History Characters / OnePiecePirateHunterRoronoaZoro

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!All spoilers regarding the Super Rookies era are unmarked. Examples relating to the New World era can be spoiler-tagged if deemed necessary.
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[[folder:Character Index]]
[[WMG:[[center: [- ''Manga/OnePiece'' '''[[Characters/OnePiece Main Character Index]]''']]-]]]

[[WMG:[[center: [- '''[[Characters/OnePieceStrawHatPirates Straw Hat Pirates]]''' ([[Characters/OnePieceStrawHatMonkeyDLuffy "Straw Hat" Monkey D. Luffy]], '''"Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro''', [[Characters/OnePieceCatBurglarNami "Cat Burglar" Nami]], [[Characters/OnePieceGodUsopp "God" Usopp]], [[Characters/OnePieceBlackLegVinsmokeSanji "Black Leg" Vinsmoke Sanji]], [[Characters/OnePieceTonyTonyChopper "Cotton Candy Lover" Tony Tony Chopper]], [[Characters/OnePieceDemonChildNicoRobin "Demon Child" Nico Robin]], [[Characters/OnePieceStrawHatGrandFleet Straw Hat Grand Fleet]])]]-]]]

[[WMG:[[center: [- '''[[Characters/OnePieceWorldGovernment World Government]]''' ([[Characters/OnePieceMarines Marines]] [[[Characters/OnePieceMarineAdmirals Marine Admirals]]], [[Characters/OnePieceCipherPol Cipher Pol]], [[Characters/OnePieceImpelDown Impel Down]])]]-]]]

[[WMG:[[center: [- '''[[Characters/OnePieceSevenWarlordsOfTheSea Seven Warlords of the Sea]]''' ([[Characters/OnePieceHeavenlyDemonDonquixoteDoflamingo "Heavenly Demon" Donquixote Doflamingo]] [[[Characters/OnePieceDonquixotePirates Donquixote Pirates]]], [[Characters/OnePieceBuggyPirates Buggy Pirates]], [[Characters/OnePieceBaroqueWorks Baroque Works]], [[Characters/OnePieceThrillerBarkPirates Thriller Bark Pirates]], [[Characters/OnePiecePirateEmpressBoaHancock "Pirate Empress" Boa Hancock]] [[[Characters/OnePieceKuja Kuja]]], [[Characters/OnePieceSunPirates Sun Pirates]])]]-]]]

[[WMG:[[center: [- '''[[Characters/OnePieceFourEmperors Four Emperors]]''' ([[Characters/OnePieceCharlotteLinlinBigMom Charlotte Linlin — "Big Mom"]] [[[Characters/OnePieceBigMomPirates Big Mom Pirates]] ([[Characters/OnePieceCharlottePudding Charlotte Pudding]], [[Characters/OnePieceSweet3Generals Sweet 3 Generals]], [[Characters/OnePieceCharlotteKatakuri Charlotte Katakuri]])], [[Characters/OnePieceRedHairPirates Red Hair Pirates]], [[Characters/OnePieceWhitebeardPirates Whitebeard Pirates]], [[Characters/OnePieceKaidoKingOfTheBeasts Kaido "King of the Beasts"]] [[[Characters/OnePieceAnimalKingdomPirates Animal Kingdom Pirates]], [[Characters/OnePieceLeadPerformers Lead Performers]]], [[Characters/OnePieceMarshallDTeachBlackbeard Marshall D. Teach "Blackbeard"]] [[[Characters/OnePieceBlackbeardPirates Blackbeard Pirates]]])]]-]]]

[[WMG:[[center: [- [[Characters/OnePieceElevenSupernovas Eleven Supernovas]] ([[Characters/OnePieceSurgeonOfDeathTrafalgarLaw "Surgeon of Death" Trafalgar Law]], [[Characters/OnePieceSupernovasCrews Supernovas Crews]]) | [[Characters/OnePieceRevolutionaryArmy Revolutionary Army]] | [[Characters/OnePieceRogerPirates Roger Pirates]] | [[Characters/OnePieceGerma66 Germa 66]] | [[Characters/OnePieceBlueSeas Blue Seas]] | [[Characters/OnePieceParadise Paradise]] ([[Characters/OnePieceAlabasta Alabasta]], [[Characters/OnePieceWater7 Water 7]]) | [[Characters/OnePieceSkyPeople Sky People]] | [[Characters/OnePieceFishManIsland Fish-Man Island]] | [[Characters/OnePieceNewWorld New World]] ([[Characters/OnePieceDressrosa Dressrosa]], [[Characters/OnePieceMinkTribe Mink Tribe]], [[Characters/OnePieceWano Wano]] [[[Characters/OnePieceWanoKozukiClanAndAllies Kozuki Clan]], [[Characters/OnePieceKozukiOden Kozuki Oden]]]) | [[Characters/OnePieceOthers Others]] | [[Characters/OnePieceAnimeOnly Anime-Only Characters]] | [[Characters/OnePieceMovieOnly Movie-Only Characters]] | [[Characters/OnePieceVideoGameOnly Video Game-Only Characters]] | [[Characters/OnePieceNovelOnly Novel-Only Characters]]]]-]]]
[[/folder]]
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[[header:"Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/WataruTakagi [OVA], Creator/KazuyaNakai [TV series onwards], Megumi Urawa [young] (Japanese); Creator/ChristopherSabat [Funimation dub], Creator/BrinaPalencia [young, Funimation dub], Creator/MarcDiraison [4Kids dub], Creator/AndrewRannells [young, 4Kids dub], Brian Zimmerman [Odex dub] (English)[[note]]'''Other languages:''' Gabriel Basurto [first season of the 4Kids dub], Dafnis Fernández [second season of the 4Kids dub onwards], Jared Mendoza [young, Netflix dub] (Latin American Spanish); Creator/JorgeSaudinos, Rocío Azofra [young] (European Spanish)[[/note]]
!!!'''Age:''' 19 (Pre-Timeskip), 21 (Post-Timeskip)
!!!'''Debut:''' Chapter 3 (Manga), Episode 1 (Anime)
[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/op_zoro_2.png]]
[[caption-width-right:260:[[labelnote:Click here to see his Pre-Time Skip appearance]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/one_piece_zoro.png[[/labelnote]]]]

->''"I am going to be the world's greatest swordsman! (...) Whether a hero or a villain, everyone's going to know my name!"''

Roronoa Zoro is the [[TheAlcoholic hard-drinking]] nineteen/[[TimeSkip twenty-one]]-year-old swordsman and unofficial first mate of the Straw Hat Pirates. Recruited as a mildly notorious bounty hunter in East Blue (hence his "Pirate Hunter" moniker), he grows into a monstruously powerful man who doesn't even need a Devil Fruit ability, using a unique ''Santoryu'' sword style (literally "Three Sword Style") in battle, wielding a sword in each hand along with one in the mouth. After the time skip, he manages to master Observation and Armament Haki as well. Zoro mostly drinks and sleeps in his spare time (when he's not training his ass off), but becomes a real demon in battle that can defeat five hundred {{Mooks}} in two seconds. Often wears a green bandanna on his forearm that he ties around his head when he [[LetsGetDangerous gets dangerous]]. Moreover, he is Luffy's NumberTwo, sometimes acting as a voice of authority when the crew's future must be decided, and regularly happens to battle TheDragon of the current BigBad the crew are fighting, which is an occasion to hone his swordsmanship. Alongside Luffy and Sanji, Zoro is considered by the fandom as one of the Monster Trio (怪物三人組, Kaibutsu San-ningumi) of the Straw Hats. [[spoiler: Zoro and Sanji are also considered to be "the Wings of the Pirate King" by Nico Robin.]]

Similar to Luffy's goal, Zoro wishes to [[ToBeAMaster become the greatest swordsman in the world]] as a promise to his childhood rival Kuina, whom he wanted to win against but never could because she died in an accident. Unlike Luffy, however, he needs only to defeat Dracule "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk, the current greatest swordsman in the world, to do so. He actually meets up with Mihawk fairly early in the story, but [[CurbstompBattle fails to land a single hit]] and nearly gets bisected by Mihawk, leaving a serious wound on his chest that heals into a scar that remains with Zoro for the rest of the series. Mihawk, however, holds back just enough to leave Zoro alive, and in a truly [[DareToBeBadass epic speech]] tells Zoro to travel the world, grow stronger, and challenge him again when he's ready. Zoro took this early defeat to heart, swearing an oath then and there that he would never lose a fight until the day that he duel Mihawk again and defeat him. In a strange twist of events, Zoro is eventually ''trained'' by Mihawk to become a stronger swordsman to protect his crew.

Zoro is known as one of the “Eleven Supernovas”, a title given to an infamous assortment of (mostly) pirate captains representing a new generation of piracy that reached the end of Paradise with a bounty of over 100,000,000 berries. Zoro is notable for being one of the only Supernova that is ''not'' the captain of their own pirate crew (the other is Killer, Eustass Kid’s NumberTwo). Like his captain, Zoro is also counted as a member of the “The Worst Generation” of pirates, a group made up of the Eleven Supernova and the newly risen Emperor Marshall D. Teach.

