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Zoro Roronoa is one of the main characters from the One Piece anime and manga.
Roronoa Zoro is the nineteen/twenty-one-year-old swordsman of the Straw Hat Pirates. Recruited as a mildly notorious bounty hunter in East Blue, he grows into a monstruously powerful man who doesn't even need a Devil Fruit ability, using a unique Santoryu sword style in battle, wielding a sword in each hand along with one in the mouth. After the time skip, he manages to master Haki as well. Zoro mostly drinks and sleeps in his spare time (when he's not training his ass off), but becomes a real demon in battle that can defeat five hundred Mooks in two seconds. Often wears a green bandanna on his forearm that he ties around his head when he gets dangerous. Moreover, he is Luffy's number two, sometimes acting as a voice of authority when the crew's future must be decided, and regularly happens to battle the dragon of the current big bad the crew are fighting, which is an occasion to hone his swordsmanship.
Similar to Luffy's goal, Zoro wishes to become the greatest swordsman in the world as a promise to his childhood rival Kuina, whom he wanted to win against but never could because she died in an accident. Unlike Luffy, however, he needs only to defeat Dracule "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk, the current greatest swordsman in the world, to do so. He actually meets up with Mihawk fairly early in the story, but failed to land a single hit and was sliced by Mihawk's BFS for his trouble. Mihawk, however, held back just enough to leave Zoro alive, and told him to challenge him again when he was ready. In a strange twist of events, he is trained by Mihawk to be a stronger swordsman to protect his crew. For giving up his pride for the sake of others impresses Mihawk enough to agree.
In the AWA fics, Zoro is a student at the AWA Academy and is part of Class 4.
In the XP4 fics, Zoro debuted in XP4 Heroes Coalition - Kick-Off!.
Appearance[]
Zoro is a muscular young man of average height with lightly tanned skin. He always carries his three swords along with him, bundled up with a green haramaki over his right hip, allowing him to easily draw them with his left hand. Of the three swords he has on his person, he has always been seen carrying the Wado Ichimonji, while his other two swords have varied over time due to them being destroyed and subsequently replaced with progressively better ones. Although his right hand is usually seen resting over them, he can also use this hand to pull his swords out before sitting down. He has three identical gold earrings on his left earlobe. Zoro normally keeps a black bandanna tied around his left bicep and ties it around his head when he is fighting seriously against an opponent.
Zoro's body is covered with scars from his many battles, most notably the massive scar stretching from his left shoulder to his right hip that he acquired during his loss against the world's greatest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk, at Baratie. His other visible scars are the scars he inflicted upon his ankles in a desperate attempt to free himself from Mr. 3's Giant Candle Service Set by trying to cut his feet off at Little Garden. After the timeskip, he gained another scar over his left eye, obtained through unknown means.
Similar to most of his male crewmates, Zoro has the same outfit throughout most of the series. Before the timeskip, he would consistently wear black trousers tucked inside black boots, a plain white shirt with three undone buttons at the collar and his green haramaki. However, only Zoro's shirt varies from time to time in the arcs. During the Arlong Park Arc, he disembarked Sanji's fishing ship neglecting to put on a shirt. After beating up most of Arlong's crew, he wore an opened, navy blue shirt decorated with light blue whirlpools that he stole from one of the fishmen. Since Zoro received his scar from Mihawk during the Baratie Arc before the Arlong Park Arc, Zoro wore bandages that were visible underneath his shirt.
During the Loguetown Arc, Zoro acquires Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri to replace the two conventional katana which were broken by Mihawk in the Baratie Arc.
During the Drum Island Arc, Zoro was bundled up for the winter island, but later stripped down after a foolish choice to swim in the frigid water on the island. He remained shirtless and shoeless in the beginning of the arc after getting lost from the Going Merry and left unable to redress himself, until he stole a parka from a man in Wapol's army, which was a hooded, forest green parka with a light green sash and white fur on the cuffs, hood, and hem, as well as a pair of boots.
During the Alabasta Arc, he wore an orange keffiyeh with a gold chain on his head, a long-sleeved white coat with black lines all over it, and the bottom of his black trousers were torn above his ankles.
During the Skypiea Arc, he wore his usual outfit in the beginning of the arc until he took it off after fighting a skyshark to save Tony Tony Chopper from being eaten. Afterwards, he wore a long, deep blue T-shirt and goggles strapped either on his head or around his neck, which were later broken and discarded.
