Highlights
- Kuzan, a member of the Blackbeard Pirates, is a highly relevant character in the final Saga of One Piece and had a fierce clash with his former teacher, Garp.
- Kuzan possesses the Hie Hie no Mi Devil Fruit, which allows him to turn into ice, produce it, manipulate it, and freeze others to the bone, making them unable to fight.
- Kuzan's Ice Glove technique, combining his ice powers and Armament Haki, is one of his strongest hand-to-hand combat abilities, but it is still not as strong as Garp's techniques. Kuzan still has room for improvement compared to his former teacher.
Kuzan is one of the members of the Blackbeard Pirates and among the most relevant characters in the final Saga of One Piece, as evident from the latest chapters of the series. Kuzan is the 10th Titanic Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, despite having been a very well-respected Marine at one point. After the capture of Captain Koby, Kuzan ended up fighting against his former teacher, Garp, and this gave rise to one of the very best clashes that fans have seen in One Piece so far.
Naturally, the powers of both Kuzan and Garp were fully explored in the clash and, even though fans have seen quite a lot of the former Marine Admiral, Oda went on to give him quite a few new attacks as well, with Ice Glove being one of them.
Kuzan's Hie Hie no Mi
Kuzan is a user of a Logia type of Devil Fruit called the Hie Hie no Mi. This Devil Fruit is one of the strongest that fans have seen in the entire series and it allows Kuzan to turn into ice, as well as produce it from his body and manipulate it at will. The ice that Kuzan produces is enough to freeze any person to their core within a matter of seconds. Even the strongest of characters, such as Whitebeard, can be struck with this attack within a moment, however, in the case of Whitebeard, the powers appear ineffective due to his quake fruit. Once a person is frozen to the bone, they are out of commission, as was the case with the likes of Diamond Jozu and even Luffy and Robin on a different occasion.
The power to freeze that Kuzan possesses can be amped up to an extreme, as seen when he froze the entire ocean within a matter of seconds and mentioned that it would take around 7 days for it to melt, which is supposed to show the ferocity of his powers. On top of the ability to freeze others, Kuzan can also create weapons from his Hie Hie no Mi. This was seen during the Marineford arc where he was able to create a spear from ice. He can also create ice swords, as seen when he fought the Straw Hats, or ice arrows, as seen when he clashed against Whitebeard when the latter attempted to stab him with Haki. Kuzan also possesses other powerful techniques such as Pheasant Beck, where he is able to produce giant constructs with his Devil Fruit power, capable of destroying anything in its path.
Kuzan's Ice Glove
During the Egghead Island Arc, Kuzan ended up clashing against Garp and for the vast majority of the fight, he appeared to be the underdog. Garp, despite being old, was stronger than Kuzan and could make use of the Color of the Supreme King to coat his fists, making his techniques mostly superior to that of Kuzan. However, the latter had a couple of techniques of his own up his sleeve and he went on to use them to counter Garp's phenomenal strength. After having recovered from Blue Hole, Kuzan decided to coat his fist in ice for extra power as well as protection. On top of this ice, he decided to use the color of Armament, making his fist even more powerful. He then went on to use this newly ice and Haki-coated fist to punch Garp.
Kuzan names this technique Ice Glove and, simply put, this is a very powerful application of the Hie Hie no Mi which can only be used when combined with Haki. Essentially, Ice Glove sees Kuzan's two strongest abilities combined and when he used this technique on Garp, it sent him flying backwards and the Vice Admiral was seen holding his head in pain. It can be assumed to be just as strong as Garp's very own Haki-clad punch as both of them hit each other in the face and flew backwards. Essentially, Kuzan's punches on their own are not as strong as Garp's and he needs to reinforce them with his Hie Hie no Mi powers to ensure that he is able to match the legendary strength of the Hero of the Marines.
How Strong Is Ice Glove?
Ice Glove is one of Kuzan's strongest techniques when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Out of everything that fans have seen so far, this ability is the pinnacle of his physical training with Garp. In the past, fans know that Kuzan used to train with Garp using the Battleship Bags. The rules of this training were to dent the giant battleships without using any Haki or Devil Fruit power. This would increase the base physical strength of the person and make them a monstrous fighter. Kuzan certainly did level up as a fighter while training with Garp, however, his strength was always inferior to his.
Garp was mostly superior to Kuzan throughout the fight, and it wasn't until he was stopped by Shiryu that the playfield was leveled. Kuzan's physical strength on its own is not nearly enough to match that of Garp. To make sure that he's able to do so, Kuzan makes use of his Devil Fruit powers to reinforce his fists and that is precisely what the purpose of Ice Glove is. In terms of melee attacks, Ice Glove can be considered the strongest that Kuzan has up his sleeve. It is a product of years and years of training, after all. However, it still isn't as strong as some of Garp's other strong techniques, such as Galaxy Impact or, as seen later, Galaxy Divide. Nonetheless, Ice Glove is a very strong technique and it lets Kuzan fight even a Yonko or someone in the same league as Garp. Undoubtedly, this technique is strong enough to defeat whoever stands in his path.
Is Kuzan As Strong As Garp?
The recent events of One Piece that unfolded on the Pirate Island made it quite clear that Kuzan and Garp had a very special relationship. Garp considers Kuzan to be his beloved pupil, even when the latter went on to betray him and join the Blackbeard Pirates. When the two fought, the difference in their strength was very clear. Kuzan, even though he was an Admiral, was inferior to Garp in terms of strength. The fight was largely in Garp's favor and this was on top of him fighting against the other Captains of the Blackbeard Pirates as well. Had the fight been between just Kuzan and Garp, the former would have lost it without a shadow of a doubt. Furthermore, the fight between Kuzan and Garp lasted as long as it did only because Shiryu tricked Garp into receiving a lethal wound.
Oda made sure to compare the power levels of both these powerhouses across this fight and it is quite clear to see that Garp was the superior one of the two despite being much older and weaker than his prime days. That certainly isn't to say that Kuzan is weak. He is still a former Admiral who can take on nearly anyone in combat, including the Yonko. However, when compared to his former teacher, Kuzan still has a ways to go.
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