Roronoa Zoro


 * The subject of this article is sometimes called Roronoa Zolo.

Roronoa Zoro, is a pirate and former bounty hunter. He is the first person to join Luffy's crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, and is a master swordsman. Despite no clear role being given to him, Zoro is often labeled by fans as the second-in-command of the pirate crew (the First Mate). Partially due to the fact that in the series several captains refer to their first mate as their "Partners" or "Champions" and Luffy refers to Zoro by these earlier on in the series. He is currently one of eleven pirates who have been referred to as "The Eleven Supernovas". He and Killer are the only supernovas who are not captains.

Appearance
Zoro is almost always seen carrying around his three swords, usually bundled up with his green sash (or haramaki) over his right hip which is favorable so he could easily draw any one of them with his left hand; his right hand is usually seen resting over the swords. This may indicate that he is left-handed, for most sword wielding characters in the One Piece Universe wear their swords to the left. On his left ear he wears three earrings and he normally has a bandanna tied around his left arm. The rest of his clothes vary from time to time, however he usually wears a white shirt, dark green trousers, black shoes and the green haramaki sash around his waist.

His body is covered with scars from his many battles- during the Baratie Arc he lost a duel with his rival, Mihawk, and was left with a massive scar across his torso. In the Little Garden Arc he tried to free himself from a wax prison by cutting off his feet. Although he did not entirely succeed, he gave himself a scar around each ankle.

His other remarkable feature is his green hair, of which Sanji often teases him about, calling him 'marimo' (moss-ball)(moss-head in Funimation dub and VIZ manga).

According to Oda, Zoro resembles a shark. Oda uses the color green to represent Zoro, and he smells of steel.

Personality
Zoro usually maintains a stern, serious and distanced personality, but often loses his temper in a goofy and exaggerated comic style. He has a strong sense of reason when it comes to actual leadership of the crew and will often point out the seriousness of situations (such as Usopp's leaving the crew). And while technically not a samurai, Zoro maintains Bushido to a certain degree (i.e. he consistently refuses to attack an adversary whose back is turned on him, and neither does he tolerate getting assaulted from behind himself except when his crew mate is really in dire situation of dying of from an enemy threat, such as Kuma trying to take Luffy away, Zoro silently attacked him with Shishi Sonson) and is constantly mistaken for one. Whether he agrees with them or not, he will stand by Luffy's decisions, stepping in only to voice an opinion when the others have failed to see the true reality of a situation (again, such as Usopp rejoining the crew).

When the crew sails from one island to another, he normally either trains with weights or just sleeps and is normally awakened in a rather violent way by either Nami, Sanji and (accidentaly) Luffy. His only apparent job on-board the Going Merry was using his enormous strength to haul up the anchor. Aboard the Thousand Sunny, however, he has been shown to seemingly spend most his time in the Crow's Nest (which is also a gym), so it is possible that he was designated as the ship's lookout. He also likes sake, almost to the degree that Luffy likes meat, but like Nami, he mostly never gets drunk due to his inhumanly-high tolerance for alcohol. He is sometimes prone to using serious methods for solving simple problems such as separating him and Usopp from cuffs by cutting off a hand or cutting off his feet to get him unstuck from some wax.

Zoro can also be very vigorous and won't back down when he is determined to achieve a goal or defeat an enemy. The risks that Zoro will often take to reach his dream of becoming the best swordsman, often leaves 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 not one who stubbornly refuses utter defeat, especially if it all seems so inevitable. When Zoro has the intention to fight seriously, he normally ties his black bandanna (which is usually tied around his left upper arm) over his head. Furthermore, like any great warrior, Zoro is one who lives for the thrill of combat; in fact, he has a habit of showing a joyful smile whenever he faces a particularly skilled opponent, which often unnerves both ally and foe alike.

He also is one of the first Straw Hat members to suggest killing someone or threatening to kill someone.

Crew
Zoro, like Nami, is often critical of Luffy's haphazard leadership, but in the end, trusts him implicitly. Zoro likes to compete with Sanji and they often get into fights over petty matters, often at inopportune moments. However, when the pair fight together against a common foe, they're an extremely tough, nearly unstoppable team. Both Usopp and Chopper are in total awe of his strength and 'tough-guy' attitude. Owing to his simple, direct nature, he is often exploited by the more cunning Nami, particularly in financial matters. The two often bicker due to their both having fairly quick tempers. Since Brook's entrance into the crew they have a sort of respect towards one another perhaps for both being swordsmen. Zoro tends to be the most mature member in the crew.