During the Water 7 Arc, he wore his usual outfit until near the end, where he wore an unzipped, bright yellow jacket with a closed pocket flap on each side. He continued wearing this outfit throughout the Enies Lobby Arc.
During the Post-Enies Lobby Arc, he wore a black shirt with the Galley-La Company emblem on it in white.
At the end of the Thriller Bark Arc, he wore an opened, gray shirt. He also replaced Yubashiri, which was rusted away by Shu in the Enies Lobby Arc, with Shusui, which was entrusted to him by the zombie of Ryuma brought to life by Brook's shadow.
During the Sabaody Archipelago Arc, he wore an opened white shirt with red stripes.
During his time at Kuraigana Island, shortly after being sent there by Bartholomew Kuma, he wore an opened, dark blue shirt. Since Zoro was critically injured when he arrived at the island, Perona patched him up, so bandages were all over his body.
During and after the two-year timeskip, Zoro gains a new scar running down over his left eye, which is now implied to be critically injured as it is always closed. His frame gets larger, showing considerable more muscle mass and his hair gets shaggier while slicked back. Zoro now wears a long, open dark-green coat closed on his waist and is held by a red sash, in which his three swords are now tucked into, and his black bandanna is tied around his left forearm. His coat exposes his bare chest, revealing his green haramaki underneath the coat. He has also grown noticeably taller, as he is similar in height to Robin.
During the Punk Hazard Arc, he wore a white furry coat for protection against the cold weather on the frozen side of Punk Hazard, which he took from Brownbeard's Centaur Patrol Unit.
During the Dressrosa Arc, he wore a black suit and a white dress shirt with the top button undone. He also wore black sunglasses and a fake white mustache as a disguise. His sunglasses were destroyed in his clash with Admiral Fujitora. Additionally, he discarded the mustache upon his identity being exposed. After the battle against the Donquixote Pirates, Zoro took off his suit jacket, and unbuttoned his shirt leaving his chest and scar exposed.
During the Zou Arc, Zoro wears a dark-blue t-shirt with his green coat and haramaki over a pair of long, black trousers and boots.
Personality[]
Zoro usually maintains a very stern, serious, and distanced personality, but often loses his temper in a goofy and exaggerated comical style. It would seem however, that this anger is the only emotion that Zoro often feels comfortable showing. Outside of situations where he feels confident in battle, he tends to smile or laugh the least out of the Straw Hats and rarely fools around with the rest of the crew. In fact, his defeat at the hands of Mihawk and subsequent vow to Luffy is the only time since his friend Kuinapassed that Zoro has been seen crying in the series.
Even in moments that are particularly tough on the crew and would warrant sadness, Zoro chooses to maintain a quiet solemnity rather than outwardly express his emotions. He has been shown to believe to a degree that these emotions can hinder his judgement as a swordsman: when Ohm asked him if he was out for revenge upon discovering Tony Tony Chopper wounded and unconscious, he replied that he doesn't like to fight for reasons like that.
Despite this assertion, though, he cares deeply for his crewmates and wishes to protect them at all cost, telling Ohm that in spite of his preference for fighting without a motivation he can feel one coming on. He can also be extremely intimidating, easily frightening weaker opponents with just his glare. It has been stated that he has a monstrous killing intent evident from the fact where he almost drew his sword on one of the World Nobles. Furthermore, it has also been stated that Zoro is a born killer capable of showing absolutely no mercy during combat. It has been mentioned that Zoro has killed before joining the crew.
In contrast, Zoro has a very kind heart, shown as he was willing to risk his life for the sake of a little girl he did not know shortly after his introduction and when Charloss shot an innocent man, Zoro carried the victim to a hospital despite being total strangers. When fighting weaker or innocent people, he does try to hold back when fighting and use the dull side of his swords in order not to seriously injure them though as pointed out by Nami, his monstrous strength still manage to cause great damage. Another aspect of his kindness is he strongly detests evil men with extreme cruelty towards the innocent, as shown when Charloss shot Hatchan, Zoro was silently wrathful, as he fully intended to cut down the World Noble if it weren't for Luffy. He also held strong fury towards Pica for attacking the injured as well as attempting to kill Riku Dold III.
