Roronoa Zoro

In this article, the surname is Roronoa.

Roronoa Zoro
One Piece character
Roronoa Zoro illustrated by Eiichiro Oda in the color spread of Chapter 598
First appearance	One Piece chapter 3: "Introducing Pirate Hunter Zoro" (Weekly Shōnen Jump No. 36, August 4, 1997)
Created by	Eiichiro Oda
Portrayed by	Mackenyu (live-action television series) Maximilian Lee Piazza (live-action television series; young) Minosuke Bando (Super Kabuki II: One Piece)
Voiced by	Japanese Kazuya Nakai Megumi Urawa (young) Wataru Takagi (Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack) English Christopher Sabat (Funimation) Cynthia Cranz (Funimation; young) Brina Palencia (Funimation; young) Marc Diraison (4Kids Entertainment) Andrew Rannells (4Kids Entertainment; young) Brian Zimmerman (Odex) Aaron Dismuke (young; One Piece: Unlimited Adventure)
Birthday	November 11
In-universe information
Alias	Pirate Hunter
Relatives	Roronoa Arashi (father) Tera (mother) Roronoa Pinzoro (grandfather) Shimotsuki Furiko (grandmother) Shimotsuki Ushimaru (granduncle) Shimotsuki Ryuma (ancestor)
Occupation	Pirate Bounty Hunter (formerly)
Affiliations	Straw Hat Pirates (combatant / swordsman) Worst Generation (member)
Age	19 (debut) 21 (after the timeskip)
Bounties	1,111,000,000 (current) 320,000,000 (third) 120,000,000 (second) 60,000,000 (first)

Roronoa Zoro (ロロノア・ゾロ, Roronoa Zoro, spelled as "Roronoa Zolo" in some English adaptations), also known as "Pirate Hunter" Zoro (海賊狩りのゾロ, Kaizoku-Gari no Zoro), is a fictional character in the manga series and media franchise One Piece created by Eiichiro Oda. The character made his first appearance in the 3rd chapter of the series, which was first published in Japan in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on August 4, 1997. Zoro is the second member of the Straw Hat Pirates and the first to join, doing so after he is rescued by Luffy from execution. Zoro is a highly skilled swordsman and serves as the crew's combatant, (and Luffy's second-in-command) though he possesses an extremely poor sense of direction which recurs as a running gag throughout the series.

Creation and conception

Zoro originally used two swords instead of three. Zoro was originally planned to be part of Buggy the Clown’s pirate crew and would have been recruited by Luffy away from Buggy. Zoro's surname of Roronoa is based on the Japanese pronunciation of French pirate François l'Olonnais. In several Western localizations, his name was changed to Zolo.

Design

Zoro commonly wears a plain white shirt (though he can be seen wearing other types of shirts), black pants, and a light-green, haramaki sash that holds his three swords. These sword's names are Enma, Wado Ichimonji, and Sandai Kitetsu. Zoro also has a black bandanna tied around his left biceps that he only wears on his head while in a serious battle. Under his shirt, his torso is heavily scarred from many of the battles he has fought, especially since he joined the Straw Hats (like the one acquired during the battle against Dracule Mihawk, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea). He has three golden earrings in his left ear, which denotes his three swords style. After the two year time-skip, Zoro has a scar across his left eye (obtained during his training under Dracule Mihawk, although not confirmed by anime) and replaces his shirt with a long dark green samurai's coat which he can even open the torso while fighting (against the New Fishman Pirates) or when he experiences heat (burning side of Punk Hazard). Concerning his ethnic appearance, Oda revealed that he imagines Zoro to be of Japanese descent, albeit in a real-world context.

Zoro has many scars on his body. The most noticeable is the long scar running down his left eye, which is the one he got after returning from the two-year time skip. It is currently unknown how he acquired it, but he either can't or won't open his left eye because of it. He also has a heavily scarred torso, having a diagonal cut mark from the top left to the bottom right of his torso due to fighting Dracule Mihawk. He also has scars on both of his ankles, which he obtained from trying to cut his own legs off to escape the candle prison of Mr. 3 in Little Garden.

Portrayals

Christopher Sabat voiced Zoro in the Funimation English dub of the anime series.

Mackenyu portrays Zoro in the live action series.

In the original Japanese version of the One Piece anime series, Zoro is voiced by Kazuya Nakai as an adult and Megumi Urawa as a child. In the first OVA Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack from 1998 is voiced by Wataru Takagi.

