No, I’m not. I’m saying that he didn’t use haki period, not that he couldn’t have used it because he wasn’t told what it was. You guys are pushing a fallacy that using haki equates to cutting steel. Zoro cut Daz, made of steel. Later, in Water 7, Zoro cut the sea train. Even later, in Thriller Bark, Zoro cut Kuma. All three instances in which he cut steel. However, when Zoro met Enel on Skypeia, and Aokiji just before Water 7, and Kizaru on Sabaody, while having the ability to cut steel (which you guys again are assigning as haki), he could do nothing to them. Unless you’re suggesting he dumbed down his attacks, then he was not using haki when fighting them.
He did not use haki on Alabasta, nor was it some advanced type of haki. He was simply learning a basic way to cut, which is probably the beginning stage of attempting to learn haki later.
Mantra is different than Ryou in that Rayleigh assigned Mantra to a specific branch of haki, whereas Hyo states that Ryou is simply haki. Not a specific branch, but haki in general.