Here's something interesting regarding the Dragon cutting antics of the verse.
These two are the most well known Zoro and Ryuma cutting dragons parallels but I think there's an even earlier one
Notice it's basically the same composition of Ryuma attacking a flying Dragon in mid air during this thriller bark scene but this time the Dragon is Zoro's aura.
You might be thinking this "Zoro is the Dragon" part is a coincidence or unintentional until you look a bit closer. Outside of the obvious way this scene looks similar to Ryuma's, there's also the TYPE of Dragon Zoro's aura is forming.
The Aura around Zoro is specfically that of a WESTERN DRAGON. This is markedly different from the Aura of Zoro's other dragon based technique, Tatsumaki, where he summons the Aura of an EASTERN DRAGON.
And even outside of making the Aura of the WESTERN and EASTERN DRAGON different just for the visual distinction, the two techniques have appropriately different abilities.
WESTERN DRAGONS are commonly associated with breathing fire hence Zoro's attack on Ryuma being a WESTERN DRAGON aura sets Ryuma on fire. Whereas EASTERN DRAGONS are commonly associated with Weather Manipulation such as Wind Manipulation which of course translates to Zoro making gusts of wind and tornadoes with Tatsumaki, with the EASTERN DRAGON aura.
Furthermore this difference between WESTERN and EASTERN DRAGONS is maintained in one piece as well since only the WESTERN DRAGONS have been shown to breath fire whereas the EASTERN DRAGONS (Kaido and Momo) create clouds and shoot wind/air (Boro breath)
So obviously we can see why Oda suddenly decided to give Zoro this ability which has promptly disappeared into the ether along with other Zoro abilities. But for those willing to give Oda the benefit of a doubt that he doesn't just forget abilities or give them out willy nilly, then let's try and analyse this further.
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First we point out the irony of why Ryuma who is known for cutting down a WESTERN DRAGON is disintegrated by the manifestation of a WESTERN DRAGON. Like is there a specific point being made that Zoro becomes the thing that Ryuma killed and instead kills Ryuma?
The best I can gather from this is it symbolises that Zoro will surpass the actual Ryuma. Like aside from literally taking the man's sword and performing feats similar to his with the Punk Hazard dragon (though you can argue the Punk Hazard dragon is artificial so it can't be as strong as the natural dragons from Ryuma's time) ; maybe Oda making it a point that Zoro becomes a dragon but this time the Dragon BEATS Ryuma as symbolism that Zoro will be even stronger than prime Ryuma. This, in tandem with becoming the Worlds Strongest Swordsman means Zoro will be the STRONGEST SWORDSMAN WHO EVER LIVED IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.
The other thing we can gather is Zoro's future story is more tied with WESTERN DRAGONS than we thought. And of course after the Punk Hazard dragon, we are in the arc of Dragons, both WESTERN AND EASTERN.
But since Oda isn't a hack, he got clever and divided up the "Dragons" for variety. The two EASTERN DRAGONS are on opposing sides and one is apparently "Defective" as Vegapunk puts it. And the WESTERN DRAGONS are introduced as Dinosaur Devil fruit models but with the added stratification of them only being dragons in name, except One. Of course the Only Dinosaur-Dragon that flies and breathes fire like all WESTERN DRAGONS is King the Wildfire.
Notice how Oda went out of his way to make sure a Dinosaur can fly and produce flames like a WESTERN DRAGON with King. I believe the fire abilities are due to whatever rare race King is from and already you can see how far Oda is going to make sure King can fully imitate a WESTERN DRAGON without having to re do the same stuff he already did potentially going as far as creating a new race. (And if you consider that the Dragons in the Monsters One shot like the one Ryuma cut down are all mishapen and actually look very little like the typical Lizards with wings design, then King's Pteradon form could fit in no problem)
Consider though that, we saw Oda do this Imitation WESTERN DRAGON stuff before. We saw Zoro be given a Random abilty to produce fire and summon WESTERN DRAGON AURA and get into a clash with a guy famous for killing a WESTERN DRAGON in a scene constructed to imitate the cutting down of a WESTERN DRAGON. Now its King who's been given the WESTERN DRAGON motif and already that's a thematic tie between these two and why I believe Zoro will cut King down.
Zoro unlike King has been used to both imitate the WESTERN DRAGON and imitate the man who cuts down WESTERN DRAGONS, Ryuma. Zoro with Ryuma's sword, Shusui cuts down the Punk Hazard dragon and once Oda needs Zoro to level up, he's given another Dragon cutting sword, Enma and of course he's on track to learn to cut Fire, the primary WESTERN DRAGON attribute.
Zoro is essentially developing the exact arsenal required to cut down his beast pirates Counterpart, the Second in command who is a swordsman who is an imitation WESTERN DRAGON, King.
In the end I think this Zoro and Ryuma and cutting dragons parallel has been going on for way longer than we thought and it's not been so clear what it's been leading to since Zoro has been shown to switch between an imitation WESTERN DRAGON and a WESTERN DRAGON slayer in this dichotomy. I think this has all been leading to Zoro surpassing Ryuma one day and also cutting down the other imitation WESTERN DRAGON, King the Wildfire. As a bonus Zoro's epithet might also Change to reflect this dragon theme around him.
