Roronoa Zoro
Roronoa Zoro, nicknamed "Pirate Hunter" Zoro, is a fictional character in the One Piece franchise created by Eiichiro Oda.
In the story, Zoro is the first to join Monkey D. Luffy after he is saved from being executed at the Marine Base. He is one of the two swordsmen of the Straw Hat Pirates, the other being Brook. As a native to the East Blue, he came from the town known as Shimotsuki, where he trained in a dojo and learned the one and two-sword styles. Zoro is uniquely known as an expert of Santōryū, where he wields a third sword with his mouth in combat. Throughout the series, his primary sword is Wado Ichimonji, a sword that he inherited from a childhood friend, and is frequently the sword that he wields in his mouth.
Appearances
Zoro first appears in the manga chapter "Enter Pirate Hunter Zoro", first published in Japan's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on August 18, 1997. He first appears as a captured criminal awaiting his execution at the hands of the Marines. Before the beginning of the series' narrative, Zoro loses his childhood friend Kuina and vows to get strong.For years, he hunts pirates only to get money for food in the company of his friends Johnny and Yosaku. When Luffy offers Zoro to join his crew, he initially refuses. However, after Zoro is saved from being executed by Captain Morgan, he joins Luffy. When he discovers that the best swordsman in the world is Dracule Mihawk, Zoro thinks only to beat him one day. However, he is defeated at Mihawk's hands.
Zoro appears in a special episode of One Piece X Toriko, fighting Zebra and Vegeta, Zoro appears lost, serching his crew, until Zebra appears to Zoro, and Vegeta appears searching Goku to "settle the score", the three were furious and fought among.
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. Later, the crew is separated by Bartholomew Kuma. Zoro encounters Mihawk again and trains under him before reuniting two years later. He receives a bounty of 320,000,000 after defeating Pica.
Creation and conception
Name
Zoro's surname was based on the Japanese pronunciation of French pirate François l'Olonnais. In several Western localizations, his name was changed to Zolo, in part to avoid confusion and trademark issues with Zorro, another fictional swordsman.Design
Zoro commonly wears a plain white shirt, black pants, and a light-green, haramaki sash that holds his three swords. Zoro also has a black bandanna tied around his left bicep 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. 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 and replaces his shirt with a long dark green samurai's coat which he can even open the torso part while fighting or when he experiences heat. Concerning his ethnic appearance, Oda revealed that he imagines Zoro to be of Japanese descent, albeit in a real-world context.Personality
Zoro is confident but often acts in a very comical manner. A running gag is that he has a terrible sense of direction which he is very insecure about since he never admits it when he gets lost, instead always blaming someone else. While the crew is out at sea, Zoro can 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 over issues from minor to extreme.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. When battling a worthy opponent Zoro tends to retain a maniacal grin and serious glare throughout.
Zoro has a stern, serious and distanced personality, but unlike Robin, he often reacts in a goofy and exaggerated comic style due to his short-tempered and impatient attitude. On the ship, he normally either trains with weights or sleep. The only work he is seen doing regularly is hoisting the anchor using his great strength and maintaining lookout in the ship's crow's nest. 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. Another notable trait is his lack of orientation, as Zoro often gets lost, even in small, familiar spaces or when being led by someone. Despite this, he is often the first to sense an enemy or danger and the first to react. He is often displayed as being well aware of dangerous situations and people around him.
Zoro often also reminds others of the harsh facts, which often shocks some of the other crew members, although they usually decide he is right. Zoro is an atheist because he stated that he does not pray to any god, and has never believed in anything except himself. Even so, Zoro knows that he still has much untapped potential, and is constantly seen training and trying to improve 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. Zoro is vigorous, strong-willed and determined.
Scars
Related to his fighting/manly spirit, 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 he came back from the two-year time skip, which is currently unknown how he acquired it, all we know is that 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 top to bottom of his torso by Dracule Mihawk. He also has scars on both of his ankles which he obtained from trying to cut his own legs off in order to escape the candle prison of Mr. 3 in Little Garden.
voiced Roronoa Zoro in the Funimation English dub of the series.
Voice actors
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 Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack, he is voiced by Wataru Takagi.In 4Kids Entertainment's dub of the anime, Zoro was voiced by Marc Diraison
In Odex's dubs of the first 104 episodes of One Piece in Singapore, Zoro was voiced by Brian Zimmerman. 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. In the game , Sabat reprises his role as adult Zoro, with child Zoro voiced by Aaron Dismuke.