Friends
Before the storyline, Zoro had traveled around with two training partners, Johnny and Yosaku whom called him "Aniki" (older brother). He seemed to share a good relationship with them as group of traveling bounty hunters. When they last saw each other, Zoro parted with them on good terms; however, they acknowledge that as a criminal they cannot be seen with him.

He also holds his vow to his friend Kuina dearly. Whenever he comes close to defeat (such as the events with Morgan and Mihawk), he recalls her memory and his promise to spur him on.

Enemies
He lacks Luffy's trust in others, thus he is often overtly cautious when dealing with certain people. But usually, he will resort to intimidation when it comes to most situations, causing others (usually people much weaker than him) to react with complete fear. Zoro has a habit of making many more enemies where ever the crew ventures when compared to any other straw hat.

Zoro has a unique relationship with Ensign Tashigi of the Marines. Tashigi and Zoro met in Loguetown, where she helped him search for new katana. Zoro defeated her once when she attacked him after finding out that he was a pirate, but refused to fight her again in later confrontations due to her uncanny resemblance to his childhood friend, Kuina. So far, whenever he has seen her, he has run away claiming that she is the one person he cannot fight.

During his journey, Zoro has also made or met many rival swordsmen such as Mihawk, Mr. 1(who does not see himself as a swordsman), Samurai Ryuuma, Kaku, Hatchan, and Priest Ohm.

Abilities and Powers


Zoro is considered to be one of the Straw Hat crew's top three fighters; so much that people occasionally mistook him as the captain of the Straw Hat Crew after witnessing his fighting skills in battle. Even without his swords, he has monstrous strength. He is able to toss an entire building at an opponent and even able to deflect Oz's punch singlehandedly. He can use some sword techniques without his swords. Zoro has shown to pack powerful punches, even developing the ability to pump his arms up with pure muscle.

Zoro is inarguably one of the strongest characters revealed thus far; while most super powered pirates and villains gain power from eating one of the Devil Fruits, Zoro has gained his powers through hard work and training. Zoro has enough power in his lower body to allow him to keep up at a running pace with Sanji, who is a master of the Red Leg style as well as move at near-imperceivable speeds and jump astonishing heights. He has also been known to effectively knock out much larger creatures using massive kicks.

To match his strength, Zoro also has ridiculous amounts of stamina, vitality, endurance, and tolerance for pain, withstanding Mr.1's two jamming buzzsaws into his chest during the Arabasta arc and Arlong stabbing his saw-like nose into his face, not to mention surviving a slash to the chest from Mihawk's Black Sword, enduring a mass of continuous Rankyaku attacks rained down (literally) at him by CP9's Kaku, and managing to stay conscious after Kuma fired his Ursa Shock throughout Thriller Bark (which incapacitated everyone else) right before convincing the Shichibukai to have transferred all of Luffy's pain and fatigue into him. Kuma was confident Zoro wouldn't live through afterwards. However, the swordsman was seen standing blood-drenched at the end of the chapter, claiming that nothing happened.

During almost all of his major battles, Zoro is usually seen covered with blood at the end (Oda has stated that Zoro lost 5 liters of blood fighting Hachi and Arlong at Arlong Park). Zoro's agility, speed, and overall reflexes are also extraordinary; in numerous occasions, Zoro has shown being able to evade (or block) high-speed attacks and projectiles that would normally be impossible for an average human to perceive, much less intercept, nor move out of the way from.

HOW CAN YOU GET LOST IF YOU CAN SEE THE PATH RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, EVEN YOU CAN'T HAVE A SENSE OF DIRECTION THAT BAD!

-Sanji's comments on Zoro's sense of direction

Though 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 is often the result of Zoro not understanding directions; in the Arabasta Arc, he mistakes going north for going up, and 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), even more ridiculous is that he is unaware of his sense of direction or lack thereof and everytime he gets lost he mutters "the others are lost again". This is further made fun of with Jigoro in Thriller Bark, as he had Zoro's shadow implanted in him, while the Zombie Generals were heading to help, he goes in the opposite direction. However, he has other strong senses and is often one of the first members of the crew to hear an enemy approaching or sense danger. Unlike other members of the crew, Zoro does not shrink from the idea of using deadly force against dangerous enemies.

