>>280873384
True, but that was nearly 30 years later. He did the same with Ryuma, canonizing him in Thriller Bark despite him being the star of Monsters and in Romance Dawn as well as one of the many One Piece prototypes.

Interestingly he had a knight rival for the "Samurai vs. Knight" thing, and later Sanji gets armored skin and we see in his flashback he was forced to wear a knight's helmet. And he calls himself Mr. Prince and acts like a white knight. And gets flame armor.

>Zoro's opponent this arc will be Sanji, as a God Knight
>Imu will Take advantage of the Vinsmoke modifications in him that turn the brothers emotionless to make him a God Knight
>this rivalry has been hinted at since Little Garden and will finish on Elbaf
>the quote about Kill me if I turn evil, from Wano was a foreshadowing
>he will get black flames as opposed to his normal blue flames forming his armor
>he will Simp for Imu/Gunko the way he does for Nami/Robin
>him being a knight has been foreshadowed multiple times, such as his armor skin, his black armor suit, the knight helmet he wore as a kid, calling himself Mr. Prince and women's knight in shining armor
>the knight vs. samurai rivalry has been set in stone since the prototype, pic related