As the title says, i decided to focus this topic on Mihawk and the ultimate swordsmanship challenge. Before talking about it though, i'd remind some previous events Oda focused in his manga.
Foreshadows around diamond's durability
> At the end of the Zoro vs Daz Bones battle where Zoro ultimately managed to cut through steel, Daz Bones hinted at a future challenge(cutting diamond)
> Fast forward in Enies Lobby, Oda once again hyped the diamond durability by using it as a reference to seastone, and we know even top tiers like Big Mom begged for seastone cuffs to be removed, not to mention Shiki literally having to sacrifice his legs
> Then later on in Marineford, Oda drew a parallel between Mihawk's long range attack and Jozu's diamond defense
That moment didn't really gave us a clear answer though, if Mihawk can actually cut diamond or not, for the simple reason that Mihawk's attack wasn't aimed at Jozu, but Whitebeard and it'd been mentioned that the pinacle of swordsmanship is to cut what you wants to cut depending on it's breath
And thus with Mihawk not aiming at cutting diamond at that point, but rather flesh(Whitebeard), it left it open if he could open it or not, especially since not only long range attacks are weaker than close range attacks in swordsmanship, but they could amplified by hardening(and in devil fruit users's case like Jozu, it even allows you to hit the real body)
> Later on, during Zou, Oda foreshadowed diamond's durability once again through Pekoms, who was surprised someone as carefree as Luffy didn't react to it's durability
This to say then, that Oda at multiple occasions already hyped and foreshadowed the diamond toughness as a great challenge
Potential challenges
But when exactly we'd see that challenge ? :zorothink:
> There had been theories that Shiryu would eat Jozu's diamon devil fruit as a challenge against Mihawk, but Oda decided to give him the suke suke no mi(invisibility df) instead, rendering that possibility null
So now the question is, what is the point in Oda hyping the diamond durability if we never saw it as a challenge in the future ? And Oda isn't the kind of author who makes foreshadows for nothing. For this reason then, i do think the diamond challenge will come back to fruction at one point.
When exactly is unclear, but there has been another weapon that Oda hyped, yet we still don't know what it is exactly. That weapon is SSG, which Fujitora hyped to be so strong, they didn't need the Shichibukais anymore to turn the balance against the emperors
With Mihawk facing the marines at this point
And thus it could be a perfect way for Oda to test out Vegapunk's SSG weapon, and the weapon's properties as mentioned are unknown, but it's possible that they could be composed of diamond material, and thus with Oda using that opportunity to test out Mihawk, and the pinnacle of swordsmanship challenge at the same time.
Thanks for reading
Foreshadows around diamond's durability
> At the end of the Zoro vs Daz Bones battle where Zoro ultimately managed to cut through steel, Daz Bones hinted at a future challenge(cutting diamond)
> Fast forward in Enies Lobby, Oda once again hyped the diamond durability by using it as a reference to seastone, and we know even top tiers like Big Mom begged for seastone cuffs to be removed, not to mention Shiki literally having to sacrifice his legs
> Then later on in Marineford, Oda drew a parallel between Mihawk's long range attack and Jozu's diamond defense
That moment didn't really gave us a clear answer though, if Mihawk can actually cut diamond or not, for the simple reason that Mihawk's attack wasn't aimed at Jozu, but Whitebeard and it'd been mentioned that the pinacle of swordsmanship is to cut what you wants to cut depending on it's breath
And thus with Mihawk not aiming at cutting diamond at that point, but rather flesh(Whitebeard), it left it open if he could open it or not, especially since not only long range attacks are weaker than close range attacks in swordsmanship, but they could amplified by hardening(and in devil fruit users's case like Jozu, it even allows you to hit the real body)
> Later on, during Zou, Oda foreshadowed diamond's durability once again through Pekoms, who was surprised someone as carefree as Luffy didn't react to it's durability
This to say then, that Oda at multiple occasions already hyped and foreshadowed the diamond toughness as a great challenge
Potential challenges
But when exactly we'd see that challenge ? :zorothink:
> There had been theories that Shiryu would eat Jozu's diamon devil fruit as a challenge against Mihawk, but Oda decided to give him the suke suke no mi(invisibility df) instead, rendering that possibility null
So now the question is, what is the point in Oda hyping the diamond durability if we never saw it as a challenge in the future ? And Oda isn't the kind of author who makes foreshadows for nothing. For this reason then, i do think the diamond challenge will come back to fruction at one point.
When exactly is unclear, but there has been another weapon that Oda hyped, yet we still don't know what it is exactly. That weapon is SSG, which Fujitora hyped to be so strong, they didn't need the Shichibukais anymore to turn the balance against the emperors
With Mihawk facing the marines at this point
And thus it could be a perfect way for Oda to test out Vegapunk's SSG weapon, and the weapon's properties as mentioned are unknown, but it's possible that they could be composed of diamond material, and thus with Oda using that opportunity to test out Mihawk, and the pinnacle of swordsmanship challenge at the same time.
Thanks for reading