Kaido doesn’t have any Devil Fruits

I believe Kaido is a real Dragon, and doesn’t have a devil fruit at all. No Dragon Dragon Fruit, no Human Human Fruit Model: Giant and no Mythical Oni Fruit.

Oda gave us so many hints about Kaido’s invincibility that people just seem to ignore. Let’s take a look at what the narrator himself told us about Kaido:

• Tasted defeat as a pirate 7 times
• Caught by the Marines or his enemies at least 18 times (this was reiterated twice)
• Sentenced to death 40 times (3 methods were specified)
• Challenged the Marines and the Four Emperors
• Endured over 1000 tortures (could be a hyperbole, but definitely gets the point across)
• Destroyed 9 different prison ships
• On land, sea, and air, he is the strongest creature alive.

Here are a few extra facts that can be deduced from this:​

1. 5 major enemies that he challenged were listed: the Four Emperors and the Marines. It’s very likely that all 7 of his defeats came from these groups.
2. There were at least 11 times where he was captured, but not defeated. This means that he either didn’t fight back or willingly turned himself in.
3. He had sea prism handcuffs on him at some point. Either when he was captured and imprisoned, sentenced to death, being tortured, or all of the above. Whether he is a devil fruit user or not, sea prism stone is known to be as hard as diamond, so it’s a useful restraint that the navy would utilize regardless.
4. Kaido’s invincibility is not linked to ANY devil fruit power. If it were, sea prism stone would have easily negated this, and surely 1 of his 40 death sentences or one of the countless tortures he experienced would have successfully killed him.

Conclusions

The thing about Kaido sinking prison ships is what intrigues me the most. We have only seen 2 prison ships in the entire show: the one that transported Ace from Impel Down to Marineford, and the one that took Doflamingo from Dressrosa to Impel Down.

The one involving Ace is pretty inconclusive. They were on a sea current that is only accessible by the World Government, so there was nowhere to run even if Ace managed to escape. With all of their strongest forces mobilized not too far away, they weren’t really concerned with guarding him.
Doflamingo, on the other hand, was chained to the floor of a cell on a large prison ship and was escorted by 3 other navy battleships. This convoy was also accompanied by former Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Admiral Fujitora, and Vice Admiral Tsuru. Jack’s subordinates saw this lineup and sarcastically asked if they were on their way to destroy a country. This is what they use to take a Warlord to prison.

I’m gonna go ahead and assume they had more than this when they captured Kaido. I don’t think that needs an explanation. As I explained before, Kaido was probably chained with sea prism stone when the Marines caught him. On top of that, he was most likely being guarded by at least 2 Admirals (seeing as that’s what Doflamingo had). If he sank 9 prison ships, it’s implied that his goal was to escape those 9 times.

Here’s my question: How could he possibly break sea prism chains without using devil fruit powers (remember, they are as hard as diamond), evade 2 Admirals, destroy the prison ship, and escape without ever falling in the water all 9 times?

I understand he can fly, but surely in that situation it wouldn’t be easy to avoid falling in the water every single time.

Not only that, but it literally said that he endured a thousand tortures as a prisoner. Is it really possible that drowning him was never even considered? I doubt it. In fact, I presume they DID try it. If he is a devil fruit user, he would have simply drowned.

If he was actually a dragon to begin with, it would make sense that this didn’t work. In chinese mythology, dragons were known to be predominantly water creatures, so Kaido could most likely breath underwater. This would also make sense of how he managed to escape of the prison ships; none of the strong Admirals could really go after him since they can’t swim. And of course, the narrator told us he is the strongest creature on land, sea, and air. Kaido would be pretty pathetic in the sea if he couldn’t move or breathe.

After all of this evidence, the ONLY way you could rationalize Kaido having a Dragon Zoan devil fruit is by saying he broke the sea prism chains with the sheer power of his Armament Haki and then flew away. You would also have to assume that the Marines NEVER tried submerging him in water the entire time that they tortured him as a prisoner. Furthermore, that “land, sea, and air” quote from the narrator would hold no value.

This is why I believe he is a Dragon. It would justify why he is unable to kill himself; he can breath underwater and has a seemingly indestructible body. This would definitely explain why the World Government desires to harness this power. Vegapunk tried to artificially create dragons and devil fruits that give the user the ability to transform into one (as seen on Punk Hazard), but both of these projects failed.

*Theory by Su Long Bepo