For all the talk of high grade swords and all....getting stabbed or slashed by a blade is still going to prove just as effective on an unprotected human body whether it's coming from a Meito or a letter opener. And recall that one of history's most famous swordsmen basically won a legendary duel wielding only a rowing oar...which is certain to play into things here in a big way.
Think back too on Zoro's earliest days, and his desire ( at the time, pre Kuina's "death ) to someday defeat her not through power but
skill alone.
What does this all add up to? Among other things, we shouldn't put
too much stock in fancy weapons, sheer might or haki...for all it'd take is a massive edge in skill for one swordsman to defeat another using little more than a sharpened stick or some other improved weapon and landing a clean slash/thrust. Recall too just how close Carrot came to biting Luffy's throat out, and what a relatively big deal was made of it. It's easy to forget just how vulnerable a lot of these uber-powered figures still remain, haki and ridonk endurance aside, to mere basic knives and low-grade bullets.
Just saying. I've mentioned before that my belief that Yoru started out as a glorified sharpened wooden cross...I wouldn't be surprised if it were revealed Shisui itself likewise started out life as a mere wooden bokken training sword, permanently infused with a portion of Ryuma's will/spirit to turn it black.
Going with this train of thought, in addition to several other hits his pride will be taking in the upcoming months, I think there's a strong chance Zoro will get shown up by an uber tier swordsman using little more than a token improv weapon through sheer technique alone....little to no armament haki whatsoever. Said opponent, whoever it ends up being ( and I have a fairly good idea who it'll be, possibly his future mentor and one of Mihawk's own teachers...) might even prove capable of circumventing the "durability" of Zoro's blade entirely....in other words, a swordsman who's achieved the pinnacle of their art, mastered the Breath of All Things, etc. may possess the ability to unleash unblockable slashes that can pass through whatever they wish, similar to how a haki master ( not Luffy, no, he has yet to master the Buddha Palm ) could potentially target say any part of Kaido's insides without so much as leaving a scratch on his skin, or even making a fist.
All this provided the recipient isn't skilled enough to know how to defend against this of course.
One could refer to it as epitomizing the power of the "soft" side of swordsmanship. You can probably guess the name of the name of the swordsperson I'm alluding to having been Mihawk's master way back when. No, it wasn't Rayleigh
Who knows, we may even see a precursor to this in Wano proper. Not only is Zoro set to meet with a certain special woman in his life pretty soon, I'm fairly sure part of his growth will hinge on likewise mastering Oden's other sword...which my gut tells me works entirely contrary to Enma in that it will outright dispel the wielder's haki and not cut anything ( physical ) without sufficient training; basically, the wonky OP vresion of
Masamune's works contrasted w/ those of
Muramasa's, and a reference to
legends built around the mythical rivalry that naturally grew from comparisons between the two swordsmithing schools.
Right there is where you can discern Oda drew lots of inspiration for the Breath of All Things and the philosophy of cutting only that which a swordsmen desires so...the inability to do so a stark mark of shame per Zoro himself going far back. So you know it's going to crop up again in major fashion. And Oda's even seeded some hints as to how Zoro's painstaking path to mastering this skill will take shape: let's just say he may be forced to take a far more direct approach than he did against Monet against a certain strong opponent...only unlike Denjiro, and due in no small part thanks to Enma being an asshole of a sword, he may fail to restrain his blade against a certain femme fatale.
Talk about a bad romance.
But yeah, being able to chop up islands and Yonko to bits is cool and badass and all, but as we saw with the great almighty Oden, it doesn't avail much against more esoteric defenses like that of say seemingly impervious forcefields. Here and other future instances in this same vein is where a softer approach may be required in lieu of Enma and other similar blade's brute durability n power, if not used in tandem to land the ultimate one-two combination attack....again, guys, remember that Oden was a two-sword specialist whose trademark move made use of both swords to deal an x-shaped wound consisting of two separate cuts. No way no how this won't factor heavily into what's set to go down.
Also, I'll once again repeat my earlier prediction: Zoro's gonna caught up in some Enma-fueled Berserker Rage and attempt to swing Enma with all his might, going for sheer power alone, only for Enma's blade to snap against Kaido the Evil Turtle's surprising Fishman-derived Sea Turtle shell...goes to sure that too much power and durability can result in surprising brittleness under the right circumstances.
