Roronoa Zoro, being the First Mate and Swordsman of the Straw Hat Pirates, has a bounty of sixty million Belli. Zoro is a mighty swordsman who fights with San-Tour-Ryu, three daito katana, and his own unique fighting style. Though not a samurai, he appears to maintain a certain degree of bushido, and is frequently mistaken for one. Unlike Luffy and most of the other Strawhats, Zoro has been known to kill his opponents if he has to, though never in cold blood.
Zoro has a stern, serious and distanced personality, but unlike Robin he often reacts in a goofy and exaggerated comic style. 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 or Sanji. He also likes sake, almost to the degree that Luffy likes meat, but like Nami, he never gets drunk due to his inhumanly-high tolerance for alcohol. Luffy likes to make fun of Zoro for his lack of orientation, despite his sense of direction not being much better (Zoro often gets lost, even in small spaces or when he is led by someone). Even though his sense of direction is very poor, he has other strong senses and is often one of the first members of the crew to hear an enemy approaching or sense danger. Zoro likes to compete with Sanji and they often get into fights over petty matters, often at inopportune moments.
Zoro is the swordsman of the crew, and therefore normally fights other swordsmen of enemy groups such as Cabaji the Acrobat of Buggy's Band of Pirates, Hatchan of the Arlong Pirates, Mr. 1 Daz Bones of Baroque Works, Ohm of Skypiea's Priests and Kaku of the Cipher Pol 9. All in all, he is not particularly picky when fighting his opponents (unlike Sanji, who prepares to fight male foes as he would rather die before directly harming a female adversary). Through this, he developed a few rivalries. His goal is to become the world's best swordsman. To accomplish this, he has to defeat Dracule Mihawk who, as of now in the story, holds this title. He confronted Mihawk once during the Baratie arc but lost to a 6 inch knife and was left with the huge scar on the front of his torso, which was caused by Mihawk's Black Sword. After his defeat Zoro vowed to never lose in terms of swordsmanship to anyone, and this was one of the very, very few scenes where Zoro cried.
Zoro has a unique relationship with Master Chief Petty Officer Tashigi of the Marines. Tashigi and Zoro met in Loguetown, where she helped him search for new katanas. Tashigi says that she wants to confiscate all great swords from the pirates and headhunters who wield them, not realizing that Zoro is one of those pirates. Zoro defeated her once but refused to fight her again in later confrontations, due to her uncanny resemblance to his childhood friend, Kuina. Whenever he sees her, he runs away claiming that she is the one person he cannot fight.
Zoro can also be very vigorous and won't back down when he is determined to achieve a goal or defeat an enemy. On Little Garden, he attempted to slice off his feet to escape death and return to the battle, resulting in scars around both his ankles - this also shows his habit of not thinking things through. When Zoro has the intention to fight seriously, he normally ties his black bandana (which is usually tied around his left upper arm) over his head.
As a boy, Zoro trained in a dojo. Even as a child, Zoro was strong enough to defeat most adults. However, there was one person Zoro could not beat - the sensei's daughter, Kuina. After their 2000th fight (and Kuina's 2000th victory) Zoro challenged her in private for one more match - with real swords. He lost. Afterwards Zoro cried out of frustration, that he cannot fullfil his dream of becoming the world's best swordsman if he cannot beat Kuina. After Zoro said that was his dream, Kuina started to cry as well, explaining that she wants to be the best swordsman too, but her father says that girls can't be master swordsmen since they will mature into the physically weaker gender, and for her the process is already beginning. Zoro yelled at her and told her she shouldn't say such things because she can beat him, and 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 house.
Zoro, remembering the promise, decided to fulfil the promise for both of them, and he asked the teacher for Kuina's sword, Wadou Ichimonji, and he started to develop a new fighting style - San-Tour-Ryu (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.
Somehow he learned of Mihawk, nicknamed "Hawk-Eye", who is currently the greatest swordsman in the world. Eventually, Zoro went to sea looking to find and challenge Mihawk to a duel but somehow 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 "Be The Boss". Afterwards, he killed the person who offered, the late Mr. 6 of Baroque Works.
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 as the first mate. 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 Pirate King are on the same crew.