He has a bounty of 320,000,000 berries.[[note]]His first one is of 60,000,000 for defeating Mr.1 and 100 bounty hunters in Alabasta; it's raised to 120,000,000 following the incident at Enies Lobby; most recently, it's raised to 320,000,000 for defeating Pica in Dressrosa.[[/note]]
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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:# - F]]
* AintTooProudToBeg: Does this ''two'' times.
** First, he begs Kuma to take his head instead of Luffy's when he defeated the Straw Hat Crew in Thriller Bark.
** After defeating the Humandrills when he was separated from his crew, he begs Mihawk to teach him to get stronger for his crew's sake.
* TheAlcoholic: If he's not fighting, he's either training, sleeping, or drinking. When training under Mihawk, he was horrified when his teacher told him he couldn't have a drop of alcohol to drink until he managed to infuse his sword with so much Armament Haki it turned the blade completely black.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: A RunningGag shared between him and Sanji -- [[AlwaysSecondBest whatever Sanji does, Zoro does better]]. It even factors in otherwise trivial things such as their BadassBaritone voices (with Zoro sounding the deepest of the two). It constantly pisses the hell out of Sanji.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Zoro has had a rich brown skin tone his entire life, so unlike Robin, who was just tan, his actual pigmentation is a little less than the lily-white Nami/Sanji have. Though considering he also has green hair and Oda states his real life nationality would be Japan, who knows what he's supposed to be? (Of course, there are some naturally tan Japanese, especially in the more Southern islands.)
* AnimalMotifs: The shark, befitting his role as a deadly swordsman as well as his three sword style evoking the appearance of a shark's pectoral and dorsal fins. As well, sharks tend to be rarely dangerous unless provoked, and Zoro tends only to fight when necessary.
* AntiHero: Zoro can be particularly murderous, as he's a BloodKnight. He is even described by other pirates as being capable of exuding a massive killing intent. Zoro has also stated several times of his willingness to kill, and said he's not a friend to pirates or Marines.
* TheAntiNihilist: While Zoro would be the last person to talk about the inherent beauty of the world, he's still deeply invested in protecting his crew and honoring the memory of his friend. He's just as much a romantic as the rest of his crew, he just doesn't happen to go on about as much. This also overlaps with some Buddhist ideology. He also started as a guy who didn't care about anything but his own strength.
* TheApprentice:
** Zoro learned swordsmanship from Koshiro when he was still a child.
** After reading Luffy's hidden message in the newspapers, he accepts his captain's order to train for the next two years, so he asks Mihawk, the very man he aims to defeat, to train him; after passing a test, Mihawk accepts Zoro as his apprentice. Following the TimeSkip, Zoro has become much stronger and his behavior resembles his master's. His cockiness and confidence in his abilities, his disdain for any perceived lightheartedness in serious situations, and his refusal to do anything more than the bare minimum when fighting opponents weaker than himself are extremely reminiscent of Mihawk's general personality, although in a more personable and cruder manner than his teacher's stoic and taciturn disposition.
* ArtifactAlias: The epithet "Pirate Hunter" comes from [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin hunting pirates]] for a living before the start of the series. Now that he's a pirate himself, this would be quite difficult to do without getting arrested himself.
* AwesomenessIsAForce: [[spoiler:Kaido suspects that Zoro has Conqueror's Haki after Zoro seriously injures him and even questions him about it, implying he has already used it subconsciously many times to enhance his attacks, but Zoro denies it and says he doesn't know what he's talking about. However, King confirms in Chapter 1033 that Zoro does indeed have Conqueror's Haki when he unintentionally uses it to knockout several of Kaido's men during their fight]].
* AxCrazy: The gag comic "Mugiwara Theatre -- Detective Loomes" depicts him as a bloodthirsty samurai who likes slicing pedestrians with his swords, cranking his BloodKnight tendencies UpToEleven and removing his sense of honor.
* BadassArmFold: [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zoroblood.jpg In this pic,]] which completely cements his {{Made Of Iron}} credentials.
* BadassBaritone: He has the deepest voice in the crew (both Japanese and English dub), and is undeniably badass.
* BadassBoast:
** As a ''child'' in Chapter 5, after Kuina's death:
--->'''Zoro:''' I'll have to keep the promise for both of us. I'm going to become such a great master swordsman that my name will be known even in heaven!!!
** After Luffy knocks out 50,000 of Hody's subordinates, he says:
---> '''Zoro:''' He'd better be able to do that much or I'll have to take over as captain.
** After unveiling his improved [[TornadoMove Tatsumaki]] in the Fish-Man Island arc:
--->'''New Fish-Man Pirate''': How long will it keep chasing us!?\\
'''Zoro''': ''To the ends of hell.''
** In Chapter 642, after easily beating Hyozu, Zoro says:
---> '''Zoro:''' I was giving you the chance to escape from my reach. Bring me the '''actual''' strongest swordsman on Fish-Man Island!! You ain't even worth killing time!!
** In Chapter 754 while fighting Pica:
---> '''Zoro:''' Don't forget this! One day, I will be the greatest swordsman in the entire world!!! I'm on an entirely different level than you!!
** He makes another one against Pica, which doubles as a PreMortemOneLiner.
--->'''Zoro:''' Over the 9 mountains and across the 8 seas...there is nothing I cannot cut!
** After defeating King, Zoro proclaims that he will become ''The King of Hell''.
* BadassLongcoat: After the two-year timeskip, Zoro wears a coat that makes him look like a wandering samurai, fitting for his fighting style.
* BadassNormal: He's the second-strongest member of the crew, on par with Luffy, and yet he doesn't have any Devil Fruit powers; his power comes from sheer skill and training.
* BadassesWearBandanas: Zoro is a badass swordsman, and becomes even more badass whenever he dons his black bandana, which is his way to tell that he's going serious.
* BandageMummy: During the Onigashima war, after [[spoiler:being defeated by Kaido, Sanji finds Zoro and Chopper tells him to heal their crewmate. Since Sanji has no medical knowledge, he just comically wraps Zoro under multiple layers of bandages until he's a cross-shaped mummy, which Sanji then uses as a blunt weapon]].
* BigBrotherInstinct: Out of all the crew, it's ''Chopper'' he seems to have a huge soft spot for. So don't try to hurt Chopper. It'll make the big guy decide to go back on his policy not to fight for revenge.
* BigBrotherMentor: Develops this relationship with Momonosuke in Wano by giving the latter advice on the way of the sword.
* BigDamnHeroes: He often jumps out of nowhere to save someone at unexpected moments.
** He saves Vivi from being blown up by Mr. 5 on Whiskey Peak.
** He shields Nami from Mr. 1's attack in Alubarna.
** At the end of the Thriller Bark arc, he stops Kuma from taking the entire crew, in particular Luffy,
** Post-TimeSkip, stops King Neptune's Trident when Neptune tries to attack the Straw Hats.
** He stops Hyouzou from attacking Robin. However, considering Robin's lack of concern prior to his intervention and Zoro's offhanded apology over it, the two probably see this particular example more as Zoro [[KillSteal stealing Robin's kill]] than this trope.
** In Wano he saves Toko from getting killed by shielding her from Orochi's sniping at her.
* BlackSwordsAreBetter:
** Zoro's sword Shusui has a black blade.
** When he makes his swords black with the strength of his Haki, they become harder, more durable, and sharper; they're able to slice a massive skyscraper-sized stone statue in half effortlessly and with not a chip on their blades afterward.
* BloodierAndGorier: His fights compared to the others ''as well as his own''.
* BloodKnight: Zoro is mostly apathetic towards anything around him but, due to his desire to become the world's strongest swordsman, Zoro is interested in fighting a strong opponent, especially a swordsman, to test his skills on. When he fights Hyozou in Fish-Man Island, Zoro is disappointed that the strongest swordsfishman is not a challenge to him.
* BodyHorror: As explained by Hitetsu, Enma drains its user's Haki in excessive amount. The effect is shown when Zoro wields it for the first time, which turns his right arm into a dry husk. A normal person would have died from that, but Zoro manages to extract his Haki back from the sword.
* BornLucky: Downplayed, but he earned Kitetsu III by tossing it with a heavy spin above his outstretched arm and challenging its curse with his own luck. Instead of slicing off his arm, the blade circles perfectly ''around'' his arm and sinks to its hilt in the floor.
* BrutalHonesty: Don't expect Zoro to be anything other than blunt in anything he says. Notably his commentary on [[ChivalrousPervert Sanji's]] attempts to woo attractive women, his opinion on Tashigi's fighting ability (in comparison to his), or the situation with Usopp with his initial departure of the crew.
* CallingYourAttacks: While this is common throughout the entire cast, Zoro takes it UpToEleven. Many of his attacks have some of the longest names in the series, not helped by the fact that he insists on preceding each attack name with its corresponding sword style. Special mention goes to Charming Demon Sleepless Oni Giri, Black Rope Dragon Twister, Billion-fold World Trichiliocosm (which is preceded by a ''three sentence chant''), and [[spoiler:103 Mercies Dragon Damnation, which is part of the King of Hell Three Sword-Style he develops during the Onigashima War]].
* ChallengeSeeker: Wanting to be the [[ToBeAMaster world's greatest swordsman]], Zoro duels everyone holding a sword to prove that he's the best and improve himself. At Onigashima, Zoro even decides to challenge Kaido because of his fame as an invincible creature.
* CharacterTics: When Zoro has the intention to fight seriously, he ties his bandana (normally kept tied around his left arm) around his head.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Zoro is extremely strong, owing to rigorous training and no Devil Fruit power or fantastic race. He's strong enough to lift an entire building or train with weights larger than a person.
* CelibateHero: Zoro shows no real interest in pursuing a relationship with any women in the series and seems to rather focus on his training and dream of becoming the best swordsman in the world. This also may have something to do with Kuina's death, who Zoro greatly admired growing up, dying on him which hardened him into the man he's in today. Unlike Luffy however, Zoro has shown attraction to some women he's interacted with, such as Tashigi, Robin, and Hiyori.
* ChildProdigy: Zoro was already an extremely talented swordsman as a child, being able to defeat every adult in his dojo at around 8- to 10-years-old. Ironically though, the one person he could ''not'' beat was another young prodigy, Kuina.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: You wouldn't guess it from his [[TheStoic usual demeanor]], but Zoro just has some moments of total daffiness, and is completely serious during all of them. When he's being turned into a wax statue, [[StabTheSky he raises his sword into the air]] and advises everyone to [[DyingMomentOfAwesome strike a pose]]. He yells like Tarzan while swinging on a vine. When Nami has trouble swinging, [[GenreSavvy he claims it's because she "didn't do the call"]].
* TheCoatsAreOff: Zoro removes the top part of his coat when he got serious in the battle on Fish-Man Island.
* ColorMotif: Always seen wearing green, and even has green hair. It represents naivety -- while he was already an accomplished swordsman, compared to someone like [[BrokenAce Mihawk]], he's an absolute greenhorn.
* CombatSadomasochist: The dude tears himself apart on a regular basis, and seems to ''enjoy'' it. In total, he's allowed himself:
** A big scar across his chest from losing to Mihawk that was so bad Arlong wondered why it didn't kill him outright.
** To risk the loss of an entire arm to test the curse of a sword.
** Ankle scars from attempting to chop off his feet.
** To go out in the freezing cold shirtless and unshod (until hawking suitable garb from a {{Mook}}).
** To take two massive jolts of electricity.
** Kuma's devastating test of pain which leaves him near death and eyes completely bloodshot from squinting so hard in agony.
** And a scar while training during the timeskip that prevents the use of his left eye.
* TheComicallySerious: He's very serious and doesn't have much of a sense of humor, but he can be hilarious nonetheless, partially thanks to his crew.
* TheConsigliere: Occasionally, despite the Straw Hats not being a mafia. Though he respects Luffy's decisions most of the time, he has an innate sense of the burdens of captainship and he ''will'' step in and give some harsh, albeit necessary, wisdom whenever he feels Luffy is making a mistake.
* CoveredInScars: He has no scars at the beginning of the series, but a duel with Mihawk leads to his first and more recognizable one: a large scar across his entire chest. He inflicts some more on himself when Mr. 3 encases his feet in wax and he tries to cut himself free, and in the two years he trained with Mihawk personally, something happened to his left eye, leaving it permanently closed and with a scar over it.
* CreepyCrossdresser: In "Mugiwara Theatre-Märchen Time" he plays the part of a princess and when Usopp, who's playing a fairy godmother, gives him a [[PimpedOutDress beautiful dress]] he calls him "creepy". Robin even says that "the princess" is "unlovable".
* CreepyGood: Zoro is one of only two members of the Straw Hats known to have killed in the past. Zoro is willing to chop his own feet off to join a fight and creeps the others out with his sheer determination and willpower, not to mention his monstrous strength. Usopp, Nami, and Chopper frequently find him "creepy" or "nuts" depending on the situation.
* CripplingOverspecialization: Downplayed, but it's been repeatedly remarked and shown that Zoro's main fighting style involves and relies on his triple-wielding. Any time he's been forced to only use one or two swords his combat performance suffers against anything stronger than a {{Mook}}. It's downplayed because he's often shown he ''does'' know how to fight with less than three swords, but pretty much all his aces in the hole rely on having all three out and ready.
* CurbStompBattle: Was subjected to one by Mihawk the first time they met, after challenging him to a sword fight. He was trounced so badly that he ''broke down crying'', and swore to improve himself so he can finally defeat Mihawk. On the flip side, he constantly hands out this trope to his enemies like Smoker smokes cigars -- it's even more prominent after the TimeSkip, where his fights end with even less effort on his part than before thanks to a two-year TrainingFromHell.
* CutenessProximity: Altough it's subtle, due to him being TheStoic, he has soft spot for the young and cute Chopper.
* CutlassBetweenTheTeeth: His three-swords fighting style relies on it, as he holds the third sword in his mouth, and is as improbable as it looks.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: While his childhood is mostly unknown, Zoro did lose a good friend and rival, Kuina, before they could both achieve their dreams of becoming great swordsman. [[ParentalAbandonment He also had no parents or extended family to speak of]].
* DeadpanSnarker: Zoro has a really dry wit, and has thrown out some pretty badass {{Pre Asskicking One Liner}}s.
* DeathGlare: He's ''damn'' good at giving these, and it gets even ''more'' terrifying once he [[LetsGetDangerous puts on his bandanna.]]
* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Zoro's ultimate goal is to defeat Mihawk, who is the world's undefeatable swordsman.
* DelinquentHair: The gag comic "Mugiwara Theatre - Red-Hair of Class 3-Sea Time" gives him a mohawk, which is a reference to ''Tora Gari'', one of his frequently-used sword techniques and a {{Pun}} for a type of mohawk. He's also depicted as a "deadly weapon" delinquent who often carries his swords around in school.
* {{Determinator}}: His fight against Mr. 1 comes to mind. You must see the amount of punishment Zoro endured during that fight to believe it.
* DiagonalCut: Zoro's ''Shishi sonson'' is a single-sword technique where Zoro dashes through his foe and slashes him with a single powerful cut, he uses it for the first time against Mr. 1 and cuts his steel body. However, it isn't powerful enough to cut Kuma's cybernetic body.
* DiscardAndDraw: Periodically he would lose a sword and gain a better one. He first loses Yubashiri to Shu, who rusted it away with his Devil Fruit power. It gets replaced by Shusui, an even more powerful sword from Wano Country that trades Yubashiri's light, easy-to-use nature for heavy-duty durability and power. Later on, [[spoiler:he agrees to trade Shusui for Enma, a sword of similar fame that can "cut down to the bottom of hell" in exchange for being even more difficult to use. It also the only weapon known to have injured [[NighInvulnerability Kaido]].]]
* DodgeTheBullet: He can dodge bullets quite easily, even if they're fired from point-blank range.
* DoesNotLikeSpam: According to Oda, [[RealMenHateSugar he hates chocolate because it's too sweet for him]]. Good thing he got PutOnABus for the [[LevelAte Totto Land Arc]]...
* DragonInChief: In the beginning of the series, people ''thought'' Zoro was the guy who's really in charge. Zoro's past as an infamous pirate hunter meant his reputation eclipsed Luffy's and many people considered him more dangerous than his captain and often wondered why he isn't the official captain, at least until they actually see Luffy's [[LightningBruiser strength]] in action. Post-Alabasta, Luffy's strength gets recognised in its own right and the trope gets averted, with people wondering what kind of person Luffy is like to get someone like ''Zoro'' to be under his command.
* TheDreaded: He's pretty scary in general and the second-strongest in the crew, but this was especially the case when the crew was just starting out in East Blue. As mentioned above, he was the only one of them with already-established notoriety and had previously received an invitation to join Baroque Works. A crowd of Buggy Pirates threatening him, Luffy, and Nami [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere jumped in the ocean and swam for their lives]] after realizing who he was.
* DrinkBasedCharacterization: Zoro is the biggest drinker of the entire crew and his typical drink is sake, fitting his samurai aesthetic.
* DualWielding: Zoro often ''triple-wields'' katanas, with one in each hand and one [[CutlassBetweenTheTeeth in his]] ''[[CutlassBetweenTheTeeth mouth]]''. It's always quite effective, as absurd as it would be in real life. It goes even farther, however, with Zoro eventually learning to ''nonuple-wield'' -- that is, use nine swords at once, or at least create the appearance of this.
* DubNameChange: In the [=4Kids=] English dubbed version, his name was changed from "Zoro" to ''"Zolo"''. He is consistently called that in the localization of the manga.
* DumbMuscle: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. Zoro generally has good judgement, very high perception, and a pretty keen intellect. However, aside from Luffy, he's the only crew member to not have an additional skill outside of combat, has absolutely NoSenseOfDirection, is at times borderline CloudCuckoolander, and was the last person to get Luffy's [=3D2Y=] message.
* EmbarrassingRescue: Tashigi finds Zoro's help at Punk Hazard humiliating because she feels Zoro doesn't consider her fighting skills.
* EveryoneHasStandards:
** Zoro is pretty merciless, and not above killing or injuring the {{Mook}}s he encounters. However, even he is visibly disgusted by Crocodile's willingness to murder an entire country of innocents for personal gain, angrily snarling, ''"The term 'not-human' was created to describe scum such as you."''
** [[spoiler:In Wano, he gets absolutely MURDEROUS and tries to kill Orochi outright after Orochi executed an innocent father of a little girl. When his initial strike is blocked, he goes so far as to ask his crewmates to cover him from Orochi's men so he can be free to hunt down Orochi personally. He's also extremely enraged when Luffy told him that the Beast Pirates are wasting food, while people like Tama are starving at the same time.]]
* EverythingsBetterWithSamurai: Although not an actual samurai from [[{{Wutai}} Wano]], Zoro is reminiscent of one. He is a MasterSwordsman who wields katanas and follows the samurai philosophy of Bushido, which stresses honor and loyalty. He fights fair, refusing to attack enemies whose backs are turned unless his friends are in danger of dying. He is also very loyal, standing by Luffy and respecting his decisions. He's nicknamed "Mr. Bushido" by Vivi and even poses as a {{ronin}} in Wano.
* EvilWeapon: Kitetsu III's curse has led all its previous owners to violent deaths. Zoro sees it as a problem child, but he is too sword-crazy to back away from the challenge -- and his mojo proves stronger than its curse as shown as he tests it on himself, earning the sword.[[spoiler: He later gets an even more cursed sword named Enma, which is difficult to control and forcibly sucks out the haki of anybody who wields it. Zoro is undeterred by this and quickly manages to gain control of it after only a week of training]].
* EyepatchAfterTimeskip: Downplayed. He hasn't been shown to use an eyepatch, but after the Time-Skip, he comes back missing his left eye.
* EyeScream: After the two year TimeSkip, Zoro is shown to have a lost an eye.
* FaceOfAThug: Despite being a generally good guy and a FriendToAllChildren, Zoro is often accused of having a scary face. It doesn't help that he rarely smiles and he's often cold and distant.
* FanDisservice: Zoro with his shirt all torn up is pure FanService. But Zoro with his shirt torn while ''soaked'' in his own blood and so hurt he could barely stand after his confrontation with Kuma wasn't so much.
* FantasticFightingStyle: His Three-Sword Style, which involves a sword in each and and one sword in his ''mouth''. By [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum One Piece standards]], this is one of the more realistic fighting styles.
* FightingSpirit: His ''Asura'' technique is a manifestation of his fighting spirit, and makes him look three-headed and with six-arms, with a total of nine swords. [[spoiler:Kaido suspects, however, that it's actually a form of Conqueror's Haki that Zoro has been instinctively and unknowingly using to enhance his attacks]].
* FlamingSword: Yaki Oni Giri (Flaming Demon Slash). Used once with actual fire, and in one of the [[TheMovie movies]] with magic fire. Zoro also states that he would love a flaming sword as a weapon.
* {{Flanderization}}: Relatively minor case. What started out as having a bad sense of direction eventually becomes being so directionally incompetent that in the G8 arc he even manages to bend time and space through the power of getting lost in a ''straight hallway with no exit''; fortunately that was only in anime. So either he improved it a bit or getting a lot worse by getting lost and separate from the other crew while '''they all ride the same lion-dog'''.
* {{Foil}}: As TheLancer, he's a neat contrast to Luffy in many ways; a former bounty hunter with an outwardly stern and menacing disposition who actually resembles the traditional pirate far more than Luffy does due to Luffy's own cheerful demeanor.
* FollowYourNose: Just as Luffy can smell food from a far distance away, Zoro can smell booze, as he demonstrates in Chapter 977.
* FriendToAllChildren: He has a soft spot for kids; this is actually the first indication that he's not the bloodthirsty monster people think he is.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Sort of. An octopus was seen stuck on him when he came back up from inspecting a shipwreck. Later, a South Bird was staying near him (though it was to get his food). Chopper, a half-reindeer, usually clamps on his head when he's scared.
* FullNameBasis: Villains only ever call him by his full name, and some add in his epithet "Pirate Hunter" as a prefix for good measure. He shares this distinction with Robin. Interestingly, Mihawk and Tashigi seem to be the only people in the world on LastNameBasis with him, frequently calling him just "Roronoa".
* FullPotentialUpgrade: Yubashiri and Kitetsu III were this, as a filler episode's flashback showed Zoro having a tendency to break his second and third swords until he got them.
* FunWithHomophones: All of his attack names ''read'' menacingly... but ''[[IncrediblyLamePun sound]]'' [[IncrediblyLamePun like the names of food]]. For example, his basic attack "[[{{Youkai}} oni]] [[DiagonalCut giri]]" means "demon slash"... but sounds like onigiri ("rice-ball").
[[/folder]]

