For the black blade argument.
Yes, i can understand why people think it’s too early for Zoro to do it. Too early, hasn’t yet mastered the sword, all good reasons
but
No matter when Zoro does it- he’s going to make Oden look bad retrospectively. Whether Zoro turns Enma black in Wano or by EoS, he’s doing something Oden failed to do in decades in the space of a year, and with a lot less battles.
There’s also the fact that there will never be a more narratively appropriate time for Enma to be made a black blade than now. Enma is Oden’s sword. It’s being used against the man who killed Oden. It’s being used in order to defend Oden’s family and people, and achieve Oden’s dream. It is in the land of samurai, where a famous swordsman, with a connection to Zoro, also forged his black blade- and that samurai‘s most important fight seems to have been against a dragon like Kaido
This being the arc where Enma becomes a kokuto just fits. The pieces are all there to be slotted into place. It won’t have have the same weight in a fight against Mihawk, or Shiryu. There, it just one of three swords, and tbh, Wado is more important, as the sword that has been Zoro’s since childhood. This is the arc where Enma is a big plot point, a tangible connection between the dead Oden and the present day fight.
Weren't you of the opinion that Shiryu will be more of a trickery based opponent for Zoro and a skill check in certain aspects ? I recall that being the case from Orojackson, so corectly me if i am wrong.
I thought it would be Diamond Shiryu and the fight would be like a super Mr 1 version. So since OJ there’s been a good few developments that have changed my perception of what Shiryu will be like
-the DF, which no one saw coming. Ironically, given what it does
-the Blackbeard/Rocks connection, where we can now see that Blackbeard is trying to make Rocks 2.0. Can Shiryu match a young Whitebeard, as he was the second strongest Rocks Pirate? I don’t see why not, Weevil apparently can.
-Oda being willing to give a subordinate like Oden such heavy, well, wank. I don’t see any reason why he can’t do that for Blackbeard’s subordinate.
What changed that now he needs to be the most formidable opponent, superior to Rayleigh and Oden, and stronger than a Zoro who two arcs prior is already stronger than someone who you would qualify as a solid top tier ?
Oda increasingly emphasising to us that One Piece is coming to an end, and Zoro looking to have a much larger role in the Kaido fight than most thought would happen prior to Wano.
Hell, it was only a few chalters ago that some were still saying that Zoro would have no role at all.
No, i was talking about Luffy, that's why i list him making all those steps, because you are also comparing him with Luffy and not others with the heights you expect him to reach. Is it not convenient to want to take the best out of the Luffy comparison, but then fall on the others doing less to obtain less when arguing how much of the steps Zoro would need to be shown to take ?
I don’t see why Zoro is any different from Law, Kid or Killer in this regard.
I really don't see the necessity of Oden being surpassed right away, i'd certainly qualify it more as you called it "a leap of faith" in an earlier post.
Well, there’s no “neccessity”. It’s what i think will happen, and it makes sense to me given that the series is nearly done and Zoro will be the WSS soon, but that doesn’t make it a necessity. The story can go on without Zoro being Oden level- but it doesn’t make it any more or less likely.
We have the premise of a scar already made, with build up to open up said scar. That's not surpassing, that's doing less than the original, but showing great promise to eventually get there.
That is something we’ll see when it happens. For one thing, Zoro mostly uses Santoryuu, not Niitoryuu. We could easily see Zoro make a new scar, opening up the old X shaped one and adding another line using his third sword, turning it into a more star shaped scar.
You have Zoro just obtaining Enma two weeks ago, and the promise of him eventually forging it into a black blade. Saying that it need to happen in Wano is unfounded, all the arguments used for that can as well serve for it happening later.
No, it’s not unfounded. You can say it would be early, but there’s no argument that Kaido is the best possible opponent for Enma to be made a black blade against.
I’ll also point out- Oda didn’t need to bring up the “make Enma a black blade” plot before the Kaido fight. Could very easily have came after it, with Hitetsu saying it could be something to do in the future. By suggesting it
prior to a fight with Kaido, and given the relationship between Enma, Kaido and Oden, it does then bring up the possibility that Oda mentioned it then to set up it happening now.
Think about it, Zoro's been wielding his other blades for 2+ and 10+ years respectively. Baking on his first black blade being the one he got 2 weeks ago is counterintuitive to say the least.
It’s going to be counterintuitive to an extent whenever he makes Enma black, because of how late he got it compared to all his other swords. They are meant to be forged in battle, it’s not a case of you reaching X level of strength and BAM, you have a black sword. Zoro’s not going to have foguht anywhere near as much with Enma as his other two. Or Wado, at least, if Zoro changes Sandai as well.
he does not need to surpass someone who you would label as a solid top tier already.
Nor does he
need to be weaker than Oden after Wano. There’s nothing saying that Zoro
needs a big fight on Elbaf, so what would be wrong with him getting to Laugh Tale as strong as Oden was when he got there?