 Question for all of you, what kind of weapon would be most effective to fight against Diaz Drake? Well, that would be a Dinosaur. Hello and welcome to the Grand Line review source for everything One Piece, and today we are here to talk about sharp, shiny objects known as swords. A shockingly important yet often neglected aspect of One Piece, probably because they become greatly overshadowed by devil fruits, Haki, and all sorts of bizarre, noodle-based martial arts. But swords have a very rich history in this series with a strict power system and even names and entire personalities of their own, like this guy here. This is Griffin, also known as Shanks' sword, and what a magnificent creature he is. Which is going to lead us into a quick round of sword seeker, a very simple minigame, the rules of which are as follows. I am going to give you an image of an anthropomorphized sword drawn by Oda, and it's going to be your job to guess which sword it is from two available options. And should you guess incorrectly, the new punishment will be to subscribe to the Grand Line review for consistent injections of One Piece content administered straight into your YouTube feed. Whereas if you do guess correctly, then you yourself will become a sword. So a very high stakes game here. But here is our lovely personified blade. So is this the Sandaki Tetsu, Zoro's cursed sword, or is it the Wandoichi Monji, Koina's former blade? Make your choice now and we shall reveal the answer in three, two, one, and bam, it is indeed the Sandaki Tetsu, which you can probably tell from its very sneaky, trouble-making look. But if you guess Wando, then you know the thing to do and please do say hi in the comments below if you are a new member of the Grand Fleet. Welcome. But to dive into this vast topic, swords in One Piece are extraordinarily varied. Any type of blade you can find in our real world history, you can probably spot in this very series. For example, all of Zoro's swords are Katana, whilst the aforementioned Shanks' sword is a Saber. Meanwhile, this is the best sword that I have to offer and I suppose you could more accurately call it a Butternife. Swords can be extremely plain, like a gladiatorial long sword used in the Kodokoro Siam, or they can get painfully obscure like Arlong's Kiribachi, which is what happens when a Zambatto and a handheld sword come together and have a bit of a love child. And also, if you want to get frustratingly technical, and I know you do, you could even call Kizaru's Light Blade or Kuzan's Ice Saber a sword. Whatever you can think of, it is probably out there in some form or another. However, within the One Piece world, there exists a very special classification system for very special blades, and this is known as Maito. Maito literally meaning famous sword. And the Maito are primarily what we are going to be concerned with here today because, let's be honest, that's where all the cool stuff happens. And Maito draws fairly obvious, almost blejuristic inspiration from the real world concept of Wazamono, which is a historical classification designed to rank swords of exceptional quality throughout Japanese history. And mirroring the Wazamono system almost exactly, the Maito in One Piece are categorized in the following four categories. We begin with the simple grade swords. The total number of which are unknown, but if it resembles the Wazamono system, then about 80 would be expected. Next up, we have the 50 skillful grade swords, and we'll get into the difference between these rankings in a bit, but they are followed by the 21 great grade swords. And finally, at the very tippy top, we have the 12 supreme grade swords, and that, well, that is where the real fancy stuff is, my friend. Before we get into them, though, let's head right back down to the base level of Maito, because even the grade swords are pretty serious business. And in fact, one of the most familiar swords in the series falls into this category, being the Sander Kitetsu, currently wielded by Astro Hat Sword Manzoro. And many people actually mistake this blade for being a higher grade, but it really is just a base level Maito. Although what happens to make it very special is that it is a cursed sword, and it's currently unknown exactly how these curses are applied, but they are indeed very real and they will bring grave misfortune to the large majority of their wielders. In fact, even Zoro described the Sander Kitetsu as something of a problem child, even though he is able to successfully use it. It also might be worth noting at this stage that Traugallor's Blade Kikoku is also a cursed sword, although it is not, I repeat, is not a Maito. Meaning that someone went to an awful awful of trouble to curse what is in effect a very plebeian sword. But sadly, the only other confirmed grade sword we know of is Shigure currently held by Toshigi. And now, Toshigi is a very interesting character in this discussion and only this discussion, because she is something of a Maito stand. Toshigi is obsessed with the Maito more so than any other swordsman, and she has made it her life's mission to liberate each and every one of them from the hands of filthy