第203回：Big in Wano

Seeing the splash page of Yamato enjoying soba reminded me of this scene from Ch914 where we saw Kikunojo getting acquainted with Zoro and Luffy. This is turn reminded me of just how massive Kinnemon’s stature is, yet another citizen of Wano.

In fact, if you look at a number of the main players from Wano, there are quite a few who boast impressive heights. Oden absolutely looms over Kinnemon and and Kikunojo at a whopping 382cm and he’s not even the tallest of the Wano members of the Akazaya Nine.

Characters of tall stature are not exactly uncommon in the world of ONE PIECE and certainly not on the Grand Line. But how did these bloodlines begin? Are they simply the result of years of breeding between giants and humans or…is there something else behind it all?

Both Buccaneer and Lunarian lineage factors seem to exclusively favor ‘larger-than-average’ but ‘not-quite-giant’ heights. This essentially leaves us with four (very) basic height categories for humanoids*:

Small humanoids(Tontatta)
Average human(oids)
Large human(oids)
Giant human(oids)

*Due to their unique lineage factors, it would appear that fish people and merfolk can fit into any of these categories based on their heritage.

How, in Wano, with its physical and geopolitical isolation, does it carry lineage factors that would allow for the birth of large humans like Kikunojo, Kinnemon, and other Wano citizens? It would seem that at some point in ancient history -when more of the land was above water- varied lineage factors were passed on through successful pairing in Wano. But as we can see in modern times, average-size phenotypes are the majority while larger lineage factor phenotypes are a minority.

I have so many questions. How and why did this exchange happen? Which races were responsible for those lineage factors? How did one phenotype remain expressed, even in an isolated society like Wano? If these large human(oids) come from Lunarian or Buccaneer ancestry, is anyone with some of their ancestry capable of whatever feats their full-blooded ancestors may have been able to perform? After all, Pudding may be able to hear the ‘Voice of all Things’, even as a human-three-eye hybrid.

I find it interesting that in the 27 years of the manga’s history, not once has a definitive reason for the origin of these varied body sizes been directly presented. The closest we came to any sort of explanation for modern gigantism is the reveal from Punk Hazard that the World Government maintains an interest in replicating a biological entity similar to Oars. With the mechanical construct Emet preceding Oars by several hundred years, it’s possible that the attempt to replicate an Oars-like giant is actually an attempt to create a biological weapon based on constructs like Emet.

I hope we’ll find out more than a few of the answers to these mysteries in the land of the giants, Elbaph!