Moving on to our other symbols however, there are a set of characters who I do believe represent our last two guardians, Hiyori with the bird, and Yasuie/Orochi with the tortoise, I’ll get to the Yasuie/Orochi thing later, but for now let’s focus on Hiyori.
This part of my analysis was heavily influenced by a theory according to which Hiyori has the Mythical Hou-Ou devil fruit, which is the vermillion bird. While I disagree with the notion that Hiyori has the fruit, I did agree with many of the parallels this theory brought up:
When first introduced, Hiyori sports a lavishly intricate garment matching the colour scheme often attributed to the Hou-ou. This colour scheme has persisted throughout the Wano arc.
Both in China and Japan, the Hou-ou has been used as a symbol of the imperial family, most often for the empress. Hiyori is a female descendant of Wano’s legitimate shogunate, the de facto ruling family of Wano.
in China, the Red Bird is associated with mastery of music, loyalty, honesty, decorum and justice.
There were a lot nice points in that theory, but I thought these three were the strongest to compare Hiyori and the Vermillion Bird with.
So moving on then to my last symbol, that being Yasuie and Orochi representing the Black Tortoise.
To preface, one of the legends surrounding the origin of the Black Tortoise depicts a King named Xuanwu, with two generals beneath him: a snake general and a tortoise general. There are many tales surrounding this concept, but a common theme is Xuanwu purging his sins to become a god, resulting in the creation of the Black Tortoise, a mixture of the tortoise and the snake, who terrorized the country until Xuanwu came to subdue or reform them.
To compare Yasuie and Orochi to this legend, I believe Yasuie is Xuanwu, while Orochi is the Black Tortoise born from the sins of Xuanwu. After going through a purging, that being Kaido and Orochi’s takeover on Wano, Yasuie is left with poverty and a new identity: Tonoyasu who, despite all hardships, refuses to relent his optimism and hope for the future. It’s not a very godlike or divine figure at first glance, but thinking back to his execution, notice how he was raised into the sky, could that symbolize a “deity-like” status?
Orochi is the black tortoise then, a creation of the sins of Xuanwu, formed and left to terrorize the public. But just what are those sins? Maybe it could be the attack on the Kurozumi clan, something that Yasuie, while not being a frontline advocate of, did nothing to stop or disapprove of it (as far as we know of). Upon his execution, Yasuie failed to subdue Orochi, however he pushes the task to the new generation, who he trusts to take down the evils in Wano.
All the people in this Four Guardians representation are people that Zoro met and grew close to during his journey in Wano,(with the exception of Kaido) which is why I categorize it under his journey. Does this mean that Wano is Zoro’s arc? No, it’s just a different way of viewing his side adventure so far. Does this mean that he’ll face or kill Kaido? Maybe, although I think probably not. He already has after all, he’s protected his captain, left a scar, and shown his conquerors spirit against the dragon. I think Luffy will still have the biggest hand in Kaido’s defeat, but whether or not Zoro will help (again) is left in the air to me, and I won’t dismiss the idea that it might happen, even if I don’t think it will.
*Theory by Sufficient-Bedroom