He has a strong sense of leadership and reasoning. Zoro follows the samurai philosophy and doctrine of Bushido, such as the code of honor and integrity where he strictly fight fair and square honestly by consistently refuses to attack an adversary whose back is turned, with the only exception being when his friends are in imminent danger of losing their lives in which Zoro would strike the attacker from behind, and Zoro himself considers a scar on the back to be a swordsman's greatest shame. He is also very loyal as he will stand by Luffy's decisions regardless of whether he personally agrees or not, stepping in only to point out the seriousness of a situation where it has been overlooked by his crewmates most notably when they wanted to bring Usopp back into the crew after Usopp challenged Luffy to a duel over the Going Merry and lost, even willing to quit the crew himself if Luffy just brushed the incident off because it betrayed his strong values in loyalty.
Zoro has been absurdly reckless in the face of major battles, often at the cost of his own well-being. Many times, he has suffered injuries which would kill a normal person and muscled through them through sheer willpower, such as when he was given his gaping scar, which he allowed to be inflicted on himself deliberately, and when he absorbed all of Luffy's pain from his fight with Gekko Moriah after Bartholomew Kuma pushed it out of him and made Zoro take it upon himself in return for sparing his captain's life, which was so traumatic that his eyes temporarily became bloodshot. As a result, he has often been left very heavily bloodied and bandaged, as well as gained scars more times than anyone else in the Straw Hat Pirates crew, all of which were notably inflicted after joining Luffy on his travels. Despite this, he has a habit of ignoring these dire injuries and continuing to fight, sometimes before he is fully healed. This has threatened his life by causing unhealed wounds to reopen or be strained, leaving him in crippling agony. His recklessness extends to the point of self-mutilation, willingly risking a limb by throwing the Sandai Kitetsu in the air while holding out his arm and allowing it to land and see if he could overcome its curse (a successful risk), and slicing up his ankles to escape a deathtrap, which not only failed, but made him lose a lot of blood and gain more scars. Furthermore, Zoro tends to face death in a defiant manner and show no fear of dying even when he is in a gravely injured state. However, since the timeskip, Zoro has not been injured.
He also seems to be partially irreverent, but not seriously so, simply choosing to focus more on his training and what is clearly in front of him than worry about spiritual matters as well as questions about its mysteries that he cannot truly answer.
When Enel posed as God, Zoro was asked by Sanji if he believed in God, but Zoro did not show any devotion toward the idea of one, and did not care one way or the other. Also, there have been several instances where Zoro has bluntly stated that he does not believe in God and does not pray. Despite claiming to be an atheist, Zoro showed belief in a paradise after death, though Usopp joked that Zoro's behavior in his life was not likely to get him into heaven, with Zoro becoming offended because Usopp implied that he would go to hell. Zoro has also prayed at least once, which occurred at the end of the Thriller Bark Arc when laying his sword Yubashiri to rest at the burial site of the Rumbar Pirates. He did this despite claiming before that he prays to no gods.
A running gag throughout the series is that while he is very perceptive during battle (as well as out), his sense of direction is extremely poor, to the point of getting lost on a straight path. This often results in Zoro not understanding directions. In the Alabasta Arc, he mistakes going north for going up. In the Drum Island Arc, he believes that he can keep the ship on course by heading toward a large cloud (which can move and change shape). He is unaware of his lack of direction. (For instance, in the Enies Lobby arc, when Nami said to go up the staircase, Zoro went to the opposite side, and then said that Nami has misguided him) Often when he gets lost, he mutters "the others are lost again". However, after the timeskip, Zoro is the first Straw Hat to arrive back at Sabaody Archipelago days before the others, shocking Sanji, though it was Perona who helped Zoro reach Sabaody early. He seems to make up for this, though, by confusing a gigantic pirate galleon for a fisherman's small boat when it is pointed out to him.
Another running gag of the series is Zoro's ability to effortlessly deliver perfectly timed lines in passing or even during battle that are deemed "cool" by other characters, leading him to be borderline worshiped and idolized especially by crewmates Usopp, Chopper, and Brook. Another running gag is how Zoro keeps untying bandages when he is not fully healed, claiming that they make it hard to move, only to be scolded by Chopper, who tells him that they are there so that he does not move.
A fourth running gag are the situations Luffy puts Zoro in. While in midair or far away Luffy tends to grab Zoro with stretched arms and make him fly through the air, crashing with force that would kill any normal person. Zoro´s usual response to this is that he is one day going to kill Luffy, while Luffy responds only with apologizing to Zoro.
