Key Takeaways
- Kaido is an Oni, possibly with ancient giant ancestry, known for forcibly recruiting powerful pirates with diverse species.
- Kaido’s crew includes the last known Lunarian, King, a cyborg Queen, Fish-Men Jack and Sasaki, and various human castes.
- Longarm Apoo, Mink Faust, and Numbers, failed artificial ancient giants, all play varying roles in bolstering Kaido’s Beasts Pirates.
The Beasts Pirates were the crew occupying Wano Country. Kaido served as the crew’s founder and governor-general. The Beasts Pirates effectively operated as the muscle to secure Shogun Kurozumi Orochi’s power over the land. However, Kaido had personal goals of expansion, wanting to ultimately overthrow the World Government in a war after acquiring superior military might. To this end, he forcibly subjugated a number of powerful pirates and their crews, for the sake of bolstering his own power. As a result, his crew consisted of a diverse number of pirates, including some species of pirate that were seldom found elsewhere.
8 Oni (?)
The Unclear Species of Kaido
One Piece is no stranger to weird “human” designs. There are a lot of characters who are human with physical traits that are not typically associated with them. This makes truly determining if the Beasts Pirates Captain, Kaido, is a separate species or just a particularly strong human with horns a bit of a difficult task without official confirmation. That said, he is referred to as an “Oni” and “The World’s Strongest Creature,” implying he may not be entirely human, if even human at all.
Some speculate Kaido might belong to the fabled Buccaneer tribe, which is made up of those descended from giants. More specifically, Kaido is thought to have ancient giant ancestry, due to sharing a lot of their physical characteristics. It is notable that a handful of his subordinates have horns, and Black Maria in particular shares Kaido’s gigantic height. However, their species are, at least for the time being, are not made explicit.
7 A Lunarian
Kaido’s Right Hand
Originating from the Red Line, a continent now known for harboring the World Nobles at Mary Geoise, lunarians are now a largely extinct species, due to circumstances currently unknown. They are known for their ability to create fire, their large black-feathered wings, and an incredible level of resilience. They tend to resemble humans with brown skin and silver white hair. The sole known survivor is King (né Alber), a longtime ally of Kaido.
King and Kaido were imprisoned and used for experiments in Punk Hazard. Once the pair broke out, Kaido began organizing his crew, with King as its first member. King swore not to lose any battles until Kaido was made Pirate King, but ultimately failed to keep this promise after being defeated by Zoro. Nonetheless, King managed to presumably stay atop the pecking order of Kaido’s crew for the majority of its tenure. He was the most powerful member of the All-Stars, the three strongest pirates under Kaido within the crew.
6 Cyborgs
Kaido’s Left Hand, and a few other parts too
One Piece probably has the most cyborgs in it out of any pirate-focused series. Body modifications, often outfitted with prosthetic weapons, are common for characters who suffered debilitating injuries, enjoy tinkering around with technology, or both.
Queen is the most powerful example of a cyborg in Kaido’s camp. He was notably part of an illegal research institute known as MADS, alongside the likes of Dr. Vegapunk. He mixed his own mechanical expertise with the esoteric tech of Germa 66, and has most of the powers the Vinsmoke siblings hold in their raid suits. He has artificially modified most of his body, giving a technological edge to his already impressive physical strength. He is, however, not the only cyborg in Kaido’s crew. Scotch, another cyborg, was stationed as a guardian to one of Kaido’s favorite islands.
5 Fish-Men
Top Brass
Fish-Men, as their name implies, are humanoid beings with physical characteristics reminiscent of fish. Ironically, the exact race of fish-men isn’t fully determined by genes as different species of fish-men can be directly related. They typically exist alongside mermaids and mermen, who overlap with a lot of their traits. The primary difference is that fish-men’s fish-like characteristics exist above the waist, but mermaids and mermen’s exist below it.
Both species seem to be largely indigenous to Fish-Man Island, but many exist outside of it. Fish-Men are ten times as strong as humans on land, and even stronger underwater. Crews and communities cultivated by fish-men exist outside the island, but it is also common for those who are pirates to be members of largely human crews. Seeing as they are quite strong as a species, Kaido recruting them makes sense.
The two main Fish-Men in his camp are Jack, the weakest of his All-Stars and Sasaki, one of the Tobiroppo, his top six officers outside of the All-Stars. Arguably, their strength as Fish-Men has been kneecapped slightly by Kaido, who, presumably in his push for an all-Zoan crew, may have had them eat Ancient Zoan Devil Fruits (assuming they did not obtain and eat them independently). Seeing as Devil Fruits immobilize their users underwater, the location where fish-men are most effective, it seems like an odd choice. Nonetheless, their physical strength on land was enough for Kaido to count them among his best.
