Questions & Mysteries Would Kuina being still alive be a good twist?

[fakename]

So with things like Luffys fruit being "revealed" to be another after 1k chapters, there is a precedent for shocking twists that go against we thought for a long time. So if now if Oda decided to bring Kuina back and say she nocliped through the stairs or some bullshit and thats how she survived, would you be ok with that? Would that just ruin Zoros whole charachter and motivation or would ut give a charachter with potential cut short a chance to shine and do something interessting? I'm no feminist but still felt bad about her realising that she won't be able to compete and not even getting the chance to prove everybody wrong(ofcourse one could say that Oda is being realistic blabalbla but if humans can compete with fismen who are 10 times stronger, why shouldnt a girl who is only like 1.5 times weaker?)
Ofcourse the understated drama is refreshing for One piece standards, not a dramtic self sacrafice or genocide as a backstory but a absurdly realistic way of just dying onceremonasly by something banal like falling down the stairs.
At the end I'm kinda cynical with One Piece, so any stupid twist wouldn't bother me as much as if I cared for the "integrety" of the work. But dunno who knows lol😂

 

[Ballel]

Wouldn't be a good idea. Another fake death

 

[Santoryu D Bazooka]

Heeeehaaaaw

 

[fakename]

Heeeehaaaaw

touché

 

[thedarkdragon11]

Big NO!

 

[roronoa_fan]

Kuina being alive ends with Zoro's need to fulfill his dream, speaking otherwise, it would be as if Sanji didn't find All Blue or Luffy didn't become the Pirate King

 

[Finalbeta]

I still wonder how legit the stairs stuff is I guess Zoro witnessed the scene with his own eyes

 

[Herrera95]

Nope

 

[Owl Ki]

Shit idea. Being shocking purely for the sake of being shocking is a quick way to ruin a story.

 

[Vanlax]

No.

Would be a big twist however if Zoro was actually Kuina transformed by Ivankov and Zoro's backstory with Kuina was just Zoro having jumbled altered memories.

 

[mrtsrdr]

Oda dont show any intention in this direction during more than 1000 chaps . No . Come from nowhere is just bullshit

 

[Jew D. Boy]

Let’s see Oda do anything substantial with the other 8472 characters he’s created before bringing Zoro’s greatest source of inspiration back from the dead…this motherfucker already has enough trouble killing his darlings

 

[uyuu]

It's gonna be peak fiction if Oda can actually plot and execute it...unlike 2462481 other loose ends he failed to finish properly lol

 

[Kurozumi D. Trussop]

Maybe, if Oda was actually willing to kill alot more of his characters from the beginning, Kuina being alive would serve as a more effective twist.

 

[Kiri D Bachi]

I always found her death really weird, unconvincing and underwhelming. I mean, the girl who aspired to be the strongest swordsman and was stronger than Zoro at that time died by falling down the stairs? It's just ridiculous. What furthered my doubts was during the ASL flashback, when we found out that the Revos visited the Shimotsuki village at some point (and we don't know if it was before her death, after her death or at the exact time of her death). We saw that Ivankov was on the ship. Kuina always regretted not being born a man, and it's really convenient that the only person in the world who could actually change that just happened to visit her village at the time. So for me, there is a possibility that she is alive, is a man, and is part of the Revo army. Or she could just stay dead and remain a part of the weakest backstory among the SHs.

 

[fakename]

I always found her death really weird, unconvincing and underwhelming. I mean, the girl who aspired to be the strongest swordsman and was stronger than Zoro at that time died by falling down the stairs? It's just ridiculous. What furthered my doubts was during the ASL flashback, when we found out that the Revos visited the Shimotsuki village at some point (and we don't know if it was before her death, after her death or at the exact time of her death). We saw that Ivankov was on the ship. Kuina always regretted not being born a man, and it's really convenient that the only person in the world who could actually change that just happened to visit her village at the time. So for me, there is a possibility that she is alive, is a man, and is part of the Revo army. Or she could just stay dead and remain a part of the weakest backstory among the SHs.

