Swords in one piece have a will of their own, that needs to be tamed by its wielder, which
is the key to Zoro's next step in becoming the strongest swordsman in the world.
We have to talk about swords.
So the power system in one piece is...weird for lack of a better term.
The main thing used to be Devil fruits, that we have discussed in depth recently, and then
Haki was introduced as a counter weight but at the same time enhancement to the devil
fruit system.
That system is luckily starting to make more and more sense, but it sure is a bit confusing,
probably on purpose.
Like I'm 85.4% sure it's on purpose.
Point is, if you don't have a devil fruit, you can still become ridiculously strong by
being a powerful Haki user.
However, you don't ever see anyone without a devil fruit simply fighting with their body--except
Sanji, he is literally the only person I could think of that doesn't use a weapon, though
he technically is a human weapon himself.
So given the latest developments in the manga, and yes this video will contain some spoilers
for Zoro, I want to talk about the third and least-discussed part of the one piece power
system: Weapons.
Hi my name is Manu, I keep wanting to buy a katana, even though I don't have space left
in my room and today we're gonna address the latest reveal around swords in One Piece,
what it actually means to create a black blade and why Zoro has now reached the next level
as a swordsman.
Also, I know you already get this, but for the few people who seem to be confused about
this: I tend to start my videos with an analysis fully based on the material and then end it
with some theorising.
I just personally like to think about what things could look like in the future.
So: Swords have a special place in my heart as a one piece fan.
Many of the most legendary characters in the story are swordsman.
Zoro, Brook, Mihawk, the Samurai of Wano such as Ryuma or Oden, Whitebeard, Shanks, Rayleigh
and even Roger himself.
On the surface one might think that swords are nothing but tools, that pirates use, no
matter if strong or weak.
But since Luffy luckily has a man in his crew that aims to become the strongest swordsman
in the world, we do know that there is much much more to these weapons than meets the
eye.
After all Oda went through the trouble of introducing a whole grading system for swords,
with countless regular grad swords, 49 Skillful grade swords, 21 great grade swords, that's
funny to say, as well as the 12 supreme grade swords.
Each of these grades or meito in Japanese tell us something about the quality, history
and power of a blade.
Mihawk's Yoru and Whitebeaerd's Murakumogiri for instance are part of that exclusive dozen.
Now interestingly enough there are two philosophies in the one piece world that at first glance
seem to oppose each other.
On the one hand we have Mihawk, who holds the title of strongest swordsman in the world
and thus undoubtedly one of the strongest characters in the series.
While training Zoro during the time skip, as he teaches him about Haki, Mihawk tells
us the following about black blades: [every sword can be a black blade]
The idea behind this is pretty straight-forward I think.
It doesn't matter if you wield a supreme grade sword or a kitchen knife, if you are a true
master of the sword, any blade becomes a powerful weapon, as Zoro nicely demonstrates here [Zoro
uses the small seppuku knife].
The sword is nothing but a tool that depends on the skill of its wielder.
After arriving in Wano however, I couldn't help but realise that the philosophy of the
samurai here was quite the opposite.
Swords and their names held extreme meaning here and were talked about almost like human
beings.
Shusui is regarded as much of a national treasure as Ryuma himself.
Tenguyama tells us about the nature of the 3 Kitetsu blades and then we get introduced
to Enma, Oden's old sword, that immediately starts draining Zoro's power.
It became clear that certain blades actually harbour certain abilities.
Enma clearly takes its users haki and channels it into attacks of amplified power.
So again, the border between sword and swordsman became a bit more complicated.
Certain swords have certain powers, but then again, what about brook's ice attacks?
Is that his skill or his sword?
Or Kinemon's fire-cutting?
He taught that to Zoro, so it seems to be a skill that can be done with any sword.
What I'm saying is, just like Haki or devil fruits, Swords in one piece are just as complicated.
Which one is more important now Mr. Mihawk, Skill or Sword?
I mean you run around with one of the 12 most infamous blades in the world?
But the truth is of course, that I don't think Mihawk is wrong with what he told Zoro.
Mihawk knows that a good swordsman needs to be subscribed to my channel for next generation
anime content, that, and that a great sword makes a big difference, that's why he decides
to use Yoru, after acknowledging Zoro[].
Mihawk is emphasising skill over blade during Zoro's training for two reasons: First, this
lesson is about Haki and coating one's sword, so it doesn't get damaged.
It's about Zoro learning to make any weapon as deadly and effective as possible.
But secondly, Mihawk knows that without reaching enormous proficiency as a swordsman, you can't
even hope to use the benefits of a special sword, such as Yoru.
Zoro is already immensely powerful, more powerful a fighter than the scabbards, who are considered
strong even among the strong people of Wano.
And still, he is barely able to keep Enma from sucking out all his power or doing what
he wants.
Truly special swords require skill on the highest level, so fo Mihawk, the priority
in teaching Zoro was increasing his own power, instead of telling him about the benefits
of a great swords.
