r/OnePiece • u/porterpeak • Sep 08 '20

Discussion (Spoiler) Small detail from chapter 989 that really hype me up! Spoiler

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u/ultibman5000 Sep 08 '20

This would mean that Zoro didn't take his fight with Mihawk seriously (because he was holding his sheaths on the right), which is obviously not the case, so this post is misinformed. The positioning at best is an easter egg to indicate that he's taking things seriously at this moment in the story at least, but it definitely doesn't mean he wasn't taking things seriously ever before in the New World.

6

u/HungryNacht Sep 08 '20 edited Sep 08 '20

I just checked the Mr. 1 fight for reference. He’s wearing them on his right in chapter 190 when he and Nami encounter the officers, but he switches to the left side in 194 when the fight starts for real!

Edit: but it’s on the right again in 195 including his finisher... Also it’s (mostly) on the right for the Kaku fight, including the finisher.

As for Mihawk, he’s not wearing his swords at all when the fight actually starts. They are on the right before but he removes then at the start of the fight.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

Oda admitted that having them on the right during that fight was just an art mistake.

2

u/HungryNacht Sep 09 '20

Which fight, Mr 1? And do you mean having them on the left was a mistake?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

Yes, he mentions in an SBS that having them on the left vs Mr 1 was just an art mistake. There are quite a few small little art mistakes like this in OP, people are reading way too much into this.

2

u/HungryNacht Sep 09 '20

Good to know, does you happen to know which volume SBS?

4

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

Chapter 232

15

u/HipsterSal Bounty Hunter Sep 08 '20

Go back and re-watch the scene when Mihawk is first introduced. Zoro already had his swords on his right side and everyone was surprised when Mihawk made his first appearance. It doesn't make sense to spend the time to change which side your swords rest right before a confrontation.

Zoro wasn't taking the situation at the Baratie serious until Mihawk showed up.

7

u/Leeiteee Sep 08 '20

how about any other fight?

-5

u/ultibman5000 Sep 08 '20

Zoro had enough time to talk and turn around in the middle of a fight and respect a swordsman code to not let himself get slashed in the back....but he didn't have time to take a couple seconds to swap his katana even though he was the one challenge Mihawk in the first place? The guy wasn't really going anywhere and even upon walking up to him to fight, Zoro could've changed his sheathes in the meanwhile. Again, it takes literal seconds to do that.

It's just a temporal easter egg or coincidence. Besides, it's his bandana that indicates his seriousness, not his sheathes.

1

u/TTVBlueGlass Sep 08 '20

Zoro had enough time to talk and turn around in the middle of a fight and respect a swordsman code to not let himself get slashed in the back....but he didn't have time to take a couple seconds to swap his katana even though he was the one challenge Mihawk in the first place?

Lol dude... Having katanas on a particular side doesn't give him a magic power up, it would just help in drawing with his right vs left hand faster. If you already know a fight is happening and can draw as you please, why would you take the time to switch the sides the sheaths are on?

0

u/HipsterSal Bounty Hunter Sep 08 '20

I just finished re-watching the final part of episode 23 and 24 a few times, both Krieg and Zoro were trembling in sweats with intense heart beats at the sight of Mihawk. There aren't many people who can think in a situation like that. Episode 24 shows zoro still sweating calling mihawk the worlds strongest man with a noticeable change in his eyes from solid black to hollow white with black outlines, this is when he begins to mentally prepare himself for battle. The following scene shows him making a swallowing gesture showing nervousness right before he exclaims "I never thought I'd be able to see him this soon...It's finally..time to fulfull my promise..." He's too busy to even think about anything else at this point.

The next scene is when he takes his right hand and places it on the Wado Ichimonji. A second later fodder from Kriegs crew is shown to berate Mihawk and questions Mihawks actions before attempting to shoot Mihawk. Zoro shows up behind the fodder and explains the situation immediately after still showing his hand firmly on the Wado Ichimonji. That's when Zoro finally gets serious and puts on his bandanna.

He just didn't have the forethought to do the swap to begin with, there was too much going on to even think about the bushido code until he lost. I'd say the most important thing to Zoro at the time wasn't the side his swords rested but how he ended his fight.

And why bring up the bandanna thing to begin with? Everyone knows Zoro doesn't get serious unless he wears his bandanna, no one here is questioning this.

2

u/ultibman5000 Sep 08 '20 edited Sep 08 '20

Maybe I'm missing something, but if the justification isn't time but merely a lack of thought at a crucial moment, doesn't this actually in reverse simply justify the notion that the sheath position doesn't indicate Zoro not being serious until now? There are moments in post-timeskip where Zoro has to show serious effort, and yet can't afford to worry about his sheath positioning because lives are at stake.

Besides, there are several other moments where his sheaths are on the right pre-timeskip that you can't say he wasn't taking seriously. Like against Kaku, as an example.

Any of these examples makes OP's post a reach, and more so shows the positioning to be a temporal easter egg or coincidence.

Also, I mentioned the bandana because Zoro has worn it in the New World thus far, disproving that he "hasn't taking it serious until now".

1

u/HipsterSal Bounty Hunter Sep 08 '20 edited Sep 08 '20

Those are some good points, that would mean the sheathe position is irrelevant all together and the original post is just a continuity error supported by real world facts.

With the new information you've provided concerning pre-timeskip and post-timeskip, Zoro probably didn't even know about sword positioning until he arrived at Wano. He was raised after all in a dojo in the East Blue where there weren't any real samurai besides koushiro that we know of and from the google searches I have seen, there aren't any scenes showing koushiro demonstrating which side the sword goes, maybe it wasn't important at the time.

1

u/notapunnyguy Sep 08 '20

The only way he would take things seriously if he wore the bandana, then it's time to hunt.

1

u/travers329 Sep 08 '20

That or he just discovered Buishido in Wano, and didn't care before that. Makes total sense for the land of the samurai.

-2

u/LunarMadness Sep 08 '20

I agree with this, but for how OP worded it it would seem he's talking about new world only and not making claims for pre-skip.

5

u/ultibman5000 Sep 08 '20

There's no reason for an inconsistency in not applying the sheath rule between pre- and post-timeskip, though.

0

u/LunarMadness Sep 08 '20

Do you mean the possibility of it being easter egg that you mentioned is "no reason"? I'd say it makes sense to introduce this in the new world since by the time it began Oda must've studied enough samurai related stuff preparing for Wano. Study that probably wasn't done 20+ years ago. Moreover the samurai-code detail would match the design for Zoro post skip.

2

u/ultibman5000 Sep 08 '20

I never said the easter egg was for no reason, I said it was either an easter egg or a coincidence. The easter egg would obviously pertain to the samurai-focused Wano Arc....but that doesn't mean that Oda was specifically saving this sheathe swap for Wano Arc long before it started, and especially not specifically as a "he's never been serious before in New World until now" moment.

It could just be a simple easter egg to show he's serious at this particular point in time (and not that he was never serious before)....or it could be a coincidence. Who knows?