Roronoa Zoro is undoubtedly one of the best-known One Piece characters. Like Luffy, Zoro wants to be the best in his own category, i.e., he wants to become the best swordsman in the world, surpassing his idol and rival, Dracule Mihawk, who is said to be the best swordsman in the world. Zoro uses three swords at the moment, with Enma being the most recent addition to his collection. In this article, we are going to tell you how Zoro got Enma and why Enma is such a valuable addition to his collection.
Before reaching Zoro, Enma belonged to Kozuki Hiyori. At one point Hiyori begged Roronoa Zoro to leave the stolen Shusui, his O Wazamono grade sword in its rightful place as a national treasure in Wano Country, despite the fact that he earned the sword from its previous zombified owner, and she offered Enma to him as an equal replacement. Zoro agreed to Hiyori’s proposal and this obtained Enma. This happened in Chapter 953, i.e., in Episode 954.
The rest of this article is going to focus exclusively on Enma, Zoro’s third sword in his current collection. We are going to tell you about Enma, the sword’s history, and how Zoro obtained it. You’re also going to find out what Enma can do and why this sword in particular is so special and so important within the lore of One Piece.
How and when did Zoro get Enma?
Enma was created by a famous blacksmith, Shimotsuki Kozaburo more than 50 years ago, before he left Wano Country. At some point over 41 years ago, Kozuki Oden became its owner. He used it along with another Meito named Ame no Habakiri in a two-bladed style which he named “Oden’s two-sword style” Oden then bequeathed it to his daughter, and bequeathed Ame no Habakiri to his son.
When Hiyori realized that Zoro possessed the Shuusui National Treasure, she offered Zoro to give her Enma in exchange, which he agreed to do. This happened in Chapter 953 of the original manga (collected in Volume 94); as for the anime, the events were depicted in Episode 954. Tenguyama Hitetsu then gave it to Zoro and asked him to try cutting down a tree. As Zoro tried to slice the tree, it is discovered that Enma is pumping and throwing the user’s “Ryuo” unnecessarily. Which had the effect of cutting the cliff instead of just the tree and drying out Zoro’s arm before he regained control of Enma.
Tenguyama later explains to Zoro that if he masters Enma so well, it’s because he also wears Wado Ichimonji and the two swords were both forged by the same master. A little later, Sanji annoys Zoro a little, the latter draws the Enma and entrenches the cliff, and cuts Sanji’s cigarette.
During the assault on Onigashima, the 5 supernovae, Luffy, Zoro, Law, Kid, and Killer, manage to climb on the roof of the dome, where the 2 Yonkos are, and the 9 red scabbards on the ground, he will use Enma in a technique with three swords, Rengoku Onigiri, but does not yet master the Enma. He subsequently deflected a blade of air from Kaido’s Kaifu attack.
And in a one-sword style, in an attempt to slice Kaido, he uses the Enma with Hiryu Kaen, but will miss his target and rip one of the dome’s horns off. Linlin will have warned Kaido that this sword was not ordinary and the Hundred Beasts Emperor will feel Oden’s aura in this Katana. The Enma will serve him afterward to free his captain using a three-sword technique, Kokunojo O Tatsumaki, and will slice through the scales of the beast. Kaido, therefore, deduces that it is Oden’s katana.
Why is Enma so powerful?
The masterpiece of legendary swordsmith Shimotsuki Kozaburo and one of the 21 O Wazamono, Enma is one of the best swords in the world, with Kozuki Hiyori considering it a worthy replacement even for the legendary Shuusui. Tenguyama Hitetsu described Enma as being able to “slice into the depths of the underworld” (alongside Ame no Habakiri being able to “slice the sky itself”).
Enma delivers tremendous cutting power when fully mastered. In Oden’s hands, she and Ame no Habakiri became the only known weapons to ever hurt Kaido leaving him with a massive scar. 41 years ago, at the age of 18, Oden used Enma (alongside Ame no Habakiri) to cleanly cut the giant mountain god, hardening him using Armament Haki. Additionally, Oden was able to use both of his swords to oppose Whitebeard’s Murakumogiri, Saijo Ô Wazamono grade naginata.
Enma has the particularity of drawing “Ryuo” (Armament Haki) from its wielder in excessive amounts when used, cutting much harder than intended. This makes him extremely unwieldy, so much so that before she was given to Zoro, Oden was the only one who had ever tamed Enma. After testing the saber for the first time, Zoro accidentally cut off a large section of the cliff while attempting to cut down just one tree, with Enma not only forcing hardening, but also emaciating his entire arm.
Hitetsu then noted that a normal swordsman trying to use Enma would be drained of all his Haki and turn it into a dry husk, but as Zoro demonstrates, with sufficient mastery of Haki, one can force the Haki extracted by Enma to flow back from the blade towards the user’s body. According to Hitetsu, if Zoro manages to make Enma a permanent Dark Blade, she might level up.
What does Enma look like?
On the cover of volume 96, Emma was depicted as a moderately curved Shobu-zukuri-style katana with purple and gold coloring. Like the Ame no Habakiri, Emma’s tsuba is shaped like a trefoil, with each petal having a hole in the middle and thick ridges. The tsuka is covered in solid lilac lacquer (rather than wrapped in tsuka-ito), as is the says.
Both are decorated with simple gold five-petal floral designs on each side. Kashira and kojiri are similar in appearance: they are large, with a trefoil cutout to match the tsuba; kojiri has an additional feature, in the form of a wide ring above it. Emma is shown wearing a hamon with the flame pattern of its black bo-hi, reminiscent of Kitetsu’s swords.
There are three cords on the katana, one directly above the kashira (without a hanging end), another on the sai, just below the tsuba, with two hanging tufted ends (acting as sageo), and another cord below on the sai (also without a hanging end). In addition, there is a small bandage on the tsuke for better grip. In Emma’s opening images in the A-ra-shi: Reborn video, the tsuka is black and the hamon is golden.
In the opening sequence of “DREAMIN’ ON”, Emma has a purple tsuku as well as a purple sheath.
