I'd like to point out some little thematic evidence that Zoro will cut Kaido in this arc.
I'm going to use Sanji vs Big mom in WCI to make this point but don't mistake this as me claiming Wano arc is a Zoro arc because I'm not. I'm simply making thematic connections which are pretty evident and I should say indisputable such as WCI is a food theme arc and the villain is closely related to food so Sanji the cook has to be closely tied to the resolution of the arc. Evidently Wano arc is a swordsmen and samurai themed arc and the villain is closely tied to battles and death in battles so Zoro the swordsman has to be closely tied to the resolution of the arc. Pretty simple right?
Now my actual point is that Oda made sure that Sanji specifically was a key factor in resolving the arc since Sanji saved the island. This is something specifically reserved for Luffy in most cases but as we saw Luffy had almost no contribution in saving the island. It was Sanji who did this and in the back of his mind, Oda wanted to make this a bigger point than he actually managed to by literally connecting Sanji to Big mom's childhood through food, one of the themes of the arc.
It's very evident Oda wanted the resolution to still maintain thematic significance so that the food theme of the arc can actually be used in the resolution as opposed to food simply being a background motif and having no bearing on the final conclusion of everything.
This reasoning by extension would apply to Wano. The samurai and swordmen theme that dresses up the background of the arc will in turn come full circle in the resolution of the arc. So much so that Oda has already set it up. The unscarrable Kaido was scarred by no other person in the world than a samurai. And just like Big mom whose past directly ties into the food theme of arc and even informs her decisions, so far Kaido's decisions are based on his want for death and battle and only a swordsman has ever scarred him hence tieing him into the theme of the arc.
Of course this is where Zoro comes in, because aside from him literally having Enma, the sword used to scar Kaido, it's made clear early on that Luffy WILL NOT be the one to resolve the swordsman theme of the arc. Just like at the start of WCI where Luffy tries out at being a cook with disastrous results, Luffy also starts out Wano with the cursed sword playing at being a Samurai and lands in prison where he ditches the samurai games and gets haki training instead.
Therefore it's very evident that for the sake of Thematic consistency, Zoro must fight Kaido. This of course doesn't hamper Luffy fighting Kaido since Luffy always gets involved in the climax but as it stands, stories are written with themes in mind and Zoro trumps Luffy in thematic weight in this regard.
I'm going to use Sanji vs Big mom in WCI to make this point but don't mistake this as me claiming Wano arc is a Zoro arc because I'm not. I'm simply making thematic connections which are pretty evident and I should say indisputable such as WCI is a food theme arc and the villain is closely related to food so Sanji the cook has to be closely tied to the resolution of the arc. Evidently Wano arc is a swordsmen and samurai themed arc and the villain is closely tied to battles and death in battles so Zoro the swordsman has to be closely tied to the resolution of the arc. Pretty simple right?
Now my actual point is that Oda made sure that Sanji specifically was a key factor in resolving the arc since Sanji saved the island. This is something specifically reserved for Luffy in most cases but as we saw Luffy had almost no contribution in saving the island. It was Sanji who did this and in the back of his mind, Oda wanted to make this a bigger point than he actually managed to by literally connecting Sanji to Big mom's childhood through food, one of the themes of the arc.
It's very evident Oda wanted the resolution to still maintain thematic significance so that the food theme of the arc can actually be used in the resolution as opposed to food simply being a background motif and having no bearing on the final conclusion of everything.
This reasoning by extension would apply to Wano. The samurai and swordmen theme that dresses up the background of the arc will in turn come full circle in the resolution of the arc. So much so that Oda has already set it up. The unscarrable Kaido was scarred by no other person in the world than a samurai. And just like Big mom whose past directly ties into the food theme of arc and even informs her decisions, so far Kaido's decisions are based on his want for death and battle and only a swordsman has ever scarred him hence tieing him into the theme of the arc.
Of course this is where Zoro comes in, because aside from him literally having Enma, the sword used to scar Kaido, it's made clear early on that Luffy WILL NOT be the one to resolve the swordsman theme of the arc. Just like at the start of WCI where Luffy tries out at being a cook with disastrous results, Luffy also starts out Wano with the cursed sword playing at being a Samurai and lands in prison where he ditches the samurai games and gets haki training instead.
Therefore it's very evident that for the sake of Thematic consistency, Zoro must fight Kaido. This of course doesn't hamper Luffy fighting Kaido since Luffy always gets involved in the climax but as it stands, stories are written with themes in mind and Zoro trumps Luffy in thematic weight in this regard.
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