(Note: This doesn't prevent Zoro from Cutting Kaido, the EASTERN DRAGON either since Zoro helped cut Oars in thriller bark but his main fight of the arc is still Ryuma and in this case the WESTERN DRAGON King. But thats a whole other thread about Zoro and Oden)
These two are the most well known Zoro and Ryuma cutting dragons parallels but I think there's an even earlier one
Notice it's basically the same composition of Ryuma attacking a flying Dragon in mid air during this thriller bark scene but this time the Dragon is Zoro's aura.
You might be thinking this "Zoro is the Dragon" part is a coincidence or unintentional until you look a bit closer. Outside of the obvious way this scene looks similar to Ryuma's, there's also the TYPE of Dragon Zoro's aura is forming.
The Aura around Zoro is specfically that of a WESTERN DRAGON. This is markedly different from the Aura of Zoro's other dragon based technique, Tatsumaki, where he summons the Aura of an EASTERN DRAGON.
And even outside of making the Aura of the WESTERN and EASTERN DRAGON different just for the visual distinction, the two techniques have appropriately different abilities.
WESTERN DRAGONS are commonly associated with breathing fire hence Zoro's attack on Ryuma being a WESTERN DRAGON aura sets Ryuma on fire. Whereas EASTERN DRAGONS are commonly associated with Weather Manipulation such as Wind Manipulation which of course translates to Zoro making gusts of wind and tornadoes with Tatsumaki, with the EASTERN DRAGON aura.
Furthermore this difference between WESTERN and EASTERN DRAGONS is maintained in one piece as well since only the WESTERN DRAGONS have been shown to breath fire whereas the EASTERN DRAGONS (Kaido and Momo) create clouds and shoot wind/air (Boro breath)
So obviously we can see why Oda suddenly decided to give Zoro this ability which has promptly disappeared into the ether along with other Zoro abilities. But for those willing to give Oda the benefit of a doubt that he doesn't just forget abilities or give them out willy nilly, then let's try and analyse this further.
____________________________________________
First we point out the irony of why Ryuma who is known for cutting down a WESTERN DRAGON is disintegrated by the manifestation of a WESTERN DRAGON. Like is there a specific point being made that Zoro becomes the thing that Ryuma killed and instead kills Ryuma?
The best I can gather from this is it symbolises that Zoro will surpass the actual Ryuma. Like aside from literally taking the man's sword and performing feats similar to his with the Punk Hazard dragon (though you can argue the Punk Hazard dragon is artificial so it can't be as strong as the natural dragons from Ryuma's time) ; maybe Oda making it a point that Zoro becomes a dragon but this time the Dragon BEATS Ryuma as symbolism that Zoro will be even stronger than prime Ryuma. This, in tandem with becoming the Worlds Strongest Swordsman means Zoro will be the STRONGEST SWORDSMAN WHO EVER LIVED IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.
The other thing we can gather is Zoro's future story is more tied with WESTERN DRAGONS than we thought. And of course after the Punk Hazard dragon, we are in the arc of Dragons, both WESTERN AND EASTERN.
But since Oda isn't a hack, he got clever and divided up the "Dragons" for variety. The two EASTERN DRAGONS are on opposing sides and one is apparently "Defective" as Vegapunk puts it. And the WESTERN DRAGONS are introduced as Dinosaur Devil fruit models but with the added stratification of them only being dragons in name, except One. Of course the Only Dinosaur-Dragon that flies and breathes fire like all WESTERN DRAGONS is King the Wildfire.
Notice how Oda went out of his way to make sure a Dinosaur can fly and produce flames like a WESTERN DRAGON with King. I believe the fire abilities are due to whatever rare race King is from and already you can see how far Oda is going to make sure King can fully imitate a WESTERN DRAGON without having to re do the same stuff he already did potentially going as far as creating a new race. (And if you consider that the Dragons in the Monsters One shot like the one Ryuma cut down are all mishapen and actually look very little like the typical Lizards with wings design, then King's Pteradon form could fit in no problem)
Consider though that, we saw Oda do this Imitation WESTERN DRAGON stuff before. We saw Zoro be given a Random abilty to produce fire and summon WESTERN DRAGON AURA and get into a clash with a guy famous for killing a WESTERN DRAGON in a scene constructed to imitate the cutting down of a WESTERN DRAGON. Now its King who's been given the WESTERN DRAGON motif and already that's a thematic tie between these two and why I believe Zoro will cut King down.
Zoro unlike King has been used to both imitate the WESTERN DRAGON and imitate the man who cuts down WESTERN DRAGONS, Ryuma. Zoro with Ryuma's sword, Shusui cuts down the Punk Hazard dragon and once Oda needs Zoro to level up, he's given another Dragon cutting sword, Enma and of course he's on track to learn to cut Fire, the primary WESTERN DRAGON attribute.
Zoro is essentially developing the exact arsenal required to cut down his beast pirates Counterpart, the Second in command who is a swordsman who is an imitation WESTERN DRAGON, King.
In the end I think this Zoro and Ryuma and cutting dragons parallel has been going on for way longer than we thought and it's not been so clear what it's been leading to since Zoro has been shown to switch between an imitation WESTERN DRAGON and a WESTERN DRAGON slayer in this dichotomy. I think this has all been leading to Zoro surpassing Ryuma one day and also cutting down the other imitation WESTERN DRAGON, King the Wildfire. As a bonus Zoro's epithet might also Change to reflect this dragon theme around him.
(Note: This doesn't prevent Zoro from Cutting Kaido, the EASTERN DRAGON either since Zoro helped cut Oars in thriller bark but his main fight of the arc is still Ryuma and in this case the WESTERN DRAGON King. But thats a whole other thread about Zoro and Oden)
Interesting
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