[[folder:G - L]]
* GenerationXerox:
** During the Onigashima War, Hyogoro and Kawamatsu comment that Zoro strongly resembles the legendary samurai Shimotsuki Ryuma, the FamousAncestor of his former rival Kuina and master Koushiro, and the man (well, [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot zombie]]) he inherited Shusui from, which Zoro (unwillingly) returned to his grave during the Wano Arc. On top of the physical resemblance, Ryuma was also a one-eyed samurai like Zoro. They also have similar fighting styles and codes of honor (in part due to Zoro being trained by one of Ryuma's descendants). To further add to the similarities, at Punk Hazard Zoro even cuts off the head of a dragon like Ryuma did in legend. As Ryuma is a legend in Wano, this resemblance is one of the reasons why the natives come to trust Zoro so much.
** One of the things that help clue them into his resemblance to Ryuma is his strong resemblance to the former daimyo of Ringo, Shimotsuki Ushimaru, another one of Ryuma's descendants, [[spoiler:Onimaru's original master, and one of the samurai who befriended Yamato in his childhood and helped him read Oden's journal]]. According to them, Ushimaru was also a spectacular swordsman like Zoro, and ultimately, Zoro's resemblance to him ''along'' with his resemblance to Ryuma is what makes Hyogoro, Kawamatsu, and other Wano natives so predisposed to him.
* TheGift: Zigzagged. While a major portion of Zoro's strength is due to the constant training he puts himself through while the crew is traveling from island to island, he is also naturally talented in combat. Flashbacks show him to be a ChildProdigy who could already defeat several adults on his own (with his only superior being ''another'' ChildProdigy), and in the series itself, he manages to master several powerful techniques, such as cutting steel, within a single battle alone. [[spoiler:He even manages to learn how to imbue Conqueror's Haki into his swords after one battle, despite only having just learned he had Conqueror's Haki to begin with ''during that same battle''. Compare that to Luffy, who does the same, but had already known and trained with his own Conqueror's Haki for ''years'' by the time he figures it out]].
* GogglesDoNothing: He did attempt to use them once, in order to shield his eyes from an enemy's flash attacks. This did little good, given that the goggles aren't tinted.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Over the course of the story Zoro gains various scars that shows his experience as a fighter. The first one, and the most important one as well, is a huge scar across his chest from his first bout with Mihawk, which Zoro tries to poorly patch up by himself at first, it's so large that even Arlong, when he sees it, wonders how can Zoro still be alive. During the Little Garden arc, Zoro gains scars on his ankles from his attempt to cut his feet off to escape a Mr. 3's deadly trap. After the timeskip, Zoro has lost an eye and has a thin scar that crosses it vertically.
* GreenAndMean: Downplayed. Zoro has green [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair hair]], wears mostly green clothing, and his main color [[ColorMotifs scheme]] is green. However, while he can come across as a stoic, harsh AntiHero, he does have his morals and softer side.
* GrumpyBear: Zoro is the most outwardly cynical and suspicious member of the crew, expressing pessimistic and fatalistic views about the intentions of other people, all very reasonable for a veteran bounty hunter turned pirate...but the world of One Piece runs on the PowerOfFriendship, so his suspicions are usually false.
* GrumpyOldMan: The gag comic "Mugiwara Theatre -- Family Time" turned him into one of these, with his sternness and dedication to swordsmanship cranked UpToEleven, and a balding head. HilarityEnsues.
* HandicappedBadass: Zoro apparently critically injured or even lost his left eye after the Timeskip, as there's a new scar over it and it's always closed. Either way, it hasn't slowed him down in the slightest.
* HandyMouth: Roronoa Zoro fights by elaborately using up to three full-size swords, first two in hands, third goes in his mouth. In one scene, he uses this technique to clean with three mops at once while infiltrating an enemy organization... which quickly blows his cover, forcing him to use them as {{Improvised Weapon}}s.
* HeavySleeper: While on the ship, when he isn't training, Zoro spends his time sleeping, and he can sleep ''anywhere'' at ''any time'', even sleeping through a storm like it was smooth sailing. Or during a ''snow'' storm, he doesn't even wake up after being thoroughly covered in snow; he's even wearing short sleeves.
* HeroicAmbidexterity: Though evidence points to Zoro being left-handed, as his swords are on his right side, he's clearly just as capable with a sword using his right hand.
* HeroesPreferSwords: Although Zoro is the most anti-heroic of the crew. Zoro is an extremely powerful master swordsman, being able to use one, two, and three swords in varying attack styles, going from melee-type all the way to artillery. He is even able to use some sword techniques that utilize the very air itself to strike the enemy from a distance. Brook classifies Zoro as a user of the "Power of Destruction" (破壊力 Hakairyoku?).
* HeroicSacrifice: Offers his life in exchange for Luffy's before a [[TooPowerfulToLive nigh unbeatable foe]]. Instead, said foe allows him to take in all of Luffy's pain and exhaustion, which was supposed to be a traumatic enough experience to kill him. [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat Naturally, it doesn't]]. And this is all the pain and exhaustion from someone ''made of rubber'' who was able to endure it thanks to his Devil Fruit powers, forced into a (technically) normal human body.
* HeyYou: When Robin joins the crew, Zoro is initially very distrustful of her and never refers to her by name; this changes after the events of Enies Lobby, after he comes to recognize and accept her as a trustworthy comrade. He also never calls Sanji by his name, preferring to use derogatory nicknames instead.
* HighPressureBlood: Zoro tends to face swords users, since he wants to become the strongest swordsman of the world, and during his fights he gets often cut, losing huge quantities of blood.
* HollywoodHealing: Zoro's fights are the most intense ones and, by the end of them, he ends up in worst conditions than most of his crewmates, but all his wounds, no matter how deep they are, are quickly treated and healed with just some bandages.
* HowDareYouDieOnMe: Implied to be a source of angst involving the best friend, Kuina, whose childhood death he never got over. It's especially heart-wrenching when you consider that the other Straw Hats were at least assured they were unconditionally cared about by their own loved ones, no matter how tragic the circumstances. Zoro has always been alone since the beginning.
* HungryWeapon: [[spoiler:After Zoro leaves Shusui in Ryuma's grave, as a replacement he receives one of Oden's swords, the meito Enma, a sword that is notorious for draining excessive amounts of Armament Haki, to the point most people who try to use it die. The first time Zoro uses Enma, it drains enough Haki from his arm that it ends up looking shriveled and mummified, and he has to forcefully take the energy back]].
* {{Hunk}}: He is on the lean side and isn't as muscular as Ace, but the most muscular of the Straw Hats and is quite good-looking. He gets even more hunkier after the timeskip.
* HypocriticalHumor: During Wano's infiltration, Zoro chastises Luffy for having blown his cover and begun a brawl with the Animal Kingdom Pirates, right after he has cut down the second floor and destroyed a good part of the hall. [[SurroundedByIdiots The Kidd pirates note how Zoro has caused as much trouble as Luffy]].
* IaijutsuPractitioner: Has two of these that he uses in dire situations, one with a single sword and another with two. A three-sword version would probably be impossible, but this ''is'' [[RuleOfCool One Piece...]]
* IconicOutfit: His original white T and black pants pre-timeskip, as well as his first TimeSkip outfit which is the green robe. Also, he's never seen without his green "belly warmer" and 3 earrings.
* IfIWantedYouDead: A rare non-villain example. When he fights Monet, Monet is fully aware that Zoro can use Haki, and in one attack he vertically cuts her in half but purposely holds back on the Haki so as to not kill her. She knows she should be dead and this near-death experience brought on a fear that is enough to keep her from properly reforming.
* IGaveMyWord: Zoro takes his promises to others seriously, and is determined to keep them, to the point that he seems to really dislike being accused of not being able to fulfill a promise. This is in fact the basis for his dream to become the World's Greatest Swordsman; Kuina and him made that promise together, but when Kuina died and was unable to fulfill it herself, Zoro took her sword and devoted everything he had into that dream in her memory, refusing to break that promise.
* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Zoro is a master swordsman and is able to slice everything, from buildings to mountain-sized golems.
* ImprobableAge: Zoro is one of the strongest swordsmen of the world at the young age of 21-years-old.
* InstantArmor: Learned to use the Armament Haki during the timeskip, and he imbues the power in his sword like many New World swordsmen. Oda said that Zoro specializes in this type of Haki, and it shows; he can launch a ''black tornado of RazorWind'' that keeps on spinning and cutting up everything in its path with it. Oda's statement holds again during the Wano Arc when Zoro is seen being able to prevent the [[HungryWeapon Meito Enma]] from completely draining his Buso, which itself is impressive considering that according to Tenguyama Hitetsu, its previous owner, Oden, was the '''only known person prior to accomplish this feat'''.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler:Most users of Conqueror's Haki take months or even years to master it and its most advanced techniques after fully awakening the ability. Zoro not only fully awakens his during the Onigashima War, he manages to master it to the point that he can imbue his swords with it during his fight with King. That means he managed to master an ability Luffy spent most of the time skip developing within the span of a ''single battle'']].
* ItsPersonal: Out of all the Straw Hats, Zoro is the only one who holds a personal grudge on Orochi, [[spoiler:seeing what the evil Shogun has done to the people of Wano, but most importantly, killing his friend Yasuie. Zoro is enraged after Yasuie's execution and attempts to kill Orochi despite Sanji's protests. After escaping the capital city, Zoro vows to kill Orochi to avenge Yasuie]].
* {{Irony}}: Zoro begins his career as a pirate hunter but, after being rescued by Luffy, he follows him becomes a pirate. Zoro comments the irony as he accepts Luffy's request.
* JerkassHasAPoint: While not a complete {{Jerkass}}, Zoro tends to be one of the more abrasive members of the crew when giving advice. However, his advice tends to be right.
** During the Davy Back Fight, when Chopper laments being forcibly recruited into the Foxy Pirates as a result of Nami, Robin and Usopp's loss (which was due to Foxy cheating), he tells Chopper to own up to his decision to join the Straw Hats and that he shouldn't be blaming others for it. Chopper gets the point and stops complaining.
** When Usopp wants to rejoin the crew, he tells Luffy that unless Usopp apologizes ''first'', he'd simply be allowing a crew member to disrespect him. In this occasion Sanji, who otherwise does everything Nami tells him and butts heads with Zoro, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness tells Nami that he agrees with Zoro]].
** He acts rather apathetic about Sanji leaving the crew for his ArrangedMarriage with one of Big Mom's daughters, pointing out that they can't be sticking their noses in one Emperor's business when they're currently focused on another.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's normally grumpy and rude, but if any of his crew get in trouble he's the first to help them and genuinely cares for their safety. Though he might start growling about how stupid/thoughtless they were for getting into the mess in the first place.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Zoro carries three katanas with him as his WeaponOfChoice, going with his samurai-esque inspiration.
* KiManipulation: As revealed by Luffy, he can now use Haki after the time-skip. Oda says that he specializes in Armament Haki, which is shown when he used it to cut [[AnIcePerson Monet's]] cheek, ''[[SwordBeam at long range]]''.