By the way, quick question to my Spanish speaking audience, cause I've always wondered, Mihawk
is supposed to be a Spanish inquisitor, right?
Like that's the vibe I get from his looks.
Anyways, now with Zoro's fight against King and his flashback back to his time at Shimotsuki
village, a lot of things have been cleared up.
Also, I just need to say how much I loved that flashback in general.
I can like never get enough of the story connecting us back to the beginnings and giving us more
context.
Anyways, we see Zoro's interaction with an old man at the village, who turns out to be
Shimotsuki Kozaburo, the legendary smith, who illegally left Wano and founded the Dojo
in the east blue, even though Zoro didn't realise it at the time.
He was the one that forged Enma for Oden.
And he teaches us a lot about swords in just a few panels.
Together with Zoro we start piecing things together.
Kozaburo teaches us 3 very important things about named swords.
First, and this is maybe the most important one, each graded blade has its own sort of
personality and power.
Second, good swords choose their wielder and wait for the right person.
There are no cursed blades, it's just that wielders of strong swords can't live up to
the swords standards.
And third, a powerful sword must be bent to the swordsman's will and tamed.
That is an awful lot of information dump we got there.
And as a quick caveat to all that, I want to say that Kozaburo might not be the most
reliable source, since his idea that swords are only meant to kill seems not very Oda-like
to me.
I think you agree that as Gandalf put it, a swords true purpose should be to keep a
life, not to take one.
And since we learned that Shimotsuki village was founded by pirates, who knows what Kozaburo
was up to or who he was sailing with 50 years ago.
*Rocks*
That being said, he IS one of best, if not the best swords smith we have met in the story,
who forged both Enma AND the Wano Ichimonji.
So while I think that Zoro will come to a different conclusion when it comes to a swords
true purpose, he most likely is right when it comes to these other things.
And that has huge implications.
Like Nami's mysterious increase in bra-size huge.
This is beside the point, but does anyone else prefer her original design?
Anyways, the fact that Swords are in some way or form alive is an incredible reveal.
Not exactly out of the blue, but incredible nonetheless.
The idea that objects can come to life from a close and emotional bond with a person is
not new in One Piece.
The going merry and its spirit are the most prominent example I guess.
And similarly it seems that a truly good sword that is forged with passion and care by a
skilled craftsman also gets some sort of spirit breathed into it.
This is now partly speculation, but I think it is founded really well in what we know
about swords by now.
The stronger the swords will, the stronger its power seems to be, but it also means that
it becomes harder to control and tame by its wielder.
While many regular swordsmen were not able to control the sandai Kitetsu, Zoro was already
good enough to wield it.
He felt the sword and passed its test[].
Enma however is on a completely different level, which is why Zoro is struggling a lot
with it at first.
Now at this point, where I want to talk about Zoro's next step as a swordsman, I would like
to draw an important distinction between two things: Given all the information we have
right now, I strongly believe that being able to control a powerful sword is not the same
as turning a sword into a black blade.
Zoro comments on how Oden was able to wield Enma with ease.
However, despite fighting the likes of Roger and Whitebeard on a regular basis, Oden never
turned Enma into a black blade.
Meanwhile Ryuma and Mihawk did.
The trick to controlling a powerful 'cursed' blade as Kozaburo says taming it and bending
it to your will.
That immediately reminded me of all the times Luffy used his haki to tame wild beasts.
[] And it's conquerors haki that he uses.
Similarly, when Zoro finally surrenders his haki to Enma, suddenly his conquerors haki
bursts out.
Enma literally is training Zoro to use conquerors haki.
And I think that's what it takes to control a sword of Enma's kind.
Looking at many of the other most powerful swordsman, like Roger, Shanks, Rayleigh, WHitebeard
or Oden, all of them had conquerors haki.
And I think for all these monsters, their weapons is able to bundle their crazy haki
and make it a lot more efficient.
Similarly to how luffy is learning to coat himself in conquerors haki, I think Zoro will
have to learn that as well.
Kaido for instance is clearly doing it when he knocks Luffy unconscious with his thunder
bagua, not because of the damage but because he overwhelmed luffy.
Or whitebeard and roger's blades don't touch.
That I believe is Zoro's next step, taming Enma and earning it's loyalty.
After that however, the question of course will be wether Zoro will be able to turn his
blades into black blades.
The answer if of course yes, but what exactly does he need to do that?
Now my personal opinion is that a black swords is quite similar to an awakened devil fruit.
You have to fully master the sword and it's individual personality to unlock its true
potential.
But even more so, Zoro has to form a true bond with his swords.
They are important to him, yes, but he has to get to know each of their personalities
and form a true relationship with them in order to do what only true sword masters are
capable of.
And speaking of awakening, if you want to learn more about that topic and what luffy's
next step will look like, I recommend you check out that video, right here.
What are you doing?
Go watch it.
Go.
Go go go.