Shimotsuki Kuina

Kuina (くいな) was the late childhood friend of Roronoa Zoro. She is the daughter of Koshiro.

Appearance
She has short, dark blue hair and dark brown eyes. The Marine officer Tashigi bears a strong resemblance to Kuina (in appearance, personality, and sword style), to the point where it makes Zoro extremely uncomfortable around her. However, she is not believed to have any greater connection with Kuina than that.

Personality
She was the daughter of Koshiro, the sword master of the dojo where Zoro was trained. She is the reason why Zoro developed the Santōryū technique. One of his swords, the Wadō Ichimonji, belonged to Kuina. He treasured this sword more than any other sword. She was always living with the knowledge that since she was a woman, it would only get harder as she gets older for her to compete with men. This would force her to give up the swordsman's life. Eventually, Zoro made her believe that it's willpower, not strength, that makes a swordsman.

Abilities and powers
Kuina was the strongest among her fellow trainees in her father's dojo, being able to overpower even the adults. Also, she was getting stronger and stronger in order not to let her main rival, Zoro, catch up to her. Since she died, it is not possible to know how strong she would have become. Although, as she stated herself, she might not have been able to keep up to male swordsmen as she got older. However, it's possible that she could have been as strong or even stronger than Zoro.

History
Zoro fought Kuina regularly, but found that after 2000 fights, he could never beat her. Zoro challenged her into fighting with real swords, in which she used her family's Meito Wadō Ichimonji. Kuina had come to the conclusion that Zoro would soon pass her in skill and strength. This is because she believed that boys grow up to be stronger than girls, and she noticed just how much Zoro had already caught up to her current skills. So, when she started growing breasts, she became discouraged. Zoro then told her that if he ever beat her, it was because of his skills. The fact that he was a boy and she was a girl didn't matter. It was his goal to be as good as her. They promised that one of them would become the greatest swordsman in the world.

However, soon after making their vow, Zoro learned she had fallen down the stairs while trying to get a sharpening block and died. Zoro was angry with her, accusing her of running away from their promise. Finally, Zoro asked her father for the honor of taking the Wadō Ichimonji with him. With this, Zoro promised to fulfill their shared dream of becoming the greatest swordsman to fruition.

Major Battles

 * Vs. Zoro x 2001 (won)

Translation and Dub Issues
Like Tashigi, her name comes from a flightless bird. The fact she is named after a flightless bird is a reflection of herself. In regards to the bird itself, Oda stated though a bird cannot fly, it doesn't mean it never will.

In the 4Kids dub, she was injured by the friends of a man she defeated, and could never fight again. However, despite this change of storyline by 4Kids, many media based sources, such as One Piece Grand Adventure, still referenced the fact that she died in the original storyline.

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

Trivia

 * She is a playable character in the U.S. and Australian-only video game, One Piece: Grand Adventure. Her appearance in the game is said to be an illusion that Zoro (and later Tashigi in Smoker's storyline) experiences during Luffy's story.
 * Because of how the 4kids dubbed her death as an accident, many fans actually believed she was Tashigi from their similar appearance.
 * The bird Kuina was named from is a water rail.

Related Articles

 * Roronoa Zoro
 * Wadō Ichimonji