Weapons
Zoro is a master swordsman, being able to use one, two, and three swords in varying attack styles, going from melee-type all the way to artillery. Although he is most comfortable with his Santōryū (literally: three sword style), his skills with a single sword aren't insufficient either, being able to hold off the Nyaban brothers, having bested several of the lower-ranked members of Arlong's crew (his two other swords were destroyed by Mihawk, leaving him only with the Wado Ichimonji), defeating Mr. 1, and most recently the zombie, Ryuuma. Lacking a third hand for a third sword, Zoro holds his third sword in his mouth. Some of his sword techniques use the air itself to hurt the enemy. Zoro often speaks with his sword held in his mouth, though it's unknown how he manages to do so. 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.

If he is fighting weaker enemies (or innocent bystanders that he has no desire injuring in the first place), like the Galley-La employees in Water 7, he uses only the blunt sides of his swords. Although, as Nami pointed out, due to his strength, even that could cause fatal wounds. A long standing problem with Zoro was his inability to cut steel. He managed to instinctively cut steel during some of his encounters before learning how to control this ability during his battle with Daz Bones.

Though Brook became the crews 2nd swordsman after he joined, the level of mastery and power between the two is significantly different, made obivous by the times where both swordsmen have attempted to take on the same foe. While Brook had been unable to defeat Ryuuma no matter how hard he fought and while Ryuuma only used a fraction(at most 50%) of his power, he noticed that Zoro was able to defeat him at full power with only two of his swords. At the Sabaody Archipelago he struck a Pacifista with a high speed sword attack, yet failed to do much damage to it and had to be rescued from this result afterwards. However, when Zoro attacked the same Pacifista, the results were much different.

Zoro has shown a new ability called "Asura", which gives him the appearance of having six arms and three heads, like the deity of the same name. The exact nature of this attack is currently unclear, but Kaku suggested it was an illusion created by Zoro's spirit.

Zoro's Swords
During his current adventures he uses the following swords;


 * 1) Meitou; Wadō Ichimonji
 * 2) Sandai Kitetsu
 * 3) Meitou; Shuusui

Former Swords
For one reason or another, Zoro has one or more of his swords destroyed or incapacitated in some way
 * 1) Meitou; Yubashiri (destroyed on Enies Lobby by Shuu during the Buster Call and now resting on Thriller Bark)
 * 2) Katana x2 (destroyed by Mihawk)
 * 3) Meitou; Hana Arashi/Usopp (stopped using it after unlocking the cuffs connecting him to Usopp)

The Promise
Nothing is known about Zoro other than as a boy, Zoro trained in a dojo in Shimotsuki village. Zoro states that once he decided he would become an invincible Swordsman, he left his life behind.

Even as a child, Zoro was strong enough to defeat most adults. In the anime it is shown that he was a traveler who took down dojo signs (a physical form of honor to that dojo, being removed equating to loss of honour) after defeating them. However, there was one person Zoro could not beat - the sensei's daughter, Kuina (In the anime she is the reason he joins her father's dojo in the first place. Kuina's father made a deal that if he could defeat her Zoro would take the sign. If not, Zoro have to train under him. Obviously he lost, and thus trained to defeat Kuina). After their 2000th fight (and Kuina's 2000th victory) Zoro challenged her in private for one more match - with real swords. She beat him, and he cried with frustration, telling Kuina his dream of being the world's greatest swordsman. Hearing this, Kuina confided in Zoro, telling him that she shared the same dream but knew she could never attain it - her father had told her that girls could never be true sword masters, and that her fighting potential would decrease as her body matured. Zoro, annoyed by her defeatist attitude in spite of repeatedly winning against him, told her that one day he would beat her because he was more skilled, not just because she was a girl. The two make a promise - that either of them must become the worlds best swordsman. The next day, Kuina died falling down the stairs of her dojo.

Zoro, remembering the promise, decided to fulfill the promise for both of them, and he asked the teacher for Kuina's sword, Wadō Ichimonji, and he started to develop a new fighting style - santōryū, 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.

The World's Best
Somehow he eventually learned of Mihawk, who is currently the greatest swordsman in the world. Zoro eventually went to sea looking to find and challenge Mihawk to a duel, but got lost and could not return to his home. Since fighting is more or less the only thing Zoro is really good at, he would usually take on a bounty hunter job in order to pay for sword repairs and meals. From then on, he quickly made a reputation as a "Pirate Hunter".

