Roronoa Zoro/Abilities and Powers

Overview
Zoro has devoted his life to becoming a powerful swordsman and fighter, and in his time as a bounty hunter and later the combatant of the Straw Hat Pirates, he has become extremely well-renowned for his exemplary abilities and accomplishments in battle.

By the time he met Luffy, Zoro had established himself 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". His accomplishments in hunting pirates were significant enough to earn him the epithet of "Pirate Hunter", which he remains known by even after becoming a pirate. When Zoro dueled Dracule Mihawk, his former partners Johnny and Yosaku were completely confident that he would win due to Zoro's dominance over East Blue opponents, though they were ignorant to the fact that the East Blue is the weakest of the world's seas. Indeed, Zoro was utterly outclassed by Mihawk, a Warlord of the Sea from the Grand Line.

Since that defeat, he promised to never lose a battle again, and as he has explored the Grand Line with the Straw Hats he has so far kept his word and not been defeated in combat. Since entering the New World, he has rarely even been wounded or seriously challenged, only sustaining his first major injury after coming to Wano Country.

Alongside Luffy and Sanji, Zoro is considered one of the Monster Trio (怪物三人組) of the Straw Hats due to his strength. Zoro's infamy has frequently been treated as second only to his captain Luffy's, and in some instances he has even been mistaken as the leader of the Straw Hats due to his more extensive reputation; onlookers have also wondered how he could not be the captain after seeing demonstrations of his power. Zoro was the second Straw Hat member to receive a bounty, and for much of the crew's existence his bounty has been the second highest (although it is currently the fourth highest with Sanji and Jinbe now being ahead of him). Zoro was identified as a Super Rookie after having obtained a bounty of over 100,000,000 by the time he reached Sabaody Archipelago; he was only one of two non-pirate captains (alongside Killer) in his generation to have that distinction.

Spiritual Aura


Multiple times, Zoro has been shown to have an animal-like spirit which occasionally manifests around him when he is readying an attack, including when he used Mutoryu.

This aura has not been indicated to be the result of any type of Haki; rather, it is mainly noted as a manifestation of Zoro's killing intent and tremendous power. Even Kaku, a CP9 agent with superhuman abilities, was able to greatly feel this spirit from Zoro. Notably during his duel with Ryuma, Zoro's finishing strike possessed the aura of a dragon, and after the cut was made the wound was set on fire; how this happened is uncertain.

Weaker people have been shown to be easily intimidated by Zoro, as Koby remarked that he had a "demonic aura" at Shells Town even as he was tied up and starved of food for over a week. This has held true even in the New World, as when Monet came to suddenly realize the degree of power and killing intent Zoro had, she froze in place as Zoro charged her. After Zoro intentionally performed a harmless attack, she then became seized by fear to such a degree that she was unable to reform her Logia body to its normal state. When Zoro gets serious in a battle, he usually dons his black bandanna on his head, though whether or not it has any real psychological effect on his abilities is uncertain.

Tactical Skills
Zoro typically does not plan out actions and strategies ahead of time, but he has shown himself to be extremely skilled at coming up with tactics in the middle of battle in order to gain an advantage over opponents or to take on an opponent who cannot be fought through conventional means. During his fight with the bounty hunters at Whisky Peak, Zoro utilized his environment to his advantage with tactics including using a large table as a shield as well as cutting a hole in the floor right at the spot where several hunters attempted to strike from above. Zoro's on-the-spot tactical abilities were also shown to a significant degree when he fought Pica on Dressrosa. When Pica inhabited a giant stone golem and moved several kilometers in the span of minutes to attack Zoro's allies, the swordsman quickly came up with five potential strategies to stop him, and as he was on the move he easily deduced the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy until settling on one that worked.

However, given that Zoro still has a rash attitude in almost all situations, he has also heavily relied on and frequently benefited from luck and fortune. This was seen to its most extreme degree at Ipponmatsu's shop in Loguetown, where Zoro decided to test Sandai Kitetsu's "curse" on himself by throwing the blade up in a vertical spinning motion and holding his arm in the path of its descent. Miraculously, Sandai Kitetsu spun perfectly around his arm, missing it entirely; Ipponmatsu was left speechless at Zoro's incredible fortune.

