Roronoa Zoro
Template:Infobox OPchara/Header Template:Infobox OPchara/Footer Roronoa Zoro (ロロノア・ゾロ) , known in the United States, Canada, and Australia as Roronoa Zolo is a fictional character in the anime and manga, One Piece. Being a member of the Straw Hat pirates, he has a bounty of 60 million berries.
Originally, the American version (Viz) spelled his name as "Roronoa Zoro", but it was changed to "Zolo" in chapter 50. His name was changed in the North American English versions for trademark reasons, and to match up with the dub of 4Kids Entertainment. The French and Spanish versions write Zoro's name as "Zorro". This name is also used in the German version but his backname was changed to Lorenor, mainly because it was easier to spell.
Zoro is a mighty swordsman who fights with santōryū, three Japanese samurai swords (katana), and his own peculiar fighting style. Though not a samurai, he appears to maintain a certain degree of bushido, and is frequently mistaken for one.
He is usually more lazy when the Straw Hat crew isn't fighting, spending almost all of his leisure time (as in, whenever he isn't fighting or training) sleeping soundly.
History
As a boy, Zoro trained in a dojo. Even as a kid, Zoro was strong enough to defeat most adults. However, there was one person Zoro could not beat - the Teacher's daughter, Kuina. After their 2000th fight (and Kuina's 2000th victory), Zoro challnged her in private for one more match - with real swords. After Zoro cried out of frustration, that he cannot fullfil his dream of becoming the world's best swordsman if he cannot beat Kuina. After Zoro clearly said that was his dream, Kuina started to cry as well, saying that she wants to be the best swordsman too, but her father says the girls can't be good swordsman so she doesn't have much time left and that she is already beginning to mature. Zoro yelled at her that she shouldn't say that because she can beat him, and the two make a promise - that either of them must become the worlds best swordsman. The next day, Kuina died after falling of the stairs. Zoro, remembering the promise, decided to fullfil the promise for both of them, and he asked the teacher for Kuina's sword, Wado Ichimounji, and he started to develop a new fighting style - Santouryuu, a three-swords-style. Before her sudden death, Zoro fought with two swords but after her death, Zoro started using her sword as well, clenched in his mouth.
Zoro originally was a bounty hunter, with ambitions of becoming the greatest swordsman in the world. However 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 by the Navy, and is now one of Luffy's "Straw Hat pirates". Holding on to his dream of becoming the greatest swordsman in the world he only joined Luffy to accomplish that goal, though Luffy doesn't mind - on the contray, he only sees this normal that the greatest swordsman and the greatest pirate are on the same crew.
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Cutting Steel
Throughout most of the series, Zoro is unable to cut steel with his sword, though his sword is able to go through rock. In combat against one of the soldiers of Sir Crocodile, Daz Boness a.k.a. Mr. 1 - a man who had eaten the Supa Supa no Mi (literally "Slice Slice Fruit"), which turned his body into a living steel weapon - that weakness came back to haunt him. Without being able to cut the steel that Daz Boness was forged of, none of Zoro's attacks were successful, and he was savagely defeated. But his oath absolutely forbade him to give up. So he rose up once more, bloodied from the vicious attacks he'd sustained; death was close upon him. It was in that state of near-death that he awoke - everything, from the softest feather to the toughest steel, had a "Chi" or "breath". This breath was the key to his victory. Sheathing the Wado Ichimonji, the symbol of his oath, he readied himself and sought the breath of Boness' steel. His foe charged and, in that instant, Zoro struck him down with a single blow, showing that he became a stronger swordsman. Once more he sheathed the sword, and gave his thanks to his enemy.
The "cut steel part" of his story creates a goof in the anime. In an anime-only scene where Luffy and the others encounter Fullbody and his ship, the Marines fire a cannon on the Strawhats, and Zoro cuts a shell in half. This can be explained as that the manga didn't mention that Zoro was unable to cut iron or steel. (Note: It is also possible that the shell was made of a weaker metal.) Another instance is during the filler Apis Arc, where Zoro is shown cutting thick steel chains.
Rival
Currently, Zoro's greatest defeat has been at the hands of another great swordsman, Dracule "Hawkeye" Mihawk. The wound he suffered at the business end of Mihawk's blade had to be closed by the use of metal staples (this is revealed during the battle with Arlong in the Japanese anime) and has resulted in a hideous scar. Zoro vowed to one day face that man again and defeat him in a duel. Until that day, he said firmly, not even Shinigami (the God of Death) can take his life away. Since his defeat he has done a lot of hard training all for the day he will face "Hawk-Eye" Mihawk again including, but not limited to: swimming in icy water; performing one-finger push-ups; and training with weight sets several feet tall.
