One Piece Chapter 1054 once more makes Yamato’s gender clear

One Piece Chapter 1054 scanlations were released Thursday, marking the series’ unofficial return from a one-month hiatus. Author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda’s legendary odyssey story will officially return from hiatus on Sunday, July 24, with an official release via Shueisha’s 34th Weekly Shonen Jump issue for the year.

While One Piece Chapter 1054 features plenty of characters and cameos, one in particular seems to have riled up an old debate. Fans have long discussed the gender of Yamato, and whether they identify as male, female, or neither. A line in the scanlations for the issue has reignited this debate on social media among fans, sparking some discussion.

Follow along as this article breaks down exactly why Yamato’s gender has been catapulted back into discussion following One Piece Chapter 1054.

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One Piece Chapter 1054 sees Yamato refer to themselves with masculine pronouns, resparking gender debates amongst fans

The debate

As aforementioned, the unofficial scanlations for One Piece Chapter 1054 released on Thursday have once more resparked debates over Yamato’s gender. The unofficial translation sees Yamato refer to themselves as Kaido’s son, despite appearing to be a woman based on their physical appearance.

The topic of Yamato’s gender has been one that many fans of the series have been debating over long before One Piece Chapter 1054. There seem to be conflicting sources on the matter, which give way to these debates due to their differentiating nature.

While the manga and anime both consistently refer to Yamato with masculine pronouns and vocabulary, there are databooks for the series which specifically say Yamato’s gender is female. Some fans choose to stick with the former, since both sources use information coming from Oda himself, while others stick with the latter due to their informational status.

Furthermore, the anime and manga drive home Yamato’s identity as a male in every way they can. Kaido himself refers to him with masculine pronouns, as do his subordinates, even calling them “Yamato-bocchan,” with bocchan being used to refer to men whom one is subservient to. While typically used to refer to young, male masters, the intent remains the same here despite the situationally different usage.

Fans spotlighting the aforementioned issue on Twitter has resulted in the conversation trending once more, as it has several times throughout the Wano arc. For whatever reason, the fanbase seems incredibly divided on this specific topic, with neither side willing to meet in the middle, let alone agree to disagree and stop raising the issue.

Regardless of which side, source, or set of pronouns is right here, fans seem to agree that the constant discussion of their gender makes discourse about the series difficult. This is indeed an accurate take, as the question of Yamato’s gender and pronouns is one which seems to be raised on Twitter with every chapter they appear in.

Conflicting information from official sources doesn’t help either, especially when both seem so resolute and stern in the example they set or information they give. There’s something to be said for both the consistency with which other characters refer to Yamato as male, as well as the official guidebook’s marking of them as female.

Regardless of what the correct answer is, it’s extremely clear that a vast majority of the fandom is sick of these conversations. One Piece Chapter 1054 isn’t the first issue to encourage conversation about the issue, and it most likely will not be the last.

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