Like Nico Robin, Zoro is also easily sensitive when put into embarrassing situations to where he prefers to object vocally (though Robin usually ignores these situations most of the time because of her patience), rather than respond violently like Nami or Sanji. Examples are during the Thriller Bark Arc, Zoro refused to do something stupid like address Franky as "Bro", or Franky's later joke technique "Pirates Docking 6" where after they disassembled, Zoro felt stupid for agreeing to do it in the first place. In the Dressrosa Arc, Zoro was embarrassed when he had Wicca with him when traveling through town, as trying to communicate with her made the people around them think Zoro was "talking to himself" as they could not see Wicca due to her small size (though it was revealed at the end of that arc that Dressrosa's citizens were secretly aware of the dwarves' existence) . Also during anime-only events in the Post-Enies Lobby Arc, when Zoro was forced to help take care of children, he intended to make sure that the crew or any of the town's residents that knew him personally did not find out about this embarrassing situation. Zoro does have rare moments of responding violently in these situations, such as choking Chopper during Aqua Laguna for mentioning to Luffy and Nami the embarrassing story of how Zoro got stuck in the chimney of a house which Luffy laughed about (though Luffy was also in a similar situation earlier).
Zoro is very proud of the reputation he has built for himself both as a swordsman and as "The Pirate Hunter", starting with his 60,000,000 bounty which has quintupled since then. He also enjoys the fact that he has a higher bounty than Sanji. During the assault on Enies Lobby, one of the Marines referred to Zoro as "Luffy's underling" much to the delight of Sanji, who quickly became infuriated when Zoro pointed out that Sanji's lack of notoriety puts him below Zoro in status. Since then, once in a while to anger Sanji, Zoro will refer to him as "Pirate A". More recently he has been calling Sanji "#7", referring to his order of arrival at Sabaody.
However, in spite of his personal pride and self-respect, Zoro has shown to be willing to lower himself to the ground in complete humility for the sake of his friends, as was seen when he begged Bartholomew Kuma to spare Luffy's life in exchange for his own (Zoro's). And then again when he shamelessly bowed before Dracule Mihawk, begging the Shichibukai who is his enemy, to train him in the ways of the sword. This shows that despite Zoro not being completely humble, he is neither overly arrogant.
While the crew sails from one island to another, he normally spends time lifting weights, practicing meditation or napping, only to be regularly awakened in a rather violent way by Nami, Sanji, or (accidentally) Luffy. He cares greatly for his swords and often holds them close while napping and was considerably upset when his Yubashiri was destroyed. He also likes to drink alcohol (sake), almost to the degree that Luffy loves meat, and Nami loves money. Also like Nami, he has an inhumanly-high tolerance for alcohol. On top of this, Zoro loathes being deprived of alcohol, evident when Mihawk imposed temperance on him until he mastered coating his swords in Haki as an incentive.
He also regularly reverts to drastic measures to solve simple problems, suggesting solutions that others would normally consider to be their last possible, worst-case-scenario choices. When he and Usopp were accidentally handcuffed together, Zoro's first suggested solution was to cut off one of their hands. In addition, when he, Viviand Nami were stuck on Mr. 3's candle set, he actually tried to cut his own feet off in an attempt to escape, and when that failed, decided he would strike a cool pose for his dying moments upon being encased in wax. He also is one of the first Straw Hat members to suggest killing someone or threatening to kill someone.
Zoro can also be very vigorous when he is determined to achieve a goal or defeat an enemy. The risks that he will often take to pursue his dream of becoming the world's greatest swordsman often leave others wondering if he is crazy. As far as Zoro is concerned though, only he has the right to call himself "crazy". However, he is able to accept defeat when he perceives it to be inevitable. Also, as pointed out during the Skypiea Arc, Zoro does not care if any gods exist or not.
When Zoro has the intention to fight seriously, he ties his bandana (normally kept tied around his left arm) around his head. Zoro lives for the thrill of combat; Scratchmen Apoo commented on his "insane killing intent", acknowledging that Zoro was a "real beast". Indeed, when an average human has the intention of fighting Zoro, his glare alone is usually enough to make them back off. He also has a habit of smiling in satisfaction whenever he faces a particularly skilled opponent, which often unnerves both friend and foe alike.
However, Zoro will still maintain his stern demeanor during the thrill of combat if the stakes are high enough. In his battle with Ohm, the priest stood in the way of him rescuing Nami and Gan Fall from Nola's stomach. Against Kaku, the ability to save his crewmate hinged on him defeating the CP9 agent in a timely fashion. He instantly lost his cocky attitude against Shu after the latter destroyed Yubashiri, as his katana were in serious danger. This seems to suit Zoro perfectly; as any given moment where Zoro is not in battle, he's typically sleeping, lost, yelling at/being yelled at by someone, or training.
