One Piece chapter 957 (or later): Will Zoro be the one to kill Kaido?

The day of the raid in Onigashima is at hand as the day of the fire festival has finally come. We can be sure to witness major battles at a totally different level especially given the power ups we’ve seen Luffy and Zoro gained in chapter 955.

But the most awaited battle of all is the confrontation between the Emperors Kaido and Big Mom alliance versus Luffy and their alliance. Given the current situation, those who would probably be facing these Emperors are the Supernovas.

It seems natural because they are currently the strongest pirates in Wano who can face the Emperors. Of course we might see other major characters from Luffy’s alliance joining the fight, but my guess is Luffy, Zoro, Kid, Killer, Law, Hawkins and X-Drake (I hope) will be the ones to take down the two Emperors.

If this happens, this war will truly validate Oda’s claim that the war at Marinefold will look cute in comparison. This may even force the marines and the world government to recognize Luffy as an Emperor of the sea. Just like what Garp said, what Luffy has done so far is not yet enough, so this just might do the trick for him.

Luffy vs Big Mom

In terms of who will fight who however, there is no way Luffy can take on two Emperors at the same time. My theory is that Luffy will face Kaido at first but end up fighting Big Mom. Let me explain how can this possibly happen.

The opening of the anime contains major spoilers of the events that will transpire in Wano arc. Notably, in the latter part, Luffy will be seen in gear 4th with crimson aura (which seems to be another upgrade of his conqueror’s haki) flying towards Kaido to land a powerful blow.

So a fight between them is inevitable. But do you think Big Mom will sit idly watching them? I don’t think so. Big Mom’s reputation was greatly tarnished due to Luffy’s actions in Whole Cake Island.

There is no way she’ll just give Luffy to Kaido for a beating. Also, among the supernovas present in Wano, only Luffy has pissed off Big Mom. The rest of the supernovas, including Luffy have a common goal to take down Kaido. But I bet Luffy would have to worry more about Big Mom during the final battle.

Zoro VS Kaido

While the others like Sanji and the rest of the Strawhats might help Luffy defeat Big Mom and their other enemies, I believe Zoro will take the lead in the battle with Kaido.

A cooperation among the rest of the supernovas, especially with Kid and Killer is highly unlikely, but as we’ve seen in Sabaody Archipelago, they would fight a common enemy as long as no one stands in their way. However, I have a strong belief that Zoro will be the one to make the final blow to Kaido, killing him in the process.

Zoro a foreshadowing of Ryuma

As we already know, Oda likes to foreshadow upcoming major events. He is also known to take inspiration from his previous works and include them in his current manga, One Piece. This is evident with Oda’s one shot manga title ‘Monsters’ where the character Ryuma Shimotsuki was taken.

Ryuma lived hundreds of years ago from the current One Piece setting. He is a legendary swordsman known in his time as ‘The King’, the strongest swordsman in the world. Many fans speculate that Ryuma is in fact Zoro’s ancestor.

His life goal and some life events were reciprocated in Zoro, making it possible that Oda’s inspiration for Zoro is Ryuma and that Zoro’s future accomplishment were foreshadowed in Ryuma.

The Strongest Swordsman

In the manga ‘Monsters’, Ryuma was a vagabond samurai travelling from town to town in search of ‘The King’. He had not eaten for five days when he found a restaurant in an unknown town who gave him free food.

While in town, he encountered Shirano, a fraud master swordsman working with a third grade swordsman D.R. They scammed the town by summoning a dragon with a dragon horn a relic that can control the dragon. With the fear of the dragon’s arrival, the whole town evacuated while Shirano and D.R. wiped the town of its riches.

Ryuma found out about their scheme and eliminated them. However, the dragon still came and threatened the whole town. Ryuma saved the town by severing the dragon’s head. Casually he left the town without the need of recognition from the townsmen.

But the owner of the restaurant recognized his name, saying that he was called ‘The King’ by the people he saved. Without realizing it, Ryuma was already known to be the world’s strongest swordsman.

Ryuma and Zoro, Saviors of towns oppressed by a Dragon

Ryuma is a native of Wano & is known as a ‘Sword god’. His actions in saving that town from a dragon gave him a reputation of being the only person to have killed a dragon. If Ryuma is a foreshadowing of Zoro, then Zoro’s future may also include saving a town or a country oppressed by a dragon.

In the current One Piece setting, the oppressed country is Wano. But there are two authorities oppressing the country.

The first one is Orochi the current Shogun of Wano country. He ate the Mythical Zoan devil fruit, called Snake-Snake fruit: Model Yamata no Orochi, which means an eight-headed serpent. In Chinese mythology, the term serpent of often associated with the term dragon, and in some cases they are used interchangeably.

Zoro developed an intense hatred towards Orochi when he found out the Orochi forcefully fed the people with defective SMILE, a synthetic devil fruit. Orochi could be the dragon foreshadowed by Oda in Monsters, since his actions oppresses the people of Wano. But a more accurate foreshadowing of it would be Kaido.

Zoro kills Kaido

Kaido has eaten a Mythical Zoan type of devil fruit which allows him to turn into an eastern dragon. What Ryuma slayed was a western dragon. Zoro has also slain a western dragon in Punk Hazard, but that story doesn’t quite match with Ryuma’s.

Although they both slayed western dragons, Ryuma’s purpose was to save a town, while Zoro’s was to save themselves.

If we follow the context of foreshadowing, it is logical to assume that Zoro taking down a western dragon in Punk Hazard does not yet qualify to be an accomplishment of Ryuma’s foreshadowing. Also, it didn’t seem like a big deal when Zoro sliced the neck of that Punk Hazard dragon.

If slaying dragons and saving town was what gave Ryuma the title of ‘The King’, surely Zoro’s accomplishment has to be greater than that. Hawkeye Mihawk is recognized the strongest, but killing Kaido will certainly make the world acknowledge Zoro more as a swordsman.

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Image credits:Viz Media/ Funimation/ Onepiece.fandom

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