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One Piece novel ZORO is an ongoing novel written by Jun Esaka (江坂 純, Esaka Jun?) and illustrated by Nakamaru (なかまる?). It began in One Piece Magazine Special Feature: The Wings -Zoro & Sanji- 018, and focuses on Zoro's past before he joined the Straw Hat Pirates.[1]

While originally described as being written "under the thorough supervision of Eiichiro Oda" (尾田栄一郎氏による徹底監修のもと?),[2] that statement was removed on April 30, 2024, as an error.[1]

Publication History[]

The novel is currently being serialized in One Piece Magazine, beginning in the eighteenth volume.

Chapter Release Dates[]

Chapter Magazine Vol Release Date
0 One Piece Magazine Special Feature: The Wings -Zoro & Sanji- 018 June 4, 2024
1 One Piece Magazine Special Feature: Laid-Back One Piece ~Laugh & Moff~ 019 December 4, 2024
2

Magazines' Covers[]

Prologue
Chapter 1

Short Summary[]

Prologue[]

The prologue is titled Sasakaze (笹風, Sasakaze?).

In his village, a few years after Kuina's death, Zoro searches for a mysterious killer that could be Mihawk. After finding the truth and winning a duel against the killer, he decides to start his journey to find stronger opponents.

Chapter 1[]

Chapter 1 is titled Chasing Crane (追鶴, Oizuru?).

Zoro leaves Shimotsuki Village alone, traveling to Nazawaka City in pursuit of a Mihawk Memorial Museum. He learns of the "Mihawk's Chasing Crane", a paper crane said to always point towards him, and decides to temporarily take up residence in the city. Alongside new friends in the city's residents, he searches for the missing Crane, accidentally uncovering an alleged murder plot by the city's headman in the process.

Long Summary[]

Prologue[]

A few years after Kuina's death, on the anniversary of the event, she is now kind of a legend about which many rumors circulate, such as that if someone visits her grave, he will improve his swordsman level. Zoro watches her annual funeral procession and reminisces on his childhood with Kuina before going to do his training.

After finishing his personal training, Zoro hears some children singing a song about Mihawk: “Mihawk, the master swordsman. A man with hawk eyes. His withering slash is so fast, he slips out of your sight. Silently, he appears before you. And before you know it, you are already dead.” It is a song that children learned from a traveler who visited the island years before, and now they love to sing it while playing.

A girl from the town inn, named Himari, arrives to tell Zoro that Kuina's Fire Float has been cancelled because of some recent attacks that had taken place in the town. A certain person had been sneaking into the swordsmen's houses at night to kill them. Zoro says that there is nothing to fear from someone that is so cowardly as to only attack when his target is asleep. Himari tells Zoro that it is rumored that the true identity of the attacker could be "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk, and that the incredibly powerful dojoyaburi who has challenged 2,000 dojos in the area could also be him. Assuming that the current attacker is a mere copycat, Zoro does not pay much attention to the case. However, Himari is worried because she knows Mihawk's name from the song the other kids sing and she says that although Zoro is the strongest in the village, he is just like a mantis that feeds on weaker insects. Once Zoro leaves town and meets stronger fighters, he will be finished, like he encountered a bear. Zoro gives Himari a small knife that he uses to help the old women in the village cut fish, and tells her she can defend herself with it, but she says she cannot fight because she is a girl.

That night, Zoro performs the Fire Float ritual himself for the first time in many years, as the rest of the people stay inside their homes for fear of Mihawk. He makes a rough boat out of bamboo leaves, places a candle inside, and puts it in the water to sail down the river, but it sinks and he gives up.

Then, Zoro notices the presence of someone among the leaves near the river. It is a tall man carrying a very long sword. His movements are soft and silent, as if he was a night hawk. Zoro thinks he might be the night attacker and follows him. That mysterious man was heading to Koushirou's house to take his head, but Zoro arrives there first. He wakes up his teacher and asks Koushirou to let him deal with the murderer. Koushirou accepts the proposal and returns to bed. While waiting, Zoro is nervous at the prospect of facing Mihawk, the man known as the best swordsman in the world. If he wins, he can keep his childhood promise to Kuina.

Zoro confronts the murderer by asking him about his identity. The assassin responds that he was there to challenge the dojo master, and Zoro notices that the assassin's voice was that of a very young person. The assassin asks Zoro if he is the master of the dojo and Zoro says yes but Koushirou, who was behind him, says that the real owner of the dojo is him. Then Zoro says he is the strongest swordsman in the village and begins to fight with the assassin. After they exchange blows, both of their swords are covered in red, and they have ended up outside. Zoro receives a few superficial cuts and gets to see the killer's face for the first time. Just as he thought, the enemy was a completely different person. Narrow and nervous, nothing like the one he had seen on the wanted poster for "Hawk Eyes." The assassin explains that he simply enjoys fighting strong opponents. Zoro asks him then why he does it in such a dishonorable way. The assassin replies that a victory is a victory, no matter how it is achieved. He tries to scare Zoro by talking about his supposed 2,000 victories, but Zoro reveals that it was him to have achieved that result. With a single strike, Zoro kills the assassin, marking it as his 2001st victory.