It seems that, after every significant battle, Zoro is dripping with blood and heavily wounded. At one point, while he was trapped, he attempted to sever his own legs to escape and fight his enemies.
Recent Chapters
Currently in the manga Usopp and Zoro are handcuffed together (Thanks to a mistake of Usopp) and battling both Jyabura and Kaku, 2nd and 3rd strongest members of the CP9, in the attempt to acquire the key to Robin's handcuffs. He is Currently using Ussop as a sword he has called the "Hana Arashi", Nose Storm.
Abilities and powers
Zoro is a master swordsman, able to use one, two and three swords in varying attack styles, although he is most comfortable with his Santoryuu (3 sword style). Lacking a third hand for a third sword, Zoro handles his third sword in his mouth. His 3 swords are Sandai Kitetsu (a cursed blade which will cut nearly everything his owner will wish to cut), Yubashiri (an extremely light blade, able to perform swift techniques with) and Wado Ichimounji (Kuina's sword). Along with his mastery of his self-developed sword art, Zoro has above average speed and lifting capacity, as demonstrated when he perfoms his various manuevers. He also has an abnormal amount of stamina, able to withstand massive blood loss and prolonged battles. Zoro is arguably one of the strongest humans in One Piece; while most super powered heroes and villains gain power from eating one of the Devil Fruits, Zoro has gained his powers through hard work and training in his sword techniques, which some of them can be used as projectiles - using the air itself to hurt the enemy.
Zoro often speaks even when using the third sword, it's unknown how he manages to speak when his mouth is clenched holding a sword. The creator of the series, Eiichiro Oda, has said that it is his heart that allows him to speak (though Oda is known for giving joke answers to fans' questions, as well as just making up answers on the spot to avoid leaving a fan's question unanswered). A better explanation is that he learned ventriloquism on his own so he can communicate even when fighting.
Sword Techniques
Trivia
- His surname, Roronoa, comes from the real-life French pirate François l'Ollonais. This is because there is no differentiation between R and L in Japanese, so the name may also be said R'Orronais. His first name is also redolent of the famed swordsman Zorro.
- Eiichiro Oda stated that he made Zoro as a bodyguard of Buggy in earlier versions of the story; he scrapped that idea for the final version of One Piece.
- Zoro tends to sleep when the crew is sailing, even through blizzards. He is usually awakened either by Nami or Sanji in a rather violent way.
- Zoro has an unnatural ability to get lost even in small spaces. The manga speaks of him as not having any sense for directions. Luffy often makes fun of this, despite the fact that he isn't any better. These kind of traits are often added to powerful characters, in some anime and manga, to show that they also have their oddities.
- Zoro is 19 years old. His birthday is on 11/11; a slight pun considering number palindromes are called 'Zorome' in Japanese.
- Zoro is left-handed.
- Zoro has a huge scar on his chest from his duel with Mihawk. He also has scars on his ankles from the battle with Mr. 3 when he was going to cut off his legs to free himself.
- Zoro's dream is to beat Mihawk, currently the strongest swordsman in the world.
- Zoro's most important sword is Wadou Ichimonji ["The One road of Harmony"] (Kuina's Sword, within the top 21 best swords in the world as one of the 21 Ou Wazamono or '21 Great Edges'). His other two swords, obtained in Loguetown, are the Sandai Kitetsu ["Third Generation Demon-Splitter"] (a Wazamono or 'Sharp Sword' that has a curse in which all the previous owners fell to tragic deaths) and Yubashiri ["Snow Run"] (one of the 50 Ryou Wazamono).
- Zoro is 178 cm tall or 5' 10".
- Zoro usually doesn't get along with Sanji.
- Has a 60,000,000 Berry bounty after defeating Mr. 1
- His Poundo Hou attacks are reference to the 36 passions of the Buddhism (Sight, Hearing, Speech, Smell, Touch, Thought and on to those desires, Good, Evil, Neutrality, and onto those desires, Purity, Corruption. Total # of combinations: 36)
- It should be mentioned that when Zoro intends to fight seriously, he ties his black bandanna (which is usually tied on his left bicep) over his head.
- Zoro was offered a position and a number in Baroque Works because of his bounty hunting skills, but denied when he was not allowed to "meet the boss". He also refused the invitation because he wasn't allowed to become the boss. Afterwards, he killed the person who offered, Mr. 7.