Something neat about Asura and Hachi

[Greg]

READ http://apforums.net/showpost.php?p=422493&postcount=12 FIRST!!!!

The first post is very old.

As always my topic title is more sensational than the content but at least I think it's pretty cool.

So I think a good number of us have become keen to Oda's sketch in CW2 which displayed an 8-armed swordsman of sorts which seems to resemble (albeit distantly) our man Zoro's Asura move. So we can see where Oda drops his ideas along the way and picks them up and/or modifies them.

But check this out.

It APPEARS that this dropped character (or at least character design) was the Fish Man swordsman that Hachi alluded to at Arlong Park. Floating by his head is a speech bubble that mysteriously reads, "Hooo, you know Hachi huh?" Was this the original design for the master swordman Fish Man of Fish Man Island??? The second speech bubble is somewhat more perplexing IF I'm reading it correctly. Oda's scrawls are difficult to read but it appears that he's saying, "I'll just tell you now, that guy wasn't my enemy." I dunno who or what he means or if I'm even reading it correctly but it's a curious and intriguing piece of OP trivia nonetheless.

[Bounty1Berry]

Now, I know exactly no Japanese (because 'kaizoku' is a very helpful word outside the OP fandom :D), but is it possible the 'enemy' could be translated as 'challenger' or something similar? Then it really fits smoothly with the Hatchi's better theory.

[Greg]

That part at least is clear. He says 'teki'. What's foggy is whether he said 'yatsu' or not.

[rs8389]

It most definitely says "He, hachi wo shitteru no kai. Itteoku ga, yatsu wa boku no teki janakatta yo."

And now, if you have some knowledge of Japanese, you'd know that that literally means, "Hm, so you know Hatchi. Just to let you know, he wasn't my enemy."

However, in Japanese, we actually use "teki janai", literally "not an enemy" to mean something along the lines of "to not be a challenge"…. Therefore, what that 8-armed swordsman is saying is: "He wasn't a challenge to me", in other words, he's saying that Hatchi was significantly weaker than him.

[Greg]

SO it was 'yatsu'? Rock on me for making sense of those notes.

[Buccaneer]

That really is interesting. Can a pic be scanned?

[Solid]

I don't really understand.. -_- When did this thing happened?

[the14u]

Im not sure but I think Greg is talking about this guy on the right. Well nice find I must say but this guy only has 1 head
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/8530/enaonepiececolorwalk20579oq.jpg

[MrTeach]

@the14u:

Im not sure but I think Greg is talking about this guy on the right. Well nice find I must say but this guy only has 1 head
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/8530/enaonepiececolorwalk20579oq.jpg

It could just be me, but that guy with the the poofy pants on the right…looks exactly like Conan O'Brian...

[ybmc]

DAMMIT!! That supposed gyojin is most definitely a squid, and it's a much better idea than what I had. Oda is officially the deity of character designs, and I surrender to him. Very awesome idea. If that is the strongest gyojin on the island, than he certainly looks and acts the part.

[Greg]

Im not sure but I think Greg is talking about this guy on the right. Well nice find I must say but this guy only has 1 head

Hmmm, that's why I said it resembled the idea used for Asura. Forget the lack of heads. Try counting the arms ^_^;

[Greg]

Was looking for another thread but found this by chance and as a result of recent events, it suddenly became very interesting.

Previously I brought this up because the character design resembled Asura and pondered whether Oda dropped the design only later to incorporate it as Asura.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut

Now we`re heading to the Fish Man island right?

When last I brought this up we didnt even know if wed be going there. But NOW it seems that waaaaaaaaaay back when, when Hachi was talking about the strongest gyojin swordsman, we`re finally going to see this planned character. Granted the final design could very well be entirely different but this is the most important part…..

We`re going to the island of mermaids and gyojin.

There is a VERY good chance the swordsman Hachi mentioned will appear.

And last but not least....

Our man Zoro is down a sword.

fangasm

[gaara d. lucci]

Great find Greg. That 8 armed fish-man looks very awesome, can't wait to see if Oda will use him or not.

[onemoment]

That might make for a cool fight. Seeing two 8-armed fighters going at it may be fun.

[Ubiq]

Speaking of Asura, anybody else think that this might have influenced Oda just a bit?

He makes up up the lack of the third sword in his mouth with the razor sharp brim on his hat.

As a side note, I've only ever seen Fearless Fighters once (which was a few months ago), but I seem to recall the sequence where One Man Army is introduced starts off with something resembling the following dialogue:

The Loner, One Man Army: I have heard that you were collecting an army and thought that my humble services might be of some use.
To Fa: We are banding together to kill Le Pong.
OMA: I'm not interested in one man; Le Pong isn't my enemy and one man wouldn't be a challenge to me anyway.
To Fa: But he is also with [Lightning Whip's children or something, anyway, he gets across the notion that Le Pong isn't alone].
OMA: Three masters? How interesting.

All of that might be wrong, but I think that was the gist of it.

