User:Justyn/Zoro's History

Zoro's vow
Zoro spent his childhood training in a dojo. How he became a student of that dojo was not explained in the manga, but was in the anime. When Zoro was a young boy, he challenged the dojo to a match with its strongest person in order to test his strength, even though he had no experience in sword-fighting whatsoever. He made a deal with the dojo master, saying that if he won, he'd take their school sign. If he lost, he'd join the dojo. However, instead of fighting against the dojo master as he'd expected, Zoro ended up fighting against the master's daughter, Kuina, who was only two years older than Zoro. Kuina defeated Zoro with one blow, and he ended up joining the dojo.

After training in the dojo for a short time, 11-year-old Zoro had become adept in fighting with two swords and was now strong enough to defeat the dojo's adults. However, there was one person Zoro still could not beat - Kuina. Frustrated, he tried to get stronger, pushing himself to his limits in training every day, seemingly to no avail. After their 2000th fight (and Kuina's 2000th victory) Zoro challenged her in private for one more match - with real swords. He lost. Afterwards. Zoro cried out of frustration; he couldn't fulfill his dream of becoming the world's best swordsman if he couldn't beat Kuina. After Zoro stated this, Kuina started to cry as well, explaining that she wanted to be the best swordsman too, but her father had said that girls can't be master swordsmen since they will mature to be physically weaker than males. This angered Zoro. He yelled at Kuina that this wasn't true, that she could still beat him, and that training so hard to defeat someone who'd become weaker than him made him look bad. Zoro swore that the day he defeats Kuina, it'd be because he trained hard and grew stronger, not because she grew weaker. This made Kuina feel better and she decided to continue chasing her dreams. Inspired, the two made a promise: that both would grow stronger, and one day, one of them would eventually become the world's best swordmaster.

The next day, Kuina died falling down the stairs to the basement while looking for her whetstone; Zoro attended her funereral procession without crying, showing his mourning instead by training more vigorously and desperately than ever.


 * Note: In the English dub by 4Kids, this scene was censored and instead she was written to have been badly hurt by a group from a nearby town and was unable to fight anymore.

Later, Zoro's sensei, Kuina's father, had a private conversation with Zoro, saying that Zoro's presence had inspired her to train harder and become stronger than ever before. He said that because of Zoro, Kuina had begun breaking down the physical barriers that prevented a swordswoman from becoming the greatest. Though he doesn't specifically say so, it is clear that Kuina's father regrets telling his daughter that she couldn't be the best on the basis of her gender alone. Upon hearing this, Zoro cries for the first time since Kuina's death, and begs his sensei for Kuina's sword, so that he may achieve their shared dream of becoming the best swordsman for the both of them, and travel from then on with her memory beside him. His sensei agreed, and gave him the Wado Ichimonji, and Zoro begins training in santōryū: three-sword style.

Several years later, Zoro, now a teenager, is seen using santōryū to destroy rocks. He then prays at Kuina's gravestone with his sensei one final time before setting out on his journey to become the world's best swordsman.

In the manga, Zoro's past is much shorter, not explaining how Zoro came to be a student at the dojo. It also does not include any of the young Zoro's training scenes, Kuina's funeral procession, the sensei's conversation with Zoro about Kuina's growing strength, and Zoro's last visit to Kuina's grave before he began traveling the East Blue; whese scenes were all added into the anime.

Life on the seas
Zoro went to sea, looking to find and challenge Mihawk, the current strongest swordsman in the world. However, he somehow got lost at sea and was unable to find his way back to his island. Since swordfighting is more or less Zoro's only skill, he made money by catching wanted pirates and turning them in for their bounties, becoming known as the terrifyingly strong "Pirate-Hunter Zoro". Because of his reputation and skill, Zoro was offered a position and a number in Baroque Works, but declined when he was not allowed to "be the boss"; then, when Mr. 6 tried to kill him for refusing, Zoro defended himself and killed Mr. 6.