* KillingIntent: This is implied to be behind his Kyuutouryu: Asura ability (where he sprouts extra heads, arms and swords). This also allows him to beat Monet, a ''Logia'' user, to the point she was frozen in fear and couldn't reassemble herself after he cut her ''without Haki''.
* TheLancer: To Luffy. While his captain has a goofy and happy-go-lucky personality who has a more freestyle form of fighting, primarily using his fists and feet, and has always wanted about being a pirate since youth, Zoro is serious and stern, trained in three-sword-style and ''only'' uses a sword in combat, and was originally a pirate hunter for money.
* {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF7wG-i1RGs Zoro Eyecatcher.]]
* LetsGetDangerous: When he puts the bandana on, Zoro will usually use some crazy attack that destroys his opponent, and usually the environment around them. Lampshaded during Enies Lobby where Kaku asks him if the bandana increases his power.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: An interesting case where the villains barely had to do anything to provoke Luffy into fighting Zoro at Whiskey Peak. They had all been beaten up by Zoro and Luffy was mistakenly led to believe that Zoro did this for the fun of it, when the villains were "nice" to him and the crew beforehand, giving them food and partying with them, all the while waiting for the chance to kill them all.
* LickingTheBlade: A few times, when he's really excited for a fight, Zoro would lick his blade.
* LighterAndSofter: His fights after the time-skip are much less bloodier since Zoro has a much easier time and goes through much less pain.
* LightningBruiser: Zoro is one of the crew's strongest combatants and he relies purely on his physical skills and swordsmanship. His physical strength is comparable to Luffy's, and he can react fast enough to dodge ''bullets'' fired at ''point-blank range''. While underwater, Zoro one-shots Hody Jones, a very strong Fish-man, proving to be both faster and stronger.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M - R]]
* MadeOfIron: To a mind-blowing extent. Zoro is the trope image for a reason. He refuses to be incapacitated even after Mr. 1 practically puts him through a meatgrinder. This is most noticeable in the anime, which often downplays how badly Luffy and others are hurt in their fights -- it is kinda hard to do with Zoro, as he almost always fights swordsmen. To put it in perspective, when [[FantasticRacism a Fish-man Supremacist]] like Arlong sees the extent of Zoro's wounds prior to the battle, and how well he'd fought, he decides he ''cannot let a human like this live.'' This gradually makes him a terror to fight particularly against rival swordsmen. Zoro's down a sword, you managed to outplay and stab him? ''No, you didn't.'' He ''let'' you stab him because he wants to borrow ''your'' sword, and you just delivered it to him by means of jabbing it into his body. In Wano, he [[spoiler:tanks a CombinationAttack from '''two Emperors''' and lives, although it basically breaks every bone in his body]].
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: He absorbed all the pain Luffy acquired in Thriller Bark to prevent Kuma from taking him, which results in him standing in a pool of his own blood. In his own words, it was "nothing at all".
* {{Mangst}}: He still carries [[TragicKeepsake Wado Ichimonji]] everywhere.
* MartialPacifist: While never one to even "try" to avoid a fight, Zoro rarely, if ever, starts one, despite his rather BloodKnight like nature. After the time skip Zoro even starts to refuse to fight people he deems weaker than himself, and those he does fight he tries to make give up by destroying their weapons or intimidating the hell out of them. That said, if his opponent still comes at him or the other Straw Hats and allies, he will take them out.
* MasterSwordsman: Zoro's ultimate goal. He was also trained by ''the'' MasterSwordsman of the setting – Dracule "Hawk Eye" Mihawk.
* MeaningfulEcho: Before Zoro's duel with Mihawk begins, the latters calls him a "frog in a puddle" and then shows how weaker he is compared to the World's Greatest Swordsman. During the Fishman Island Arc, Zoro has his first serious duel since the time-skip against Hyozo, Fishman Island's strongest swordsman, and defeats him easily, calling him "a frog" just like Mihawk did before with Zoro. This line remarks how much Zoro has improved since his first duel with Mihawk.
* MysteriousPast: Zoro spent his teenage years training and hunting pirates after Kuina's death but nothing about Zoro's family life, early childhood, or even where exactly he was born is known. All that is known for certain is that he showed up at a dojo in the East Blue one day when he was a kid and was already strong enough to defeat every adult there.
* MrFanservice: Zoro is an attractive man with a muscular and well proportioned body and there are many scenes, while he's fighting or training, in which he doesn't wear anything on his torso.
* Mystical108: Zoro's Pound Hou techniques follow this motif, which Zoro himself discusses during the Skypiea Arc before using it. Every sword is a 36 Pound Hou, meaning a one sword attack is a 36 Pound Hou, two swords are 72 Pound Hou and three swords are 108 Pound Hou. The latter attack is used the first time to defeat Ohm, the last of Eneru's priests. After the TimeSkip, Zoro upgrades his moves into 360 Pound Hou with one sword, 720 Pound Hou with two and 1080 Pound Hou with three. The latter is used to slash a mountain-sized golem during the Dressrosa arc.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: His surname is based on that of real-life pirate [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_l%27Olonnais François l'Olonnais]], notable among other things for ''[[AxCrazy cutting out an enemy's heart]] [[AndShowItToYou and biting into it in front of him]] [[TerrorHero mid-fight]]''.
* NervesOfSteel: Reacts pretty calmly to situations. Justified as Zoro's belief in fate leads him to leave things to luck.
* NeverGetsDrunk: One of the greatest examples. Zoro can hold ridiculous amounts of alcohol.
** Even after out-drinking thirteen people, Zoro went on to fight ''one hundred trained assassins'' at Whiskey Peak with no problems whatsoever. He didn't even have a hangover next morning. However, part of the reason why he never gets drunk is because he knows his limits. As he himself says:
--->'''Zoro''': A true swordsman never drinks himself into a stupor.
** Chapter 669: [[ChivalrousPervert Sanji]] [[FreakyFridayFlip (in Nami's body)]], and [[DemBones Brook]] all get hit by a sleeping gas that is somehow supposed to use alcohol to knock out even the heaviest of drinkers. Zoro does end up falling asleep from the fumes, but it also takes him longer than Sanji or Brook to succumb; long enough that he can slice a needle-laden mountaintop that they're headed toward in half so that they don't all die or get horribly injured.
* NeverGetsFat: Speaking of his drinking, he is seen drinking booze many times in the manga, anime, and the movies and yet he never develops a beer gut. Every middle-aged drunkard would kill for a body like his!
* NeverMyFault: Every time he's left to his own devices, he ends up running in circles believing it's his ''crew'' who's lost, not him.
--> '''Zoro:''' "[[ImplausibleDeniability Damn, the others]] [[NoSenseOfDirection are lost again...]]" (while they were all riding the ''same'' lion-dog)
* NoBadassToHisValet: To the world, Zoro is a monstrously powerful swordsman with an intense amount of bloodlust and potential, and the First Mate to one of the most dangerous pirates on the Grand Line. To the rest of the Straw Hat crew, he's their meathead of a swordsman who's capable of getting lost in a ''straight hallway'' and is only marginally smarter than their reckless idiot of a captain, and it's questionable if they even view him as the First Mate.
* NormalFishInATinyPond: At the beginning of the series, Zoro already has a reputation as a top tier swordsman in the East Blue and a dangerous pirate hunter. Most of his battles end in [[SingleStrokeBattle single stroke]] and he's more feared than Luffy, who is initially seen as a nobody. When faced against Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the world, it turns out to be a complete and utter curb stomp with Mihawk deflecting all of Zoro's strikes with a tiny knife. When he enters the Grand Line, Zoro encounters opponents that give him a run for his money.
-->'''Mihawk''': You may have a reputation, but you're still just a bunny. [...] You're a little frog, croaking in your puddle. Time you learned how big the world is.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow: He visibly suffers what should be fatal injuries repeatedly over the course of the series, the most standout examples being when he is carved up by Mihawk, effectively put through a meat grinder by Mr. 1, or forced to take on all of Luffy's pain by Kuma. But, no matter how grave his injuries, he always lives through them with sheer willpower. This is [[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]] by [[ArcVillain Arlong]] when Zoro's wounds from Mihawk's aforementioned-carving open up on him, as he looks on in horror and astonishment while questioning how Zoro could still possibly be alive with such injuries.
* NoSenseOfDirection: This man is capable of getting lost in a ''[[RunningGag straight hallway]]''.
** This man is capable of getting lost when a door ''[[UpToEleven was in front of him]]''.
** This man is capable of getting lost when it shouldn't be ''[[UpToEleven physically]] [[RuleOfThree possible]]''.
** And when he wants to get away from someone, he'll end up running into them anyway.
** Even the zombie that had his shadow got lost when following a large group of zombies.
** On ''three'' separate occasions, he's been instructed to go up a massive, un-missable staircase directly in front of him and goes sprinting along adjacent it. In all three cases, [[NeverMyFault he blames the person who told him where to go for not being clear enough]].
** When he's told to go south, he goes the opposite direction. [[BeyondTheImpossible While in the company of a bird whose head will only ever point south.]] And when he's told to go north, he immediately starts ''climbing a building'', thinking "north" means "up".
** Surprisingly, the only time he actually ''didn't'' get lost is during the Post-Marineford arc, when Mihawk told him he can find a rowboat to the west of his castle, and he ''actually found it''.
** He seemingly gets over this over the TimeSkip, bragging to Sanji that he got back to Saboady first. Subvert it turns out that was only with the help of Perona, with his navigational skills being just as bad as ever.
** When escaping from a lethal wave of poisonous gas, he stays behind to fight somebody while everyone else runs away. Much later while they're still running, he catches up, running '''towards''' them ''from the opposite direction.''
** In Dressrosa, he manages to completely ignore or misconstrue directions that are being given to him ''in real time'', by someone riding in his coat pocket ''who can see exactly where they're going''.
** Wano Country: he manages to get lost and separated from his group of Luffy, Law, and Kiku ''while they're all riding on the back of the same lion-dog, without any battle involved''. In short, he managed to get lost '''[[BeyondTheImpossible while just sitting down]]'''.
** The SBS of volume 85 reveals that if the Straw Hats do a 50-meter race, Zoro would be placed 5th. Zoro would be ranked higher in the shorter distance race since he would not ''run off the track''.
* NoSocialSkills: A more minor example than most, but if Zoro isn't issuing badass threats he's actually fairly awkward in social scenarios, usually getting rather frustrated if things get out of his comfort zone. His relationships with Tashigi and Sanji reek of this.
