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The story that we all know and follow began a little earlier. It began with Oda's Monsters and it's main character Ryuma, the samurai of Wano country. Some say that it was exactly Ryuma's character that gave the foundation to the characters of Luffy and Zoro, one personality split among two characters. Regardless if that is true or not, it's undeniable that Luffy and Zoro are quite similar personalities. There are differences of course, one is silly while the other is rather quite serious, the combat style is completely different, one likes meat while the other likes booze...
Back to their similarities and what really makes them look like one personality, sometimes mirroring each other.
When it comes to differences I named some already but worth pointing out are the easy-going attitude vs serious attitude from Water 7 speech about Usopp.
When they first met Zoro pointed out a difference in will power.
My point is, considering all these similarities(and differences), what has Oda in store for Zoro in the overall story. It's a character he introduced in chapter 3 which got several plot elements lurking in the background of the story yet it feels so sidelined at this point. Has Oda forgotten about Zoro and diminished his part in the story because he focused too much on Luffy's adventures or he does it intentionally up to this point to make the crucial moment more special?
There are too many questions that need an answer regarding Zoro.
Zoro is the only character who was confronted with his end game goal so early, no character received such a treatment. As early as East Blue's Baratie, Zoro got to face the man standing at the end of his road, the unclimbable mountain which he still didn't climb up almost 900 chapters later.
A plot element made for Zoro specifically, the curse of Kitetsu swords. Around 830+ chapters later we still don't know more than we knew back then and only a few chapters ago we saw a second Kitetsu sword. Where is Oda going with this curse? Is it going to be a possible power-up, is he going after getting Zoro all 3 cursed swords? Shusui is Wano's treasure and he may return it at some point in exchange for the Kitetsu of the second generation that Luffy carried around. Wado Ichimonji is a special sword with a plot armor way too great to be replaced, at least until he becomes the greatest swordsman in the world. At that point, Wano Ichimonji may be stored somewhere or returned to Kuina's grave while Zoro would replace it with Kitetsu of the first generation. If he indeed obtains 3 Kitetsu swords that opens up more questions which I won't ask now.
Zoro is the only character in the OP universe whose fighting spirit manifested and took a form of Demon God Asura. It's a mysterious ability which Zoro only tapped into for short moments of time while finishing Kaku from the CP9 and PX-4(?) from Sentoumaru's Pacifista squad. That's all we got from it, one strike against 2 opponents.
Then with a reunion on Sabaody 2 years later we got another mystery regarding Zoro - the closed eye and how much, 9(?) years later or 330+ chapters, we still have not a single clue about what the closed eye is about.
Now about Zoro's portrayal... Always looking scary and menacing when the fights get serious. From the moment of his introduction or even the chapter before he was called a demonic beast with intimidating aura. His attacks have an animal theme and often have a reference about buddhism or Buddhist hells, his Asura speech mentions endless suffering and no desire for anything else which goes along with his combat style since he often takes loads of damage, looking back at the chest slash from Mihawk and the bloody shredding he endured at Thriller Bark. Often described as a beast even by equal opponents, even forcing back the forgotten memories of a dead samurai or making Monet so scared that she was unable to move.
Where is this train, that opens up more questions than it answers, going? Is the destination of many reveals Wanokuni itself? The land of Samurai, the land of many beasts and the king of beasts - Kaido himself, the land of Kitetsu swordsmiths certainly looks like part of the story that may give us many answers without opening many more. However, will it? Or we are going to get another - "Nothing Happened"?
What purpose do you fellow readers see for Zoro?
Back to their similarities and what really makes them look like one personality, sometimes mirroring each other.
When they first met Zoro pointed out a difference in will power.
My point is, considering all these similarities(and differences), what has Oda in store for Zoro in the overall story. It's a character he introduced in chapter 3 which got several plot elements lurking in the background of the story yet it feels so sidelined at this point. Has Oda forgotten about Zoro and diminished his part in the story because he focused too much on Luffy's adventures or he does it intentionally up to this point to make the crucial moment more special?
There are too many questions that need an answer regarding Zoro.
Zoro is the only character who was confronted with his end game goal so early, no character received such a treatment. As early as East Blue's Baratie, Zoro got to face the man standing at the end of his road, the unclimbable mountain which he still didn't climb up almost 900 chapters later.
A plot element made for Zoro specifically, the curse of Kitetsu swords. Around 830+ chapters later we still don't know more than we knew back then and only a few chapters ago we saw a second Kitetsu sword. Where is Oda going with this curse? Is it going to be a possible power-up, is he going after getting Zoro all 3 cursed swords? Shusui is Wano's treasure and he may return it at some point in exchange for the Kitetsu of the second generation that Luffy carried around. Wado Ichimonji is a special sword with a plot armor way too great to be replaced, at least until he becomes the greatest swordsman in the world. At that point, Wano Ichimonji may be stored somewhere or returned to Kuina's grave while Zoro would replace it with Kitetsu of the first generation. If he indeed obtains 3 Kitetsu swords that opens up more questions which I won't ask now.
Zoro is the only character in the OP universe whose fighting spirit manifested and took a form of Demon God Asura. It's a mysterious ability which Zoro only tapped into for short moments of time while finishing Kaku from the CP9 and PX-4(?) from Sentoumaru's Pacifista squad. That's all we got from it, one strike against 2 opponents.
Then with a reunion on Sabaody 2 years later we got another mystery regarding Zoro - the closed eye and how much, 9(?) years later or 330+ chapters, we still have not a single clue about what the closed eye is about.
Now about Zoro's portrayal... Always looking scary and menacing when the fights get serious. From the moment of his introduction or even the chapter before he was called a demonic beast with intimidating aura. His attacks have an animal theme and often have a reference about buddhism or Buddhist hells, his Asura speech mentions endless suffering and no desire for anything else which goes along with his combat style since he often takes loads of damage, looking back at the chest slash from Mihawk and the bloody shredding he endured at Thriller Bark. Often described as a beast even by equal opponents, even forcing back the forgotten memories of a dead samurai or making Monet so scared that she was unable to move.
Where is this train, that opens up more questions than it answers, going? Is the destination of many reveals Wanokuni itself? The land of Samurai, the land of many beasts and the king of beasts - Kaido himself, the land of Kitetsu swordsmiths certainly looks like part of the story that may give us many answers without opening many more. However, will it? Or we are going to get another - "Nothing Happened"?
What purpose do you fellow readers see for Zoro?