Because of his reputation, Zoro was offered a position and a number in Baroque Works because of his bounty hunting skills, but declined when he was not allowed to become the boss. Afterwards, he killed the person who offered, an earlier Mr. 7 of Baroque Works, for trying to kill him for refusing.

Held at the Marine Base
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 Marines, and is now one of Luffy's crew. 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 contrary, he only sees it natural that the greatest swordsman and the greatest pirate are on the same crew.

Meeting Mihawk
Zoro finally got an opportunity to prove his skill when the crew came across Dracule Mihawk, who was attacking the ship of Don Krieg. The world's greatest swordsman was challenged by Zoro, but despite using his full power, Mihawk easily held him off with a six-inch knife, lamenting that he didn't bring anything smaller with him. Despite being badly wounded, Zoro continued to fight, and impressed by his courage and will power, Mihawk gave him a chance to face his Black Sword. Zoro used his strongest attack at the time, the ultimate technique of the Santouryuu, Sanzen Sekai (Three Thousand Worlds), but even so, two of his swords were shattered by Mihawk's following attack, leaving only Wadō Ichimonji. From that point on, Zoro swore never to lose to another swordsman again.

Journey onwards
Zoro has proven his skill with the sword against several powerful foes while fighting for the Straw Hats, including taking down the fish-man Hatchan, and defeating an entire town of Baroque Works agents at Whiskey Peak. He even defeated Das Bones, the powerful assassin in Baroque Works. After Baroque Works was defeated in Arabasta, he was given a bounty of 60,000,000.

He continued to travel with the Straw Hats to Skypiea, defeating Ohm, one of Eneru's underlings. With the defeat of Eneru, Zoro and the Straw Hats returned to the Grand Line.And after, at Enies Lobby, defeating Kaku, CP9's second most powerful agent, and also learning Asura.With CP9 defeated, he raised his bounty to 120,000,000.

After Enies Lobby
Chapter 430: With the Going Merry, everyone has managed to escape Enies Lobby safely. However, after escaping, Iceburg arrives with the Galley-La company just in time to pick up the Strawhat Pirates as the Merry suddenly breaks apart. Luffy then gives the Going Merry a viking funeral by burning it as the crew tearfully says goodbye (Zoro, though, maintained his tough guy appearance).

2 days later, back in Water 7, he is seen staring at the broken hilt of his sword wondering what he should do. Finally, he was then seen rushing to meet the others, to warn them of the marines arrival. However, as usual, Zoro ends up getting lost on the way there. When he arrived, he was attacked by Sergeant Helmeppo with dual kukri knives, but quickly defeated the young man.

In Chapter 435, He was seen trying to buy a sword but had no money and was thrown out. Later on, Zoro's new bounty is revealed; the bounty is set at 120,000,000. He also helped launch Franky towards the "Thousand Sunny", the Straw Hat's new ship. He was later seen, when he and Sanji inform the rest of the crew that Garp's battleship was near the island. At chapter 438, Zoro took the position that Usopp shouldn't be allowed back with the crew if he returned still full of pride, his reasoning being that Luffy as captain must stand firm as it was Usopp that left them and lost the duel with Luffy over the fate of the Going Merry. As so, he smiles when Usopp apologizes for being stubborn and asks if he can re-join the crew.

When Luffy and Usopp started arguing in the first place... I didn't care about whose emotions were stronger... or who was correct... but a duel between men was fought and the conclusion was set in stone.

-Part of Zoro's speech on Usopp rejoining.

Adventure on Thriller Bark
After sailing for some time on the Thousand Sunny, Zoro and the rest of the crew came across a mysterious barrel floating on the ocean. Upon opening it, a flash shot up from it. After braving a storm that mysteriously came afterwards thanks to Nami and Franky, Zoro and the rest of the crew found themselves in the presence of a ghost ship.

This ship apparently belonged to a skeleton named Brook who, by chance, initially accepts Luffy's offer to join the crew. This apparent new addition to the crew made Zoro scold Nami and Sanji for not keeping Luffy from inviting the skeleton. Zoro then joined for dinner as the skeleton related his past to the others. Just as Brook was about to perform before Zoro and the rest of the crew, a ghost appeared and some clanking sounds were heard. These sounds were caused by the gates of the island that suddenly appeared, Thriller Bark, closing. These events prompted Brook to head to the island before Zoro and the rest of the Straw Hats' eyes.