Lack of Orientation
One of Zoro's most prominent weaknesses is his utter inability to follow directions, resulting in him frequently getting lost. He only became a bounty hunter after leaving Shimotsuki Village because he lost his way while out at sea looking for Mihawk. He has no knowledge of how to identify cardinal directions, and frequently misinterprets them as either right or left; when traveling alone, he tends to frequently change direction without realizing and follow arbitrary indicators of direction like animals. In Arabasta, he even confused the cardinal directions with vertical ones, causing him to scale up Alubarna's clock tower when told to head north.

Generally, the only way to get Zoro to reach a destination is for another person to lead him there; if he is left unattended even briefly, he is extremely likely to wander off regardless of how obvious his path is. In Enies Lobby, Zoro could not even understand directions when going to the courthouse roof; even when Nami guided him and the others up a set of stairs, Zoro ended up going up a different set of stairs instead. He was eventually able to make it to the roof by simply moving upwards and cutting through the floors above him, rather than traversing the building's hallways. While traveling to Oden Castle in Wano, Zoro only had to sit and ride on the steed Komachiyo to get there, but still somehow ended up wandering off on his own.

Strength


Zoro possesses 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 opponents flying away with ease. Although he initially had trouble cutting Mr. 1's skin due to the latter's Devil Fruit, Zoro's strikes had enough power to knock the powerful martial artist to the ground. Zoro was able to clash with the likes of Kaku, a superhuman assassin whose strength was further increased by his Zoan transformation, and even managed to overpower him after flexing his biceps and performing his Nigori-Zake attack.

He also clashed evenly with Hatchan, who as a fish-man is ten times stronger than a normal human, even while being severely injured, and also equally dueled with Neptune and Pica, two extremely large and powerful warriors whose weapons even dwarf him in size. At Whisky Peak, Zoro was able to equally match the blows of his captain Luffy, who himself is extremely strong, with their clashes causing considerable collateral damage. When he first clashed with the Marine Admiral Fujitora on Dressrosa, he resisted Fujitora's overwhelming gravitational force just enough to unleash a flying slash toward the admiral to disrupt the force from underground.

Even more notably, Zoro demonstrated enough power to redirect a punch from Oars capable of causing massive structural damage, and two years later was able to use his swords to withstand the teeth of Dragon Number Thirteen, a giant dragon with extreme physical might. In perhaps his most notable feat of strength yet, Zoro was able to use his swords to withstand a combined attack from Kaidou and Big Mom, two of the Four Emperors who are among the strongest people in the entire world, long enough to allow his allies to dodge the attack's otherwise inescapable attack radius. Despite sustaining heavy injuries from that attack, Zoro was able to muster enough strength to cut deeply into Kaidou's nigh-indestructible body, to the point of leaving a scar, becoming the second swordsman after Kozuki Oden to do so.

When Zoro attempts to use non-lethal force against opponents he will attack with the hilts of his swords instead, though his strength makes these blows extremely powerful regardless. In Orange Town, he used two of his sheathed swords to simultaneously hit four of the Buggy Pirates and keep them away from Nami. In Arabasta, he positioned two of his sword hilts under Chopper and Vivi while they were in midair and used them to successfully propel the duo up all the way to the clock tower many meters above him. Zoro also used his sword blades in an unusual manner on Thriller Bark, when he used them to lift a pair of giant stone pillars that Franky had converted into nunchaku in order to use them against Oars. Zoro rarely engages in hand-to-hand combat, but his strength makes him quite capable at it, as shown when he easily knocked one of Wapol's guards to the ground with a punch. In Whisky Peak, Zoro simultaneously launched Luffy, Mr. 5, and Miss Valentine into a faraway building with a single kick.