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: He's one of the very few to not fall for Hiyori's beauty, who's considered the most beautiful woman of the Land of Wano, and doesn't even care when she's sleeping on his lap. Hiyori, however, seems attracted to the fact that she doesn't elicit the usual response from him that she gets from other men and because [[RescueRomance he saved her life]].
* NotSoAboveItAll: He enjoys his booze parties from time to time. In general, as mentioned in TheComicallySerious above, he can be very serious, but thanks to the influence of the Straw Hats, he ends up reacting to, and even participating in their goofy shenanigans.
** In the Thriller Bark arc, when the Straw Hats start falling one by one to Perona's ghosts and acting depressed, Zoro chastises them for letting something as trivial as a ghost defeat them, just to have a ghost make him act depressed, too. [[VitriolicBestBuds Sanji got a kick out of that one]].
** His reaction to Luffy laughing at [[TheDragon Pica]]'s [[VocalDissonance absolutely ridiculous voice]] (while they were in danger to be buried under a village-sized stonefist):
--->'''Zoro''': Luffy! Now is not the time to laugh at the enemy's—pfffhahahahaha!
* NotSoStoic:
** He's usually TheStoic, but he does have his moments, such as when seeing Kaku's Devil Fruit powers for the first time. In fact, ''every time'' Kaku's been making up new moves with his Devil Fruit.
** [[https://cyberd.org/img/1/One-Piece-66-2.jpg His reaction]] to having to block Mr.5's [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/onepiece/images/6/62/Nose_Fancy_Cannon.gif/revision/latest?cb=20121202044821 "Nose Fancy Cannon"]] attack.
** [[spoiler: He was ''enraged'' by what he perceived as a LackOfEmpathy by the people of Ebisu town laughing when Tonoyasu was killed and loudly called them out for it. Though he calmed himself ([[TranquilFury outwardly]]) when he learnt ''why'' they were laughing.]]
** He's similarly angered when seeing [[spoiler: Kiku's arm fall from the top of Oni Island, leading to him taking out Apoo in one shot. When Queen decided to use his gatling gun on Chopper for figuring out the way the Ice Oni Virus works, Zoro responded by launching an air slash that destroyed it before ''furiously'' calling him out on treating the spread of his fatal virus as a game, saying he doesn't have time to waste on this and that he came to cut down Kaido.]]
* NotWhatItLooksLike: When Brook walks in on him and sees Hiyori sleeping on top of him causes an embarrassed Zoro to state nothing happened and that they were just sleeping. Gets a little more harder when Hiyori teases him and asks if he enjoyed it, clearly showing interest in him.
* NotWorthKilling: He could've easily killed [[spoiler:Monet if he used Haki]], but he didn't, [[spoiler:deciding that leaving her with her resolve broken is enough.]]
* NumberTwo: In times of emotional crisis for the crew, he's taken responsibility of the crew and reminds Luffy of his duties as a captain, solidifying his position as this. This is most obvious in regards to Luffy's duel with Usopp. Later, he and Nami tend to share this role depending on the situation.
* OddFriendship:
** He seems to have formed one with Perona during the timeskip despite their differences. It seems they have gotten along with each other to the point she helped him get back to Sabaody with the crew and it even hints she'll miss him.
** In Wano he forms one with Tonoyasu despite being rather annoyed by his behavior. He was later enraged over his unfair murder at the hands of Orochi and Zoro took it upon himself to protect his daughter Toko and vow revenge on his behalf.
* OneManArmy: Already at the beginning of the series, Zoro is a feared bounty hunters and often he single-handedly defeats entire groups of people on his own, like when he beats 100 expert bounty hunters in Whiskey Peak or most of the Neptune Army (and after his capture, he plans to do the same with Hody's men). Usopp flat-out calls him a one man army.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** Despite his aloof nature and stoic attitude, Zoro is ''incredibly'' loyal to his friends, even risking his own life for any of them. However, when Usopp wanted to come back to the crew after leaving, not only did Zoro brusquely state the former couldn't until he apologized to Luffy for his earlier behavior but also threatened to leave himself if Luffy would allow such disrespect to happen. This moment really shows how much Zoro values loyalty towards Luffy.
** Zoro is usually calm, at most getting excited when he's fighting a strong opponent, but when [[spoiler: all of Ebisu Town's inhabitants laugh at Yasuie's death, he gets visibly angry and upset]].
* OutOfFocus: Zoro, Robin, Usopp, and Franky are all completely absent during the Whole Cake Island arc due to heading for Wano instead. This mirrors Nami, Chopper, Sanji, and Brook's absence during most of the Dressrosa Arc.
* OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank: To [[SerialEscalation an increasingly ridiculous degree]].
** In the 5th movie, the villain says his Cursed Sword will drink all of Zoro's blood. Poor thing probably would have exploded from overfill.
** They made fun of this in Episode 523. They show Zoro looking at ''nine pint bags of blood'' that are being transfused into Sanji, angling as if ''he had given it all''.
* PapaWolf: Despite not being much open about it, Zoro cares for the crew as much as anybody else, especially Chopper, the youngest member of the crew. Messing with any of them is a pretty good way to easily anger him.
* ParentalAbandonment: There has been no mention of his parents at all. All we know is that he trained at the dojo at a young age.
* ParryingBullets: Or any projectile. Be it bullets, cannon balls, snot bombs or arrows, Zoro can deflect or cut them all.
* PerpetualFrowner: Zoro used to smile and laugh quite frequently in early arcs. This changes after his defeat at the hands of Mihawk. Since then, he has developed a bad temper as pointed out by Sanji in the Arlong arc. However, he's prone to smiling and laughing during the parties the Straw Hats and friends have at the end of most arcs.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: After the time-skip, he has become strong enough to slice in two entire ships, and in the Dressrosa Arc, he slices a mountain-sized stone Pica to bits.
* PlayingWithFire: [[spoiler:During the Alliance's attack on Onigashima, Zoro reveals that he is capable of pulling off Kin'emon's Foxfire style. When asked how, it's implied he learned it by watching Kin'emon]].
* PowerGlows: Occasionally, he will glow when he performs any of his more potent attacks as well as creating illusions, thought of by Kaku as being the power of his spirit.
* PreMortemOneLiner:
** To Kaku:
--->'''Zoro (''to Kaku''):''' Bring on the hardship. It's preferred on the path to carnage!
** Subverted when he says one to Monet, since he didn't intend to kill her:
--->'''Zoro:''' But let me ask you. Have you ever met a wild beast that you could guarantee would never bite a human? Cuz I haven't.
* QuitYourWhining: Says this to Chopper after he gets forcibly taken into Foxy's crew as a result of the Straw Hats losing the first round of the Davy Back Fight.
%%* RatedMForManly
* RazorWind: His Dragon Twister and Pound Phoenix techniques. After the TimeSkip, his Dragon Twister gets mixed with TornadoMove as well.
* RealMenDontCry: Zoro has only cried twice over the course of the entire series. The first time was when he was still quite young and Kuina had just died, and he asked her father for Wado. Quite understandable, especially at that age. The second time is while he swears to Luffy that he would never lose again after [[CurbStompBattle losing to Mihawk]]. Since then, he's rarely, if ever, smiled and has never poured a tear.
* RedOniBlueOni:
** The blue to Luffy's red. Albeit both are reckless and always looking for a fight, Zoro is calm and stoic while Luffy is constantly energetic and emotional.
** And a much bigger Blue to Sanji's Red, Zoro is grumpy, stoic and hides his affection towards his crewmates with actions as opposed to words. His most powerful techniques are reliant on a cool head and cold, steely focus. However, with him and Sanji's case, it gets switched around when they fight, with Sanji often becoming the tactical, [[SpannerInTheWorks villain-spanning]] Blue Oni while Zoro becomes the [[BloodKnight fight-happy]] Red Oni if suitably provoked. Post-TimeSkip: In an extended scene in episode 519 of the anime, when [[VitriolicBestBuds he and Sanji]] [[VolleyingInsults start fighting]], Zoro has a blue aura and Sanji has a red one. The [[PlayedForLaughs battle fury is so intense]] that all that is seen are the two {{Battle Aura}}s colliding with each other.
* TheReliableOne: Despite his abrasive nature and not often ending up in dangerous situations because of his recklessness, Zoro is actually a pretty stable rock for the Straw Hats. He can almost always be counted on to be the one who steps up when Luffy isn't being a proper captain, gives sensible advice or, more often shows up in time to save someone.
* {{Ronin}}: While in Wano, he poses as a ronin named Zorojuro and exchanges his clothes for a robe. The fact that he's already a swordman and his real-life nationality would be Japanese make him almost an authentic ronin.
* RunningGag: His NoSenseOfDirection habits mentioned above. Also, his quarrels with Sanji always start with him saying something snarky to Sanji's antics, followed by Sanji insulting him, followed by them trying to kick/slice each other...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:S - Y]]
* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: He has no skills beyond fighting (and drinking). While all of the other Straw Hats have responsibilities like medicine, navigation or sharpshooting with the cannons, the only thing he does is guard the ship and try not to get lost.
* SetSwordsToStun: When Zoro wants to avoid killing someone, he'll strike his enemy with the backs of his katanas. [[LampshadeHanging Nami and Chopper point out that this could still be fatal due to internal injuries.]]
* AScarToRemember: The scar on his chest is a "gift" from Mihawk as a souvenir of their first duel. It acts as a reminder of the encounter for Zoro, to motivate him on his journey to grow stronger in hopes of an eventual rematch between them.
* ScarsAreForever: Zoro is the most combat-focused Straw Hat and, over the course of the series, he gains multiple scars to show his experience: he gets has an enormous scar spanning his chest from his first fight with Mihawk, which scares even Arlong, has a scar on each of his legs from trying to cut his feet off to get out of Mr. 3's candle wax and, during the timeskip, he acquires one over his eye, which appear to be missing.
* ShowyInvincibleHero: In [[JustForPun sharp]] contrast to all of his fights before the time skip when Zoro suffered near-fatal injury on a regular basis, post-timeskip Zoro has breezed through all of his opponents, cockily dishing out {{Badass Boast}}s to let them know how beneath him they are. It isn't until he encounters [[PersonOfMassDestruction Admiral Fujitora]] that he even sustains an injury, and that's only a brief stumble in his stride. Not only has Zoro's new mastery of Armament Haki taken his MadeOfIron credentials to a whole new level, because he can also channel it into his blades his swords have not chipped or broken in the New World -- [[spoiler:not even after he cuts a walking, talking, breathing mountain into castle-sized pieces. In the Wano arc, he suffers a serious injury for the first time since the time-skip, but still wins that fight rather handily. He finally loses his first post-TimeSkip fight after he's knocked out during the FinalBattle against Kaido, one of the Four Emperors, and after having dealt Kaido a serious wound that the man himself confirmed would scar and earning a measure of the Emperor's respect. Subsequently, Zoro's following one-on-one fight with King is the most difficult he's had since the crew reunited and he's visibly seen struggling the entire fight]].
