One Piece: The real reason Toki chooses to die in Wano

Tulisha srivastava
An image of Toki, a character from the Void Century in One Piece

One Piece’s “Wano Country Saga” features the backstory of Kozuki Oden and his family. Following Oden’s death, his wife Toki chooses to die in Oden Castle, knowing full well that she can easily manage to survive.

Oden’s backstory follows his life as a Samurai and how he rises to the position of a Daimyo, a local lord in Kuri. Being bored with his life inside the boundaries of his country, Oden has always been fascinated with the outside world. After his continuous attempts to escape Wano fails, he meets Whitebeard’s crew and sets out to sea after a lot of trouble. Soon after, he meets Toki, a mysterious woman from over 800 years ago.

Toki explains that she’s from the past and has travelled across several centuries to witness a major event in the future. Toki is heading to Wano, a place where she believes the major event will take place. She gets lost on her way and takes refuge in Whitebeard’s ship. Being with Oden for so long, they gradually fell in love and started their family during their voyage. She and her children follow Oden in Roger’s crew, where Toki’s health gradually deteriorates.

Although Oden wants to go back to Wano with his family, Toki forces him to stay with Roger, not wanting Oden to leave behind any regret. Therefore, Oden separates from his family for a few months and dies shortly after he returns. Oden Castle falls into ruins, and Toki stays there instead of escaping. Delve deeper to find out why Toki decides to die in Wano.

Could Toki have avoided her death on that fateful day?

An image of Toki attempting to use her devil fruit powers

Toki comes from the Land of Wano during the Void Century. With the power of the Time-Time fruit, she can leap into time. Whenever she is in danger, she jumps further into the future, and that’s how she ends up 800 years ahead of her timeline. When Oden sees Toki for the first time, he tries to help her against her attackers.

However, even without Oden, Toki could’ve easily leapt into the future and saved herself from them. During the tragedy at Wano, Toki had enough time to send Momonosuke with four of Oden’s retainers.

This means that she can also go to the future along with them, but she doesn’t. Instead, she makes sure Hiyori escapes with Kawamatsu and leaves Oden castle before leaving for Bakura Town, where she meets her demise.

Why did Toki choose to die in Wano?

An image of Toki and Oden from One Piece

When tragedy strikes, Toki finds herself helpless against her enemies. All she can do is wait at Oden Castle and hope to be protected by those around her. Even when Kaido captures and executes Oden, she can only sit there and take the news in. However, Toki is a brave woman who doesn’t hesitate to travel to a time when she doesn’t know anyone. To achieve her dream of witnessing the future event, she puts her life at risk.

Then, she meets Oden and starts her family with him, completely giving up on her dream. When faced with the crisis, Oden asks her to leap into the future and realize her dream instead of suffering with him. However, Toki responds by saying her dream has changed. When she hears the news of Oden’s death, she decides to do at least one thing for him before joining him in the afterlife.

Therefore, she rushes to the Plaza of Bakura Town and delivers a “prophecy” while continuously getting struck by arrows. This prophecy developed immense paranoia in Orochi, ultimately becoming his worst nightmare when it came true. This is why, instead of escaping with her children, Toki decides to do something useful for the Kozuki Clan, even if it means certain death.

The One Piece anime can currently be streamed on Crunchyroll. In the meantime, check out our other TV hubs below:

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About The Author

Tulisha is an anime writer at Dexerto. In the past, she has worked for Comic Book Resources. She is most knowledgeable about Shonen series, particularly One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen. You can contact her at tulisha.srivastava@dexerto.com