Zoro's strength is such that he has picked up, carried, and thrown people and objects that rival him in size multiple times with relative ease, with such instances including carrying a large stone cage on his shoulder with Luffy inside it, throwing the fish-man Hatchan over his shoulder while heavily wounded, and lifting Usopp off the ground with one hand and wielding him like a sword. In Whisky Peak, Zoro was able to easily overpower Miss Monday, a fighter with considerably above-average physical power, in a match of strength, and when he was tied up by Mr. 9's iron rope, he was able to use the rope to pull Mr. 9 into the path of his other opponents and their attacks. During the Davy Back Fight, Zoro picked up the very large Pickles by his ankles and spun him around before launching him a great distance forward, and later he was able to flip Big Pan, a wotan, backwards in midair by grabbing his nose. Perhaps his most notable display of raw strength was in Arabasta, when he picked up an entire collapsed building and held it over his head while injured before throwing it toward Mr. 1.

Mutoryu


When he lacked his swords during the Groggy Ring event in the Davy Back Fight, Zoro used an ability known as Mutoryu (meaning "No Swords Style") in which he was able to use his body's physical power to emit shockwaves resembling his sword slashes. By throwing his arms forward, he created a whirlwind force sending Pickles spinning into his teammate Big Pan. Since Pickles was wielding swords, the attack caused him to cut Big Pan numerous times.

Speed and Agility
Although he is typically a strong, bruising fighter, Zoro has frequently demonstrated tremendous speed and agility to pursue opponents and avoid their attacks. He is considered one of the faster Straw Hats due to his physical power increasing his running ability, although it is difficult to quantify his speed in a race due to his tendency to become lost. Similar to his crewmate Brook, he can cut opponents in the blink of an eye and even unsheathe and re-sheathe the sword before opponents can react. In his duel with the zombie master swordsman Ryuma, the two of them were able to parry the other's attacks before the onlookers even registered that they had performed attacks, only noticing once the strikes took effect on their surroundings. At Whisky Peak, he overwhelmed a hundred bounty hunters at once with his speed, and was capable of dodging the many bullets they fired at him.

Zoro has great jumping and climbing power, notably leaping a great distance from one roof to another using a falling ladder as a stepping stone in Whisky Peak. While fighting Braham on Upper Yard, Zoro ran up the trunk of a large tree before propelling himself into the air with his legs to attack his opponent. In the Enies Lobby Courthouse, he got up to the roof by cutting through the ceilings and jumping from level to level, while on Dressrosa he was able to keep up with and eventually catch up to the dwarf Wicca despite having to run across and jump between multiple roofs; later, after being sent plummeting into a deep hole by Fujitora's gravity, Zoro easily jumped out of it once the gravity stopped.

Zoro possesses tremendously quick reflexes, as shown in Whisky Peak when he dodged a large variety of attacks used against him by the Baroque Works agents, including gunfire, melee weapons, blinding gas, and even a bazooka, despite numerous attempts by the agents to surround and trap him. In his fight with Braham, Zoro dodged much of the warrior's shots despite Braham using Flash Dials to obstruct his vision with flashing light, and when he encountered Saint Charlos on Sabaody, Zoro easily dodged the World Noble's attempt to quickly draw his gun and shoot him. Zoro showed the ability to keep up with Mr. 1, a martial arts master whose Devil Fruit allowed him to turn any part of his body into a blade, parrying and dodging the majority of his highly varied techniques. Even without Kenbunshoku Haki, Zoro was able to quickly recognize what the CP9 agents' Rankyaku attacks would do right as they were performing them and shout at Nami and Chopper to get down to avoid them. Later, Zoro was able to counter Kaku's attempted strike without issue despite the agent using Soru to move at blinding speed. After the timeskip, with the aid of his Haki, Zoro was quick enough to intercept Batman's sudden arrow shot with his sword mere centimeters away from the face of Batman's target Tsuru.

After the timeskip, Zoro has demonstrated tremendous speed swimming underwater, being able to traverse through the depths of the ocean in a small bubble and easily perform a powerful attack against a giant kraken. Notably, he was able to easily move past Hody Jones and strike him down while underwater, despite Hody being exponentially more powerful underwater as a fish-man. On Punk Hazard, Zoro was able to fight off multiple sharks despite being submerged in the freezing cold center lake.

