Roronoa Zoro

Zoro is tied to a post in the yard of the Shells Town Marine base, with no food, because he protected a little girl from the dog of Helmeppo, Captain Morgan's spoiled son. Helmeppo promised to free him if he lasted a month, but has no intention of keeping his word. When the girl brings him homemade rice balls full of sugar, Zoro eats them off the ground and thanks her.

Luffy shows up wanting to recruit him. Zoro says no, until Luffy gets his three swords back. Zoro agrees to join but warns him: if Luffy ever gets in the way of his dream, he'll pay with his life. Zoro says he'll be the world's greatest swordsman, and Luffy answers that the future King of the Pirates expects nothing less. The two take down Morgan and set sail together.

As a boy, at the dojo in Shimotsuki Village, Zoro could never beat Kuina, the master's daughter. The two promised that one of them would become the world's greatest swordsman. Soon after, Kuina died in an accident, and Zoro took her sword, the Wado Ichimonji, to keep the promise for both of them.

At the Baratie restaurant, Dracule Mihawk shows up, the greatest swordsman in the world. Zoro challenges him, and Mihawk fights with a tiny knife. For the final blow, Zoro turns to face it, because a scar on the back is a disgrace, and goes down with a cut from shoulder to hip. Impressed, Mihawk tells him he'll be waiting at the top. In tears, Zoro promises Luffy he'll never lose again.

At Whisky Peak, the first town on the Grand Line, Zoro takes down a hundred Baroque Works bounty hunters alone in one night. On Little Garden, stuck in Mr. 3's wax, Zoro even considers cutting off his own legs to keep fighting. In Alabasta, each crewmate takes on a Baroque Works agent, and Zoro gets Mr. 1, a man with a blade body no sword can cut.

Mid-fight, Zoro learns to sense the breath of all things. With a single sword, he cuts through Mr. 1's steel body and wins.

At Enies Lobby, Zoro had beaten CP9's Kaku with Asura, a technique where he seems to fight with nine swords. On Thriller Bark, he wins the sword Shusui after beating the zombie of the legendary samurai Ryuma. At the end of the arc, Warlord Bartholomew Kuma arrives to kill the unconscious Luffy. Zoro offers his own life in place of his captain's.

Kuma pulls all the pain and fatigue out of Luffy's body into a bubble and makes Zoro absorb it. Sanji finds him standing, covered in blood, amid the rubble. When asked what happened, Zoro answers: nothing happened.

After Kuma scatters the crew, Zoro lands on Kuraigana Island, Mihawk's home, along with Perona, the ghost girl from Thriller Bark, who patches up his wounds. When he sees Luffy's message asking for two years, Zoro realizes he has to get stronger to protect his captain.

He kneels before the man he swore to defeat and asks Mihawk to train him. Mihawk finds it intriguing and agrees. Before the lessons, Zoro takes on the island's Humandrills, baboons that copy the swordsmanship of fighters they've seen.

In Wano, the land of the samurai, Zoro receives Enma from Hiyori, Kozuki Oden's legendary sword, which drains the Haki of whoever wields it. In the raid on Onigashima, he reaches the rooftop with Luffy, Law, Kid and Killer and leaves a scar on Kaido.

Then he faces King, Kaido's right-hand man. Zoro learns to control Enma, coats his strikes in Conqueror's Haki and defeats King.

Oda took the surname Roronoa from the Japanese pronunciation of François l'Olonnais, a 17th-century French pirate. In the early sketches, Zoro fought with two swords, not three. Kazuya Nakai voices him in Japanese, and Christopher Sabat, who calls him a tough guy with a heart of gold, in Funimation's English dub. In Netflix's live-action series, Zoro is played by Mackenyu.