After witnessing Franky's present to the Straw Hats that the cyborg decided to show them, Zoro and the rest of the Straw Hats decided to look for Nami, Usopp, and Chopper who had not returned. However before Zoro and the rest could go to the island, they were stopped by an invisible thing. The thing stole one of Zoro's swords and tried to stab Luffy with it. Luckily, Franky kicked it away before it found it's mark. The thing later left Zoro and the rest baffled.

After the Thousand Sunny was caught in what was apparently an oversized spider web, Zoro and the rest disembarked onto the island. There, they met the Cerberus which didn't intimidate Zoro. After Luffy tamed the beast, Zoro and the rest met two more of the island's creatures. Luffy caught the "Geezer Tree" while Franky caught the unicorn. Zoro, along with Sanji, then stopped Luffy before he could allow the "Geezer Tree" to join the group.

Zoro and the rest then came across some ghosts who affected some of them with their strange abilities. Zoro seeing his companions in such a pitiful state merely shook the whole matter off only to be affected by one of the ghosts himself. After Zoro and the rest who also affected by the ghosts recovered, they pressed forward. Zoro and the rest later met with some Zombies and defeated them with a combo technique. The group then met with a old man who looked like a Zombie. The old man asked them to defeat Gecko Moria who had stolen his shadow.

While in Hogback's mansion, Zoro disappears not long after Sanji does. Later, a shadowed figure was shown attacking Robin, Luffy, and Franky with Zoro's Ittouryuu: 36-Pound-Cannon attack. However, the zombie's body was that of Jigorou, the zombie that received Zoro's shadow. It is later reveled that the zombie has inherited Zoro's Shadow and thus is able to use all his techniques. Zoro was found asleep on the Thousand Sunny with Sanji and Luffy and was woken up by Usopp.

Counter Attack


After purifying some Zombies, Zoro, Franky and Sanji are about to cross a bridge leading to Hogback's laboratory when Oz smashes it. With the construction of a new bridge done by Franky, Sanji departs to save Nami. Later on Zoro and Franky finds the defeated Brook, and saves him in the last moment from "legendary samurai" zombie. Seeing the samurai's sword Zoro claims he intend to fight and take it. After a short but intense battle, he defeats the legendary samurai and gained the sword Shuusui, from an ashamed Ryuuma.

When Moria gained control of Oz, he ordered him to rampage Thriller Bark and defeat the Strawhats. Zoro wanting to fight him only cut of his left tusk before being defeated by Oz's attack. Later on he alongside the other Strawhats regain consciousness and started a series of combo attacks against Oz. Using a 108 Pound Cannon at Oz, Zoro notes how his Shuusui is heavy and he is still not adept using it. After Moria manipulates Oz's body to allow it to stretch the Strawhats are taken down one by one. But before Zoro is taken down, Chopper formulates a theory that his right arm is his weak point. As his final movement, Zoro tried to damage the arm, but fails since zombies do not feel pain, and is taken out. After being carried away from the fight between Nightmare Luffy and Oz, by the Thriller Bark Victim's Association, he regains consciousness, and helped Luffy use Giant Bazooka to shatter Oz's spine. As Moria uses Shadow Asgard he stands by, watching the fight between Moria and Luffy, and is almost burned away by the sun until, with the defeat of Moria, his shadow is finally returned. After launching an attack on the Thriller Bark Victim's Association Bartholemew Kuma targets Zoro.

The Pain of Protection
Zoro tries to fight Kuma, but Kuma just pushes his attacks away with his Nikyu Nikyu no Mi, leaving Zoro at a disadvantage. Kuma then comes with an ultimatium: give up Luffy and the rest will be allowed to survive. Zoro and the crew refuse and so Kuma calmly detonates the island with an Ursa Shock. However, Zoro rises again and even launches a succesfull Shishi Sonson [Lions Song] on Kuma, revealing that he is cyborg. Kuma then states that he is a cyborg but not like "Cyborg" Franky and furthermore tells that he is an incomplete human weapon, created by the World Government, and Dr. Vegapunk, called Pacifista. Zoro then proceeds to ask for his head to be taken in exchange for Luffy's. Kuma agrees, but at that point Sanji wakes up and wants to give his head instead. Zoro calmly hits one of his wounds and knocks Sanji out. Kuma then proceeds to use his powers and draw out all of Luffy's pain and fatigue. Luffy had so much pain and fatigue that it formed a gigantic paw of energy. Kuma gives Zoro a small sample of it and Zoro can barely tolerate the pain. Zoro then says "Let me choose the location". Zoro then takes the paw of pain and goes to a nearby forest. He takes a few breaths before he places his hands inside of the giant paw. When the Straw Hat crew awakens along with the Rolling Pirates Sanji goes out to look for Zoro and finds him in the forest covered from head to toe in blood. When Sanji asks what happened to him, Zoro replies "Nothing... nothing at all" in a seemingly calm tone. He is seen sleeping in the Thriller Bark Mansion, with wounds Chopper says were life threatening, while his nakama (minus Chopper, who was taking care of him and Nami, who was watching over him) celebrate their victory. Two days later Zoro is awake and goes to the grave that Franky built for Brook to honor the Rumba Pirates and asks Brook permission to lay his Yubashiri to rest near the grave and later jokes that Brook has bad luck since this crew is varied to which Brook jokes back with him.