* SitcomArchNemesis: This is largely what Sanji is to him despite being in the same crew. These two never miss an opportunity to belittle, one-up, or humiliate the other. However, [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther they're equally willing to protect and defend each other when push comes to shove]].
* SlasherSmile: He shows a great deal of enthusiasm when it comes to getting into fights. Case in point [[http://i.ytimg.com/vi/goMp6QlpmeU/hqdefault.jpg when Usopp's friends ask him what happened to their captain.]]
* SmarterThanYouLook: Despite having a skillset and fighting style that's primarily based around physical strength and swordplay, Zoro can be surprisingly intelligent and wise. He comes up with the "mark of friendship" used to prove their identity in Alabasta (using a bandana as the outward mark to confuse the enemy, with the true mark being hidden beneath it), and has valuable insights when it comes to loyalty and leadership.
* TheSocialExpert: Believe it or not, he actually is quite good at reading people and their motivations, as well as the situations around them. One particular example is when Usopp tries to get back with the crew in Water 7; Zoro's the one who overrules his captain trying to go find him, tells Nami to shut up when she protests, and demands that Usopp not be allowed back until he apologizes for his blatant disrespect so Luffy doesn't show himself as someone to be walked all over. It's enough that Sanji even agrees with Zoro's assessment.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Officially, it is "Zoro". All Japanese material and the Funimation dub/subs confirm this. However, the 4Kids dub and Viz's manga spell it "Zolo". It was heavily implied the change was made because someone on the production team worried about being sued by the "owners" of ''Franchise/{{Zorro}}'' [[note]](sarcasm quotes because a judge declared Zorro to be a PublicDomainCharacter back in the 90's, but no one is willing to admit it)[[/note]], who is moss-head's namesake. Still, the FanWank over this grew to a ridiculous extreme; it's one of the biggest backlashes in the history of Western anime fandom. Note that in German, the translators outright use "Zorro".
* SpiderSense: Obtained the Observation Haki during the Timeskip, which functions similarly to spider sense.
* TheStoic: He's a lot more reserved than most of the crew, often taking negative events without losing his composure. He's often the crew's voice of reason.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike:
** After Luffy's explanation on the difference between pirates and heroes – heroes share meat, pirates don't -- which Zoro was not there to hear, Zoro gives an incredibly similar analogy, except he substitutes booze for meat.
** When Luffy and Nami [[spoiler: are captured, imprisoned and restrained by Big Mom's crew, Luffy intends to get out by tearing off his arms, which is very similar to Zoro, who intended to cut off his legs to escape Mr. 3's Giant Candle Service Set.]]
* SuperReflexes: Like many characters, Zoro is extremely agile and can dodge bullet guns or laser beams even when injured.
* SwordSparks: Zoro tends to fight other swordsmen, therefore his fights have a lot of blades clashing against each other.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Zoro and Sanji, who generally bicker with each other, face the Groggy Monsters durin the Davy Back Fight. The latter's coordination almost beat Zoro and Sanji, who instead spend the first half of the fight yelling at each other, until the duo decides to make a break from their rivalry and completely beat their enemies.
* TerrorHero: Zoro is a heroic person, but is also the scariest Straw Hat to his enemies: during the Punk Hazard Arc, he paralyzes Monet by a display of strength and pure killing intent ''alone''. Said killing intent is actually foreshadowing of [[spoiler:Zoro's ability to use Conqueror's Haki. When he fully awakens it, his ability to induce fear is enhanced, and he unconsciously uses it to impose his will upon those weaker than him and terrify them into submission, if not outright knock them out]].
* ToBeAMaster: His goal is to become [[MasterSwordsman "the greatest swordsman in the world"]].
* ToughLove: Toward Chopper, when lecturing him on the consequences of being a pirate during the Davy Back Fight, and to Usopp, forcing the sniper to swallow his pride, apologize for his selfishness, and beg before being allowed back on the crew at the end of the Enies Lobby arc.
* TragicKeepsake: Wado Ichimonji, his only consistent sword, used to belong to his childhood friend/rival Kuina, and after her death, he uses it to remind himself of their promise to become great swordsmen.
* TrashTalk: Zoro is the Straw Hat Pirates' resident trash talker in a fight. He enjoys telling his opponents things like "The reason you've never lost is because you've never met me", and of course, he always gives out a "Post Asskicking One-Liner", in which he usually comments on how his opponents were a mere stepping stone for him.
* {{Troll}}: In the Syrup Village Arc, Zoro claims he, Nami, and Luffy (who were at a restaurant in town) [[IAmAHumanitarian ate Usopp]] as a joke, complete with a scary-looking SlasherSmile, to scare the Usopp Pirates looking for their captain.
* UndyingLoyalty:
** It took some doing at first, but of all the Straw Hats, Zoro's the first one who took his position ''very'' seriously. So long as Luffy continues to meet his expectations where it counts, Zoro will always be the first to have his back and be the last to fail him -- and when Luffy makes a decision as Captain of their crew, he'll damn well see that the rest of them follow it, and will absolutely not forgive any mutinous attitudes towards his captain.
** This also applies to the rest of the crew. So long as they perform their duties and follow Luffy's orders, Zoro will gladly put his life on the line to rescue them if they are need of assistance. When he feels he's slowing Usopp down in Sabaody, he tells Usopp to leave him behind and save himself. Usopp [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind naturally refuses]], and this is after he told the crew in Water 7 to leave Usopp behind if he did not apologize for his actions.
* VolleyingInsults: Gets into this quite frequently with Sanji.
* WeaponOfChoice: Zoro has three [[KatanasAreJustBetter katanas]]. He changes them over the course of the story, except for the Wado Ichimonji, which previously belonged to his rival, Kuina, and he inherited after her death. After breaking two of his katanas, Zoro obtains Kitetsu III and Yubashiri, then he loses the latter and replaces it with Shusui, which belonged to Ryuma. In Wano, he allows Gykimaru to bring Shusui to Ryuma's grave and Hiyori gives him Enma, one of Oden's two katanas.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Zoro fully intended to sacrifice himself as part of a deal with Kuma to spare the rest of the Straw Hats. When he made this deal, he was under the assumption that everyone else was unconscious.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Zoro isn't too much of a thinker. When he sees a problem ahead, his solution is usually to just cut his enemies down.
-->'''Usopp:''' (''when the Ryugu Castle is under attack'') We're confined to the castle in the middle of an enemy attack! What should we do?! Wait!! Don't answer that!\\
'''Zoro:''' Let's cut 'em.\\
'''Usopp:''' I told you not to answer!
* WhenHeSmiles: He can be a very handsome man. [[SlasherSmile Or a very scary man.]] Usually the latter.
* WisdomFromTheGutter: Zoro is the one to impart knowledge about how a pirate should behave within their group; aspects such as respect, roles, and trust are brought up by him when the Straw Hats are in the middle of some inner conflict, as seen during the Davy Back Fight and Water 7. Interesting to note is that Zoro only does this when Luffy, the Captain, isn’t the one voicing this out or he is also participating in the turmoil; the exact course of action a First Mate would take, if they ever had one.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: With Sanji. The two make quite an impressive team... when they're not fighting, arguing, or hurling insults at each other (which is to say, most of the time). Sanji and Zoro don't just argue a lot; they seem to ''truly'' dislike each other, never once voluntarily hanging out or having any friendly conversations for the better part of ''19 years'' since Sanji's introduction.[[note]]Most notably, when Usopp became estranged from the crew in Water 7, their ''first'' instinct was to blame each other for not putting the Franky Family down long-term.[[/note]] The best they've mustered is being more or less indifferent to each other. Still, deep down, they respect each other as fighters and would go to any length to protect the other from harm.
* TheWorfEffect: He's one of the strongest Straw Hats and often loses to a character, such as Buggy, Mihawk, Arlong, Eneru, Rob Lucci, Oars & Moria, Kuma, and Isshou in order to show how powerful they are.
* WorfHadTheFlu: Zoro says he fights at his best when using three swords, and there's been quite a few fights where he only has two or one at his disposal. Most of the times, Zoro gains the edge whenever he, somehow, gets to use three swords. A good chunk of the opponents he loses to have a significant advantage against Zoro. Buggy can't be cut at all because swords only disconnect his floating body parts, and he stabbed Zoro after his back was turned. In Arlong's case, Zoro is still suffering from his wound against Mihawk and has already fought Hachi. Against Kuma, he's been already heavily injured and exhausted from his fight against Oars and Moria.
* WouldHitAGirl: He will cut a girl if he has to.
* WouldntHurtAChild: A child assassin at Whiskey Peak alongside an assassin dressed as a nun tries to kill him after attempting a WoundedGazelleGambit. Zoro quickly brings them both down, but uses the back of his blades to not kill either of them.
* WouldntHitAGirl: Somewhat {{zig zagged}}. His childhood friend Kuina may have been the only girl that he was willing to fight seriously. Overall, he hits the middle-road of this trope between Luffy and Sanji. While Sanji won't hit a woman even if his life depends on it, and Luffy will fight anyone he has to regardless of gender, Zoro expresses distaste in fighting women... though he will fight if required.
** An assassin dressed as a nun, attacks him with a child at Whiskey Peak after attempting a WoundedGazelleGambit. Zoro quickly brings them both down, but uses the back of his blades to not kill either of them.
** In his fight with Monet at Punk Hazard, Tashigi claims that Zoro is holding back due to a [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero dismissive attitude towards women]]. Subverted, after proving to Monet that he will cut a girl if necessary. He admits that there are things he doesn't like to cut, but if he has to, he will.
* YouCanBarelyStand: Happens to him ''all'' the time. It's subverted completely post-TimeSkip, though.
** After Buggy stabbed Zoro, Zoro is bleeding profusely, and is forced to fight Buggy's chief of staff, Cabaji, despite barely being able to stand. He dispatches Cabaji with one attack, and then immediately after, collapses from his wound.
** During the Arlong Arc, Zoro is still deeply injured from his fight against Mihawk, and is in a terrible position after defeating Hatchan and then fighting Arlong.
** His [[OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank fight with Mr. 1]] in Alabasta is a defining example.
** Also, the Kuma incident at Thriller Bark. Zoro takes in ''all the pain Luffy had accumulated during his fights with Oars and Moria''. The entire area around him is covered in blood afterwards, and Zoro, though still standing and unflinching, looks like he is ready to die on the spot.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: His hair is green. Sanji likes to make fun of him this way, calling him "Marimo" ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimo after a rare form of spherical algal bloom]]) in the Japanese dub and "Mosshead" in the English dub.
* YoungerThanHeLooks: Can you believe that somebody who [[MrFanservice looks]] [[ShirtlessScene like]] [[RuleOfSexy that]] is 19 ([[TimeSkip later 21]])? Of course, he drinks like a fish, and has been [[TrainingFromHell training]] himself for about half his life to kick ass.
[[/folder]]
----

