One Piece 1033 Review: Cursed Swords

One Piece, Chapter 1033: Shimotsuki Kozaburo

An interesting chapter, although probably the revelations done here isn't something that would be particularly groundbreaking for anyone who's been following the supplementary One Piece materials like the SBS and the databooks. "Not going to cover this in the manga" my ass!

The chapter mostly focuses on the Zoro/King fight, and King kind of is mocking Zoro over him being 'killed by his own sword' because Enma is drawing away his Haki while he's in a live-and-death situation. We also get to see another ability that the chapter implies to be from King's Lunarian heritage -- where Zoro stabs him in the gut and it instead causes a huge explosion that engulfs Zoro. So that BDSM gear isn't just for show? Queen takes the scene after this to basically confirm what the readers have already guessed -- King is a Lunarian, and his race used to be considered as gods before they were wiped out. Following this manga weekly, it's probably not immediately obvious that this is just the community's theorizing and not actually confirmed within the story itself. 

We get a very badass panel of Zoro doing Lion Song Requiem (or whichever translation for Shi Shishi Sonson you prefer), but King just does his stupid Tempura Udon face-pull-beam attack again, seemingly unscathed by Zoro's attack. Enma chooses that time to draw Zoro's Haki again, causing him to get blown away by the shockwave that also demolished a huge chunk of Onigashima's rocks. 

Zoro goes to grab his falling swords, and we get some flashbacks to previous chapters relevant to Sandai Kitetsu and Wado Ichimonji -- when Zoro received Sandai Kitetsu from the Loguetown seller, and met its crafter; and when he begged to get Wado Ichimonji from Kuina's father. Zoro finally realizes something -- the oddity of how a swordsmith from Wano ended up in Shimotsuki Village. 

And as Zoro falls down from a barrage of wing attacks by King, Zoro flashes back to the whole 'sunnacchi' conversation he had with Momonosuke, and a proper flashback to how Shimotsuki Kozaburo, Kuina's grandfather, was actually an illegal escaper from Wano. We get to see little Zoro talking to 'Old Geezer', and... and again, the impact of this whole sequence is slightly lessened by the fact that Oda has actually outright said most of these in an SBS.

But Kuzaburo's words about swords is definitely going to be something that's going to be relevant to the fight going onwards -- Kozaburo talks about how swords exist only to cut people down, to take lives, and it's a swordsman's job to 'tame' the sword. Kozaburo talks about how 'cursed swords' is a bit of a misnomer, it's just the fact that the sword is serving its purpose exceptionally well. It's at this point that Zoro remembers Kozaburo's words about swords and their desire for taking lives, and how Kozabura's magnum opus is Enma -- God of the Underworld. 

As Zoro puts together all of these scattered information in his head, Zoro realizes that Enma is basically testing him -- testing his worthiness to 'tame' Enma. We've kind of seen this before, with Shisui initially being a bit of a 'problem child'. Zoro notes that Enma isn't acting out of malice, but it's just that Zoro's not living up to Enma's standards, because Oden was able to wield Enma while so much Haki was pouring out of him. And then Zoro resolves that he's going to go all out with all his Haki -- unleashing another blast of Conqueror's Haki that takes out all the random Beast Pirate goons trying to butt in. Pretty badass sequence, and the final panel with Zoro and his three swords facing off against King is also him showing that he can use that Conqueror coating thing that Luffy does? 

Overall, not much progressed in terms of the actual fight, but I feel like between the sword lore and a reaffirmation of Zoro's goals, we get a whole lot of content here. Again, it's character moments like these that really make people actually care for the characters in the first place, and I most certainly appreciate anything that gives Zoro more depth than just 'looks cool, kills fools'. Pretty cool chapter all around.