Zoro is also very perceptive, something he demonstrates by providing important and logical decisions at critical times and by evaluating the situation from an objective point of view, as he did in Water 7 by evaluating the best way to handle what, at the time, seemed like Robin's betrayal, and again when the crew wanted to bring Usopp back after he challenged Luffy to a duel over the Going Merry and lost. Zoro is the one who noted that Usopp was at fault for leaving the crew of his own accord.
However, while on some occasions he can be the voice of reason, most of the time Zoro rushes into things and leaves it to fate to decide the details, much to the horror of crew members as he fails to see his own fault. He seems to have a very strong belief in fate and destiny in general, making him very similar to members of Blackbeard's crew in several aspects. He is even known to resort to methods like drawing sticks or casting lots whenever the Straw Hats need to choose someone to do a particular task. One of the most obvious instances of this is when he took an interest in the cursed blade, Sandai Kitetsu, and left it up to fate to decide if he would wield it by testing his luck against the sword's curse; he tossed the sword spinning into the air and extended his left arm into its falling path, to see if it would cut him, fully aware that the sword was sharp enough to easily sever his arm.
This is later shown again after the two-year timeskip when he tells the pirates of the ship he had just destroyed to blame fate for him ending up on their ship.
Zoro values loyalty highly and will not easily forgive fellow crewmates if they break ties with the crew, first seen when Nami took the Going Merry. Zoro was furious and stated that he never trusted Nami in the first place. When this happened again with Robin and Usopp, Zoro was wary of Robin, questioning whether should they treat Robin as friend or a foe, and after Enies Lobby, Zoro didn't accept Usopp wanting to rejoin the crew saying he stepped on Luffy's pride. Furthermore, he wouldn't allow the Sniper back unless he got down on knees and apologized for his disrespect to Luffy. This dislike for leaving crewmembers was shown once again in Zou; this time over Zoro's long-standing rival Sanji. The Swordsmen was angry that the Cook had gone without so much apology or a "thank you for everything", calling Sanji an "idiot" for messing around with Big Mom when they were already facing Kaido. This cold attitude towards crewmates received negative attention from the crew and will provoke certain crewmembers (mainly Nami) to yell at him.
Unlike some of the members of the crew, Zoro does not shrink from the idea of using deadly force against dangerous enemies and has been noted by several of his fellow Supernovas to be capable of exuding a tremendous amount of murderous intent.
While he is quite indifferent to the gender or/and age of his opponents, many of his adversaries (like Tashigi and Monet) seem to believe he does not take women seriously when in fact it is only because Tashigi reminded him too much of Kuina and that Monet was merely a distraction. When the latter tried to take advantage of this belief, he cut her down without hesitation, only refraining from killing her because she was too weak to even be considered a proper opponent, using a non-Haki strike in lieu of a blunt attack. It should be noted that he does disagree to a certain extent about using excessive force against women. For example, when Nico Robin was violently electrocuted by Enel, Zoro was extremely ferocious at him, reminding the God that his target is a woman.
While in his spare time, Zoro takes up hobbies such as fishing, drinking, and training.
XP4 Fanfics[]
Zoro is a member of the Heroes Coalitions and is part of the Deadly Hearts. He also attends Vanguard Academy as a student.
XP4 Heroes Coalition - Kick-Off![]
In Chapter 2, Zoro alongside his team, the Deadly Hearts took on a group of Somalian Pirates in island somewhere in Sweet-Somalia. After defeating the pirates, the team were thanked by the island's residents when Major Richard Stronghold arrives and they told him that they'll be staying in the island for several more days.
XP4 Heroes Coalition - Neo-City Diaries[]
In Chapter 4, Zoro and Roy are walking around in the Training Camp grounds having a conversation when Dan Kusou skateboarded past them. The two walks past the Sakura Tree where Geo Stelar is seen sitting underneath it reading a comic.
In Chapter 6, Zoro is seen having a conversation with Erza Scarlet and Kagura Mikazuchi in the lounge area of the Training Camp.
In Chapter 12, Zoro is seen lifting a ten-plated barbell in the Training Camp.
In Chapter 35, Zoro is seen sleeping inside the bus that is heading towards Herowood.
In Chapter 44, Zoro, alongside the rest of the Deadly Hearts, welcomes Shinpachi Shimura and Winry Rockbell for becoming an official member of the team.