The Tenyruubito Affair and the Nakama of the Pirate King
As the Straw Hats continue their journey, Zoro became embroiled in the battles against the Flying Fish Riders in protection of former enemy Hatchan against the slave trader Duval. Assisting Hatchan in his escape, he comes to an understanding with his former enemy while defeating those in their way. After the incident, the Straw Hats arrived at the Shabondy Archipelago, where Zoro decided to go off on his own, presumably to get some liquor, as he was later seen chugging on a bottle of one. Though he claimed he knew where the Sunny was docked, a misread sign made the swordsman run off into the unknown, getting himself lost again. Eventually, he enters a bad area where a Tenryuubito is messing around with his slaves and the local population. Although other members of the The Eleven Supernovas were watching, Zoro attempted to challenge one for his mistreatment. But before he could get too far, Jewelry Bonney knocked him out of the gunfire, forcing him to play along to escape the Noble's wrath. After a brief argument with Bonney, Zoro proceeds to carry the injured civilian earlier by the Noble to the nearest hospital, ignoring Bonney's protests. Several of the Supernovas watching the encounter comment that Zoro is a 'beast' and radiates an 'insane killing intent'. They contemplate how powerful his captain (Luffy) must be to keep such a powerful and seemingly uncontrollable man, with such a high bounty in check.

He apparently jumps onto Luffy's flying fish (after being told by the latter to) in an attempt to find his way back to the ship, but is crashed into the Auctioning House along with them. After Hatchan is shot, Zoro witnesses Luffy punch Saint Charloss in the face, the same Noble he himself almost attacked. Zoro remarked that Luffy should've given him the chance to slice the noble himself. He also witnessed the mechanic they were looking for, Silvers Rayleigh who uses an ability known as "Haki" to knock out most of the crowds, as well as Saint Shalulia. Zoro assisted Luffy andbattle his way out the massive horde of Marines, before escaping along with Rayleigh with the help of Duval's Rosy Life Riders.

They return to Shakky's Rip Off Bar to rest. There, Rayleigh reveals he was Gold Roger's First Mate, and reveals the truth about how what led to his execution. Indeed Roger was never captured, rather he gave himself up. Four years before his death, Roger contracted an incurable illness and spent most of the years going on his final adventure to the Grand Line, eventually reaching the end, and conquering it. Roger then became known as the Pirate King, but that didn't matter to him as he was still about to die. A year before his death, he secretly disbanded the Jolly Roger Pirates and the members disappeared. Roger mentioned to Rayleigh that he isn't going to die. in Roger's final year, he gave himself up to the Marines, and sentence to public execution. The Marines publicly claimed that they captured Roger as a show of power, and used his public execution to set an example to all pirates, but his last words before his death started "The Great Pirate Age". While Rayleigh himself didn't witness Roger's execution, his subordinates, Shanks and Buggy were present. The mention of the latter mildly irritates Zoro.

Current Events
Rayleigh congratulates the Straw Hats on making it to the first half of the Grand Line but tells them he's going to need three days to coat the Thousand Sunny. In addition due to the arrival of an Admiral, he will move the ship as not to be noticed, so he gives the Straw Hats pieces of a Biblicard to meet up once its done. Because of the Admiral threat, Zoro mentions they too should split up, to avoid getting caught and meet up at Rayleigh's location. Sanji notes that this is an ironic comment going from him. As they say their farewells to Shakuyaku, Camie, Pappug and Hatchan, the Straw Hats depart but are confronted by the Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma. As he attacks, the Straw Hats retaliate, now at full strength as opposed to worn out from their prior encounter at Thriller Bark. Zoro notes that there is something different about his "atmosphere" from before. The Straw Hats continue to fight "Kuma" and Luffy, Sanji and Zoro finally deliver a successful counter-attack in the form of the Gomu Gomu no Diable Jet Mouton 600 Pound Cannon combo, knocking "Kuma" back. Zoro notes that it may not be the real Kuma as he hasn't reflected their attacks or teleported with his Nikyu Nikyu no Mi abilities. This poses a problem because there is one or more copies of Kuma with similar levels of strength. Zoro suddenly collapses from the phantom pain of when he had all of Luffy's pain and fatigue was transfered to him but managed to get up and hit Kuma with a new Asura technique which badly damages the clone, before Luffy finishes it off.

