Roronoa Zoro

RORONOA ZORO

Crew Position: First Mate

Favorites: sword and sake

Specialty: cutting / unarmed combat

Dream: Become the Greatest Swordsman of the World

First Bounty: 60,000,000 (Beli)

Current Bounty: 120,000,000 (Beli)

Roronoa Zoro is a sword fighter once known as the Pirate Hunter who joins the Straw Hat Pirates as first-mate and aims to become the world’s greatest swordsman to fulfill a childhood promise with his special three-sword style, Santoryu.

Zoro is a proponent of a self-created style called the Santouryu or the three sword style. With the Santouryu, Roronoa simultaneously uses three swords (one in each hand and one in his mouth) when fighting an opponent. Initially, Zoro started using two swords back when he was still a kid but after Kuina’s death and after having the Wadō Ichimonji passed on to him, he developed his three sword style. Although having the three sword style, Zoro also uses the Nitōryū or the two sword style and the Ittōryū or one sword style. Zoro is adept at using any of his styles, whether Ittōryū, Nitōryū or Santouryu.

Zoro’s agility, speed, and overall reflexes are also extraordinary; in numerous occasions, Zoro has shown being able to evade (or block) high-speed attacks and projectiles that would normally be impossible for an average human to perceive, much less intercept. He also has unreal strength, as seen in the fight against Mr. 1 where he literally throws a building at his opponent.

Eventually Zoro learns to hone the focus of his blade to cut through virtually any high density alloy such as steel. This ability only manifests after he comprehends the presence or “breath” of all things in nature. By controlling the intent of his blade to either kill or protect he can then determine what he ends up damaging. At first he can only achieve this focus with the single sword Lion’s Song stance but he later improves the technique to handle nine simultaneous slashes in his Ashurastance.

Through extreme physical and mental conditioning Zoro is able to make his sword slashes to fly through the air like projectiles. The underlying idea is that his muscle mass allows his blades to strike the air with such force that the attack pushes the wind into a cutting force. He begins mastering this technique in the Skypiea arc.

Zoro, being a swordsman, is always seen with three katanas at his side. Zoro has changed his swords throughout the series save for one: the Wadō Ichimonji. Zoro owns two of the 21 Great Edges and excellent grade sword as his weapons

A common mistranslation to Zoro’s swords is to add the word Meitou to the front of the names. Meitou is not a name, but shows a status of the blade. It shows that there is a history or tale behind the history of the sword. During his current adventures he uses the following swords:

1. Wadō Ichimonji (Kuina’s sword which had been passed down to Zoro)
2. Sandai Kitetsu (Supposedly a 3rd generation cursed sword)
3. Shuusui (Legendary sword gained from the zombie samurai Ryuuma)For one reason or another, Zoro has one or more of his swords destroyed or incapacitated in some way
   1. Yubashiri(destroyed on Enies Lobby by Shuu during the Buster Calll and now resting on Thriller Bark)
   2. Katana x2 (destroyed by Mihawk)