Durability and Endurance
Zoro has an immense level of durability and endurance, having survived numerous serious injuries and oftentimes continuing to fight and move around while afflicted with them. This was first shown in Orange Town when he kept fighting after being stabbed in the torso by Buggy, to the point of even lifting and carrying a large and heavy cage with Luffy in it. After briefly resting, he fought and defeated Buggy's top henchman Cabaji; despite Cabaji deliberately trying to target his wound, Zoro one-upped him by cutting his wound open more and remaining steadfast despite the blood loss. During his battle against Mr. 1, Zoro received a rapid series of cuts so powerful that they tore apart the pillar behind him and caused it to collapse. But although Zoro lost a tremendous amount of blood from these strikes, he not only was able to quickly get back up and defeat Mr. 1, but also maintained enough mental clarity to avoid the falling debris from the destroyed pillar. Following this battle, Zoro was able to continue fighting against the Baroque Works forces without receiving medical attention.

Although Mihawk deliberately left him alive during their duel, Zoro still sustained wounds so severe that they put him on the brink of death, with Johnny noting that such wounds should normally disable a typical man for half a year, if not kill him, and the doctor Nako stating that it would normally take someone two years to fully recover from them. In spite of this, Zoro began walking around very quickly afterwards with only rudimentary treatment, and fought and easily defeated several members of the Arlong Pirates. When fighting the powerful six-sword wielding Hatchan, Zoro was in constant pain and on the brink of fainting, but despite even taking a headbutt to his wounded area, he was able to muster enough strength to counter Hatchan's six-sword barrage and defeat the fish-man. After receiving proper treatment in Cocoyasi Village, Zoro was not shown to be affected by Mihawk's wounds.

How can he still be standing after taking a hit from the giant? I don't even know who the real zombie is anymore!



Zoro's most extreme display of endurance came on Thriller Bark, which began when he was able to get up after being struck by the attacks of Oars, an ancient giant zombie with the power to destroy entire buildings; this caused Lola to compare him to a zombie. Following the fights against Oars and Gecko Moria, Zoro suffered multiple powerful blows from the Warlord Bartholomew Kuma, including a Pacifista laser blast and a massive shockwave, the latter of which knocked out everyone except him, Sanji, and Brook.

Zoro remained conscious following this and continued attacking Kuma, but then proceeded to make a deal with the Warlord to receive the pain and suffering Luffy had endured in exchange for Kuma letting the rest of his crew live. At that point, Luffy had taxed his body while fighting Oars and Moria to the point that he had fallen unconscious, and both Kuma and Zoro believed that Zoro receiving Luffy's fatigue in addition to his own would undoubtedly kill him. Upon receiving Luffy's suffering, Zoro bled profusely to the point where his entire body and many of the rocks around him became covered in his blood. However, Zoro not only survived this, but managed to remain conscious until his crewmates came to, where he claimed to them that nothing had happened. Zoro managed to recover after being in a comatose state for three days and receiving medical treatment from Chopper, although it took him a while longer before returning to full strength, as shown during the fight against the Flying Fish Riders and later against the Pacifista on Sabaody.

Another more recent display of his endurance came during his fight on the rooftop of the Skull Dome in Onigashima, as he not only withstood the brunt of a combined attack from Kaidou and Big Mom, an attack that encompassed a majority of Onigashima, but did so long enough to allow his fellow Worst Generation members fighting to escape from the attack, despite sustaining serious injuries as a result. Even after being heavily injured by the attack, Zoro managed to continue fighting long enough to help separate Big Mom from her Homie, Prometheus, continue battling Kaidou, and finally muster the last of his strength to save his captain from Kaidou and even injure him to the point where Kaidou himself said that his attack would leave a scar.

Zoro has fallen from rooftops and various other high places multiple times, but has never been seriously affected by such falls, even in Arlong Park where he was flung into the air by Luffy and landed on a hard platform while severely injured. In Skypiea, Zoro fell many meters from the Upper Ruins onto the hard streets of Shandora and had large pieces of rubble fall onto him, but quickly lifted the rubble off him and emerged with little injury. He remarked that he almost died, and Robin replied that a normal person would have. Due to the lack of serious effect of these falls, they are often portrayed comedically.