A moment of kindness landed Zoro in trouble with Helmeppo, the wimpy son of the Marine captain Axe-Hand Morgan. Zoro joined Monkey D. Luffy's crew after being saved from execution from the Marines, and is now one of Luffy's crew as the first mate. Holding onto his dream of becoming the greatest swordsman in the world, he told Luffy that he only joined him to avoid dying before achieving his dream. Zoro swore that if being on Luffy's crew ever got in the way of this dream, he'd kill him. Luffy simply smiled and said that as the future Pirate King, he wanted no one other than the strongest swordsman in the world on his crew.

In Loguetown, Zoro acquired Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri to replace the swords that'd been destroyed during his battle with Mihawk.

During the Alabasta arc, it was revealed that Zoro had yet to learn to cut steel. This caused a major problem for him during the Baroque Works Saga during his fights against Mr. 3 and Mr. 1. During his fight with Mr. 1, he discovered the Shishi Sonson (Lion's Breathe) attack, which allowed him to cut through virtually anything by attacking the "breath" of his target. On the brink of death, Zoro used this attack right when Mr.1 was about to deliver the finishing blow, defeating the Baroque Works agent and achieving his goal of cutting steel.

During the Skypeia arc, Zoro learned to use Ki to create blades that fly at his opponents when fighting Ohm

During the Water 7 Arc, Zoro showed less emotion about the fight between Luffy and Usopp than the other Straw Hats did, but was still troubled by the event. As Luffy wept after the fight, saying that his burden was heavy, Zoro told him not to falter, saying that everyone was relying on him.

During the Enies Lobby arc, Zoro's Yubashiri was destroyed by a Marine who'd eaten the Sabi Sabi no Mi Devil Fruit.

As Merry fell apart and Luffy and the crew gave her a Viking funeral, he continued to show his signature tough guy attitude by standing staunchly without shedding any tears. He was later seen staring at the broken hilt of his sword wondering what he should do. Back at Water 7, he was seen trying to buy a sword but had no money and was thrown out. Shortly after, Zoro's new bounty is revealed to be 120 Million Belly.

Before leaving Water 7, the Straw Hats discussed whether or not to allow Usopp to rejoin the crew. During this scene, Zoro gives an emotional rebuttal, stating that Luffy and Usopp had a duel to settle their differences, and Usopp lost and left and decided with his own will power to leave. He argued that if Luffy allowed Usopp back into the crew, he would be forgiving him too easily for disrespecting him leaving the crew and would be going back on his word. Zoro concluded that because Luffy was the captain that the rest of the crew relied on, he had to stand firm and not re-admit Usopp without an apology, and that if he did not live up to his role, then Zoro would be the next one to "start a fight and leave."

When Usopp does show up and the first thing he does is pretend the duel was just a joke, both Luffy and Zoro pretend not to hear it, and Zoro is later seen smiling after Usopp repents and rejoins the crew.

Recent chapters
After reaching Thriller Bark, Zoro's shadow is stolen along with Sanji's and Luffy's. After recovering aboard Thousand Sunny, he departs the ship to assist the crew in defeating Gecko Moria's minions. He encounters Brook and Ryuuma during their battle, and takes over for a weakened Brook. Zoro and Ryuuma fight evenly for several minutes, until Zoro unveils a new technique, Itōryū: Hiryuu Kaen. He destroys Ryuuma's body, releasing Brook's shadow and gaining possession of Shuusui. Zoro then joins the fight with Oz, and upon using his 108-pound cannon attack discovers that Shuusui will take some time to master. Zoro is defeated by Oz while creating an opening for Usopp so that Usopp could feed Oz the salt Brook recovered and make Luffy's shadow leave Oz's body. However, this was unsuccessful as Gecko Moria's Doppelganger pulled the shadow back inside Oz's body. Nightmare Luffy soon appears afterwards, and defeats Oz as soon as the shadows start leaving Luffy's body. Zoro is seen to be back up along with the rest of the Straw Hat crew, and helps in defeating Oz again by hitting him in the stomach with his Sanzensekai attack.