This has always been jarring to me. Like imo it's not Hiyori because there is NO reason for Oda to silhouette the character. This would be like silhouette Tama when she rescued Nami and Usopp in 995.
So it's always been 1 of 2 other options for me, and both are nuts lol:
- It's Toki, but she's dead and a ghost. She's around due to the fire festival as a spirit to be sent off.
- It's Kanjuro, for the exact same reasons you point out. In typical Oda fashion (i.e. Pudding), I can see Oda not really fully committing to the Kanjuro tragic role. In that, he actually did care for the other scabbards, but needed to fulfill his role. Big red flags to me is the pure fact that Kanjuro's original form is technically not known. Oda gave him/her some weird fluid looking shit as a silhouette lol.
Idk, it just screams Oda ridiculousness to have Kanjuro fulfill his role but also heal them too. Be someone with severe issues where they stab friends but then help them lol. Kin maybe cut down Kanjuro, but the actor, not the person?