In his introduction in Shells Town, Zoro had gone nine days without eating in an attempt to do this for an entire month to win back his freedom. However, he retained enough strength that once he freed himself, he was able to withstand an assault from a horde of Marines and battle them alongside Luffy. On the wintry Drum Island, Zoro trained his body by swimming in the freezing cold water and meditating. Zoro has an extremely high tolerance for alcohol, being capable of out-drinking 13 bounty hunters in Whisky Peak before pretending to faint in order to intercept a potential attack. When confronting the bounty hunters soon afterward, Zoro showed no sign of being inhibited by alcohol, indicating his true tolerance is far greater. Despite the animals in Wano Country having powerful toxins in their body due to drinking contaminated water, Zoro ate them as he pleased for several days and only suffered from an upset stomach. After being struck by KYP gas and sent falling off a cliff by the Yeti Cool Brothers, Zoro was able to remain conscious just long enough to spot the icicle trap that his group was falling toward and destroy it with a sword slash.

Swordsmanship
Zoro has been a tremendously masterful swordsman since his youth. When training at the Isshin Dojo in Shimotsuki Village as a child, he was able to consistently beat adult swordsmen in duels, with Kuina being the only person he was unable to beat. Since his goal is to obtain the title of Greatest Swordsman in the World, Zoro has devoted himself to this craft and is well-known across the world for his swordsmanship ability. When Zoro confronted the current Greatest Swordsman Dracule Mihawk two years ago in the East Blue, he was utterly outclassed and was even overpowered by Mihawk's Kogatana. However, Mihawk was impressed by his conviction and so left him alive, believing that Zoro could continue to get stronger and one day make it to the top. Several months later, Zoro would train under Mihawk for two years and further increased his abilities exponentially.



Although Zoro usually wields three swords as part of his style known as "Santoryu", he has shown himself to be an exceptional duelist and combatant while wielding two swords or even just one. Several of Zoro's finishing moves involve using only one sword to execute a powerful strike; Zoro has defeated multiple opponents using Ittoryu, with one notable example being when he decapitated the very large and tough Dragon Number Thirteen with a single strike to its neck.

Zoro's swordsmanship style incorporates his tremendous physical strength to overwhelm opponents and cause significant damage with his sword slashes, aided by the quality of the swords he currently possesses; he was noted in Thriller Bark to have destructive power similar to the legendary swordsman Ryuma, whose corpse he was evenly dueling with. Zoro has enough power to unleash flying slashes to cut and damage objects beyond his normal range. When plunged into a hole by Fujitora, Zoro was capable of sending a slash to travel through the ground toward the admiral. With his destructive power and flying slashes, Zoro is capable of cleaving through entire buildings and other large structures, notably including Pica's giant stone golem which towered high above every other structure on Dressrosa. After receiving the powerful sword Enma, Zoro unwittingly cut off an entire chunk of a coastal cliff while attempting to cut through a tree. When he returned to Sabaody Archipelago after the timeskip, Zoro was able to destroy a large galleon by himself. During his duels, particularly when wielding all three of his swords, Zoro has frequently defeated his opponent by charging toward them and cutting them with a single attack, rather than managing to find openings to strike them in the midst of a duel; he has also used his strength to get the upper hand in deadlock clashes and strike down his opponent.

Although his strength plays a large role in his swordfighting ability, Zoro is also capable of performing extremely precise cuts. At Whisky Peak, he was capable of bisecting Mr. 5's explosive booger in midair, causing its two halves to fly to the sides of himself and Vivi and explode. On the way to Enies Lobby, Zoro perfectly bisected a Sea Train car lengthwise with a single cut. Zoro's precision skills allow him to use his swords to block projectiles, even a rapid series of them like Cabaji's spinning tops and Kaku's Rankyaku slashes. Notably, in Wano he was able to stop a flying arrow by intercepting it with the flat side of his sword blade, and later he used a sword to deflect bullets shot by Kurozumi Orochi. Zoro has cut objects even in small confines, including cutting himself free from his rope bindings in Shells Town and cutting apart the chimney he was stuck in in Water 7. Zoro has additionally shown enough skill to unleash cuts on opponents and objects while in midair, including defeating Ryuma and Pica while moving high above the ground at great speed.