criminals, criminals like say a certain Zoro. And to her credit, Toshigi is actually kind of done phenomenally well in that regard, as we move forward to the 50 skillful blades, and we find that Toshigi actually possesses two of these. Firstly, she has one named Kashuu which was taken from its former owner, Mr. 11 of Baroque Works, as well as another blade named Yamaroshi which was liberated from a pirate named Billy the Orca Killer. But unfortunately we have neither image of the sword nor the Billy in question. And that's because both of them appear in a very obscure piece of media called One Piece, Locktown Ark, which was an extended novel containing all of the elements that Oda originally wanted to include but was unable to. However, a more familiar name within the 50 skillful grade swords would be Yubashiri. Probably Zoro's least well-known blade, but it's the one that he was given by Ippomatsu during Locktown, as well as the one that was destroyed by Shu on any lobby. A very unfortunate end for Yubashiri there, however it will always live on in our memories as Zoro's least memorable sword. Taking a step up now though, we arrive at the 21 great great swords of which we actually know five. So firstly we have the Nide Kitetsu which funnily enough is probably best known as the sword wielded briefly by Luffy during Act One of Wano. But hang on there, Kitetsu is a very familiar name, isn't it? This is the second time we've encountered this word and that's because all of these Kitetsu blades actually form a set of three, the Sander Kitetsu, the Nide Kitetsu and the Shodai Kitetsu which we have yet to examine. All three of which are cursed and all three of which were crafted by the Kitetsu School of Swordsmiths on Wano. And that's very important to point out because it's often thought that Kitetsu is this ancient individual who crafted all of these blades, but one PCLO did reveal that they were created from school. In fact, we even know who made the Nide Kitetsu, it was a man named Kotetsu, the ancestor of Tenguyama Kitetsu, aka the dude with the long nose who is not Usopp or Kaku or Along, Katerina Devon, Foxy or... there really are a surprising amount of long noses in one piece. Even Blackbeard has this like surprisingly long nose when you look closely enough at it, although it has been theorized that the inspiration for the Kitetsu blade spawns from Sengou Muramasa, a famed swordsmithian whose blades were said to hunger for blood and must draw blood before they can be returned to their scabbards. But to examine another of the 21 great great swords, we of course have the Wado Ichimonji, Zora's trademark blade formerly belonging to Kuina, and it's quite deceptively plain looking compared to most of the other meito with a simple guard and a blank white scabbard, but it is certainly not to be underestimated, and according to Toshigi, such a blade could command a price of at least 10 million berries if it were to be sold on the market. So basically the entire bounty of Mr. Five, which I don't know, does that undervalue the Wado almost certainly because Mr. Five is worthless? But if you're keen on some more bounty action then please do check out this video of the top 20 lowest bounties in one piece, some gloriously shameful characters in there. Meanwhile, continuing on our next great great sword is a very recent addition, the Arme no Habakiri, which was once used by Kozuki Oden and has now been inherited by Kozuki Momonosuke. And having seen how Odin was capable of wielding it, we know that the Arme Habakiri certainly does pack a punch, and we also know who happened to craft it as well. It was made by the aforementioned Tengu Yamihitetsu, so it's a relatively recent addition to this world as well. But Kozuki Oden was a dual sword wielder and in his other hand sat another of the great great blades, which is Enma. And Enma is probably the most unique sword that we've encountered in the series thus far, because it basically forces its user to emit tremendous quantities of Arma Mentaki, which results in unparalleled destructive power, which has been described as the ability to cut through to the bottom of hell itself. However, this does also make Enma supremely difficult to control, kind of like a child with a chainsaw. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Enma is impossible to control for almost every swordsman in one piece, but with that said, Enma has currently been inherited by Zoro, who being the demon he is, is actually doing rather well with it. The two of them are quite a terrifying team. Also, like many others, we do know who crafted Enma and that would be a man by the name of Shimotsuki Kozaburo. And furthermore, Kozaburo is also the character responsible for leaving Wano and founding Shimotsuki Village in East Blue, where Zoro grew up. And on top of all of that fun stuff, Kozaburo also crafted the Wadawichi Monji, which means that as of right now, Zoro wields two Kozaburo blades, which in a very unintentional way is kind of like seriously repping his home village. But also in regards to Enma, it was implied by Hitetsu that it could become yet even more powerful, perhaps even increasing in the Maito ranking should it