XP4 Heroes Coalition - Strike Witches[]
In Chapter 1, Zoro, alongside a group of swordspersons, are seen doing an early morning sword practice at one lawn in the Dormitory Village.
XP4 Heroes Coalition - Welcome to Herowood[]
In Chapter 9, Zoro is seen inside a mall called Multiverse Crossroad in Herowood.
The Multiverse Adventures While Riding On A Bus[]
Zoro is a member of the Multiverse Rescuers.
History[]
In Chapter 14, Zoro, alongside Renji Abarai, Shun Kazami, Takeru Takaishi and Ulrich Stern, were found by Amity Blight, Heartful Punch, Luz Noceda and Undine Wells by the waterfalls somewhere in the island of Elsaragozademontelban where they are facing a group of lizardmen. After taking care of the creatures, the two sides introduced themselves to each other and decided to make their way back to the bus.
In Chapter 20, Zoro is mentioned to have reunited with Chopper Tony Tony, Franky, Monkey D. Luffy, Nami, Robin Nico, Sanji Vinsmoke and Usopp.
In Chapter 25, Zoro, alongside Natsu Dragneel and Usopp, took their turn in guarding the bus in the deep and narrow valley between two canyons in a desert that is located somewhere in the island of Elsaragozademontelban when Mihawk Dracule made his presence and after coming to an agreement, Zoro and Mihawk went inside the bus, leaving Natsu and Usopp outside.
Abilities[]
Through years of extremely rigorous training regimen since childhood, which consist mainly of grueling body building exercises in addition to hard training in swordsmanship, Zoro has immense superhuman physical prowess, particularly his strength and agility.
After two years of intense training with Dracule Mihawk, Zoro has grown significantly more powerful than before. It is shown during his first appearance after the timeskip, that he can cut through a large ship with ease, speed, and precision (also considering without the use of his left eye). Zoro was even able to cut a Pacifista in half with just one slash from his swords, whereas two years prior he barely managed to only slightly damage one.
Zoro's newly-found strength is further demonstrated when he averts the previously mentioned formula of fighting the arc's second strongest foe when he easily defeats Hody Jones, a powerful fishman and captain of the New Fishman Pirates. He accomplishes this with just a single, one-sword strike, despite being at a disadvantage at fighting a fishman underwater. He has also grown strong enough to be able to effortlessly defeat a Logiauser of inferior fighting ability, as he demonstrated to Monet by cutting her vertically in half without Haki, proving that she would have died if he were serious.
Even without his swords, Zoro has monstrous physical strength. At a very young age, he was able to lift boulders over his head for training and during his regular training regimen, he would constantly train with heavy weights. Overall, Zoro is able to lift and toss an entire building. Zoro's sword strikes were precisely executed with an enormous amount of force able to easily create compressed air slashes powerful enough to cut through armored soldiers and hard materials such as stone or steel and even break the Tekkai of Zoan Devil Fruit enhanced Kaku. He was even strong enough to deflect a punch from Oars before the timeskip, and has developed the ability to pump his arms up with pure muscle.
However, Zoro seemed unable to effectively control his strength prior to the timeskip. This is shown when he tried to hold back while fighting the shipwrights of Galley-La using the dull edge of his swords, and yet still caused serious damage.
After the two year timeskip, it seems that Zoro has exponentially increased in physical strength as he was able to block an attack from the huge King Neptune's equally massive trident with ease. In Dressrossa, while Zoro was trapped under a heavy gravitational field created by Issho, Zoro can still muster enough strength to perform an extremely powerful flying slash that bypassed the force of the gravitational field.
He has also been shown to be highly skilled in hand to hand combat even able to effectively knock out much larger creatures with unarmed strikes. Furthermore, he has been able to defeat opponents with punches and kicks and even is able to fight on par with Sanji during their arguments, even without his swords at times. He invented Mutoryu, a style of hand to hand combat based on his sword techniques.
Zoro's agility, speed, and overall reflexes are also extraordinary. He has shown that he is quick and agile enough to keep up with Sanji, who is an extremely agile martial art master, as well as two Soru users simultaneously, Kaku and Jabra, who were among the most powerful masters of the Rokushiki martial arts. He can move at nearly imperceptible speeds, jump to great heights, and dodge bullets with ease.