As the Straw Hats catch their breath, they contemplate how powerful their opponent was, and how he came so early as they planned to hide for the next three days, and were worried as to how they are going to deal with more opponents like that. Just then, a broadaxe-wielding warrior named Sentōmaru appeared with yet another Pacifista and ordered it to capture the Straw Hats. As the Straw Hats separated to avoid capture, Zoro, Brook and Usopp were suddenly confronted by Kizaru: one of the 3 Admirals and he proceeded to attack Zoro with a blast from his kicks. With Usopp and Brook unable to do anything to Kizaru due to the power of the Pika Pika no Mi, the Admiral attempted to finish Zoro off, but had his kick deflected by Silvers Rayleigh appearing to save him. Usopp and Brook again try to escape with Zoro, but as the PX-1 Pacifista starts coming after them Zoro tells them to put him down, and he will let them get away. But Usopp refuses saying Zoro is more useless than him right now. Even with Sanji's help they are all beaten down by the Pacifista. Before they can get up to run again, or it can attack once more, the real Bartholomew Kuma shows up, and orders the Pacifista to stop. Zoro instantly recognises this as the real one, and they briefly talk, before Kuma asks Zoro "Where would you like to go?", while removing his glove. He then swiftly touches Zoro with his hand, making him vanish. He is shown having landed in the exact same spot Perona was sent to, the ruins of Shikkearu Kingdom, Kuraigana Island, in the Grand Line. He wakes up having been bandaged ridiculously by Perona, wondering where he is. As he awakes, he asked for his swords but Perona refuses to give him his weapons back.

Filler Battles

 * Zoro vs. Erik the Whirlwind
 * Zoro vs. Billy the Bandit
 * Zoro vs. Mountain Whale Dick
 * Zoro vs. Reik
 * Zoro vs. Golass
 * Zoro vs. Pin Joker
 * Zoro vs. General Hotdog
 * Zoro and Luffy vs. Saga
 * Zoro vs. General Maji
 * Zoro, Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, and Robin vs. Governor
 * Zoro vs. Don Achino

Early One Piece
Originally, Zoro was planned by Oda to be the bodyguard of Buggy the Clown. A picture of an incarnation of him in Buggy's crew was then later released in vol 3 along with another picture of Buggy's crew.

Translation and Dub Issues
Most of Zoro's attacks are puns and some also have religious connections. One of Zoro's more common attacks, Oni Giri (Demon Slash), is a pun on the japanese word onigiri (rice ball). Another common attack, the 36/72/108 Pondo Hou, is a reference to the 36 passions of Buddhism. Zoro's newest power, Asura, also borrows from religion by taking its name from a group of Hindu demons. This is a bit ironic considering that Zoro is a stated atheist, and Nami and Chopper have both claimed that Zoro is more arrogant than the self-proclaimed "god" Eneru.

In the English dub of One Piece, Zoro is referred to as "Zolo". Originally, the English version of the manga by VIZ spelled his name as "Roronoa Zoro", but it was changed to "Zolo" in chapter 50. It is possible that this name change was either a result of trademark issues with Zorro - who shares a similar name - or to maintain similarities to the 4kids dub. In the book The Anime Encyclopedia - A guide to Japanese animation since 1917(2001), Zoro's name was spelled "Zorro" in the One Piece entry. Such cases as this have been common in many translations across the world, mostly because of the similarity between the two names. To date, however, this has yet to raise concerns over copyright between the two characters.

