Powers & Abilities What makes a Black Blade Special?

[Rosella.Fiamingo]

I want to preface this thread by saying that this shouldn’t turn into a flame war about why x doesn’t have a Black Blade despite being strong etc..

So, I want to hear all your opinions especially the sword boys here on what advantage that a Black Blade offers. It doesn’t have to be substantiated by manga. It can’t be headcanon I just wanna hear your ideas. These things are more rare than CoC users as far as we know and they’re likely going to be Zoros final powerup EOS so they have to be super special.
What does a Black Blade give Mihawk that another supreme grade weapon won’t give him?

Is it just added Durability?
More DC?
Something Haki related?

 

[nik87]

Forging a black blade most likely requires the highest mastery of CoA but the exact process of making it black is not clear yet.
About what it offers, only durability that we know of so far but Gyukimaru did say something that Zoro could never know it's true worth so it is possible that it offers something more that Zoro wasnt able to make use of because he didnt have a skill of forging a kokuto.

 

[Rosella.Fiamingo]

Forging a black blade most likely requires the highest mastery of CoA but the exact process of making it black is not clear yet.
About what it offers, only durability that we know of so far but Gyukimaru did say something that Zoro could never know it's true worth so it is possible that it offers something more that Zoro wasnt able to make use of because he didnt have a skill of forging a kokuto.

Do you believe the branching of coa that makes black Blades is separate from the one that Luffy is learning now which is more about finesse than actually making contact .

 

[MD Zolo]

What does a Black Blade give Mihawk that another supreme grade weapon won’t give him?

Is it just added Durability?
More DC?
Something Haki related?

I think Zoro talked about shusui's durability when he first got it. I guess that could mean black blades are more durable than even supreme grade swords.

Secondly, Gyukimaru said that Zoro doesn't understand the sword's true worth. Which could mean that there is more to the specialty of black blades.

Thirdly, it seems that making a black blade is unbelievably hard. So, I guess special haki prowess is required for that.

However, I must stress that black blades themselves are not special. They are special because they are/were wielded by legendary swordsmen. I'll always say that a swordsman is more than his/her swords. In fact, swordsman makes the sword special (e.g. Ryuuma and Mihawk).

 

[nik87]

Do you believe the branching of coa that makes black Blades is separate from the one that Luffy is learning now which is more about finesse than actually making contact .

Hard to say, I would guess it includes both Haki flow and Hardening, not a separate new branch. I might be wrong tho.

 

[Rosella.Fiamingo]

Hard to say, I would guess it includes both Haki flow and Hardening, not a separate new branch. I might be wrong tho.

So like In my mind, hardening and flow are completely separate. So maybe a BB requires absolute mastery of Hardening and a bit of something else.

 

[nik87]

So like In my mind, hardening and flow are completely separate. So maybe a BB requires absolute mastery of Hardening and a bit of something else.

Yes, Hardening and Flow are two branches of CoA but to harden a blade I think you need to know the flow first.
There is no Haki in the blade if you cant let the Haki flow from the body into the blade. Hardening comes after that.
It is different for swordsmen and barehanded combatants since barehanded can use Hardening without knowing the flow.
Kokuto requires both branches plus a secret ingredient we dont know of.

 

[Xione]

It's not different than having a blade covered in CoA, except it's permanent. The "durability" of the blade is what increases.

 

[nik87]

It's not different than having a blade covered in CoA, except it's permanent.

Wouldnt that mean that Monet would have died back in PH?

 

[Enma]

I'd be disappointed if it's just permanent haki. It should be something special.

 

[Zenos7]

probably related to haki considering how hyogorou said things very similar to what zoro remembered in the mr.1 fight.

 

[Topi Jerami]

Wouldnt that mean that Monet would have died back in PH?

This maybe actually 1 of the inconsistencies that Oda makes again...

 

[Finalbeta]

The difficulty it takes
The power you get

 

[Patryipe]

It's obvious.

Once you go black you never go back.

 

[Enma]

It's obvious.

Once you go black you never go back.

:smithnie:

 

[ImmaIvanoM]

I want to preface this thread by saying that this shouldn’t turn into a flame war about why x doesn’t have a Black Blade despite being strong etc..

So, I want to hear all your opinions especially the sword boys here on what advantage that a Black Blade offers. It doesn’t have to be substantiated by manga. It can’t be headcanon I just wanna hear your ideas. These things are more rare than CoC users as far as we know and they’re likely going to be Zoros final powerup EOS so they have to be super special.
What does a Black Blade give Mihawk that another supreme grade weapon won’t give him?

Is it just added Durability?
More DC?
Something Haki related?

It's apparently indestructible.

