Disclaimer: This article contains manga spoilers to the Dressrosa arc.

In order to give a sense of world-building in his story, One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda borrows many elements from real world culture for various settings in his story. Much like what he did in Amazon Lily, Oda has again taken inspiration from Chinese culture in creating the Kano Kingdom. While the country hasn’t made any appearance to the series yet, there has been a considerable amount of focus given to the Happosui Army in the current arc compared to the other contestants — other than Bartolomeo and Cavendish. With what we’ve seen concerning the Chinjao family in this arc, Oda has made some subtle references to the culture.

The Japanese name of Kano Kingdom is written as 花ノ国 (Ka no Kuni), where the name literally translates to Country of Flowers. The name rhymes with Wano, a kingdom that is likely to be based on feudal Japan and whose name is derived from Wa (倭), an old name of Japan. Similar to Wano, Kano also contains a subtle pun to China. The character 花 has an older variant 華, where both shares the reading Ka in Japanese. Pronounced as Huā in Mandarin, the character itself can also be used to refer to Chinese civilization and culture, where it forms phrases such as Huaxia (華夏) and Zhonghua (中華).

The Japanese name of Happosui Army is formed from the words Happou (八宝 ”eight treasures”) and Suigun (水軍 ”fleet”). The latter term refers to traditional armed forces operating on bodies of water in East Asia during ancient times. As such, it can refer to both pirates and the navy. Nowadays, it is an outdated term whose use is mostly limited to history and fiction.

As seen in the name of the Happosui Army, the number eight is a prominent motif for them. Their special technique is named Eight-Impact Fist (八衝拳 Hasshoken). The name is similar to the Eight-Extremities Fist (八極拳 Bājíquán), a form of martial arts used in close combat that utilizes explosive, short-range power. Returning to the number, eight has a very auspicious connotations in Chinese culture, analogous to the number seven in Western culture. Pronounced as bā in Mandarin and baat in Cantonese, the number is nearly homophonous to the character 發 (Mandarin: fā, Cantonese: faat), which forms part of the phrase 發財 (to prosper). ”Eight Treasures” can also refer to a number of things in Chinese culture.

In Chinese mythology, there is a group of legendary sages known as the Eight Immortals (八仙 Bāxiān). Each member of this group wields a weapon that is also collectively known as the Eight Treasures. The Seven Lucky Gods (七福神 Shichifukujin) in Japanese mythology also shares a resemblance with this group. One of its members is named Fukurokuju (福禄寿), whose head features an abnormally high forehead. Due to the similarities in the name and role, this deity is theorized to be the amalgamation of the Three Star Gods (Fu, Lu, and Shou) in Chinese mythology, where his appearance resembles the Chinese god of wisdom and longevity – Shou (壽). The names of the three deities personify the three traditional attributes of a good life: wealth, posterity, and longevity. Being a pirate who has two known grandsons and has lived a fairly long life, it’s clear that Don Chinjao is based on these two deities, especially his drill-shaped head and elderly appearance.

Due to its auspicious meaning, the term “Eight Treasures” is also commonly incorporated into the names of a number of Chinese dishes, which includes rice dishes, duck dishes, congee, noodles, and even tea. One of these dishes is the Eight-Treasure Dish (八寶菜 Bābǎocài), a Cantonese dish that features mixed vegetables, meat, and seafood similar to chop suey. One of the ingredients in this dish is the green pepper, whose Chinese name is qīngjiāo (青椒). Not only is Don Chinjao named after the green pepper, his design of having a drill-shaped head and wearing green alludes to the origin of his name.

Boo may be derived from bu, Japanese pronunciation of the character 武 (martial). The character is believed to be formed from the characters 止 (stop) and 戈 (weapon), implying the character denotes stopping a weapon. In Japanese, Sai had even made reference to his grandfather and brother in his attack called Bujiaogen, formed by characters bu (武) and jiǎogēn (腳跟, Mandarin for heel).

Going back to the army’s name, Happosui also sounds similar to Happousai, the Japanese reading of 八寶菜. The name of the dish had also contained Sai’s name. Read as cài in Mandarin and choi in Cantonese, the character 菜 can be taken both as vegetable and dish, maintaining the food theme with his grandfather. Another interpretation for Sai’s name would be 財 zai (wealth), which has an alternate reading of sai. This relates to the eight treasures in the name of the army. As mentioned by Stephen Paul in an episode of the podcast, his name may also be from Saiyūki (西遊記), the Japanese-language title of the novel Journey to West. This Chinese classic features the staff-wielding Monkey King Sun Wukong (孫悟空) as one of the protagonists, which is possibly referenced in One Piece through Sai’s resemblance to a primate and his weapon of choice. A fourth interpretation of his name is 蔡 Cài (read as Sai in Japanese), a particularly common Chinese surname that has been romanized as Cai, Tsai, Choi, Choy, and Chua in various places.

Cai is also the surname of a Chinese pirate named Cai Qian (蔡牽), who is known as Sai Ken in Japanese. Born in the Fujian province in 1761, he lived a life of poverty before becoming a pirate in 1794. After a few years, he was able to command a large crew of pirates on the sea surrounding Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan sometime during the Qing Dynasty. Cai Qian is also a friend of a fellow pirate from Hong Kong named Cheung Po Tsai (張保仔), who would help each other out in times of need. When Cai Qian occupied a major trade port in Taiwan called Hoba (now known as Tamsui), he declared himself to be the Sea-Calming Majestic King (鎮海威武王 Zhènhǎi Wēiwǔ Wáng).

After Cai Qian was able to buy weapons from British businessmen, it caused increased tension between China and England. Interestingly, the Happosui Army in One Piece had come to Dressrosa to investigate the weapons being sold by Doflamingo to other nations.

Cai eventually married a weapon expert who spoke fluent English, who like him was also a pirate. His wife is described to be capable of leading an army and acts accordingly in any situation in battle. In One Piece, Sai would eventually plan to marry Baby 5, who could transform herself into a number of weapons in any situation.

Cai Qian eventually met his demise during a naval battle with the Fujian Navy in 1809.

Before deciding to take Baby 5 as his wife, Sai was initially betrothed to Ooklicia of the Nipposui Army for the alliance of the two armies. Arranged marriage was especially prevalent in ancient China, where the parents or elder relatives would decide who the soon-to-be groom would end up with, usually in coordination with a matchmaker. Being a collective society, marriage in ancient China is determined for the benefit of the clan as opposed to the individuals involved, where it is sometimes used to stabilize political affairs. On the other hand, polygamy is not explicitly prohibited in Ancient China, so the culture may allow Sai to marry both if he desired.

In the same chapter, Sai also disobeyed his grandfather to stop Baby 5 from killing herself, an act considered to be disrespectful and unfilial. Confucian teachings are deeply rooted in Chinese culture as such filial piety (孝 xiào) is considered to be a key virtue. Filial piety is showing respect to one’s elders, particularly to one’s parents and elder relatives. As such, Sai choosing to marry who he wants as opposed to what his grandfather wishes is breaking what is considered to be a taboo in ancient China.

Still, what does this mean for the alliance of the two armies? Considering that Don Chinjao has another grandson, Boo may also end up marrying her at his brother’s stead. But whatever happens, let’s hope their red wedding won’t end up in shambles and that Sai and Baby 5 have a happy life together.

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone. May the Year of the Goat be a merry and prosperous one. Kung Hei Fat Choy!

“Chao Time” is a bi-weekly editorial feature that is posted every other Tuesday only at The One Piece Podcast website.