On numerous occasions, Zoro has shown being able easily to evade or block high-speed attacks and projectiles that move so fast that it would normally be impossible for an average human to even notice them, much less evade them. Thus, Zoro was able to dodge simultaneous pressure shots as well as a laser blast from Bartholomew Kuma, both of which travel at extremely high speed, even after being heavily injured from his previous fights with Oars and fatigued from his fight with Ryuma.
After the timeskip, Zoro can even swim underwater at a speed faster than a fishman. This was mentioned by a member of the New Fishman Pirates, who exclaimed that it was inconceivable for the swordsman to be faster than a fishman (referring to the aforementioned battle with Hody Jones) underwater.
Finally, Zoro managed to absorb all of the damage and fatigue Luffy had accumulated, besides the damage inflicted on him during fights with Oars and Ryuma during the Thriller Bark Arc. This is especially impressive as Kuma had stated to Zoro that, since he was already close to death, taking in Luffy's pain and fatigue in addition to his would definitely kill him. Zoro, however, managed to survive and later only remarked afterward that "nothing happened" when questioned by Sanji. (Even though Brook saw it happen)
It is notable to mention that while Luffy fell unconscious after he defeated Moria due to his agony and exhaustion. Zoro, on the other hand, not only managed to survive but remained conscious even after accumulating all of the pain and fatigue he and Luffy had sustained, purely by sheer force of will and pride. Even with all the major damage he sustained, he still remained standing, although shortly thereafter he dropped into a coma for three days.
Zoro has survived numerous wounds that would easily kill normal people, showcasing his endurance and durability, and the majority of his battles lead to him being drenched in blood and sustaining lethal injuries. Even while in an almost death-like state, he is still able to battle against strong enemies and even fight with improved skill, tenacity, and a clear head.
All this demonstrates some of the greatest feats of endurance seen in the entire One Piece series, especially for one without Devil Fruit powers. He also has exceptional healing capabilities, able to recover from the most brutal injuries within a fairly short period of time, as shown that despite he nearly died after absorbing Luffy's immense pain and fatigue from Kuma's Devil Fruit powers, Zoro regained consciousness and was capable of walking again after only a few days.
Zoro is an extremely powerful master swordsman, being able to use one, two, and three swords in varying attack styles, going from melee-type all the way to long range sword strikes He is even able to use Flying Slash Attack, a high level sword technique that utilizes the very air pressure of sword swings itself to strike the enemy from a distance. Zoro can also carefully timed his sword strikes to counter or deflect extremely powerful attacks such as Kaku's Rankyaku.
In addition to his tremendous mastery of Santoryu, Zoro has exceptional skills in Ittoryu, being able to hold off the Nyaban brothers, defeat several of the lower-ranked members of Arlong's crew, as well as defeating Mr. 1, the strongest agent of the Baroque Works using only one sword. Zoro also has immense mastery of Nitoryu which was his original fighting style in his childhood before he started practicing Santoryu. In Thriller Bark, before he acquired Shusui as a replacement for the destroyed Yubashiri, Zoro could dual wield both Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu with incredible power and precision, able to fight equivalently with Ryuma, an extremely powerful samurai zombie imbued with Brook's swordsmanship skills through the Kage Kage no Mi for a majority of their battle before switching to use Ittoryu to finish off the undead samurai.
After his two years under Mihawk's tutelage, his skills in all the three styles have grown so powerful that he was able to defeat the fishman Hody Jones while underwater with a single sword strike, and effortlessly defeated the best swordsman of Fishman Island, considering him to be too weak to even kill his boredom, despite the latter having went through a transformation due to the Energy Steroids. Using Nitoryu, he is able to fight Monet, a Logia user and an officer of the Donquixote Pirates without using his full strength. Zoro was also able to cleanly slice apart Pica's gigantic stone statue with Haki-infused sword strikes.
Since no one else has been seen using anything similar to his Santoryu style (except for Jigoro while he possessed Zoro's shadow), it can be assumed that Zoro invented not only Santoryu but most, if not all, of his sword techniques. He is even seen perfecting a new technique in his fight with Braham.
If he is fighting weaker enemies (or innocent bystanders that he has no desire to injure in the first place), like the Galley-La employees in Water 7, he uses only the blunt sides of his swords. Although, as Nami and Chopper pointed out, due to his strength, even that could cause fatal injuries.