Ryuma says Shusui wouldn't buckle one bit even against the weight of a Dinosaur

Mihawk implies that Zoro's blade wouldn't get chipped under any circumstances if it were black

Both characters with black blades imply the swords are indestructible so I think that the main thing

Now this rigidity itself basically creates certain combat advantages such as higher AP since the sword doesn't absorb the force of attacks by buckling due to tension and such so all the force of an attack is fully transfered from the swordsman though the sword.

Next is higher block capability since there's no chance of the sword breaking and so yts basically completely up to the swordsman to be strong enough to withstand the attacking force

Basically both these physical stay boosts caused by the indestructiblity basically work the same way swords in real life work. A more rigid sword in real life gives the same advantages just that it's actually impossible for a sword to be indestructible so it's exaggerated how effective this is in One piece... So once again if the sword user is weak then the sword is useless.

Lastly is the Haki stuff. Since we can guess haki has something to do with black blades, I think making a black blade is the culmination of that Breath of all things technique. We've learned that this is a haki technique and it has do with being able to cut everything and also cutting nothing... Now I think when a person truly reaches the highest possible level of this, their sword turns black and from then one they can cut anything they want and nothing they want. Although, only the person who made the black blade can use the sword like this since it's their will that turned the sword black.

This is kinda supported by how Gyukimaru describes Ryuma's fights. Gyukimaru says "Ryuma cut down his enemies in an instant" implying that there wasn't like any 12 hour battles with this guy. Of course this could be because he has like a ridiculously monstrous strength or stupendous speed but we've learned by now that there's counters for all that stuff, observation haki can react to light speed and there's alot of high durability people and items in the world so monstrous strength might not be able to ensure victory in everything... The one thing we know for sure can basically always ensure a win is the breath of all things since its been stated multiple times that you can literally CUT ANYTHING with it... So if Ryuma was a master of the breath of all things and he has this rare legendary swoRd then the two might be related in that you master the breath of all things, your sword turns black.
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This maybe actually 1 of the inconsistencies that Oda makes again...

No people seem to just misunderstand what the statement "Black blades are forged" means.

See Gyukimaru uses the word "Forged" when referring to how Black blades are formed which is a specific word when you think about it since entails very different things from how CoA on Swords is described. What every swordsman does so far is described as "Coating" a blade in CoA whereas Black blades are "Forged".

Now we can agree Haki has something to do with how Black blades are "Forged" so let's use a real life example to see how the word "Forged" is applied. Swords in real life are forged by heat in those giant kilns. As you can see heat is used in the INITIAL stage of he making of the blades to set the components of the sword. Once the forgib is complete the heat dissipates but the sword us fully formed rigid and everything.

In the case of the black blades and Haki, it's similar. Haki is used to Forge black blades in some capacity and when the sword has been fully transformed into a black blades, the Haki dissipates similar to heat dissipating and the sword sets.

Basically what I'm getting at is the the Haki used in the initial formation of the sword and disappears promptly but leaves the sword to set as a black blade similar to how heat is used in the initial formation of swords and disappears promptly but leaves the sword to set into form. Hence Oda's use of the word "Forge" to show the connection between the processes.

 

[Finalbeta]

It's obvious.

Once you go black you never go back.

It would be nice if you could go further instead

 

[Just a member]

As I see it so far:

Black blades are made from a huge amount of coa infused into them, the quality of coa for sure matters but before that imo there is the quantity needed. We know that lesser swordsman would fall exausted just by grabbing a sword that sucks in coa to become black (see the Enma chapter). And that is about the quantity of coa (and most likely mastery with a sword too) you can put on the table. I suppose that a sword like Enma (or others if this time it isbthevuser who put in them enough haki to perma black them, unlike Enma who does it on its own) if it sucks enough haki (an then probably there are other factors like sword mastery, coa quality and mastery so that a Luffy or WB can do black blades cause they have enough coa to do it) it becomes a perma black blade.

As for the advantages of it. Shusui, no black blades, were first stated (in Thriller bark by Zoro) to be extremely durable (a dino can walk on them without them breaking) and that was later perfected in the Zoro's flashback about Mihawk training (after he beat Pica) as that you have to blacken your sword and see even a small dent on them provoked by the enemy as a shame (Mihawk even asked him if he ever had his swords broken before that). So an extremely durable sword but also with enached cutting power probably, this is a supposition too but if a sword gets filled with coa then maybe that reserve helps your own when you are in need of it (more coa).

 

[Ice devil slayer]

I don't get why only Mihawk and Ryuma made their blades black tho
Not Shanks
Not Fujitora etc

 

[Inspector_Mu]

If you are one with your blade and go through many battles with it by using haki on it.
It will be permanently black and increase its durability