Just one of many failures to come that'll serve as a demoralizing, if educational wakeup call that'll shatter Zoro, yet eventually serve to place him back on the correct path to progressing as a truly skilled swordsman after he's done plenty of soul searching and regained his sense of purpose and clarity, recalling those early days w/ Kuina.
That's what a lot of the Strawhat's upcoming ordeals come down to: paying the price for their follies, recognizing their shortcomings, coming to terms with their bad habits and/or inflexibility, all while reclaiming certain key aspects or facets that several or all of these individuals may've unknowingly forgotten or discarded...what they may have unintentionally left behind....the leftovers pieces, fragments of themselves.
Old + New...reforged...impurities exorcized...overly rigid brittleness giving way to a more pliant form of endurance....hard + soft.
So yeah, alla Zoro's bullshit about promising to never lose again, the supposed shame of a swordsman receiving damage to one's back, having a haki-infused sword chipping, and whatever other arbitrary rules he's set for himself....say goodbye to all that Bullshido in the long run. In the short term, having all these occurring back to back in short order will mentally fuck Zoro up, and I'm positive there certainly are severe consequences to incurring damage to a blade turned expressly black by one's
own haki on a permanent basis, but like all the rest of the Strawhats, he'll learn to become a lil more....
...and thereby unlocking whole new levels of badass.
What's more, those fans who've been disappointed with Zoro's timeskip adventures ( and the Strawhats in general ) in overall terms of characterization, battles, etc....are probably going to be most pleased with a general return to form that'll see these characters reclaiming a lot of what many fans perceive as having been missing all these years -- e.g. Nami's more rough and tumble nature from the early days, Robin's edge, Usopp's resourcefulness in battle and all too brief maturation post-timeskip... -- whilst keeping the newer changes and paving the way towards future growth and evolution. In Zoro's case, for one, that means a return to the days of Zoro constantly being banged up and having to grit his teeth through lingering gruesome injuries, yet all the while looking like a bigger badass for it while giving us some of the most entertaining, epic fights out of the entire crew once again.
Neither a complete regression nor abandonment of these character's principles or whatever, as some of the more zealous fanboys dread...but a more complete
blending or
smelting of past and present. But again, it's going to take the heroes taking a trip into the darkest depths of hell to spur this Dark Night of the Soul and spiritual rebirth into action.
As far as the power that swords can bring to the table....I view Cursed Swords the same way I do devil fruits. The strength of the user is most def important above all, but it's also fair to say that a sufficiently powerful devil fruit, especially a high tier one ( same as swords, hierarchies exist ), can grant even low level scrubs huge advantages in a scrap. In addition, where's there's a will there's a power level, and it's obvious by now that Cursed Swords for instance possess a sentience and will all their own, meaning there could potentially be some added external power to potentially be mined by their wielders.
Then there's another intriguing possibility: that Cursed Swords, like DF's, can also in a way be "Awakened" to achieve greater power and/or unique abilities by synchronizing one's will with that of the spirits dwelling within the swords.
I've seen it theorized, for one, that Zoro's Asura technique originally came about due to the spirits of his swords "stepping in" so to speak in a more direct fashion to lend him some of their power when he was at his most desperate point in the battle, even if he may not have fully grasped what was happening. I'm liable to believe it. I think what Kaku and we as readers perceived as the "projection" of his spirit was basically that of his swords melding their haki with his...the three torso'd form of Asura essentially constituting the physical molded form of his Ryuo aura in probably the earliest instance of which. You could look at it as being Zoro and his Swords' combined Stand/Susano-O/Gourmet Demon/Nen Beast/whatever.
Not to say anyone can do it. I think Zoro's own largely untapped n dormant Observation Haki abilities, inherent to his special heritage and bloodline, make him and others like him uniquely suited to drawing upon the power of Cursed Blades like few others; dude's a fucking Shaman/Spirit Medium/Exorcist/yadda yadda, albeit one who's barely skimmed the surface of what this means and what he can do in terms of directly communing w/ spirits.
The pitfalls are some I've mentioned before already: not only is he constantly being led astray, subconsciously pushed to head in the wrong direction by more nefarious spirits, this also opens him to more overt
possession by stronger spirits such as that of Enma. But then, the record will show he's probably got some benevolent, helpful spirits lending a hand as well, such as those who pointed out where he could find that liquor, or the ones that led him to cross paths w/ Yasu.
