I don't care about "earned power up" vs "unearned power up", I think that's a stupid discussion.
I agree that Zoro would be stronger after mastering Enma, but he's not yet mastered Enma, so he isn't yet stronger. Read the below for a more detailed explanation.
See above. I'm not arguing about whether Enma is a power up or not.
- Would Enma make Zoro stronger after mastering it?
- Has Zoro mastered Enma?
- Is current Zoro significantly stronger than before he traded Enma?
- It doesn't yet appear to the case since he still hasn't mastered Enma.
- Alternatively, we don't know to what extent Zoro's combat ability has changed. He may be weaker than his Shusui self, comparable in combat ability, or slightly stronger. What we do know is that he hasn't yet maximised the potential of Enma.
- As Zoro uses Enma more in the battle, I expect him to acclimatise better and as he does so his combat ability will rise. Once he has fully acclimatised, he'll be significantly stronger.
Shusui is a better sword than Enma because it's a black blade in addition to being of the same grade. Mastering Enma is what makes Zoro stronger. It's otherwise an inferior sword to Shusui.
All of Zoro's sword have their own quirks:
- Sandai Kitetsu was exceedingly sharp to the extent that it cut more than Zoro intended to cut.
- Shusui
- Was exceptionally heavy
- It produced much stronger air slashes.
- The airslash of Shusui swallowed up the slashes of Zoro's other swords
- Is exceptionally durable
- It wouldn't bend even if a dinosaur stepped on it.
- Enma
- Forces the user to release excessive amounts of ryuo creating larger slashes
Once Zoro mastered those swords, he was able to tame their quirks.
The proper analogy wouldn't be acquiring a new devil fruit, but trading a powerful devil fruit for another powerful fruit. Yes you can become stronger after you've mastered the new powerful fruit, but until you master it you would be weaker than you were before.
That 1 week of training time was clearly not enough to fully acclimatise to it in combat as we learn in this chapter.
At any rate, I don't think the power up vs no power up discussion is a sensible discussion. I don't think that's a sensible way to look at things. Zoro becomes stronger after mastering Enma. However, he has not yet done so, so he's not yet significantly stronger (I think it happens in this fight). Upon mastering Enma, if Zoro traded Enma for Shusui, he wouldn't become any weaker (in fact, he'll become stronger because Enma is a black blade). That's my position on it. Whether you call Enma a power up or not is not really my concern.
@Kuro Ashi the above is an elaboration of my views regarding whether Enma is a power up or not.