As Koushirou watches the scene, he thinks to himself that this is a goodbye and remembers the growth Zoro has had over the years. Having been stronger than Koushirou for several years, Zoro began travelling to nearby towns, searching for new opponents. However, by now, Koushirou believes that there are no longer any swordsmen in the area who can satisfy Zoro. Knowing that Zoro was resolved to leave the village after he matched Kuina's win streak, Koushirou asks him to wait until the morning, to allow the townspeople to have a chance to say goodbye to him. However, Zoro decides that he will leave immediately, and bows to his teacher as farewell to him. Before leaving, Zoro turns around and asks Koushirou to give a message to Himari, telling her that he is the bear.

Chapter 1[]

After learning of the existence of a Mihawk-themed museum in Nazawaka City, Zoro headed to that place, thinking he could find clues about Mihawk's whereabouts there. Along the way, Zoro met and defeated a man named Umen, who seemed quite knowledgeable about Mihawk. Umen agreed to lead Zoro to the so-called "Mihawk Memorial Museum." On the way to the museum, Umen told Zoro about the tremendous fire that had destroyed a large part of Nazawaka City sometime before, causing the death of the town's headman. Finally, Zoro and Umen arrived at the Mihawk Memorial Museum. A huge reproduction of Mihawk's face served as the museum's banner, with the large, wide-open mouth as the entrance. Umen also revealed that the person who created the museum was Nazawaka City's late headman, Nazawa Matsuba.

As Zoro and Umen entered the museum, Zoro's attention was captured by a small toothpick, displayed with reverence in a glass case placed on a pedestal. However, his excitement dropped when Umen revealed the object was the toothpick that Mihawk used when he shared a meal with Jinbe during their time as members of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. The exploration continued with similarly grotesque objects, such as a feather that supposedly fell from Mihawk's hat and a shovel that Mihawk allegedly used to work in the fields surrounding his castle. Zoro could not be more disappointed, as he was expecting something more directly related to Mihawk, but all he found in the museum was useless garbage. Still, his excitement rose again as Umen told him the museum once kept the "Mihawk pursuit crane," a paper crane revealing Mihawk's location, but it was lost during the Nazawaka City fire. When Zoro affirmed his ambition to challenge and beat Mihawk to rise as the new World's Strongest Swordsman, Umen burst into laughter. He then told Zoro that he could never defeat Dracule Mihawk, a man known for being the leader of the Seven Warlords. Zoro tried to argue that there was no leader among the Warlords, but Umen replied that if there were, it would be Mihawk, for he was so powerful that even "Red Hair" Shanks, one of the Four Emperors, acknowledged his strength. Umen then revealed himself as Nazawa Umen, the second son of Nazawaka City's ruling family, and thus the younger brother of the current headman, Nazawa Taketo.

Umen proposed Zoro to join the city's vigilante corps, an offer Zoro seriously considered, tempted by the idea of eating regular meals and earning some money. Umen and Zoro then arrived at the Nazawa Family residence, where it was revealed that all the members of Taketo's guard were former pirates with a bounty on their heads. As the guards belittled Zoro, claiming he was a weakling who did not even have a bounty on his head, the green-haired swordsman replied that bounties were merely the Navy's opinion on the potential danger posed by a certain individual. The situation escalated into a sparring match between Zoro and one of Taketo's guards. Zoro quickly overwhelmed and defeated the opponent, forcing the bystanders to acknowledge his fighting skills. As such, Taketo accepted him into the vigilante corps. Zoro expected the work to be exciting, but he ended up with rather boring tasks. That said, Taketo was very nice to him. He appreciated Zoro's skills to the point of giving him special privileges, which made the other guards jealous.

