Enma

Enma is one of the 21 Great Grade swords, currently in the possession of Roronoa Zoro as one of his three blades.

The sword was crafted by the swordsmith, Shimotsuki Kozaburo in the Wano Country. Until 20 years ago, Enma was wielded by Kozuki Oden alongside his other sword, Ame no Habakiri. In Oden's hands, both blades became the only weapons known to ever (until the present day) injure Kaidou. After Oden's death, Enma was inherited by his daughter, Kozuki Hiyori, who would later gift the sword to Zoro in exchange for the latter allowing Shusui, a national treasure, to remain in Wano.

Appearance
On the cover of Volume 96, Enma is seen to be a moderately curved Shobu Zukuri-style katana with a lilac and gold color scheme. Like the Ame no Habakiri, the tsuba is trefoil-shaped, and each lobe is holed in the middle and thickly ridged. The tsuka is lacquered solid lilac (rather than cloth-wrapped), as is the saya. Both are embellished with simple, golden, five-petaled flower motifs on each side. The kashira and kojiri are matching in appearance, being large with trefoil cutouts to match the tsuba; the kojiri possesses an additional accent, which seems to be a wide, knobbed ring above it. Like the Kitetsu swords, Enma also possesses an irregular flame-shaped hamon and black no-hi.

Three pieces of cord are present on the sword: one directly above the kashira (without hanging end), another on the saya a short bit below its mouth with two hanging, tufted ends (serving as the sageo), and yet another cord further below on the saya (again no hanging end). Further, a little bandaging is present on the tsuka for better grip.

In its initial depictions, in the A-ra-shi: Reborn video, its tsuka is black, and its hamon is golden. As seen in the opening "DREAMIN' ON", Enma's anime color scheme is a violet tsuka, as well as a violet sheath.

Abilities


As a masterpiece of the legendary swordsmith Shimotsuki Kozaburo and one of the 21 Great Grade swords, Enma is among the best swords in the world, with Kozuki Hiyori deeming it a worthy replacement for even the legendary Shusui. Kozuki Sukiyaki has described Enma as able to "cut through to the bottom of hell" (paralleling Ame no Habakiri being able to "slice heaven itself"). Kozaburo himself deemed Enma to be his best masterpiece in comparison to all his other creations, including Wado Ichimonji.

41 Years prior, at age 18, Oden used Enma, alongside Ame no Habakiri to bisect the giant Mountain God, having hardened it, and then performed Togen Shirataki. In addition to this, both swords endured clashes against two of the 12 Supreme Grade Swords, Murakumogiri and Ace, wielded by Edward Newgate, and Gol D. Roger. As a true testament of Enma's tremendous power and sharpness, once mastered, 20 years prior, it became one of the sole weapons to ever harm the nigh-invulnerable Kaidou, giving him a massive scar, more so in dragon form.

Enma has the distinct trait of releasing its wielder's Busoshoku Haki, otherwise known as "Ryuo" in Wano, in excessive amounts, cutting more than intended. As such, it has become infamous as a sword impossible to wield and master, so much so that no one aside from Kozuki Oden could tame Enma, whereas the Nine Red Scabbards' Leader, Kin'emon feared it. After testing it out, Zoro cut off a cliffside, despite intending to cut down a tree, because Enma forced hardening, while emaciating his right arm. However, his mastery of Busoshoku Haki allowed him to retake his Haki, something Sukiyaki commended him for, noting normal swordsmen would've been drained of all their Haki, rendering them a husk.



During the Battle on Onigashima, Kaidou had sensed a "strange Haki" emanating from Enma, producing a flame-like aura whenever Zoro started releasing its power. It worried Big Mom, who even warned Kaidou to dodge, who noted it beared Oden's presence, causing him to recognize it as his sword. Applied on his techniques, it allowed Zoro to wound Kaidou in dragon form, leave a permanent scar on him in human-dragon form, then later deal significant damage to and defeat a lunarian.

According to Sukiyaki, if Zoro were to succeed in making Enma a permanent black blade, it may increase in "rank" (位列), suggesting that it may become a Supreme Grade sword.

Past


Sometime in the past, Enma was created by famous swordsmith Shimotsuki Kozaburo.

Due to its special attributes, no samurai had managed to wield Enma until it was eventually acquired by Kozuki Oden, who managed to master it as part of his Oden Two Sword Style. Oden later used Enma to wound one of the Four Emperors, Kaidou, giving him his only scar. After his death, it was somehow acquired by his father, Sukiyaki, who kept the sword safe in order to pass it on as an heirloom onto Oden's daughter, Kozuki Hiyori.

Wano Country Arc


After Hiyori begged Roronoa Zoro to leave the stolen Shusui, an O Wazamono grade sword in its rightful place as a national treasure in Wano though he earned the sword from its previous zombified owner, she offered Enma as an equal replacement. Zoro agreed to Hiyori's proposal to return Shusui for Enma, despite Kawamatsu's initial protest. Upon gaining the sword from Sukiyaki, Zoro tried it out and learned of its distinct properties, to which he accepted, and trained during the time before the raid on Onigashima to gain further mastery over Enma. During the Fire Festival, Zoro managed to gain some control over Enma's special trait, but he hasn't succeeded in mastering it. During his fight with King on Onigashima, Zoro realized that Enma was merely testing him and his suitability to wield the sword.

Anime and Manga differences
In the anime, when Zoro accidentally cuts the coastline while trying out Enma, his swing somehow generates fire. In the manga, this fire is absent.

Trivia

 * Enma is the king of Hell in Japanese-Buddhist myth, the judge of dead souls. He is the Japanese version of Yama, the king of hell found in sects of Buddhism across East Asia; Enma mostly derives from the Chinese-Buddhist Yánluó, who in turn is based on the Hindu (Vedic) god of death, also called Yama.
 * According to Kozaburo, he had specifically named his best masterpiece after the Buddhist God of Hell due to its dangerously difficult to control personality.
 * Zoro's new ownership of Enma is in accord with his character theme of Buddhist spirituality since many of his sword techniques follow Buddhist terminology/imagery.
 * Zoro's usage of Enma, when using Nine Sword Style the third time that allows him to badly scar Kaidou a second time is a reference to Enma's prowess to cleave through hell.
 * In a flashback, Oden is shown wielding a sword with a different tsuba from either Enma's or Ame no Habakiri's.
 * On the cover of Chapter 937, Zoro was seen reading a map featuring a sword and the word "Enma".
 * Enma is also the name of the shrine in a forest of Hakumai where Hiyori and Zoro end up.
 * Sukiyaki believes one reason why Hiyori bequeathed Enma to Zoro is because of his superior strength, skills reminiscent to her father, and his possession of Wado Ichimonji, which like Enma was crafted by Shimotsuki Kozaburo.
 * Enma was first animated in the 2020 music video of the boy band Arashi's 2019 song A-ra-shi: Reborn, made with collaboration with Eiichiro Oda, and featured the Straw Hat Pirates partying with the band.
 * The panel of Zoro keeping Enma in the manga is extremely similar to that of Zoro keeping Sandai Kitetsu.
 * Enma is similar to Luffy's signature straw hat, as they were both once owned by members of the legendary Roger Pirates before being passed along to a member of the Straw Hat Pirates.
 * Enma's size is inconsistent, as it is displayed being fit for both Oden and Zoro in spite of the huge difference of height between them (where Zoro's height is 181cm, Oden's height is 382cm). The same would apply for Ame no Habakiri as it was shown as a regular sized katana when not wielded by Oden.

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