Onimaru

In his natural shape, Onimaru takes the form of a komagitsune, a fox-like spirit. Flames seem to make up his fur and tail, while his pointed ears twist into swirls. Most of his coat is pale, though the legs darken below the knee. He stands quite large, reaching well over half the height of the enormous kappa Kawamatsu.

When he assumes his human guise as Gyukimaru, the disguise becomes a towering figure whose face looks much like a mask. A dark kimono covers him, paired with pale trousers and a light cape, and an assortment of weapons hangs across his back. A massive string of beads circles his neck as well.

Devotion to the graves of Ringo defines Onimaru. Across nearly two decades he has shielded them without rest, suffering wound after wound yet never abandoning the duty. Anyone who dares desecrate the resting places meets his fury. Only when Kawamatsu held out his own arm did the komagitsune permit the samurai to gather the weapons interred there.

His Gyukimaru persona reveals a sharp mind steeped in Wano's lore and legend. Holding the swordsman Ryuma in deep reverence, he journeyed as far as Ebisu Town, close by the Flower Capital, just to retrieve Shusui and lay it back at the grave. In a fight he stays practical, hunting for any gap in a foe's defense even when that foe is occupied elsewhere. Still, he shows mercy, refusing to strike an opponent who has lost the ability to continue. As Gyukimaru, he flatly rejected Roronoa Zoro's account of having earned Shusui honestly from Shimotsuki Ryuma.

Onimaru kept company with Ushimaru, the daimyo of Ringo, until roughly eighteen years ago, when his master fell while rebelling against both Kurozumi Orochi and Kaidou. For about five years afterward he lingered near the main cemetery, warding off robbers as the land decayed into wasteland. Around thirteen years ago, while driving off Beasts Pirates, he was found gravely hurt by the samurai Kawamatsu, who nursed him to recovery. Feeling betrayed when Kawamatsu began taking the buried weapons, Onimaru bit into his arm, but he relented once the samurai offered his arm freely and explained that the arsenal was meant for the coming battle against Orochi and Kaidou. The two then worked in tandem, gathering weapons and protecting the graves, with the disguise of Gyukimaru used to scare off intruders. Under a year afterward, a journey to the Flower Capital ended with Kawamatsu's capture, leaving the komagitsune on his own to spend thirteen more years posing as the human Gyukimaru, robbing those who crossed Oihagi Bridge and hoarding their arms underground.

Onimaru is a capable thief who once lifted Shusui from Zoro and crossed much of Wano at speed, and his bite carries force enough to wound Kawamatsu's arm in a single chomp. His endurance let him stand against arrows at the cemetery and shrug off a bazooka blast. His Devil Fruit, the Mythical Zoan called Hito Hito no Mi in its Onyudo model, lets him shift into a full monk yokai or a fox-monk hybrid; that speaking form, Gyukimaru, matches Zoro in power and speed and wields a naginata with great skill, even parrying sword strikes using the staff's shaft.

During the Wano Country Arc he reclaimed Shusui in Ebisu Town, returned it to Ryuma's grave, and clashed twice with Zoro over the swordsman's other blades. After Beasts Pirates attacked him seeking revenge, he wept with joy on learning Kawamatsu still lived, led Zoro to his hidden weapon vault, and changed back into Onimaru. He later reunited with Kawamatsu in Ringo following the Raid on Onigashima, and in the Final Saga he traveled alongside Yamato, Ulti, and Page One through Ringo on their way toward the Flower Capital.