[[WMG:[[center: [- '''[[Characters/OnePieceStrawHatPirates Straw Hat Pirates]]''' ([[Characters/OnePieceStrawHatMonkeyDLuffy "Straw Hat" Monkey D. Luffy]], '''"Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro''', [[Characters/OnePieceCatBurglarNami "Cat Burglar" Nami]], [[Characters/OnePieceGodUsopp "God" Usopp]], [[Characters/OnePieceBlackLegVinsmokeSanji "Black Leg" Vinsmoke Sanji]], [[Characters/OnePieceDemonChildNicoRobin "Demon Child" Nico Robin]], [[Characters/OnePieceStrawHatGrandFleet Straw Hat Grand Fleet]])]]-]]]

* MadeOfIron: To a mind-blowing extent. Zoro is the trope image for a reason. He refuses to be incapacitated even after Mr. 1 practically puts him through a meatgrinder. This is most noticeable in the anime, which often downplays how badly Luffy and others are hurt in their fights -- it is kinda hard to do with Zoro, as he almost always fights swordsmen. To put it in perspective, when [[FantasticRacism a Fish-man Supremacist]] like Arlong sees the extent of Zoro's wounds prior to the battle, and how well he'd fought, he decides he ''cannot let a human like this live.'' This gradually makes him a terror to fight particularly against rival swordsmen. Zoro's down a sword, you managed to outplay and stab him? ''No, you didn't.'' He ''let'' you stab him because he wants to borrow ''your'' sword, and you just delivered it to him by means of jabbing it into his body.