A long standing problem with Zoro was his inability to cut steel. The anime incorrectly shows him instinctively cutting steel during some of his encounters before learning how to control and master this ability during his battle with Daz Bones. After his two years of training Zoro is now able to easily cut through materials even stronger than steel. After the timeskip, he has shown the ability to slice through steel "like fruit", and is now strong enough to decapitate a legendary beast like a Dragon with ease.
Zoro seems to be predominantly left-handed. He keeps all three of his swords sheathed next to his right hip, an indication of being left-handed as it would be easier to pull a sword out from that side with a left hand. Also, when using one sword in combat, Zoro is usually seen using his left hand to wield the sword. His Ittoryu techniques have nearly always been executed with his left hand. Despite being left-handed, Zoro has rigorously trained since his childhood to be extremely ambidextrous in his swordsmanship, able to use his right hand and his jaw to perform equally powerful sword strikes with incredible precision.
During his battle against Kaku, Zoro manages to awaken a new sword style known as "Kyutoryu", which gives him the appearance of having six arms and three heads, like the deity Asura, when activating the technique"Kiki Kyutoryu: Asura". He also becomes surrounded by a dark aura while in this state, and the first time he achieved it, the ground shook and numerous holes appeared in it.
This ability also allows Zoro to utilize nine swords in combat to effectively triple his potential as a swordsman, and it is usually used as an extremely powerful finishing move. Kaku noted it as a tangible spiritual aura created by Zoro's spirit through intense spiritual focus, which was able to inflict immense physical damage.
After the time-skip, Shusui appears to be his "go-to" sword as it tends to be his choice when he uses Ittoryu. He often wields Shusui with his right hand, the Sandai Kitetsu with his left, and the Wado Ichimonji in his mouth.
It was stated by Luffy that Zoro possesses Haki, when discussing it in the context of members of his crew who could fight Caesar Clown, a Logia user. Because Law was referring to the ability to coat themselves in armor it confirms Zoro as a Busoshoku Haki user.
Prior to the Sabaody Archipelago Arc Zoro was never aware of Haoshoku Haki, something he (along with the rest of the crew) had not shown any knowledge of during the first half of the series. However he, along with Sanji, has commented on Luffy's ability to passively knock out half of Hody's men, stating that if Luffy could not at least do that much then he would have had to have stepped down from being captain.
While fighting Monet, a Logia user, on Punk Hazard, Zoro was able to slash her on the cheek, displaying the use of Busoshoku Haki, after saving Tashigi. Being his personal Haki specialty, Zoro has extraordinary mastery of Busoshoku Haki. During the Dressrosa Arc, it is revealed that Mihawk taught Zoro how to imbue his swords with Haki. He can imbue Busoshoku Haki into all three of his swords at once; in doing so, he managed to cut down Pica, who had already covered his entire body with the same Haki, thereby also demonstrating his supreme mastery over Haki as compared to the Donquixote top executive. In the film Gold, Zoro was able to reinforce his arms with Haki to successfully defend simultaneous slashes from both his swords Sandai Kitetsu and Shusui without getting injured at all.
Zoro is also very skilled in the use of Kenbunshoku Haki, shown when he was asked by Luffy if he could sense a "wild animal" in the Ryugu Palace, he stated that he could. Zoro was then shown using Kenbunshoku Haki to try and locate Pica during the Dressrosa Arc.
Trivia[]
- Zoro is the only member of the crew that Luffy personally sought out to invite before they actually met.
- Zoro is the only Straw Hat Pirate to be named after a real life pirate, this being after the Japanese pronunciation of François l'Ollonais.
- Zoro is the first known person since Ryuma to kill a dragon, an act which made the latter a legend. Both of them also killed the dragon the same way, by decapitation in the air.
- Along with Killer, Zoro is only one of two members of the Worst Generation who do not have a Devil Fruitpower. Incidentally, they are the only two who are subordinates rather than a captain.
- Zoro's reintroduction to the series after the timeskip is reminiscent of how Mihawk was introduced. Both sliced a galleon in two and both seemingly did so due to an interrupted nap.
- Zoro is the highest bounty starter on the East Blue with 60,000,000 bounty, defeating Luffy that amounts double of his initial bounty ( 30,000,000).
- Zoro's favorite foods are white rice, sea king meat, and anything that goes with ale. His least favorite food is chocolate because it is too sweet.
- Zoro also does not like ice cream, the same as Nami, Sanji and Franky.
- Zoro's favorite dish to cook is sashimi.
- Zoro's favorite type of island and season is autumn on a autumn island.
- Zoro's specific number is 02.
- Zoro's specific color is green.
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