In Odex's dubs of the first 104 episodes of One Piece in Singapore, Zoro was voiced by Brian Zimmerman. In the 4kids Entertainment's dub of the first 104 episodes of One Piece, Zoro was renamed "Zolo," which was later influenced and implemented in the Viz Media adaption of the manga series; he was voiced by Marc Diraison and Andrew Rannells as a child. In Funimation Entertainment's dubs of the entire One Piece franchise, adult Zoro is voiced by Christopher Sabat with Cynthia Cranz playing the role of child Zoro for episode 2 and by Brina Palencia for the rest of the franchise. Sabat compared Zoro's characterization with Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle's Kurogane and YuYu Hakusho's Kazuma Kuwabara, describing them as "the tough guy with a heart of gold". As a result, Sabat feared that he sometimes performs similar voices despite the fact the characters are different. He also tried seeing the original actors' works to avoid getting a more specific delivery. In the game One Piece: Unlimited Adventure, Sabat reprises his role as adult Zoro, with child Zoro voiced by Aaron Dismuke.

Zoro is portrayed by Mackenyu in the live action adaptation of One Piece, while Maximilian Lee Piazza portrays young Zoro.

Characteristics

Personality

Zoro is a confident and serious individual who nevertheless acts impulsively like his captain; he responds in a comical short-tempered way towards minor conflicts. A running gag is that he has a terrible sense of direction, being capable of getting lost even while walking in a straight line; he is very insecure about this and always blaming someone else. While the crew is out at sea, Zoro can (usually) be found sleeping or training towards his goal of becoming the world's best swordsman. He and Sanji have a great rivalry, often resorting to fighting and insults over the most minuscule of problems. Zoro had never called Sanji by his name in the original Japanese manga, he uses phrases like "dumb-cook", etc. On the other side, Sanji uses phrases like marimo (moss-head). etc.

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 Straw Hat Pirates, Zoro has been known to kill his opponents if he has to, though never in cold blood. It is shown that Zoro enjoys fighting a strong opponent (usually left to face down the second strongest villain in each arc, as Luffy faces down the strongest). Zoro tends to retain a maniacal grin and serious glare when battling a worthy opponent.

On the ship, he normally either trains with weights or sleeps. The only work he is seen doing regularly is hoisting the anchor using his great strength and maintaining a lookout in the ship's crow's nest (which on the Thousand Sunny also doubles as his gym). He also likes sake, almost to the degree that Luffy likes meat, but like Nami, he never gets drunk due to his inhumanly high endurance and tolerance for alcohol. Despite his poor sense of direction, he is often the first to sense an enemy or danger and react. He is often displayed as being well aware of dangerous situations and the people around him.

Despite his stern personality, Zoro had a strong sense of loyalty and mutual respect towards his crewmates when accomplishing their dreams. After his humiliating loss to Dracule Mihawk, Zoro pledged his loyalty to Luffy as his captain vowing that he will never lose again. As Luffy's first mate, Zoro often reminds others of the harsh reality of a sudden situation, which shocks some other crew members, although they usually decide he is right. Zoro insisted that Usopp apologize to his crewmates before he returns to the Straw Hats from an internal conflict he caused, displaying emotional maturity. Zoro has stated that he does not pray to any god, does not care one way or the other, and has never believed in anything except himself, and for him, only one man is above him (his captain, Luffy). He has also stated that he would follow Luffy till the end of his journey - becoming the King of the Pirates - but Luffy should not come between him and his dream either - becoming the world's strongest swordsman and surpassing Dracule Mihawk in the process. Even so, Zoro knows he still has much-untapped potential and is constantly seen training and improving his fighting skills. He also adheres to a strict sword master's code of honor and never falsely brags or lies about his abilities, sometimes outright admitting a weakness, even to an enemy. He also never tries to escape from a fight or use trickery to win, believing that doing so is cowardly and scorning anyone who uses such tactics.

Haki

He is proficient in Armament and Observation Haki and is one of the few known characters who possess Conquerors Haki. During his battle against King, Zoro unlocks an advanced form of Conqueror Haki, which allows him to coat his swords with it, similar to Armament Haki, which could further enhance his attacks. Although it hasn't been confirmed, Zoro is heavily linked with conqueror Haki by the beast pirate captain himself after the wound he gave to him. He also uses an advanced form of Armament Haki to shoot a short blast of Haki from a distance.