Zoro is a master swordsman, able to use one, two and three swords in varying attack styles, although he is most comfortable with his San-Tour-Ryu (Three-Sword-Style). Lacking a third hand for a third sword, Zoro holds his third sword in his mouth.
Zoro is Luffy's First Mate and is physically the second strongest member of the crew, with only Luffy surpassing him in strength. Zoro is arguably one of the strongest humans in One Piece; while most super powered heroes and villains gain power from eating one of the Devil Fruits, Zoro has gained his powers through hard work and training in his sword techniques, some of which can be used as projectiles - using the air itself to hurt the enemy. Even without his swords, he has monstrous strength (in one instance he lifted and tossed an entire building at an opponent) and 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, allowing him to break Tekkai with ease.
All of Zoro's attacks are puns and have multiple meanings. Some common techniques are Oni Giri (Demon Slash, if read as one word it sounds like "onigiri" which means "riceball"), a three-sword attack where all swords are slashed at the same time to form an asterisk, and 36/72/108 Pondou Hou (36/72/108 Pound Cannon or 36/72/108 Phoenixes of Passion and Desire), a projectile attack for which the power increases according to how many swords are used. His Pondou Hou attacks are reference to the 36 passions of the Buddhism (Sight, Hearing, Speech, Smell, Touch, Thought and on to those desires, Good, Evil, Neutrality, and onto those desires, Purity, Corruption. Total number of combinations: 36)
Currently Zoro uses the following swords:
- Wadou Ichimonji, (The One Road of Harmony, 和道一文字): This is Zoro's most important sword. It was once Kuina's sword and is the sword he puts in his mouth when using San-Tour-Ryu. The katana is a 21 Ō Wazamono (excellent grade sword). Distinguished with a white sheath, and definitely Zoro's favorite sword, he also uses this sword when fighting with It-Tour-Ryu (One-Sword-Style). Also, this sword was strong enough to withstand the power of Mihawk's Black Sword. Its cost is estimated to be ten million Belli.
- Sandai Kitetsu (Third Generation Demon Splitter, 三代鬼徹): It is supposedly capable of cutting anything. Along with its predecessors, Shodai Kitetsu and Nidai Kitetsu, this Wazamono (sharp sword) has a curse which caused all the previous owners to fall to tragic deaths. Inside of Ippon Matsu's sword shop at Logue Town, Zoro, knowing that the sword is cursed, tests the sword by throwing it into the air and laying his arm in the path of the blade, so that the sword would not end up cutting him during a fight and causing him to lose. The sword hits with the blunt edge, saving Zoro's arm. Upon seeing this, Ippon Matsu gives the Sandai Kitetsu to Zoro without question, in hopes of passing his dreams to Zoro. It is estimated to cost one million Belli.
-Edit made on 22 March 2008: SHUUSUI!! One Of the 21 O Wazamono or '21 Great Edges' of the world. It was the meitou of the Samurai Ryuuma, who appeared as an zombie on Thriller Bark that had been given Brook's shadow. Zoro took the sword from Ryuuma after he defeated him. Zoro has commented that Shuusui's greatest attribute is its hardness; saying that even if a dinosaur were to step on it the blade wouldn't bend. Just as Sandai Kitetsu turned out to be a "problem child", Zoro describes Shuusui as having a "temper". It is designed to increase the damage potential of the user, however Zoro soon discovers the real problem about this blade; while Yubashiri was extremely light Shuusui is very heavy.
Previous swords that Zoro used:
- Zoro had two swords he used in his right and left hands since his first appearance. The two swords were destroyed by Dracule "Hawk-Eye" Mihawk while the two dueled in Baratie.
- Yosaku and Johnny's Sword. Zoro borrowed these swords to fight Hatchan in Arlong Park, as his two swords were destroyed by Mihawk.
- Yubashiri (Snow Run, 雪走): An extremely light and flexible but strong sword, and is one of the world's 50 Ryō Wazamono (fine grade sword). This was in the shopkeep Ippon Matsu's family for years. After Zoro's display of fearlessness and trust in swords, Ippon Matsu gives it to him for free. This sword was destroyed in the battle against the Marine Captains on the Bridge of Hesitation under the Buster Call attack on the Enies Lobby. The broken sword is still kept by Zoro. It is possible that he kept the hilt in order to have it repaired.
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