Roronoa Zoro
Roronoa Zoro is a male anime and manga character who features in One Piece.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Roronoa Zoro (Japanese: ロロノア・ゾロ, Hepburn: Roronoa Zolo" or "Roronoa Zollo") was a male human born 21 years ago in the East Blue. He was only 8 years old when he resolved to become an invincible swordsman and left his old life behind. This saw him journeying to Shimotsuki Village where despite his youth that his strength allowed him to defeat most adults and he went to the dojo of Koushirou. He challenged the man stating that if he won their match that Zoro would gain the dojo but if he lost then he would train under the man. Agreeing to the terms, Kozaburo had Zoro fight against his daughter Kuina where despite his skill he was unable to defeat her. With his defeat, Zoro decided to stay at the dojo and begin his training where he resolved to learn martial arts and swordfighting in order to defeat Kuina. In this time, he worked and trained to an incredible level where he was the best male student at the dojo with him constantly challenging Kuina only to lose each time. This led to his 2000th fight and loss at her hands where he then challenged her to a private fight using real swords. Despite his improved skill, he still lost and in frustration he cried where he told Kuina that his dream was to become the world's greatest swordsman. Kuina then confided that she shared a similar dream but had been informed by her father that as she was born a girl that she could never attain it as he believed women could never become true sword masters with their fighting potential decreasing as they matured over time. Her own frustration brought about a defeatist mindset but this only angered Zoro as he revealed that Kuina as she was the standard he measured himself as he saw her not as a girl but a swordfighter. The two made a promise where one of them would seek to become the world's best swordsman.
East Blue
During his journey, he came to arrive in Shells Town where one day he was at a tavern when Helmeppo who was the spoiled son of the corrupt Marine captain Axe-Hand Morgan began to terrorise the town with his pet wolf. This led to the animal attempting to attack a girl named Rika until Zoro stepped in by killing the wolf. This angered Helmeppo though he was unable to match Zoro but instead decided to threaten the citizens of the town. A deal was struck whereby Zoro had to remain restrained on a pole for a month and if he survived then he would be allowed to leave with no consequences for the people of the town. On the ninth day of his restraint, he was visited by Koby and Monkey D. Luffy where the latter arrived with the intention of recruiting Zoro to be part of his pirate crew. They eventually arrived where Zoro was being held, in time to witness Rika trying to feed him some rice balls which Zoro refused, most likely to avoid the girl being caught as there was a sign forbidding anyone to aid Zoro. The food ended up being stomped badly by Helmeppo because it was sweet while rice ball is supposed to be salty. After they left, Luffy asked Zoro to join him but he flatly refused to become a pirate. He then asked Luffy to feed him the dirtied rice balls as well as telling Rika that the food was delicious, revealing his kindness. Later in town, Rika explained to Luffy and Koby the reason for Zoro's capture, which only reinforced Luffy's decision to have him as his crewman. When Helmeppo stated that he would execute Zoro in three days time, Luffy angrily punched him for breaking his promise, which sent Helmeppo scurrying to his father, seeking revenge.
With the assumption that Zoro would join his crew if he got Zoro his swords back, Luffy went to the Marine base. Luffy caught Morgan's wrath by crushing his new-built statue and forced Helmeppo to show him where Zoro's swords were. Meanwhile, Koby explained the situation to Zoro while trying to untie him. Luffy came back just in time to save them from a firing squad. Refusing to die, Zoro accepted Luffy's invitation and revealed his unique fighting style. He also revealed his dream of becoming the best swordsman in the world, which Luffy supported, believing that the Pirate King should have the best in his crew. Luffy then proceeded a fight with Morgan. However, when Helmeppo threatened to kill Koby, Luffy knocked him out while Zoro defeated the Marine captain. The Marines, seeing their tyrant leader finally defeated, rejoiced and allowed Luffy and Zoro to go free. However, since they were pirates, the Marines asked them to leave the island but promised not to report them to headquarters. As they were leaving, Commander Ripper asked about Koby's past. To help Koby hide it, Luffy provoked him into starting a brief fight between them. Zoro stopped the fight before it could get too serious, but it was enough for Koby to muster up the courage to ask Ripper if he could join the Marines, for which Ripper granted permission. Upon leaving, Luffy and Zoro were saluted by Koby and the Marines for their efforts. Luffy and Zoro then sailed onto their next destination.
Overview
Personality and attributes
Typically, he wore a plain white shirt, black pants, and a light-green, haramaki sash that held his three swords. Zoro normally wore a black bandanna tied around his left bicep that he only put on his head when in a serious battle. Such was his reputation that he came to be known by the epithet of Pirate Hunter Zoro (海賊狩りのゾロ Kaizoku Gari no Zoro?).