Appearances

One Piece manga

Roronoa Zoro first appears in the manga chapter "Enter Pirate Hunter Zoro" ("海賊狩りのゾロ"登場, Kaizoku-gari no Zoro Tōjō), first published in Japan's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on August 4, 1997. He first appears as a captured criminal awaiting his execution at the hands of the Marines, having offended Helmeppo by killing his pet wolf. Before the beginning of the series' narrative, Zoro made a pact with his childhood friend Kuina, vowing to become the strongest swordsman in the world, only for Kuina to pass away the next day from an accident. For years, Zoro hunts pirates as a bounty hunter for a living alongside friends Johnny and Yosaku, after getting lost trying to locate Dracule Mihawk. When Luffy offers Zoro the opportunity to join his crew, Zoro initially refuses. But after Luffy saves him from execution, Zoro pledges loyalty to him. Zoro locates Mihawk at the Baratie in a chance encounter, where he is easily defeated but nevertheless impressed the latter.

Zoro's loyalty to Luffy is incomparable among the crew and develops through the series. Even though he joined Luffy's crew, his main goal was to become the strongest swordsman. Originally Zoro threatened to kill Luffy if he ever got in the way of this goal. He listens to his captain's order and follows the order until the very end. On Jaya, Zoro followed Luffy's orders not to fight an enemy in a bar no matter what and followed it without hesitation. After fighting Daz Bonez in Alabasta, Zoro's bounty is initially set at 60,000,000 but is later raised to 120,000,000 after fighting the World Government at Enies Lobby. At Water 7, Zoro upholds the authority of Luffy as captain during Luffy's fight with Usopp and Usopp's leaving of the crew. Zoro pointedly refuses to allow Usopp to rejoin the crew without an apology and threatens to be the next to leave because to let Usopp "back as if nothing happened was an insult to Luffy's authority as captain.

At Thriller Bark, Bartholomew Kuma knocked out the Straw Hats, with Zoro trying to save Luffy and Sanji to no avail, as none of the pirates were aware of Kuma's intentions of having them separated to train for the New World far away. Zoro encounters Mihawk again and trains under him for two years before reuniting with the crew. He receives a bounty of 320,000,000 after cutting up an antagonist as large as a mountain and assisting Luffy at the end of Doflamingo's tyrannical rule of Dressrosa. After the events in Wano Country and his contributions in the Onigashima Raid such as defeating King, he receives a bounty of 1,111,000,000.

In One Piece volume 105, Oda revealed Zoro's family history. His father, Roronoa Arashi, was killed by pirates and his mother, Tera, died of illness when he was young. Zoro is a descendant of the Shimotsuki family of Wano Country through his grandmother Furiko, the older sister of Ushimaru, the daimyo of Ringo who is Zoro's great-uncle. Zoro is related to Kuina as distant cousins and is the descendant of Shimotsuki Ryuma, protagonist of one-shot Monsters and posthumously a One Piece character.

In other media

Zoro has made several appearances in other media, including, but not limited to, every One Piece licensed electronic video game to date, including Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars. In 2006, he is featured in the Dragon Ball/One Piece/Naruto crossover game Battle Stadium D.O.N..

Zoro appears in a special episode of One Piece X Toriko, fighting Zebra and Vegeta, Zoro appears lost, searching for his crew, until Zebra appears to Zoro, and Vegeta appears searching for Goku to "settle the score", the three were furious and fought without end.

Reception

Zoro is always among the top three most popular characters, usually only below Luffy in popularity. He ranked second in every Shōnen Jump character popularity poll except the fifth, where he ranked third after Trafalgar Law. Furthermore, in a 2007 poll by Oricon, Zoro was voted as the 4th most desired character to receive a spinoff. DVD Talk praises Zoro's "hilarious" three-sword fighting style as a great example of the show's sense of humor. Holly Ellingwood from Activeanime praised Zoro's fight against Luffy as one of the best moments from the 10th DVD from the series released by Viz Media, praising the action scenes. Sabat's work with Zoro has resulted in him being nominated in the category "Best Voice Actor (English)" in the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) Awards from 2008. Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network commented on Sabat's work with Zoro as a "standout", noting that Zoro and Sabat are "well-matched. Kimlinger also found that his and Sanji's flashbacks from the anime "really do jerk tears, even if they are less than gracefully executed".

When Nico Robin refers to the two as the "Wings of the Pirate King," it "suggests that they're the two most important people to Luffy becoming the Pirate King, for their ability to carry their responsibility effectively and fight at the highest level, if not more."

External links

• Roronoa Zoro's bio at One Piece's official website (in Japanese)

Further reading

• "One Piece: Collection One". DVDTalk.