Hiyori's Kurozumi comment in One Piece Chapter 1057 sparks massive debate amongst fans

One Piece Chapter 1057’s official release on Sunday, August 21 marked the end of the Wano arc’s four-year serialization run, making it the longest in the series’ history. While this should’ve been the prevalent highlight of the issue, fans’ attentions were instead directed to another, more divisive topic in the chapter.

One Piece Chapter 1057 sees the citizens of Wano celebrating Hiyori’s confrontation of Orochi Kurozumi. It’s revealed that her final words to the former shogun were “Kurozumi was born to burn,” referencing how Kurozumi can mean “charcoal” in Japanese.

However, fans are taking this as a condemnation of the entire Kurozumi bloodline and are finding it contradictory to earlier comments in the series made by another character.

Follow along as this article fully breaks down why Hiyori’s Kurozumi comment in One Piece Chapter 1057 has sparked a massive and widespread debate amongst fans.

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Hiyori’s big line in One Piece Chapter 1057 has fans debating whether or not it conflicts with Franky’s earlier sentiments

The debate

With the officially translated release of One Piece Chapter 1057, fans opened the floodgates and let debates, discussions, and arguments on Hiyori’s comment fly across social media.

Many are discussing the line in context of comments made earlier in the series by Franky, which some fans feel is dichotomous to Hiyori’s sentiment.

Franky’s words come from the Water 7 saga, which focus on Nico Robin and her belief (forced unto her by others) that she commits a crime simply by existing and living. Much of the arc focuses on her character development as she grows out of this mindset, which she eventually does thanks to the help of her crew.

At one point, Franky says to her that “it’s never a crime just to exist,” as a way of showing her that she has as much of a right to life as anyone else. He also speaks from personal experience here, at one point feeling the same way about his own life after his carelessly inventing weapons cost the life of his mentor and father figure, Tom.

With this previously established sentiment being present in the series, some are accusing author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda of presenting dichotomous themes and morals in his series.

This is, of course, asserted with the assumption that Hiyori is condemning the entire Kurozumi bloodline rather than Kurozumi Orochi, former shogun of Wano, alone in One Piece Chapter 1057.

Unofficial translations seemed to indicate this, with their fan-translators choosing to translate the phrase as “were born to burn” rather than “was.” Fans took this to mean the Kurozumi bloodline with the official translation, and some are seemingly asserting that the use of the singular “was” further demonstrates this.

However, One Piece Chapter 1057’s official translators would have gone with a plural word if they wanted the reference to be interpreted as meaning the family line rather than Orochi. This difference in translation has only furthered debates and arguments amongst fans, essentially making a mountain out of a molehill.

Those who believe that Hiyori still references the Kurozumi bloodline as a whole and support the sentiment argue that the Kurozumi family’s dedication to revenge on the Kozukis justifies it.

Especially in context of the 20 years of suffering Wano had endured, these fans argue that the Kurozumi’s at least give a halfway-decent reason to be oppressed and condemned.

Those who take this interpretation and don’t support it counter that the series has often emphasized that the actions of one’s ancestors don’t justify future prosecution. Franky’s comments, Ace’s backstory, and the history of the Fish-man race as a whole all support such interpretation of the series’ themes and motifs.

Interestingly enough, there seems to be some uniformity amongst those who interpret Hiyori to mean Kurozumi Orochi himself. In this context, fans are taking this to mean that Hiyori is breaking the cycle of violence which started Orochi’s grudge in the first place.

Fans may remember that the Kozuki’s once persecuted the Kurozumi clan over an archaic dispute, causing Orochi’s hatred of the clan in the first place.

The uniformity along the lines of this interpretation comes from fans not only supporting Hiyori’s comments, but arguing it falls in line with the themes of the story.

It certainly eliminates the major conflict between Franky’s words and how some fans are choosing to interpret Hiyori’s words, which is arguably the main hang-up in this debate.

Regardless of what side of the fence fans are on, it’s clear that One Piece Chapter 1057 has started a discussion amongst fans Oda likely never meant it to. Regardless of what his intent was, fans are certainly discussing One Piece Chapter 1057, even if it’s in an unnecessarily inflammatory context.

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