Hakuba has always confused the ever-living fuck out of me.
Even for One Piece, a narcissist pirate, who was exiled from royalty and his home for being TOO BEAUTIFUL, turning into a murderous nightmare swordsmen whenever he falls asleep is WEIRD. Look at this fucker: WHAT IS GOING ON WITH HIM???
At first, I thought his sword, Durandal, was just fucking cursed.
But, after Wano, the idea of a sword taking someone over doesn't really make sense considering Kozaburo stating no sword is really "cursed".
Considering this, I went back to the drawing board, and started working off the hypothesis I should have always started with: that Cavendish is just fucking insane, and the problem lies within how nuts he is. Despite his inconsistency with foreshadowing in his writing, Oda is actually GOATED with the sauce when it comes to foreshadowing via art. We literally had foreshadowing to Kaido as a dragon back in Alabasta:
So, I started thinking: "What visual aspects of Cavendish could hint as to why he turns evil? What's weird about him visually... Well, he... sparkles. He produces light unnaturally. What's the opposite of light? Darkness... SHADOW."
THIS is where things get interesting. We had Vegapunk bring up the concept of switching a person's personality via a switch when talking about Kuma to Saturn's angry old ass:
"I've invented a circuit for the brain that allows one to switch between two states of consciousness, akin to a split personality!"
Cavendish showcases this, but, so does another character:
Cavendish is normally bright and sparkly, but, upon appearing as Hakuba, his face becomes shadowy and distorted, with a twisted smile and eyes.
Likewise, Sanji's face becomes darker, his personality becomes more sinister, and his eyebrow changes.
This is why Hakuba and Sanji's brothers are emotionless killing machines; they are using the power of their Shadows. Through Science, Germa 1, 2, and 4 act like violent zombies, willing to follow any orders. Their positive emotions have been suppressed.
Meanwhile, Cavendish is obsessed with beauty and grace, to the extent he rejects any negative element of himself intrinsically. This rejection of his negative, or, his Shadow self, has caused an actual split in his personality. Cavendish's narcissism is so high HE CANNOT ACCEPT that he has a dark side, which has led to his dark side, his Shadow, forming its own personality and taking over his body.
This is why Hakuba is twice as strong as Cavendish; it is Cavendish absorbing his own Shadow and using its force within his body.
This is also why Sanji becomes so much stronger in this form; he is rejecting his humanity/emotions, and embracing his Shadow self. Like Cevendish, Sanji rejects his negative emotions, and is known to randomly produce artificial light (in this case literal flames of "love").
It's entirely possible that a Black Blade is literally coating yourself in your own Shadow.
I expect black hair Sanji to occur at some point, but, I'm even more excited to see Zoro take advantage of his Shadow. Emo raging Zoro would be wild to witness.
Mihawk is as powerful and emotionally weird as he is because he is a perfect mix of himself and his Shadow; unlike Cavendish, who has to lose control to double his power, Mihawk is constantly fighting with his Shadow as his ally. This perfectly fits with Zoro's Buddhist/Yin Yang themes as a character regarding balance in life.
Hence Yoru: a Blade as black as Shadow itself.
Shadow swordplay, oof, don't stab your eye out in the dark Zoro! Whoops, too late.
Even for One Piece, a narcissist pirate, who was exiled from royalty and his home for being TOO BEAUTIFUL, turning into a murderous nightmare swordsmen whenever he falls asleep is WEIRD. Look at this fucker: WHAT IS GOING ON WITH HIM???
At first, I thought his sword, Durandal, was just fucking cursed.
But, after Wano, the idea of a sword taking someone over doesn't really make sense considering Kozaburo stating no sword is really "cursed".
Considering this, I went back to the drawing board, and started working off the hypothesis I should have always started with: that Cavendish is just fucking insane, and the problem lies within how nuts he is. Despite his inconsistency with foreshadowing in his writing, Oda is actually GOATED with the sauce when it comes to foreshadowing via art. We literally had foreshadowing to Kaido as a dragon back in Alabasta:
So, I started thinking: "What visual aspects of Cavendish could hint as to why he turns evil? What's weird about him visually... Well, he... sparkles. He produces light unnaturally. What's the opposite of light? Darkness... SHADOW."
THIS is where things get interesting. We had Vegapunk bring up the concept of switching a person's personality via a switch when talking about Kuma to Saturn's angry old ass:
"I've invented a circuit for the brain that allows one to switch between two states of consciousness, akin to a split personality!"
Cavendish showcases this, but, so does another character:
Cavendish is normally bright and sparkly, but, upon appearing as Hakuba, his face becomes shadowy and distorted, with a twisted smile and eyes.
Likewise, Sanji's face becomes darker, his personality becomes more sinister, and his eyebrow changes.
This is why Hakuba and Sanji's brothers are emotionless killing machines; they are using the power of their Shadows. Through Science, Germa 1, 2, and 4 act like violent zombies, willing to follow any orders. Their positive emotions have been suppressed.
Meanwhile, Cavendish is obsessed with beauty and grace, to the extent he rejects any negative element of himself intrinsically. This rejection of his negative, or, his Shadow self, has caused an actual split in his personality. Cavendish's narcissism is so high HE CANNOT ACCEPT that he has a dark side, which has led to his dark side, his Shadow, forming its own personality and taking over his body.
This is why Hakuba is twice as strong as Cavendish; it is Cavendish absorbing his own Shadow and using its force within his body.
This is also why Sanji becomes so much stronger in this form; he is rejecting his humanity/emotions, and embracing his Shadow self. Like Cevendish, Sanji rejects his negative emotions, and is known to randomly produce artificial light (in this case literal flames of "love").
It's entirely possible that a Black Blade is literally coating yourself in your own Shadow.
I expect black hair Sanji to occur at some point, but, I'm even more excited to see Zoro take advantage of his Shadow. Emo raging Zoro would be wild to witness.
Mihawk is as powerful and emotionally weird as he is because he is a perfect mix of himself and his Shadow; unlike Cavendish, who has to lose control to double his power, Mihawk is constantly fighting with his Shadow as his ally. This perfectly fits with Zoro's Buddhist/Yin Yang themes as a character regarding balance in life.
Hence Yoru: a Blade as black as Shadow itself.
Shadow swordplay, oof, don't stab your eye out in the dark Zoro! Whoops, too late.