Multiple times, Zoro has managed to fight off and defeat large groups of opponents on his own, with his most notable accomplishment in this area being when he singlehandedly defeated a group of 100 bounty hunters from the powerful organization Baroque Works. Some weeks later on Kuraigana Island, he managed to battle and eventually defeat a large horde of Humandrills, giant monkeys with advanced skill in battle and inhuman durability, despite having sustained severe wounds prior to arriving at the island. Even Dracule Mihawk himself was stunned to learn that the Humandrills had been defeated. Although quite skilled at dealing with attacks from multiple opponents simultaneously, Zoro cannot always keep it up, especially if his opponents are skilled in their own right, as shown in Wano when Gyukimaru's sudden attack distracted Zoro enough to allow Kamazo to strike him.

Zoro gained the ability to cut through steel when fighting Mr. 1 in Arabasta. After being heavily injured by Mr. 1, Zoro began hearing the "breath" of his sword, gaining a special affinity toward it that allowed him to control its cutting power. Upon achieving this skill, Zoro was able to cut through Mr. 1's steel body and defeat him with a single strike. Since then, he has had no trouble cutting through metal, as shown when he bisected the Sea Train car and later cleaved through two of Hyouzou's swords as well as through Goki's very large metal club with ease. Against the Franky Family, he used his three swords to bisect at least seven iron cannonballs flying toward him at once before proceeding to bisect the entire cannon. Together with Kin'emon, he was able to slice through the giant iron shutter in one strike to enter Caesar Clown's laboratory. Before the timeskip, Zoro only managed to leave slight nicks in the special metal exoskeleton of the Pacifista, but two years later, he was able to greatly damage its entire body with a single attack.



After the timeskip, Zoro has also demonstrated the ability to use other kinds of blades to complement or even fully execute his attacks. As a ronin in Wano, he was capable of slicing through part of an entire building several meters away from him with only a hiltless, knife-like tanto blade intended to be used for committing seppuku. Later after losing Shusui, he incorporated a large scythe into his Santoryu and was able to use it to defeat Kamazo. Despite seemingly losing sight in his left eye during the timeskip, this has not yet been shown to be a liability for Zoro in any of his battles.

During the Raid on Onigashima, Zoro has also demonstrated himself to be capable of replicating the sword styles of other swordsmen through observation alone, being able to almost perfectly replicate Kitsunebi-ryu without prior instruction in it.

Santoryu


Santoryu (meaning "Three Swords Style") is Zoro's main style of swordfighting. Unusually for a human, he wields three swords at the same time, holding one in each hand as well as one in his mouth. Many of Zoro's Santoryu attacks use all three of the blades to strike opponents, cutting them multiple times or cutting multiple opponents at the same time. When performing flying slashes with Santoryu, Zoro can create whirlwind-like attacks that have shown the ability to catch and strike dozens of opponents at once. He is also able to effectively use all three of his swords to parry attacks, and can even counter attacks performed by multiple opponents at once. Zoro has shown little issue dueling against opponents wielding more swords than him, particularly the six sword-wielding Hatchan and the eight sword-wielding Hyouzou, viewing the latter as not even worth his time.

Nitoryu


Nitoryu (Meaning "Two Swords Style") is Zoro's original fighting style in his childhood before he started practicing Santoryu. Like Santoryu, Zoro has immense mastery of this style of swordfighting, dual-wielding two of his swords in battle with great power and skill, even incorporating unsheathing and re-sheathing techniques, as well as flying slashes. In Thriller Bark, before he acquired Shusui as a replacement for the destroyed Yubashiri, Zoro could dual wield both Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu with incredible power and precision, able to fight equivalently with Ryuma, an extremely powerful samurai zombie imbued with Brook's swordsmanship skills through the Kage Kage no Mi for a majority of their battle before switching to use Ittoryu to finish off the undead samurai. Using Nitoryu, he is able to fight Monet, a Logia user and an officer of the Donquixote Pirates who he finished off using Ittoryu as well as Gyukimaru, an extremely powerful warrior monk, without using his full strength. He was also able to defeat several members of the Orochi Oniwabanshu, the strongest ninjas in Wano, with ease despite only having two swords at the time.

