Chapter 5

Cover
Volume: 1 Pg.: 125

Straw Hats and animals: Luffy finishes his drink and he is trying to drink some from the dolphin's. Zoro is also drinking while enjoying the view.

Quick Summary
Morgan and his soldiers go to kill Zoro and Coby, while Luffy retrieves Zoro's swords. Zoro, thinking about how he can't die at a place like that, remembers the promise he made to his childhood friend Kuina. Just before Zoro and Coby are shot, however, Luffy gets in the way, protecting the pair from all the bullets. Zoro realizes that, if he wants to live, he has no choice, and tells Luffy he'll join him.

Long Summary
Luffy is busy dragging Helmeppo through the base, trying to find Zoro's swords. After dragging Helmeppo for a while luffy asks Helmeppo where Zoro's swords are and he tells Luffy they are in his room. Luffy decides to use Helmeppo as a human shield, leaving some pursuing Marines in a position where they can't do anything.

Coby meanwhile realises he's been shot and that he had started bleeding. Zoro tells Coby to run, but Coby will not go until Zoro is untied. He tells Zoro that Helmeppo never planned to keep his word and Zoro cannot believe what he is hearing, Coby tells Zoro how Luffy had punched Helmeppo because of what they overheard him say. Coby asks Zoro to help Luffy. Suddenly some Marines approach Zoro and Coby and declare them as traitors.

Elsewhere, Luffy has found Zoro's swords. Luffy suddenly spots what is going down on the ground outside the window of the Marine base. Zoro and Coby are in trouble and Morgan wants them dead. Zoro aware he may just die, flashbacks to his days as a young boy and his reason's for becoming who he is.

Zoro is in a training dojo on the ground after a defeat against Kuina. Kuina is mocking him for failing to win against her (for the 2000th time). Zoro's friend stick up for him when he is called weak, as Kuina states even though he can stand up to the adults, what good is it if he still can't beat her. The others accuse her for showing off because she is the dojo master's daughter. As the sensei enters the room, the other trainee swordsmen (save Zoro himself) accuse him of giving her special training because she is able to beat Zoro. The sensei just states that Kuina is older.

Later that night, a frustrated Zoro challenges Kuina to fight him - with REAL Katana. Kuina accepts Zoro's challenge. With one strike Zoro looses and Kuina claims her 2001st victory against him. But after the duel is over, Kuina breaks down in tears. She tells Zoro her woe about being a girl; as she gets older, she will fall behind him due to the fact girls do not acquire the strength guys do. Kuina says how she wishies she had been born a boy, Zoro gets angry at her saying she didn't have the right to complain after she beat him. Zoro goes further by saying that it was an insult to all the hard work he'd been doing. The two then make an agreement; one of them will become the greatest swordsman in the world.

Disaster hits the next day as Zoro is informed of the worst. Kuina has fallen down the stairs; she is dead. Upset, Zoro calls to her body laying lifeless, its face covered with a cloth, accusing her of running away. Zoro asks the sensei to give Zoro her sword; he will become the world's greatest swordsman on her behalf.

Back in the future, Zoro faces death. As the Marines fire, Luffy jumps in front of them and the bullets hit him instead. The bullets then bounce off Luffy to the disbelief of everyone watching. Zoro accepts Luffy's offer to join his crew because he'd rather become a criminal then die.

Chapter Notes

 * Luffy finds Zoro's swords.
 * Zoro's past, dream, and reason for traveling to sea was revealed.
 * Zoro comments on how he has no choice but to join the crew now.

Quotes
Kuina: "You're lucky, Zoro, you're a boy. I want to be the best... But my chest's already starting to get bigger... If only I'd been born as a boy, then..." Zoro: "You just beat me, stop saying things like that! That's just unfair, you're my goal!" Kuina: "Zoro..." Zoro: "It doesn't matter if you're a boy or a girl! When I finally beat you, are you still gonna say things like that?! I've worked so hard to be able to beat you, stop making fun of me! Just stop saying those things!" Zoro: "Let's make a promise! One day, either me or you are gonna be the best swordsman in the world! Whoever does it is the stronger one!" Kuina: "Idiot... you're such a weakling..." Both: "It's a promise."

I'll get stronger for her too! I'll be the best swordsman in the world, so my name'll reach all the way up to heaven!

Characters
1: first introduction

3: first apparition

Attacks
Luffy
 * Gomu Gomu no Rocket (Rubber Rubber Rocket) / Gum-Gum Rocket

Trivia

 * Kuina's father was later named as Koshiro in the data books.

Anime episode
p2 to p10: episode 2

p11 to 16 (Zoro's flashback): episode 19

p17 to p20 first square: episode 2

p20: episode 3