Kurozumi Orochi was the previous shogun of Wano Country and one of the last surviving members of the Kurozumi Family. He was allied with Kaido, one of the Four Emperors, until the latter betrayed and killed him for his New Onigashima Project. Due to his actions and role, he is the secondary antagonist of the Wano Country Arc and one of the central antagonists of the Four Emperors Saga. Orochi was a rather large man with a big head and stocky build. He appeared to be balding, with his dark purple hair being mostly seen on the sides and back of his head, and he had a long topknot in the back, as well as a thin mustache that stuck upward. His two upper canine teeth were longer than his other teeth and were blunt, remaining blunt in his Zoan hybrid form. He wore a gold kimono with a fan-shaped pattern on it, a blue robe with flowers on it, and a crown on his head. In his transformed state, the main head was a darker olive green with red scales while the other heads were a lighter shade with yellow scales. Every head had black horns, orange eyebrows, and light purple scales. Each head also had red eyes with blue irises and purple tongues.
As one of the last members of the Kurozumi Family, who were disgraced and stripped of their power and authority, Orochi developed immense greed and thirst for power from an early age due to being forced to live in poverty since birth. When he worked as a servant for Yasuie, Orochi outwardly exhibited a timid and servile attitude, but this was all an act to steal money by preying on the sympathies of others. Orochi was in truth extremely deceptive and dishonorable, bending laws and rules to suit his own needs and never acknowledging promises or deals to those that he viewed as a threat. Having been twisted by the Kurozumi Family's unfair persecution since his childhood, Orochi was an extremely cruel and oppressive tyrant who takes joy in making his subjects suffer as revenge for his family's persecution. Under his rule, the people of Wano suffered great famines. The officials under him also harshly enforced his regime, and he collaborated with Kaido to not only kill Kozuki Oden, but also allowed the Beasts Pirates to turn Wano into a nearly complete wasteland in exchange for borrowing Kaido's power and protection, disregarding his country and people in favor of his own self-interest. Due to his power and connections, he is completely fearless and arrogant, proclaiming that he does not fear the Celestial Dragons nor the Marines. He even shot a CP-0 agent, confident that they could do nothing against him. This arrogance blinded him to the fact that he was in truth just a pawn for Kaido and that Kaido only protected him as long as it suited his own interests. Even as Kaido and the Beasts Pirates turned Wano into a wasteland, Orochi expected that the Flower Capital would remain prosperous and was shocked when Kaido revealed his intentions of using it to make more factories. He defiantly opposed Kaido's New Onigashima Project by reprimanding him for his ingratitude, all while clearly forgetting the fact that he had completely relied on Kaido's power for protection. Although he hates his country, Orochi desired to create an image of him being a heroic and strong ruler with a happy populace. During his reign, he had schools teach propaganda about him being the one to defeat Oden and maintain the country's isolation when, in reality, Kaido was the one to do those. When meeting with CP-0, he claimed that the citizens around them were happy, although this reality only existed in the wealthy Flower Capital. To give the impoverished citizens the facade of happiness, Orochi put defective SMILE fruits in their food supply to render them unable to express negative emotions.
Orochi was extremely domineering and unreasonable with absolutely no tolerance to anyone who defied or spoke ill of him, even if it was out of his earshot and in casual discussion. He made those actions a capital crime, which the Gifters enforced. Orochi was petty enough to kill any man, woman or child who offended him, going to any lengths to see them dead (only showing temporary hesitation towards a woman he held feelings for) and refusing to take responsibility for the consequences of his own actions, preferring to blame others instead by branding them as criminals. Orochi had an extremely murderous mindset, becoming angry if a target ends up escaping from his wrath and sending countless subordinates or even assassins to deal with individuals he wanted gone, no matter how threatening they may be, as well as those that protect or assist said individuals. The subordinates that fail to uphold his rule are callously discarded from his ranks and then punished accordingly. Orochi was also immensely extravagant and hedonistic, as he loved to hold banquets with luxurious food and drinks accompanied by refined music and dancing. He was picky with his choice of food and extremely wasteful. Moreover, he employed only the finest geisha of Wano, such as Komurasaki, to perform at his banquets. Komurasaki in particular was the main target of Orochi's affections, with the latter wishing to make the former his bride. Orochi's feelings for Komurasaki, however, were very shallow since he only loved her due to beauty. He thought of himself as the only one with the right to have her as a result of his pride and possessiveness. Though arrogant, Orochi avoided being overconfident. As a highly cautious and attentive man, he took any and all threats to his rule seriously. To this extent, he prohibited the use of weapons and banned kendo, karate, and judo dojos to deprive any dissidents of the means to incite a rebellion. Orochi also acknowledged the fact that the Nine Red Scabbards and Momonosuke survived, believing his information sources and the fact that their bodies were never found. His warnings about the return of the Kozuki retainers caused many of his complacent servants to view him as a coward, merely overreacting out of fear for the prophecy. Though his servants were often afraid to voice this skepticism out loud, Orochi was aware of the fact that he was thought of as paranoid, but overlooked this due to having the authority to have his commands carried out regardless. Orochi remained resolute in his refusal to release the prisoners in Rasetsu Town despite Yasuie convincing people that everything was a result of Orochi's mistake, going as far as imprisoning their families alongside them if they attempted to protest. Ironically, while he was careful with the Kozuki Family and the rebels, Orochi could be too trustful as he never suspected his subordinate Kyoshiro of being affiliated with either the Kozuki Family or the rebels and never expected Kaido's betrayal.
