Roronoa Zoro
Template:Infobox OPchara/Header Template:Infobox OPchara/Footer Roronoa Zoro (ロロノア・ゾロ) , known in the United States, Canada, and Australia as "Roronoa Zolo" is a fictional character in the anime and manga, One Piece. Being a member of the Straw Hat pirates, he has a bounty of 60 million berries.
Originally, the American version (Viz) spelled his name as "Roronoa Zoro", but it was changed to "Zolo" in chapter 50. His name was changed in the North American English versions possibly for trademark reasons, and to match up with the dub by 4Kids Entertainment. The French and Spanish versions write Zoro's name as "Zorro". This name is also used in the German version but his backname was changed to Lorenor, mainly because it was easier to spell.
Zoro is a mighty swordsman who fights with santōryū, 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.
He is usually more lazy when the Straw Hat crew isn't fighting, spending almost all of his leisure time (as in, whenever he isn't fighting or training) sleeping soundly.
History
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 clearly said that was his dream, Kuina started to cry as well, saying that she wants to be the best swordsman too, but her father says that girls can't be master swordsmen so she doesn't have much time left and that she is already beginning to mature. Zoro yelled at her that she shouldn't say that 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 fullfil the promise for both of them, and he asked the teacher for Kuina's sword, Wadou Ichimounji, and he started to develop a new fighting style - santoryu, a 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.
Zoro originally was a bounty hunter, with ambitions of becoming the greatest swordsman in the world. However 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 "Straw Hat pirates". 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 greatest pirate are on the same crew.
Recent Chapters
Currently in the manga Usopp (Sogeking) and Zoro were handcuffed together (Thanks to a mistake of Usopp) and battling both Jyabura and Kaku, 2nd and 3rd strongest members of the CP9, in the attempt to acquire the key to Robin's handcuffs. He used Usopp as a sword he has called the "Hana Arashi" (Nose Storm) until finally being freed by Nami.
He is now fighting Kaku on his own. While fighting Kaku, he has been able to pump his arms up by will, making his attacks strong enough to break tekkai.
Abilities and powers
Zoro is a master swordsman, able to use one, two and three swords in varying attack styles, although he is most comfortable with his Santoryuu (literaly; three sword style). Lacking a third hand for a third sword, Zoro handles his third sword in his mouth. His 3 swords are Sandai Kitetsu (a cursed blade which will cut nearly everything his owner will wish to cut), Yubashiri (an extremely light blade, able to perform swift techniques with) and Wado Ichimounji (Kuina's sword and a legendary blade). Along with his mastery of his self-developed sword art, Zoro has above average speed and lifting capacity, as demonstrated when he perfoms his various manuevers (such as lifting a huge section of a destroyed building). He also has an abnormal amount of stamina, able to withstand massive blood loss and prolonged battles.
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, which some of them can be used as projectiles - using the air itself to hurt the enemy. All of Zoro's attacks are puns and have multiple meanings.
Some common techniques are Onigiri (Demon Cleave / Rice Ball), a three-sword attack where all swords are slashed at the same time to form an asterick, and 36/72/108 Pondo Hou (36/72/108 Pound Cannon / 36/72/108 Phoenixes of Passion and Desire), a projectile attack for which the power increases according to how many swords are used.
Zoro often speaks even when using the third sword, it's unknown how he manages to speak when his mouth is clenched holding a sword. The creator of the series, Eiichiro Oda, has said that it is his heart that allows him to speak (though Oda is known for giving joke answers to fans' questions, as well as just making up answers on the spot to avoid leaving a fan's question unanswered). A better explanation is that he learned ventriloquism on his own so he can communicate even when fighting.
Trivia
- In Japanese Fan Polls, Zoro is consistently the second most popular character.
- His last name, Roronoa, comes from the real-life French pirate François l'Ollonais. This is because there is no differentiation between R and L in Japanese, so the name may also be said R'Orronais. His first name is also redolent of the famed swordsman Zorro.
- Eiichiro Oda stated that he made Zoro as a bodyguard of Buggy in earlier versions of the story; he scrapped that idea for the final version of One Piece.
- According to Oda, Zoro most resembles a shark.
- Zoro tends to sleep when the crew is sailing, even through blizzards. He is usually awakened either by Nami or Sanji in a rather violent way.
- Nami constantly cheats Zoro out of his money, for instance when she lent him money to buy new swords in Loguetown, and later added on interest.
- Zoro has an unnatural ability to get lost even in small spaces. The manga speaks of him as not having any sense for directions. Luffy often makes fun of this, despite the fact that he isn't any better.
- Zoro is 19 years old. His birthday is on 11/11; a slight pun considering number palindromes are called 'Zorome' in Japanese. He's a Scorpio.
- Zoro is left-handed.
- Zoro has a huge scar on his chest from his duel with Mihawk. He also has scars on his ankles from when he tried to cut his own feet off to free himself in Little Garden.
- Zoro's dream is to beat Mihawk, currently the strongest swordsman in the world.
- Zoro's most important sword is Wadou Ichimonji ["The One road of Harmony"] (Kuina's sword, one of the 21 Ou Wazamono or '21 Great Edges' of the world). His other two swords, obtained in Roguetown, are the Sandai Kitetsu ["Third Generation Demon-Splitter"] (a Wazamono or 'Sharp Sword' that has a curse in which all the previous owners fell to tragic deaths) and Yubashiri ["Snow Run"] (one of the 50 Ryou Wazamono).
- Zoro is 178 cm tall or 5'10".
- Zoro usually doesn't get along with Sanji.
- His Poundo 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)
- It should be mentioned that when Zoro intends to fight seriously, he ties his black bandana (which is usually tied on his left bicep) over his head.
- 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 made the boss". Afterwards, he killed the person who offered, Mr. 6 of Baroque Works
- Miss Wednesday insults Zoro by calling him "Mr. Bushido". However, the title stuck and became her personal nickname for him.
- Zoro is a playable character in Jump Superstars.
- In the Enies Lobby Arc, Zolo has come up with a stronger fighting style in which he pumps up his arms to strengthen his attacks.
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