Future Events The Great Debate - Will Zoro kill Kaido this arc?
Massive chapter for ZKK.
It is now an active question in the series- what would happen if Zoro hit Kaido with Hiryu Kaen? We’re no longer in the realms of fan speculation here, it’s a real, in-series question. It’s not a question like “could Zoro cut a Poneglyph?” That’s something that has never been asked in series, it’s something we as fans may question, but it doesn’t exist as plotpoint in series. Zoro atatcking Kaido now does.
And Oda doesn’t just hype up the attack by having it take off the horn. That would be great enough in it’s own right. No, he has Big Mom hype it up as well. It’s always the most solid hype a character can get, when known qualities comment or compare. Big Mom knows Kaido, she herself is a top tier, she’s seen countless powerful figures fight, she just had an hours (days?) long fight against Kaido, she’s watched Kaido tank attacks from the Worst Gen... and she does not want Kaido to take that attack from Zoro. That’s huge. No, it does not automatically scream ZKK, but it does let us know that Big Mom thinks it will be bad for Kaido to take that attack.
Then there’s the symbolism of the attack itself. Only previous use by Zoro- beating Ryuma. The purpose of which, to get his sword (and Brooks shadow). And Ryuma himself is famous primarily for killing a dragon in defence of Wano, and as we’ve seen from Monsters, using an attack that is exactly like Hiryu.
The very last thing we saw of Zoro before Act 2 finished was Tengu telling him he could one day make Enma a black blade. It was also in Act 2 we discovered that Ryuma made his own black blade, and that black blades were in fact something that a swordsman had to do himself, and wasn’t just how they were forged. So, Zoro’s previous use of Hiryu Kaen was to win a black blade from the swordsman famous for killing a dragon, a black blade that Zoro then gave up for one he could potentially upgrade himself.
That means we’ve got two active questions around Zoro:
-what will happen when Zoro hits Kaido with Hiryu Kaen, using Enma?
-when will Zoro make Enma a black blade?
Quite easy to see Oda answering both those questions at the same time, isn’t it? Certainly, there was no need for us to know in Act 2 that Zoro could promote Enma. Oda could have saved that information for after the fight- have Tengu say “so you fought with Enma? You know, you might be abke to push it a step forward in your travels.” It isn’t information that was vital for us to know right now, which heavily suggests that Enma will be made a black blade in Wano itself. And that could easily be in a great Ryuma parallel- slaying a dragon in defence of Wano, using the exact same technique. There certainly won’t be another opponent as perfect as Kaido, who ties Zoro, Oden, Ryuma, Enma, Shusui and Wano all together.
And it’s important to mention Oden because again, we’ve got a heavy, heavy dose of inherited will going on here. Kaido can sense Oden in Enma, the same way he could see Oden in the Scabbards. There’s always been a heavy spirituality, an animism around swords in One Piece. Swords choose the wielder, we were told on Loguetown (the wand chooses the wizard, Mr Potter). Tashigi wants to stop the swords “from crying”- that gives them sentience, feelings. Zoro can sense swords somehow. Ryuma’s body feels that Shusui would have been satisfied with Zoro- not that Ryuma would be happy, but the sword itself. Zoro lays Yubashiri to just with Brook’s crew- it was his comrade, just as they were to him, just as the Merry was to Strawhats.
And then we got Kawamatsu in Ringo, just before Zoro got Enma. When a samurai dies, his comrades pick up his sword and fight on. The fight ain’t over with death. Kuina dies, Zoro takes her sword to live out both their dream, inheriting her will. Oden dies, now Zoro’s taken his sword into battle, to inherit his will. Does that will, like Ryuma’s mean, killing Kaido? It’s certainly what Oden said he wanted to do.
It certainly all adds up. Much in the same way, I would say, as the information all added up to Sanji making a cake on WCI, even prior to the Tea Party.
Big Mom has an eating disease? Well, that has to come into play. She wants a cake? Well, what happens if she doesn’t get it? The Vinsmokes think Sanji is garbage for being a chef? How could Sanji’s cooking prove them wrong? That all added up. What do we have here?
Kaido wants to die? How could that be fulfilled? Zoro will one day make a black blade of Enma? What’s the perfect time for that to happen? A dragon was famously killed above the skies of the flower capital? Could that happen again?
ZKK is something that needs to be treated as a serious, serious possibility in series.
It is now an active question in the series- what would happen if Zoro hit Kaido with Hiryu Kaen? We’re no longer in the realms of fan speculation here, it’s a real, in-series question. It’s not a question like “could Zoro cut a Poneglyph?” That’s something that has never been asked in series, it’s something we as fans may question, but it doesn’t exist as plotpoint in series. Zoro atatcking Kaido now does.
And Oda doesn’t just hype up the attack by having it take off the horn. That would be great enough in it’s own right. No, he has Big Mom hype it up as well. It’s always the most solid hype a character can get, when known qualities comment or compare. Big Mom knows Kaido, she herself is a top tier, she’s seen countless powerful figures fight, she just had an hours (days?) long fight against Kaido, she’s watched Kaido tank attacks from the Worst Gen... and she does not want Kaido to take that attack from Zoro. That’s huge. No, it does not automatically scream ZKK, but it does let us know that Big Mom thinks it will be bad for Kaido to take that attack.
