Asta continues training in Zetten, meeting a few more members of the Ryuzen Seven. Then, a bombshell of a reveal gets dropped about Captain Yami’s mysterious past!

Chapter 340

Two things we learned in chapter 340 is that Ichika is a savage and Asta is nowhere near the level we thought he was after the previous arc.

1v1, Asta Versus Ichika

Asta displays his natural ability to use Zetten and is quickly thrown into the fire. By “throwing into the fire,” I mean an all out battle against Ichika. Ryuya suggests that it would be the most advantageous to get better at using Zetten by fighting Ichika. With Asta putting on his Devil Union cloak and getting ready to engage, Ichika scoffs at Asta’s strength. He’s at such a low level compared to Ichika that she doesn’t think Asta is being serious. Fumito mentions that Asta “cloaking himself in anti-magic” would be able to “block simple yojutsu.”

Then.. She proceeds to hand Asta the biggest beat down Asta has taken in a while. Ryuya states that Ichika is “actually having a hard time landing a strike on Asta,” except for those windows of opportunity when Asta makes a mental “concentration lapse.” It’s those very small windows where the opponent loses concentration that Asta needs to land his most significant attack.

Once Ichika uses her Zetten to chop down a massive amount of trees, she literally kicks the Devil Union out of Asta. Barely getting up to give the “never give up, I want more” speech, Ichika smacks him back to the ground, humbling poor Asta. Ryuya reveals that Asta was able to “take on her full on attack without blacking out” and that only a “handful of people” could achieve that. The chapter ends with a past out Asta, adding a comedic finish to the chapter.

Figuring Out the Significance of Zetten

Coming off the previous chapter, it was hard to make out what it really meant by Asta being able to use Zetten. In this case of this fight against Ichika, it seems to be the same as it was before with Asta using his Devil Union and striking with Zetten behind those attacks. It might be a while before we can identify what Zetten ends up looking like when Asta uses it.

Throughout the fight, Ryuya ends up narrating and gives Asta his teachable moments. To see Asta struggle to just block and to see Ichika completely outclass Asta was really fun to see just how terrifyingly scary Ichika is. You can bookmark this fight as one of the more highly anticipatory fights to come for the anime. It would be our first time seeing animation of how Zetten would look like. Zetten seems to be this short range explosive technique that should turn into quite the spectacle, as it shows on pages 14 & 15 of Ichika slicing down the abundance amount of trees.

Chapter 341

It’s the “Ryuzen Seven!”

We are finally introduced with a few members from the Ryuzen Seven that is brought along to help Asta train. In an earlier chapter, the Ryuzen Seven was briefly mentioned as Ichika took down those village bandits.

First, we have Imari Komari. She’s everything you wouldn’t think of a ninja. She’s loud, brazen and here to replace the lack of eye candy that this arc lacks. Getting amazed by Asta’s hair color, she gets intrigued by Asta’s world of natural colors, saying that “she dyes her own.”

Next, the other member is Hanegatsuji Jozo. He wears an oni mask. He seems to be the more logical stickler of the 3. Being quite the judgemental type (for good reason), questions Komari’s choice of an outfit for being a ninja.

The last of the three that is helping Asta train in Zetten is O’oka Daizaemon. He’s the typical lovable giant loudmouth that has just the right amount of “acceptable” perversion allowed as Komari rocks her outfit.

These 3 Ryuzen Seven members showed Asta the different ways that Zetten could be used. Zetten can be split and manipulated through multiple strikes or just in one fell swoop. Most importantly, Asta must learn how to control and time his Zetten attack when the opening is available like in the fight against Ichika in chapter 340.

Whatever actually comes from Asta’s training in Zetten, expect the unexpected!

Ryudo Ryuya’s Tengentsu

If it wasn’t already abundantly clear by Ichika’s reaction to Asta’s lack of formality towards Ryuya, everyone in this chapter has a glowing infinity for the shogun. Ichika explains that “he has no yojutsu, can see anything at any given time,” using his Tengentsu and has “united the Land of the Sun.”

So he can see anything, huh?

So far, Ryuya has been incredibly calm. It gives the audience the sense that everything is going to be okay. Because of his Tengentsu, it’s going to be a drastic change of mood if he ever breaks character, shows a little bit of fear or announces something of significance. This is something to keep an eye on as the story progresses. The way Ryuya reacts and is challenged from what he is able to see is going to tell us a lot about how we should be reacting during important plot points.

As it relates to Ichika, one other significant development for her character is that Ryuya “saved her life.” It’s the first time we’ve really seen Ichika not look like a totally angry looking girl. Also, she’s 24 years of age by the way. Then, it makes Asta talk about Captain Yami, who Asta sees as his own “Ryuya” that accepted and saved his life as well. Then, the bombshell of all bombshells about Captain Yami’s past comes to light.

Captain Yami’s Longest Bathroom Break..

Once Asta appeared in the Land of the Sun, we all knew that Captain Yami’s past would come to light. Although, we never fully get the context of what Ichika says about Captain Yami, it initially gives me Itachi vibes like in Naruto.

Asta goes on to glowingly talk about how awesome Captain Yami is and says that “Captain Yami got lost after getting ship wrecked from fishing.” Ichika turns back on her frightening scowling look, saying that Captain Yami is “scum.” She describes even further that Captain Yami “probably made that up.”

What Ichika says next is something that I couldn’t have guessed, which makes this moment as dramatic as it can get. We’ve all been speculating and wondering what kind of person Captain Yami was and how the mystery of how powers came to be. That all starts to unfold now.

Ending chapter 341 with the fact that “Captain Yami MASSACRED his own clan,” was nothing short of shocking.

Let the Speculation Begin!

Stunning.. It makes you wonder the context behind such a statement. Did he really kill his clan? Does it have something to do with his “dark” powers? Are there outside entities, yet to be introduced a part of this story?

For the last arc, you got to have these essential jaw dropping moments in the story. Asta is on the path to create some epic move out of Zetten and dropping a bombshell about Captain Yami makes the story incredibly intriguing.

This bombshell from Ichika is a cliffhanger for a reason and obvious context is needed. However, this can be very “reputation damaging” for Yami Sukehiro.

In the end, do I really believe Captain Yami killed his own clan Itachi-style?

Nope.

Knowing what we know about the captain, there has to be an underlying reason for whatever event that took place with their clan members dying to occur.

Last Thoughts

If you weren’t already hyped from reading each chapter of Black Clover, then this chapter is the one that put me over the edge of how awesome this story is getting. We have Asta learning a crazy new ability, refreshing new characters being introduced and its finally starting to unwind this Yami Sukehiro backstory. This was a “stop whatever you doing and write a blog about it moment.” Coming off a week of the Black Clover movie being announced, this chapter tops that announcement!