He was shown to be a very shrewd and perceptive man both in and out of combat.
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 and likes to distance himself more to sleep or train. In fact, his defeat at the hands of Dracule Mihawk and subsequent vow to Monkey D. Luffy was the only time since his friend Shimotsuki Kuina passed that Zoro has been seen crying. 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 does not like to fight for reasons like that. Despite this assertion, though, he cares deeply for his crewmates and wishes to protect them at all costs, telling Ohm that in spite of his preference for fighting without a motivation he can feel one coming on.
Zoro's ultimate goal was to be the greatest swordsmen in the world.
Even before joining Luffy he had been established as a fearsome bounty hunter in the East Blue so much so that Koby had heard he was a demon in the form of a man. It was his accomplishments that were significant enough to earn him the epithet of 'Pirate Hunter'.
Powers and abilities
Though born an ordinary human, he devoted his life to becoming a powerful swordsman and fighter. Zoro went through years of extremely rigorous training that he went through since childhood with these consisting of gruelling building exercise along with hard training in swordmanship. This had led to him achieving immense levels of physical prowess with a focus on strength, agility and endurance. Though incredibly skilled in the East Blue, the region was regarded as the weakest of the world's seas.
Typically, Zoro did not plan out actions and strategies ahead of time. Despite that, Zoro was shown to be shrewd and observant fighter, which greatly aided him in his battles against fearsome enemies on multiple occasions. He came to learn all the strengths and weaknesses of an enemy in a short time, and use it to his advantage with him able to formulate plans that give his friends and allies a fighting chance.
He possessed immense physical strength and frequently spends his time at sea lifting incredibly large and heavy weights to keep growing stronger. Zoro's strength plays a large role in his abilities as a swordsman, as his strikes possess a great amount of power and range in their cutting ability. Thanks to his strength, Zoro is capable of clashing equally with superhumanly large and powerful opponents and can send normal-sized opponents flying away with ease.
During the Davy Back Fight, he came to develop an unorthodox fighting style known as No Sword Style (無刀流, Mutōryū).
He was a wielder of an extremely powerful Strong Blade (豪剣 Gōken?) type master swordsman with him being notable in using one, two, and three swords in varying attack styles. These ranged from melee-type attacks and went all the way to long-range sword strikes.
Among the techniques known to him included:
- Taka Nami (鷹波 Taka Nami?, literally meaning "Hawk Wave") : a Two Sword Style where whilst airborne it created a powerful gust of wind to knock opponents over.
- Tora Gari (虎狩り, Tora Gari?, literally meaning "Tiger Hunting") :
- Santoryu Ogi: Sanzen Sekai (三刀流奥義 三・千・世・界, Santōryū Ōgi: Sanzen Sekai?, literally meaning "Three Sword/Blade Style Secret Skill: Three Thousand Worlds") :
- Toro Nagashi (刀狼流し, Tōrō Nagashi?, literally meaning "Blade Wolf Stream/Flowing") :
- Tatsu Maki (龍巻き Tatsu Maki?, literally meaning "Dragon Twister") : a No Sword Style move whereby the motions of this technique are the same as Three Sword Style's Tatsu Maki, only this version is performed without swords, only with the arms. Zoro's lack of swords means the technique has no cutting power, and is more used only to send the opponent flying. As with the sword version, the rotating motion of Zoro spinning himself creates a spinning vortex, which sends the opponent several feet skyward. However, getting hit by one of Zoro's arms as he performs this move could also send the shockwaves into the unlucky victim's body, causing great blunt trauma and harm, as a sort of substitute in place of the cutting power of the original version.
- Ushi Bari (牛針, Ushi Bari?, literally meaning "Bull Needles") :
- Oni Giri (鬼斬り Oni Giri?, literally meaning "Ogre Cutter") : Zoro's signature technique with these being part of his Three Sword Style which made use of three-way simultaneous slashing attack. Zoro crosses his two swords across his chest and places the blade in his mouth horizontally behind them. Zoro then approaches the target (usually at high speed) and cuts through by swinging the swords across his chest, resulting in a descending diagonal-crossing slash from both swords while the mouth blade performs a horizontal cut from either the left or right, depending on which side of his mouth he positioned the sword's main blade at
Zoro came to be one of the founding members of the Straw Hat Prates (麦わらの一味, Mugiwara no Ichimi).
Notes
- Roronoa Zoro was created by Eiichiro Oda where he featured in the setting of the One Piece universe.
In other media
Television
Films
Video games
Appearances
- One Piece:
External Links
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