I mean I feel conflicted on the whole situation: On one hand I get why death is so random, to show the unfairness of life ect, on the otherhand it doesnt fit the tone of one piece and does seem arbitrary and incomplete in a way.
Still if her "death" would be explained by a child-sexchange idunno😂(Now Oda is into this "Okama" stuff but still...)
Even if ignoring the whole weirdness of it, wouldnt that also seem cheap "My conflict was about me being to weak because Im a woman so I magically changed it!"
Maybe her comming to terms with her limitations and overcomming them in her own way would be more satisfieng but who knows? (Zoro didn't have to transition to a fishman/lunarian ect to keep up by the way😂)

 

[Kiri D Bachi]

I mean I feel conflicted on the whole situation: On one hand I get why death is so random, to show the unfairness of life ect, on the otherhand it doesnt fit the tone of one piece and does seem arbitrary and incomplete in a way.
Still if her "death" would be explained by a child-sexchange idunno😂(Now Oda is into this "Okama" stuff but still...)
Even if ignoring the whole weirdness of it, wouldnt that also seem cheap "My conflict was about me being to weak because Im a woman so I magically changed it!"
Maybe her comming to terms with her limitations and overcomming them in her own way would be more satisfieng but who knows? (Zoro didn't have to transition to a fishman/lunarian ect to keep up by the way😂)

True, it would feel cheap and weird, but there are other possibilities like: Kuina escaping with the RA in hope that Ivankov would one day (when she is older) change her into a man (which he refused). Remained a woman in the end and still became a great swordsman in spite of it, and in now a part of the RA.
What always bothered me is the message that "a woman can never be as strong as a man". And I don't care about biological facts rn, it is a weird message to convey in a fantasy manga aimed and kids and teens which usually go for "you can be whatever you want if you work hard enough, never give up on your dreams etc...". I was expecting her to have a character arc in order for that belief to be disproven, but no, kuina "died" the most pathetic and lame death in the series. I know Oda has problems in portraying female characters and refusing to make them strong but Kuina's case is just extreme and discusting tbh.

PS Tashigi's physical resemblance was still not touched upon. Could it be something relevant? Was never meant to be relevant? Or something Oda had plans for but decided to abandon?

 

[fakename]

True, it would feel cheap and weird, but there are other possibilities like: Kuina escaping with the RA in hope that Ivankov would one day (when she is older) change her into a man (which he refused). Remained a woman in the end and still became a great swordsman in spite of it, and in now a part of the RA.
What always bothered me is the message that "a woman can never be as strong as a man". And I don't care about biological facts rn, it is a weird message to convey in a fantasy manga aimed and kids and teens which usually go for "you can be whatever you want if you work hard enough, never give up on your dreams etc...". I was expecting her to have a character arc in order for that belief to be disproven, but no, kuina "died" the most pathetic and lame death in the series. I know Oda has problems in portraying female characters and refusing to make them strong but Kuina's case is just extreme and discusting tbh.

PS Tashigi's physical resemblance was still not touched upon. Could it be something relevant? Was never meant to be relevant? Or something Oda had plans for but decided to abandon?

Yeah that's what I mean, especially when in a battle shonen fighting skill is a metaphor for worth/skill in other fields/ect so just keeping someone weak cause of their sex, while having everyone else ignore all biological limitations, leaves a bad taste in your mouth. So an arc of her learning to be herself and preservering would have been nice (lets see if Yamato will get this one instead or if she will stay "Oden").
About the Tashigi thing, it could have gone in many ways. It could just be a coincidence, so Zoro has someone to solve his unresolved issues with, if she actually did progress like him and would get stronger (could have even some stupid moment where she loses but Zoro says that it wasnt cause shes a girl, and the proof is other strong swordfighter she has defeated or something). But Oda seemed to have abandomed that plot so...
But it also did luck like a telenovela like setup, with her being the same just with glasses. As we now with Sabo, Oda (atleast after the timeskip) is willing to use amnesia as a plot decvice, so Kuina being Tashigi could be explained simmilarly. (maybe she had to fake her death and get her memory wipes so she is safe because of some lore plot reason, like her secretly being a princess of Wano or whatever other bullshit😂). It could also have ended with a gag, with het stopping being clumsy when she actually takes of the glasses, cause she doesnt really need them and this goes to reveal her true identity. But this far in the story I doubt it.
It seems Tashigi was just a charachter that may had plans but with the story expanding more than an sonic oc on deviantart, it was all lost in the shuffle.
Makes one wonder how a version of one piece would look like that actually did only last for 5-10 years...

 

[Eagle]

N.O.P.E

 

[Jaguark101]