Umen asked Zoro why he never thought of becoming a pirate, as that would be the fastest way to meet strong opponents, including Mihawk. However, Zoro answered that he was not interested in that, as he did not want to follow anyone, and he did not want to waste time gathering his own crew either. Intrigued by Zoro's unfriendly nature, Umen wondered if he had always lived this way, never opening up to anyone. Umen then asked Zoro about his parents, to which the young swordsman replied that they were dead and that he had never seen his father's face. Over time, Zoro started to appreciate his affiliation with the vigilante corps. He could train and eat to his heart's content. One day, Taketo asked Zoro to escort him to the former Navy outpost. There were not Marines anymore in Nazawaka, as the local law enforcement was entrusted to the headman's guards. However, once a year, some Navy officers visit the city to check the situation. As Zoro realized, the audit was merely a facade as Taketo brought money to bribe the Marines sent to inspect Nazawaka City. While Zoro was doing some physical training to kill time waiting for Taketo, he was approached by a boy who introduced himself as Tsubaki. After revealing that everyone in town was gossiping about Zoro's reputation for strength and intimidating persona, Tsubaki suddenly asked Zoro how much it would cost to hire him to assassinate Taketo. The boy explained that his parents worked in a paper workshop destroyed in the Nazawaka City fire, but that Taketo would not give any money to rebuild it. Zoro did not take Tsubaki seriously until the boy mentioned that he would give Zoro the thing he desperately wanted to get his hands on, the Mihawk pursuit crane. However, Taketo returned moments later, prompting Tsubaki to leave. The headman had questions about the boy, to which Zoro feigned ignorance.

That night, Zoro met Tsubaki to learn more about the alleged Mihawk pursuit crane. Tsubaki explained that the former village headman Matsuba hid the crane somewhere. He added that his parents were childhood friends with Matsuba, and sometime before the fire incident, Matsuba had sent a letter. In the missive, Matsuba said he would entrust them with a certain precious crane after hiding the item and sent them a code to allow them to find it. Tsubaki's parents were supposed to meet Matsuba and learn the code on the day the big fire incident happened, but they could never do that as the fire broke out and the headman perished in it. Tsubaki continued his explanation, revealing that the alleged pursuit crane was a Vivre Card. To search for the paper, Zoro decided to explore the Mihawk Memorial Museum once again.

He headed there with Umen and Tsubaki, and the three of them started to search for some interesting insight or clue among the countless trivial objects kept in the museum. At one point, Zoro noticed a dust-covered paper crane that sparkled in multiple colors, reflecting the moonlight through the window. Zoro and Umen thought it was the Mihawk pursuit crane they were searching for, but Tsubaki spoiled their excitement by revealing that it was just a normal paper crane. However, when Tsubaki mentioned that the crane was made of Rainbow Paper, a special paper his parents had developed but whose recipe had been destroyed in the fire, a bell rang in Zoro's head. Zoro rushed back to Taketo's estate and started rummaging through the trash to search for something until he pulled out a piece of paper. Upon seeing the paper, Tsubaki recognized it as the same Rainbow Paper his parents had developed. Umen noted that it did not make much sense for his brother to have a Rainbow Paper item, as both the prototypes and the recipe for that special paper were burned in the Nazawaka City fire. Zoro concluded that if Taketo could not make the Rainbow Paper by himself, then he must have stolen it and maybe set the fire to get rid of Tsubaki's parents and the former headman, Matsuba. Tsubaki was frightened at the thought that Taketo had killed Matsuba – his own father – and almost done the same with his parents. Thankfully, Tsubaki's parents were now working in a nearby town.

As Zoro mentioned that he had seen the Rainbow Paper crane falling in the hallway of Taketo's estate, Umen speculated that Taketo could be producing the precious paper to sell it outside the country. Enraged, Tsubaki asked Zoro to kill Taketo now that they had uncovered all his evil schemes, but the swordsman told him to calm down as they should confirm the truth first. To do that, Umen suggested that they explain the circumstances to the Marines and ask them to investigate, as that would either exonerate Taketo or prove him guilty. Zoro told Umen Taketo was in cahoots with the Marines sent to inspect Nazawaka City, but Umen told him they could not be so corrupt as to ignore an evident crime if that had been committed. Umen and Tsubaki headed to the former Marine outpost, where they met the highest-ranking Marine officer present at the time. The Marine, a man with puffy eyelids dressed in a precious silk negligee, asked them what could possibly be their business at that hour in the night. As Umen explained the situation, the Marine told them he and his men would immediately begin a fair and impartial investigation into the matter. After Umen and Tsubaki left, however, the Marine could not help but let out a rodent-like chuckle.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "6月4日(火)発売!『ONE PIECE magazine 特集 両翼-ゾロ・サンジ- 018』". [Released on June 4th (Tuesday)! "ONE PIECE Magazine Special Feature: The Wings -Zoro & Sanji- 018"]. ONE PIECE.com (in Japanese). (April 29, 2024) Retrieved May 20, 2024. Originally accessed April 29, 2024. Edited April 30, 2024.
  2. "「ONE PIECE magazine 特集 両翼-ゾロ・サンジ- 018」6月4日発売決定!". ["One Piece Magazine Special Feature: The Wings -Zoro & Sanji- 018" will be released on June 4th!] (in Japanese). Manga Watch. (April 29, 2024) Retrieved May 20, 2024.

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