So yeah, I think there's room for Cursed Swords to add a boost of sorts to their owners, provided the latter can commune partner up with their respective spirits. Devil fruits aside, in a way it'd also be akin to say Moriah combining his powers with the might of the Oars zombie, or say Blackbeard's secret ally/allies dwelling within his body lending their own power to his cause
I figure this idea may get some pushback from some. The possible implication of Zoro having some kinda of unfair advantage at some interval vs. others would likely be a major point of contention, for starters. Well, even then, I wouldn't worry too much, cuz one of the more dastardly things Blackbeard's got lined up EOS to ludicrously stack the odds in
his favor will involve using the newfound powers of an absurdly powerful mythical zoan fruit he'll obtain to seal all those spirits he doesn't fancy working against his favor....namely, those of the Devil fruits and Cursed Swords not in the possession of himself or his cronies. And so, it renders the entire issue moot; as we approach the EOS final battle, anyone opposing Blackbeard and Co. is going to have to depend on their own natural haki-based abilities, wits, skills, and weapons under the shroud of Blackbeard's Seal.
Easy come, easy go
Another major reason Zoro's got to look past depending on any one fancy toy if he and the other Strawhats are to have the most minute chance of overcoming the Blackbeard Pirates...cause Sealing Devil Fruit and other special powers is far from the only dirty trick they'll be pulling; mark my words, these fuckers will be securing their EOS villain status with a long list of truly unfair and mindboggling advantages that'll make them a nightmare for anyone, Admirals and Yonko alike, to deal with, Seal or no Seal.
But hey, everyone's a pirate here...and two can play that game. Just means Zoro and Co. will have to tap into unique abilities that few if any, including the Supreme Corner-Cutters that are the BB Pirates, can replicate...and that's including even likely haki-sages such as Shanks and the Redhair Pirates.
The balance of power is going to wildly fluctuate back and forth...
ebb and
flow in most chaotic fashion in the coming years. Such is the nature of of such things. So I can't emphasize it enough: don't get too caught up in the Strawhats obtaining any
one special weapon or ability too much, as such things can easily be stripped from them, if not impede their overall growth if they're not careful. It'll be just as important that they all learn the many ways they can make due without, as well as well picking up as many new tricks as they can from friend and enemy alike, including each other, whilst polishing those simple yet formidable gifts that nature has already provided humanity/sentient lifeforms: intelligence, resourcefulness, the ability to adapt...and the capacity for empathy, and all the many avenues to strength this opens up.
...what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, swords.
Another prediction: Zoro isn't keeping either of Oden's swords, I don't think. Like I've mentioned before, I think Shisui -- possibly reforged after likewise getting damaged like Enma owing to a certain ominous comment Zoro made in the past coming back to bite everybody in the ass -- will be winding up in his hands ( ... ) again, with Momo and Hiyori each claiming their respective inheritance by arc's end...or maybe even swapping lol. Oda will have lots to say on gender roles before this mega-arc's through.
Back to Zoro, can't say for sure if Shisui will remain in his grasp for too long even after newly regaining it. I said before that the Blackbeard Pirates are going to be cheating worse than Wallstreet; Zoro's destined opponent is probably going to be going all in on the sword craze by stealing and collecting every fucking high grade weapon they can get their greedy hands on, even managing to somehow
wield them all at once.
Told ya. Highly disadvantageous, nigh impossible odds.
Against this onslaught, Wado Ichimonji may be the only current sword Zoro will have left to him....and even that may not survive. Leaving Zoro to show the world what he can do with a simple wooden stick....or even no physical sword at all; one composed of sheer will.
To cut everything and nothing....using everything and nothing......the birth of Mutoryuu/Mugentoryuu.....Void/Infinite Sword Style, bitches. Fuck Enma, bruh. It doesn't hold a candle to invisible Ryuo blades and the ability to turn any household junk into a high grade weapon through haki n skill alone.
) but it really shows how retarded some of the Zorofans really are. None of the strowhats have ever killed anyone so far, it is a big misconception that Zoro did (and I'm not dining it, he might have killed someone) but not on the screen.
