continue his journey to the last island.

Oden and the Roger Pirates ultimately learned indeed of the history of the world after finding the last island. 

This is also why Oden then knew about Joy Boy, the history of the Kozuki Clan, and said that the Wano Borders need to be opened. If Oden didn't go to the last island or didn't go outside of Wano at all, he would have never learned about all of that. It was necessary for Oden to see the last island so that the can tell his Retainers about all of that. And if Oden never went outside of Wano, Roger would have never found the One Piece and never became the Pirate King.

When Oden returned to Wano, he learned that Orochi rose in power with the help of Kaido and that Toki suffered a terrible wound to her leg after protecting Momo from arrows, which caused Oden to snap.

He ran across the entire country, just to kill Orochi.

But as Oden was about to kill Orochi, Orochi was saved by the old man with the barrier fruit (where the created barries are unbreakable).

Orochi and Kaido then blackmailed Oden into making a fool out of himself for 5 years. Either he goes to war against Kaido, Orochi, and the Beast Pirates, and hundreds of hostages and countless of citizens die, or he sacrifices his own pride and reputation, and nobody except Oden himself suffers. Orochi and Kaido had the entire nation as their hostage and blackmailed Oden with this. Orochi and Kaido also promised to leave Wano in 5 years. Orochi planned to turn all the Wano citizens against Oden by making Oden look like a fool to the citizens, since the citizens didn't know the reason for Oden's actions and that Oden was protecting and saving them the entire time.

 

And Orochi's plan worked, the Wano citizens went against Oden, the very man who was actually protecting them all along.

The opinion of the citizens of Wano about Oden went from this (Beginning of the Oden flashback):

To this (When Oden became Daimyo):

To this (When Oden returned to Wano):

To this (5 years of humiliation):

To this (During Oden's execution):

To this (when they learned that Oden was protecting and saving them the entire time all along):

And finally to this (When Oden died):

Oden had to deal with the loss of his father, his family being in danger, humiliation, the death of Roger, and the people of Wano ridiculing him for 5 years. Oden told nobody about the deal he made Orochi and Kaido, he told his family and the Scabbards nothing, and took all the burden upon himself because he was afraid that he would bring them in danger if he told them anything. Oden checked every region in Wano every week to make sure that nothing has changed. And indeed, Oden has protected and saved all those hundreds of hostages, and the people of Wano, for 5 years, all by himself.

Big Mom said that there is a code of honor that pirates have, and Oden followed it and never went back on his word. But Orochi did, because Orochi is lying coward. It was only when Orochi broke the deal by capturing Hyogoro and killing Hyogoro's wife (they were both one of the few people who were there for Oden during those 5 painful years), that Oden had enough, and went out to take Kaido down for good.

Kaido even noted how different Oden has gotten after his journey. Which shows Oden's character development.

Then, when Oden and Kaido fought, Oden scarred Kaido and was about to kill him, but was then distracted his "son", which was actually the old Kurozumi woman who has helped Orochi rise in power (she has the power to turn into a physical double of anyone she has touched, so she transformed herself into Oden's son, and distracted Oden by pretending to be a hostage).

 

Oden and his Retainers were then sentenced to be boiled to death, and Oden sacrificed himself by holding up all of his retainers on a plank during the entire hour while he's the only one who's getting boiled alive in the boiling oil.

Oden went through hellish emotional pain (humiliation) and physical pain (boiled alive in oil for an hour while lifting 9 large individuals) throughout the last 5 years of his life.

So I seriouly don't understand your hate for him. Oden was never arrogant. And he's way more selfless than he was every selfish. The flashback introduces Oden as a gigachad but Oden is not a "you're supposed to like this character because I tell you so" kind of character. Oden was written as a tragic folk hero. The whole point with his character is that he was a selfish delinquent as a kid and teenager, and developed throughout the flashback. He developed from a wild kid who did things for his own sake, to a father, leader,  tragic hero, and selfless person, who did sacrifice himself for his country, family, and retainers.

Oden was torn between learning more about the history of the world, and ruling Wano. He couldn't be at two places at once. Roger and the outside world needed Oden, but so did Wano. Oda intentionally wrote Oden as a person with flaws and I'm glad he did. It makes him come off as genuine and believable, because nobody in real life is flawless. Oden's character would be nowhere near as good if he was a flawless person.

And honestly, considering that Oden was just there for around 15 chapters, he's one of the most well done characters that Oda has written. We saw his entire story and he temporarily took the MC spot right out of Luffy's hands.

Also, he's one of the few good fathers in the show, he loved Momo and Hiyori dearly.

goat

Great character

Oden is such a good character, he has a good heart and is funny too, such a well written character.