Ittoryu


Ittoryu (Meaning "One Sword Style") is a swordfighting style that Zoro began to perfect, and eventually master. Like the previous styles, Zoro has exceptional skills and mastery of Ittoryu, and has repeatedly used this style to perform finishing moves against a variety of opponents. Like Nitoryu, flying slashes, as well as various unsheathing and re-sheathing techniques are used in this style, mainly to defeat or injure powerful opponents with a single strike. This style has been shown being able to hold off the Nyaban brothers of the Black Cat Pirates, defeat several of the lower-ranked members of Arlong's crew, as well as defeating Mr. 1, the strongest agent of the Baroque Works using only one sword. Using Ittoryu, he is able to incapacitate a Fish-man such as Hody Jones underwater, finish off Ryuma, a powerful samurai and zombie, and even decapitate a dragon.

Kyutoryu


Kyutoryu (Meaning "Nine Swords Style") is the most extreme application of Zoro's spirit projection abilities. With sufficient anger, a dark aura surrounds him as two full apparitions of his body appear on the sides of his real one, giving him the essence of nine swords. Despite its seemingly purely spiritual nature, Zoro's attack power increases threefold, letting him disperse Kaku's Amane Dachi, his strongest Rankyaku and cut him several times in an instant. This form is used very rarely in canon, having been shown against Kaku on Enies Lobby and later against a Pacifista on Sabaody.

It was used for the first time after the timeskip against Kaidou alongside Busoshoku Haki, which was powerful enough to inflict a permanent scar on him. According to the Emperor, Haoshoku Haki was also "infused" into it, however, Zoro wasn't aware of this fact himself.

Kitsunebi-ryu
During the battle against Kaidou and Big Mom, Zoro has proven to be capable of utilizing Kitsunebi-ryu, a sword style employed by the samurai and leader of the Nine Red Scabbard, Kin'emon, which allows one to cut through fire. Using this, he could cut through Big Mom's sun Homie, Prometheus. Zoro has noted that he "stole" it from Kin'emon, meaning that he learned it through observing him, and he was able to even utilize this sword style to generate and attack using flames.

Haki
Zoro is one of the few people in the world who is capable of using all three forms of Haki.

Haoshoku Haki


Zoro can use Haoshoku Haki, a very rare form of Haki whose users are stated to have the qualities of a king. This power has laid dormant within Zoro and he was unaware he possesses it. He was first noted to have it by Kaidou after the Emperor was struck by Zoro's Kyutoryu attack.

During his battle with King, Zoro realized he possessed it, and ended up using it to knock out multiple low-ranked Beasts Pirates, then "infused" it into his three swords, releasing streams of dark lightning-like energy from them.

Busoshoku Haki


Busoshoku Haki is Zoro's main expertise concerning Haki, which has proven to be extremely proficient in, having mastered imbuement under Mihawk over the two-year timeskip, almost always using it in serious battles. He's skilled enough to imbue it into a flying slash, wounding a Logia user, overwhelming the same foe with the notion that had Zoro used it, she would've died. He could imbue all three swords with Haki, turning them all into black blades, proving his superior mastery compared to the Donquixote Pirates' executive officer, Pica in their battle, as he cut him down despite his entire body being covered in Haki.

On Wano, Zoro furthered showed his mastery of Busoshoku Haki, he hardened a stolen scythe, in addition to his two other katanas. After testing out Enma, a sword notorious for draining all the "Ryuo" of weaker swordsman, emaciating his arm, but he retook it seconds later, and worked on mastering it for three days. Against Kaidou, Enma released a black flame-like aura, which could wound him in his dragon form such as Oden, the Nine Red Scabbards, and Luffy.

