First and perhaps most importantly, Enma was one of the two swords used by Kozuki Oden for his Nitoryu and it, along with Ame no Habakiri, are responsible for the only scars that Kaido bares.
The next big element we know about Enma is that it has a penchant for draining it’s wielder of their Haki. When Zoro first used the Enma, he attempted to cut down a tree with it only for Enma to take the reigns, draw enough Haki out of Zoro that it withered his arm, and cut off a portion of a cliff instead. Zoro then had to use his own will to force the sword to relinquish his Haki back to regain control of his arm and restore it. After that, Hitetsu had stated that a normal swordsman using the blade could be drained of all their Haki and left only as a husk and that Oden was the only one who mastered Enma’s significant Haki depletion.
One final and interesting note that came up with Enma is another revelation from Hitetsu. When informing Zoro about Kokuto, he specifically implied that if Zoro was able to make Enma into a Kokuto, that it’s grade might raise from a Great Grade to a Supreme Grade sword. In other words, making a Meito into a Kokuto is linked to improving the Quality of the blade.
Alright, now we are through the history lesson portion about Meito, Kokuto, and Yoto. So let’s do a quick recap.
- Kokuto seem to be stronger and more durable than blades of the same Quality level.
- Meito Quality Grade’s can be improved after forging by turning them into a Kokuto.
- Many Meito seem to be able to influence their wielder in some way whether it be via curse, Haki depletion, or just being hard to wield.
That last point strongly implies that each of these Meito have… a Sword Spirit inside of them.
If so, then what if…
Turning a Meito into a Kokuto is done by using one’s Conqueror’s Haki to subdue / subjugate the Spirit inside of one’s Meito?
To be even more specific, what I am theorizing is that this process revolves around ‘injecting’ or ‘imbuing’ one’s Conqueror’s Haki permanently into one’s sword to subdue the Spirit completely. Therefore, the Kokuto would now also possess the Haki of that swordsman and that is why a Kokuto could increase the Quality of the swords Grade.
This whole theory stems not just from Kaido has stating that Zoro has Conqueror’s Haki – which potentially is manifesting physically when he takes his Asura form – but from what we are seeing that Conqueror’s Haki isn’t just about controlling wildlife or knocking out weaker spirits. It’s far broader than that. Clashes of Conqueror’s Haki and now this new theme of manifesting that Haki in physical manners with Luffy’s new development of coating his body with Conqueror’s Haki. With these evolutions, the idea of being able to ‘inject’ of ‘imbue’ Conqueror’s Haki into a blade seems within reason of the ability and it could explain why there are so few Kokuto in existence.
It would also explain a lot about why Shusui was such a superior blade to Wado Ichimonji. If Ryuma’s Haki had improved the strength of the blade, then the behavior of how it dominated power wise compared to the other two swords would be understandable. Though it it interesting then that despite being a Kokuto, it still had a ‘temper’ which could mean that only the wielder who turns it into a Kokuto has full control OR it was Ryuma’s own Spirit which was giving Zoro fits.
If this theory ends up holding mostly true, it also has some very interesting implications.
- Oden was not able to do this to Enma. This is a big deal because it was clearly shown that Oden had Conqueror’s Haki, and he is a One Piece Legend. But even the great Oden was not able to turn Enma into a Kokuto. …However, Hitetsu may think Zoro has the potential given he made it a point to tell Zoro about that. I find this whole deal with Enma very interesting where Oden was able to tame Enma’s Haki draining nature but never turned it into a Kokuto. There might be more to it than just Conqueror’s Haki, or it could simply be Enma’s spirit was too strong to tame for Oden which means Zoro would need to surpass Oden in strength to manage it.
- This gives a very clear path for Wado Ichimonji to become a Supreme Grade Meito. If it really is about imbuing one’s sword with Conqueror’s Haki, then it is absolutely reasonable to assume that if Zoro achieves this for Wado Ichimonji it would become a blade superior to Shusui. In fact, it makes me wonder if Shusui started as a Skillful Grade sword and only became Great Grade because it was turned into an Kokuto. That could explain how Hitetsu knows the Quality increase is possible even.
- This one is a bit more of a reach, but if we think about how One Piece has been setup over time… I could see it being the case. But I admit, this is the Zoro fan in me coming out here more than anything. But back at Loguetown? When Zoro acquired Sandai Kitetsu? What if it wasn’t his ‘luck’ that influenced the sword but rather his latent Conqueror’s Haki making Sandai Kitetsu unwilling to take his arm? Just an interesting idea to consider.
One final bit I’ll leave for consideration of this theory is that there is a wrinkle in it still.
If it’s only about Conqueror’s Haki, then why aren’t the blades used by Roger and Whitebeard Kokuto too? After all, they were two of the most powerful users of Conqueror’s Haki in One Piece history.
My assumption at this point is pretty simple. We are talking about subduing the Spirits that exist in Swords. Why would a Sword Spirit subjugate themselves to a pirate? It would take the Haki of a true swordsman to be able to subdue them. Neither Roger nor Whitebeard fit that. Nor does Shanks. But Mihawk? Ryuma? They definitely do. I’d be curious too, if that is the key, how that then reflects on Oden who was quite eccentric and may never have truly embraced his swordsman spirit. This all would basically tie the idea of using Conqueror’s Haki to create a Kokuto into the general concept of Bushido, and it’s not unlike Oda to use such themes. If so, then only those who truly follow the path of a swordsman can manage to turn their sword into a Kokuto.
*Theory by YusukeMazoku