4 Humans
The Majority of the Crew
Humans are common to One Piece and, as a species, possess no special skills or powers. Kaido clearly sees this as a design flaw, considering his own desire for an all-Zoan pirate crew. Since Devil Fruits, let alone Zoan Devil Fruits, are not common enough for this to be a reality, Kaido instead shipped in SMILEs, mass-produced Artificial Zoans, which tend to alter human physiology with extra animal parts. These animal parts can range from extra limbs, such as those had by Speed, to an attached extra head, such as Holed’em’s which is located on his stomach.
Humans in the crew are divided by castes based on their relation to SMILE consumption. There are the Gifters, those who ate a SMILE and gained animal traits as a result. More commonly, there are Pleasures, those considered powerful enough for a SMILE, but unlucky enough for it not to be a dud, instead having a permanent smile, and an inability to fully express negative emotions. Finally, there are the Waiters, who haven’t and, for better or for worse, will never eat a SMILE due to their production being halted. Ironically, if Kaido’s entire crew had consumed functional SMILEs, it might only have hastened his undoing. Tama was able to tame those who ate SMILEs with the Kibi Kibi no Mi, as they are now technically part-animal.
3 A Longarm
The Informant
The Longarm Tribe are humanoid beings with double-jointed arms. They have suffered some level of discrimination and are notably prized by slave traders. Their extended arms allow them superior physical strength in combat. Certain pockets of longarms notably do not get along with the similar longleg tribe. That said, there are examples of them crossbreeding in the past, as well as longarms doing so with humans.
Scratchmen Apoo was a member of the Worst Generation, 12 Rookie Pirates believed to become significant threats in the future. He is notably the only longarm with this distinction. Apoo joined the Beasts Pirates and then subsequently feigned an alliance with two crews also tied to the Worst Generation; the Kid Pirates and the Hawkins Pirates. He goaded this team into attacking Kaido, with the ultimate goal of them being absorbed into the Beasts Pirates. Apoo himself is shown to be something of a cowardly opportunist, only sticking with Kaido out of fear, and easily willing to turn on him if the opportunity presents itself.
2 A Mink (?)
Via A Subordinate Crew
Minks are mammal-adjacent humanoids, who appear to largely live on Zou, a remote island atop the back of an elephant named Zunesha. Similar to fish-men, the mammal they take after is not fully determined by parentage. The race can generate bio-electricity known as electro, and can transform into a powerful sulong form once they stare at the moon. As a prominent warrior race with animal traits, one might feel as though they would fit like a glove in the ranks of the Beasts Pirates.
However, the two are largely enemies, in part due to the historical support the minks have had for the Kozuki clan. Jack in particular also seems to frequently oppose the Mink Tribe, notably leading operations against Zou and taking on a variety of minks. Yet even with all these disputes, it is possible one of their number joined up with Kaido.
Faust is a black cat mink and magician. He is the only named crew member of the Hawkins Pirates, aside from its captain. Basil Hawkins and his crew were absorbed into the Beasts Pirates due to Apoo intentionally compromising their alliance. Faust has not been seen onscreen for the Wano arc, but he was likely aligned with the crew when his captain was. He notably has no established history with Zou, instead originating from the South Blue.
1 Numbers
Artificial Ancient Giants
Giants are a powerful race in the series, and an apparent essential for any major power in the One Piece series. They are large, very powerful, and long-lived, with century-old giants being considered relatively youthful. One variant of their species is the ancient giants, who tend to resemble ogres in terms of physical appearance. Only two have been shown in the series, both before the timeskip, but they still managed to leave quite an impression. Ancient giants are shown to be much bigger and stronger than their counterparts, with Little Oars Jr. taking on a number of giant marines.
There were attempts to artificially recreate ancient giants in Punk Hazard, the same laboratory that once held Kaido. These giants appear to be similar to ancient giants in appearance, they are also large and long-lived, with the oldest of them being over a century old. However, they were considered failures, but the exact reason why is not stated. Nonetheless, they were purchased by Kaido, presumably to bolster the crew’s strength. This is presumably when they were first identified as the Numbers.
Each number’s name contains a kanji for their designated number. Numbers are shown to be dimwitted, alcoholic, and perhaps not as strong as their natural counterparts, although probably much stronger than the foot soldiers. In terms of physical appearance, they also tend to closely resemble different types of animals, which fits fairly well with the Beasts Pirates theme. That said, only one of them, Fuga, has actually consumed a SMILE, an action for which he was reprimanded by Kaido and bullied by the other artificial giants.