become a Black Blade. What is a Black Blade, you ask? Well, shut up. I was getting to that. A question we can answer by examining another great great sword, Shusui. This piece of finery originally belonged to a legendary samurai of Wano named Rima, who lived hundreds and hundreds of years ago. And in fact, Rima is a primary character in Echora Oda's one-shot manga Monsters, which fun fact is canonically part of the one-piece timeline and features Rima slaying a dragon. Although most fans would know Rima best as the zombie corpse stolen by Kakamoriya and defeated by Zoro during Thriller Bark, where Shusui would be acquired. And to get back to the entire point of this, Shusui is a permanent Black Blade, thought to have been turned this way through countless battles involving imbuement of Arma and Taki. Which does make some sense. I mean, we've seen many different occasions in the series where swords or other weapons have been temporarily turned into Black Blades via Arma and Taki. So all we can really conclude is that Rima must be a very demanding and insatiable sword mistress to have not been turned Black by now. But now we have arrived at the highest level of Maito, the 12 supreme-grade swords and we immediately encounter another Black Blade named Yoru. And I would go so far as to say that this is the most well known sword in one piece, both in-world and by series fans because it is wielded by the world's greatest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk. Yoru features an incredibly unique design, kind of resembling a gigantic Kregmesser, but also ordained with stunning levels of detail. It is a true master work in every sense, although Yoru would be nigh on useless in the wrong hands because, as Dracule Mihawk says, without subtlety, a sword is but an iron bar. Bar to knife. The sword is bar to knife. And it's probably no coincidence that our next supreme-grade sword was used by another of the world's most prominent figures, that being Murakumogiri, Whitebeard's famed Nagitana. Now, this is the first weapon to be credited as being part of the Maito that is, and you know, strictly speaking, a sword. It is categorically definitively more of a polearm, but you know, you just try telling that to Whitebeard. If the strongest man in the world tells you it's a sword, then your response is going to be to promptly crap your pants and admit it's a sword. Nice sword, Mr. Whitebeard. Very good. That being said, Murakumogiri is currently retired from active duty, lying in rest at the grave of its former partner Whitebeard. And perhaps it will be taken up again by someone in the future, but for now, this particular supreme-grade, quote-unquote, sword is out of action. And the final supreme-grade sword that we know of would be one we've mentioned before, and that is the Shodai Kitetsu. This is the most powerful of the Kitetsu set. In fact, each subsequently made sword was far less powerful than the former. And while we don't know for a fact where the Shodai Kitetsu, you know, is, it is strongly theorized that it is currently being held by a member of the Five Elder Stars, someone affectionately referred to by fans as Samurai Gandhi. And these suspicions are largely due to the fact that the sword appears to have the exact same guard as both the sandai and Nidai Kitetsu blades, a guard that is very unique, mind you, not at all the stock standard sort of shape. That is far from the only mystery remaining to be solved with the Meito, though. In fact, we know of several other confirmed Meito blades that currently do not hold a specific ranking assigned to them. A great example would be Ryu, the highly intimidating Nodachi owned by Shiryu, or Durandal, the gloriously shaped rapier used by Cavendish. In fact, even Golden Lion Shiki's legs, named Otto and Kogarashi, are indeed confirmed Meito. Which is weird to think about because now both of Shiki's legs have names, and I don't know about you, I've never named my legs. If you have, please do let me know in the comments. I am genuinely interested. But just to round things out, we also have Shirau, another Nodachi used by Charlotte Amand, and keeping things within the family, we have Kraka's sword, Pretzel, which is also amongst the Meito, as well as Hitetsu's mysterious, unnamed personal sword actually. But what really stands out to me are the sheer amount of blades that do not fall into the Meito classification. For example, Vista's swords are seemingly completely unranked, which is Art of Madness, considering he is one of the greatest swordsmen in the entire world. And I suppose it's also worth noting that the character who has used the most Meito in the series to date is, of course, Zoro, who has rather greedily held five Meito blades, being the Sander, Kitetsu, Yabashiri, the Water with Chimonji, Shusui, and lately Enma. Zoro is one greedy motherf- But if you'd like to know more about weapons in general, then please do check out this video where we take you through the most powerful weapons in all of One Piece, because swords are certainly not everything. Admittedly, they're quite a bit, but not everything. So lots of intrigue to be had, and I look forward to seeing you there.