At the end of chapter 986 the Scabbards shout “Sunacchi” as they force Kaido off the stage and impale their blades into him, which I just thought was some random thing to say or that it didn’t require much attention.
Indeed, you can enjoy the story fully without even paying attention to it and thinking of it as something such as “ORAORAORA”, “DORYA” or whatever. But well, since it placed right at the end, it has to have some additional meaning, right? So I decided to dig it up a bit.
So, Sunacchi is some kind of battle/action cry that is first introduced in chapter 934 (one full year ago!), although it seemed to have been translated as “SNATCH”:
I guess “Snatch” would sound phonetically similar to “Sunnachi” said by a Japanese speaker?
Basically, Zoro told Momonosuke to shout it to ease his mind. For some reason, Kiku tells him it is unfitting of his caliber as future Shogun and tells him to quit it, while noticing it is a coincidence for Zoro to tell him something that matches an expression in old Wano dialect. Fast forward to 950 and we find out that it is actually a sound that comes from “Throw away name and thoughts”:
So I guess this is why Kiku told Momonosuke to forget about that: Momonosuke should not throw away his name, he is meant to be the Shogun of Wano and keep the Kozuki name alive, so this cry goes against it. Of course, Zoro had no idea of it, as he is likely unaware of any meaning behind it:
Zoro mentions he learned it from “an old man” in his village, thus teasing even further the connection of his sensei with Wano.
Finally, this week, we see it again, prompting all I’ve checked and written.
So back to my initial point: One Piece is damn hard to read. There is an analysis in every little detail and it is so hard to keep up. And yet, it is so damn satisfying. When I read chapter 955, I completely ignored Momonosuke telling Zoro about it and Zoro dismissing it, same as Kiku saying it was an expression in an old dialect. And here I am now feeling so stupid for not remembering it and thinking how many little yet awesome details such as this one I may have missed.
*Theory by JR-90