After that, he kills Sword of Swords with the multi-sword technique seen above after the latter challenges him as being too arrogant.

[Mr. All Sunday]

I've been doing this a lot, but Holy. Flying. Spaghetti. Monster. Great find Greg, seeing Zoro actually fighting in Asura would be completely badass, and a squid fishman would be the perfect swordsman for Zoro to gain a sword from.

[dinty]

There is a VERY good chance the swordsman Hachi mentioned will appear … And last but not least ... Our man Zoro is down a sword.

jaw drops

SWEET!!!

[FireFistAce 0]

I think Hachi was referring to Arlong and his Kirobachi… because Hachi sucked as a swordsman.

[Mr. All Sunday]

But the text above the swordsman in the sketch says that he's met Hachi and isn't enemies with him, which leads me to believe he's the Fishman Swordsman that HAchi refered to.

Also, Hachi>>>>>Cabaji and those two cat guys from Kuro's crew.

[Masta D.]

@Mr.:

But the text above the swordsman in the sketch says that he's met Hachi and isn't enemies with him, which leads me to believe he's the Fishman Swordsman that HAchi refered to.

Also, Hachi>>>>>Cabaji and those two cat guys from Kuro's crew.

The Nyoban brothers can't really be called swordsman. But I agree, just because Hatchi isn't that strong now doesn't mean his skills suck. He was very talented actually.

[Mr. All Sunday]

Ah, yeah, Siam and Buchi were there names. They were technically not swordsman, but Zoro fought them and they used sharp objects as weapons so… And yes, Hachi, while certainly not super strong, had an interesting style, and he was a pretty good swordsman. He was certainly a better swordsman than Arlong. Plus he was hilarious.

What kind of sword do you guys think Zoro might get from the Fishman swordsman (assuming he does fight him and get a new sword from him)?

[Zulen]

Greg, you're a genius!!

[dinty]

What kind of sword do you guys think Zoro might get from the Fishman swordsman (assuming he does fight him and get a new sword from him)?

Call me strange, but I don't want him to get a new sword. I want him to find some way to fight with 2 and 1/2 swords. I know it's blasphemy to imagine Wado in his right hand instead of in his mouth, but if Zoro switched his swords, so that he had Wado in the right hand and Kitetsu in the left (though if I'm going to be partially blasphemous, I may as well be completely blasphemous and declare that I would prefer to see Wado in Zoro's left hand and Kitetsu in his right hand, since Zoro seems to be left-handed, even though technically he's ambidextrous), and Yubashiri in his mouth – that would open up so many new possibilities!

Regardless of right or left handedness, with only the broken hilt of Yubashiri in his mouth, Zoro would have a wider range of movement than he does now with Wado in his mouth. This would be especially helpful when doing overhead type moves, because it frees him of having to keep his left arm away from the blade in his mouth. So with that danger out of the way, a whole new set of attacks and defenses materializes!

It would be interesting to see Zoro again coping with the problem of how to adapt to an unexpected weapon shortage (as he did in DBF and Arlong Park) -- rather than just conveniently finding a fine grade sword minutes before (or after) a run-in with a multi-armed fish-man master-swordsman. When the world is runnin' down, you make the best of what's still around ...

But whatever Oda wants to do is fine with me :)

[sabret00the]

This could be very exciting, if Zoro really does become known as the man that defeated the strongest Mer-swordsman i'd cream myself, it puts him in a whole new league.

I must say however, as much as i've longed for Zoro to become a One Sword Man, mostly for the not so strong enemies. I really want him to go into this battle fully equipped. Maybe he'll get (for his troubles) the Mer-Island's most treasured sword.

[gaara d. lucci]

For once, I'd like to see some true swordsmanship from Zoro (sorta like the battles in Rorouni Kenshin, only bigger in scale). A sweet technical fight like that would make my day cuz it mostly seems like Zoro is just swinging his sword around. But I'm sure Oda will eventually do it, so I'm not worried.

[Admiral Wolfpox]

Well come on guys, we know that they have to go through the Florian Triangle first, so Zoro will go there, find an ancient, forgotten, and extremely powerful sword, and then be prepared to fight the super Merman swordsman!

Great find! By the way I also think that the Florian Triangle is where Luffy will meet Blackbeard, since it will be filled with darkness, and Blackbeard's power would be stronger there.

[Greg]

I think Hachi was referring to Arlong and his Kirobachi… because Hachi sucked as a swordsman.

o_O and what part of breaking down giant walls showed skill on Arlong`s behalf.

While yes….you could be right, the evidence doesnt point in that direction and its not worth a debate since we`ll find out soon enough.

I must say however, as much as i've longed for Zoro to become a One Sword Man, mostly for the not so strong enemies. I really want him to go into this battle fully equipped. Maybe he'll get (for his troubles) the Mer-Island's most treasured sword.

I agree with this statement but I dont think thats how it will go. Just because three swords is Zoros thing. I think his finale battle may leave him with only one sword but I think well see three for the long-run.