In Japanese promotions and in some art work, the character is often referred to as "Zoro" but is also spelled "Zolo" in a few cases, mostly in promotions. However, there are fans that claim that "Zoro" was the creator's intended spelling, since it is almost always spelled that way in art and it is supposed to be based off the aforementioned character "Zorro". However, the appearance of "Zolo" in Japan can be explained without relating it to 4Kids or copyright laws due to interchangeable L and R sounds. Other characters who have displayed this problem have include Franky (Flanky) and Robin (Lobin). In the end, in noted cases English speaking fans may choose to specifically refer to the dub version of Zoro as "Zolo", while referring to the original version as "Zoro".

In the English dub by 4Kids, Kuina's death was removed. Instead, she was rewritten to have been seriously injured by a group from a nearby town, leaving her unable to fight; a situation which, oddly, could be seen as more violent than the original. Zoro's commitment, therefore, is to continue fighting for her sake, instead of in honor of her death. During the Drum arc in the 4Kids dub, when the ankle scars he obtained during his duel with Mr.3 were exposed, they were rewritten to have been gained from a bear trap- the Straw Hats never visited Little Garden in that version.

Cameos and Crossovers

 * Zoro appeared in an Shonen Jump special, where Enel attacks Tokyo and Odaiba.
 * Zoro and other characters also appeared in Cross Epoch.
 * Zoro has appeared in the games Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars for the DS. He also appeared in Battle Stadium D.O.N on the GameCube and PlayStation 2.
 * Zoro has appeared in the game Vattroller X for the GBA.

Merchandise
As a main character, Zoro has been the choice character in many forms of merchandise. He has been featured in the series of models Portrait of Pirates. He has featured in trading figure sets such as One-Piece Motion Figure box and the One Piece Styling Figures. When the Wii game One Piece: Unlimited Adventure was released Zoro was one of the crew produced as a figure in the One Piece Locations Trading Figures series.

He also featured in One Piece Gashapon sets, including the 5 piece One Piece VS Figure Gashapon set. Another Gashapon set he featured in was the One Piece Full Color R Gashapon, of what he was featured twice. He was sold alongside Robin in the One Piece Monkey Island Mascot Keychain series.

He was issued alongside Kuina in a One Piece Block Figures set featuring the Straw Hats and their past mentors/loved ones.

Songs

 * Eyes of Zoro
 * Spirit of Zoro
 * Holy Holiday (as back-up singer to Luffy)
 * Respect! (Luffy, Zoro and Sanji)
 * Family (with other Straw Hats)
 * Utae! Jingle Bell (with other Straw Hats)
 * You Are the One (with other Straw Hats)
 * Sekai ichi no otoko to yobareru tame ni (Zoro, Sanji and Usopp)
 * Akuma no Mi (Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji)
 * Jungle Fever (with other Straw Hats)
 * A Thousand Dreamers (With other Straw Hats)
 * We Are! (Mugiwara Version) (Luffy, Nami, Chopper, Zoro, Sanji, Robin and Usopp)

Trivia

 * Zoro owns his own Jolly Roger, like all the Straw Hat crew. It has Zoro's bandanna, two swords instead of cross-bones, and a sword in it's mouth.
 * Zoro is described as being somewhat like the eldest son of the family that is the Strawhat crew.
 * His family name, Roronoa, comes from the real-life French pirate François l'Ollonais.
 * In Japanese Fan Polls, Zoro is consistently the second most popular character.
 * Zoro's favorite foods are White rice, sea king meat and anything that goes with ale.
 * When fighting in major battles, Zoro has frequently had some sort of handicap. In some cases, this is having a physical disability prior to a battle, such as fighting Morgan and his Marines after starving for weeks, fighting Cabaji after being stabbed by Buggy, or being seriously wounded by Mihawk prior to fighting Arlong and Hachi, or having to endure the after affects of when Kuma transfered all of Luffy's pain onto him when he fought a Kuma clone. In others, he has been handicapped by a lack of one or more swords - having two swords stolen prior to fighting Sham and Buchi simultaneously; being disallowed to use swords in the Groggy Ring during the Davy Back Fight; losing Yubashiri before his battle with Ryuuma. Sometimes he faces an opponent that can only be beaten by a sword skill Zoro hasn't mastered yet - not knowing how to cut steel against Das Bones, - or even by other crew members, such as having Usopp chained to his hand during his fight with Kaku.
 * Oda has hinted that one of the reasons why Zoro uses food-based puns is because he has never tried sushi and has some form of fascination with it. However, this can be considered one of Oda's SBS jokes.

Related Articles

 * Captain Morgan arc
 * Kuina
 * Mihawk
 * Santōryū
 * Straw Hat Pirates
 * Tashigi