Then there’s the symbolism of the attack itself. Only previous use by Zoro- beating Ryuma. The purpose of which, to get his sword (and Brooks shadow). And Ryuma himself is famous primarily for killing a dragon in defence of Wano, and as we’ve seen from Monsters, using an attack that is exactly like Hiryu.
The very last thing we saw of Zoro before Act 2 finished was Tengu telling him he could one day make Enma a black blade. It was also in Act 2 we discovered that Ryuma made his own black blade, and that black blades were in fact something that a swordsman had to do himself, and wasn’t just how they were forged. So, Zoro’s previous use of Hiryu Kaen was to win a black blade from the swordsman famous for killing a dragon, a black blade that Zoro then gave up for one he could potentially upgrade himself.
That means we’ve got two active questions around Zoro:
-what will happen when Zoro hits Kaido with Hiryu Kaen, using Enma?
-when will Zoro make Enma a black blade?
Quite easy to see Oda answering both those questions at the same time, isn’t it? Certainly, there was no need for us to know in Act 2 that Zoro could promote Enma. Oda could have saved that information for after the fight- have Tengu say “so you fought with Enma? You know, you might be abke to push it a step forward in your travels.” It isn’t information that was vital for us to know right now, which heavily suggests that Enma will be made a black blade in Wano itself. And that could easily be in a great Ryuma parallel- slaying a dragon in defence of Wano, using the exact same technique. There certainly won’t be another opponent as perfect as Kaido, who ties Zoro, Oden, Ryuma, Enma, Shusui and Wano all together.
And it’s important to mention Oden because again, we’ve got a heavy, heavy dose of inherited will going on here. Kaido can sense Oden in Enma, the same way he could see Oden in the Scabbards. There’s always been a heavy spirituality, an animism around swords in One Piece. Swords choose the wielder, we were told on Loguetown (the wand chooses the wizard, Mr Potter). Tashigi wants to stop the swords “from crying”- that gives them sentience, feelings. Zoro can sense swords somehow. Ryuma’s body feels that Shusui would have been satisfied with Zoro- not that Ryuma would be happy, but the sword itself. Zoro lays Yubashiri to just with Brook’s crew- it was his comrade, just as they were to him, just as the Merry was to Strawhats.
And then we got Kawamatsu in Ringo, just before Zoro got Enma. When a samurai dies, his comrades pick up his sword and fight on. The fight ain’t over with death. Kuina dies, Zoro takes her sword to live out both their dream, inheriting her will. Oden dies, now Zoro’s taken his sword into battle, to inherit his will. Does that will, like Ryuma’s mean, killing Kaido? It’s certainly what Oden said he wanted to do.
It certainly all adds up. Much in the same way, I would say, as the information all added up to Sanji making a cake on WCI, even prior to the Tea Party.
Big Mom has an eating disease? Well, that has to come into play. She wants a cake? Well, what happens if she doesn’t get it? The Vinsmokes think Sanji is garbage for being a chef? How could Sanji’s cooking prove them wrong? That all added up. What do we have here?
Kaido wants to die? How could that be fulfilled? Zoro will one day make a black blade of Enma? What’s the perfect time for that to happen? A dragon was famously killed above the skies of the flower capital? Could that happen again?
ZKK is something that needs to be treated as a serious, serious possibility in series.
Zoro killing Kaido isn't really unacceptable because of a strength issue, or it shouldn't be; after all, Zoro doesn't really need to be that powerful to kill him if he strikes him with an accurate slash right to a vital area (let's not forget two fodders killed the Pirate King, Oden went down with a common headshot, etc.). The problem is that Oda can't even let disgusting sociopaths be killed as punishment for their actions; hence why Diamante isn't dead meat as we speak. Heck, he won't even let Zoro speak words with an explicit killing meaning because he respects death too much for his good guy to say such things, as he explained in the past. So it feels really out of place to think of a Straw Hat murdering (in such a gross manner, too) a person of so much importance.
If Kaido wants to be killed yet it's been stated that One Piece's villains don't die because having their dreams crushed is a worse fate, why should we expect Kaido to fulfill his objective? Unless by the time of his hypothetical death he doesn't want to die anymore, of course.
PD: the "Koido" joke is a bit cringy.
PD: the "Koido" joke is a bit cringy.
To deny Zoro killing Kaido as a genuine possibility is intellectually dishonest.
Lots and lots more I can say, but a Samurai character decapitating the Dragon in defense of the Samurai land, is not only probable, but it ties things together well.
- Oda had Zoro's attack miss. Why have it miss? Now you're making the reader wonder.
- Zoro has said in unambiguous terms that he wants to kill Kaido.
- Oda has eliminated almost every other alternative for dealing with Kaido as of his introduction.
- There has been a heavy emphasis on decapitating Kaido, almost akin to quelling Linlin's hunger pangs.
- Zoro, in just the last chapter, struck a pose very similar to Ryuma before he decapitated the dragon.
- One of the first things Oda ever wanted to draw was a Dragon being slain by a swordsman.
- Enma is setup to become a black blade. That should be tied to a big moment, and where better than the arc it was introduced and established in? The same arc where its previous user once lived, and who desired to rid the world of Kaido through death.
Lots and lots more I can say, but a Samurai character decapitating the Dragon in defense of the Samurai land, is not only probable, but it ties things together well.