Reaching the limit, after tanking "Hakai", Zoro strengthened his "Kyutoryu: Ashura" by using Busoshoku and Haoshoku Haki, letting him leave a permanent scar on Kaido in his hybrid-dragon form. He kept retaking from Enma, while fighting against King, and could use Busoshoku Haki to defend himself from a close-range fiery explosion.

Kenbunshoku Haki
Zoro can also use Kenbunshoku Haki, as shown when he was asked by Luffy if he could sense a "wild animal" in the Ryugu Palace, which he stated he could. Zoro also detected Batman attempting to kill Tsuru with an arrow fired from a far distance in the air.

Weapons


Currently, Zoro is known to have owned seven swords, all of them katanas, and has briefly borrowed multiple other swords and weapons when necessary. Due to his Santoryu style, he usually owns three swords at a time.

Current Swords
These are the swords that Zoro currently owns.


 * 1) Wado Ichimonji: One of the 21 Great Grade Meito. Forged by the legendary Wano swordsmith Shimotsuki Kozaburo and previously owned by his granddaughter and Zoro's friend Kuina; given to Zoro 11 years ago by Kuina's father Koushirou after her untimely death. The only one of Zoro's swords that did not shatter when Zoro first clashed with Mihawk's Supreme Grade sword Yoru.
 * 2) Sandai Kitetsu: A Grade Meito; it is said to be "cursed" and will bring great misfortune upon its owner. Forged by the great Wano swordsmith Tenguyama Hitetsu and given to Zoro two years ago in Loguetown by the arms dealer Ipponmatsu.
 * 3) Enma: One of the 21 Great Grade Meito. Also forged by Shimotsuki Kozaburo and was originally wielded by the legendary samurai, Kozuki Oden. Oden's daughter, Kozuki Hiyori who inherited Enma bestowed it to Zoro under the promise that he return Shusui to Ryuma's grave. Until the Onigashima Raid in the Wano Country Arc, it was one of the two swords to cut Kaidou of the Four Emperors and give him his one scar. Enma has the special trait of drawing out large amounts of the wielder's Busoshoku Haki.

Former Swords
These swords were once owned by Zoro, but were either destroyed or removed from his possession.


 * 1) Two unnamed katanas that were used alongside Wado Ichimonji for an unknown period of time. They were shattered during Zoro's first duel with Dracule Mihawk.
 * 2) Yubashiri: One of the 50 Skillful Grade Meito. Formerly an heirloom of Ipponmatsu's family, he gave it to Zoro after witnessing the swordsman's great fortune. It was destroyed by Shu, who rusted it to the point of crumbling on Enies Lobby, and was put to rest at the Rumbar Pirates' gravesite on Thriller Bark. While handcuffed to Usopp on Enies Lobby, Zoro had him hold Yubashiri while he held his crewmate like a sword hilt, calling this situational weapon "Hana Arashi".
 * 3) Shusui: One of the 21 Great Grade Meito and a powerful Black Blade. Famously wielded by the legendary samurai Ryuma and a treasured heirloom in all of Wano Country, it was stolen along with Ryuma's body by Gecko Moria and used by Ryuma's corpse when it became animated into a zombie. Ryuma bestowed it to Zoro after being defeated by the swordsman on Thriller Bark two years ago, and Zoro utilized it as a replacement for Yubashiri. The sword was stolen by Gyukimaru in Wano Country two years later and returned to Ryuma's grave, where Zoro let it remain in exchange for Enma at Hiyori's behest.

Situational Weapons
These weapons were used by Zoro for extremely brief periods, usually to allow him to use Santoryu when he lacked one or two of his swords.
 * 1) Johnny's and Yosaku's swords, which were borrowed by Zoro during his fight against Hatchan in Arlong Park while he only possessed Wado Ichimonji. He returned the swords to them after the fight concluded.
 * 2) A Marine cutlass to replace Yubashiri in the remainder of the battle on Enies Lobby, which was abandoned immediately afterward.
 * 3) A tanto meant for him to perform seppuku, which he instead used to cut down Toyama Tsujigiro.
 * 4) A scythe wielded by Kamazo, which Zoro seized after it pierced him and used in place of the missing Shusui to cut down Kamazo.