Similar to Luffy's goal, Zoro wishes to [[ToBeAMaster become the greatest swordsman in the world]] as a promise to his childhood rival Kuina, whom he wanted to win against but never could because she died in an accident. Unlike Luffy, however, he needs only to defeat Dracule "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk, the current greatest swordsman in the world, to do so. He actually meets up with Mihawk fairly early in the story, but [[CurbstompBattle fails to land a single hit]] and nearly gets sliced in half by Mihawk, leaving a serious wound on his chest that heals into a scar that remains with Zoro for the rest of the series. Mihawk, however, holds back just enough to leave Zoro alive, and in a truly [[DareToBeBadass epic speech]] tells Zoro to travel the world, grow stronger, and challenge him again when he's ready. Zoro took this early defeat to heart, swearing an oath then and there that he would never lose a fight until the day that he duel Mihawk again and defeat him. In a strange twist of events, Zoro is eventually ''trained'' by Mihawk to become a stronger swordsman to protect his crew.

Roronoa Zoro is the [[TheAlcoholic hard-drinking]] nineteen/[[TimeSkip twenty-one]]-year-old swordsman and unofficial first mate of the Straw Hat Pirates. Recruited as a mildly notorious bounty hunter in East Blue (hence his "Pirate Hunter" moniker), he grows into a monstruously powerful man who doesn't even need a Devil Fruit ability, using a unique ''Santoryu'' sword style (literally "Three Sword Style") in battle, wielding a sword in each hand along with one in the mouth. After the time skip, he manages to master Observation and Armament Haki as well. Zoro mostly drinks and sleeps in his spare time (when he's not training his ass off), but becomes a real demon in battle that can defeat five hundred {{Mooks}} in two seconds. Often wears a green bandanna on his forearm that he ties around his head when he [[LetsGetDangerous gets dangerous]]. Moreover, he is Luffy's NumberTwo, sometimes acting as a voice of authority when the crew's future must be decided, and regularly happens to battle TheDragon of the current BigBad the crew are fighting, which is an occasion to hone his swordsmanship. Alongside Luffy and Sanji, Zoro is considered one of the Monster Trio (怪物三人組, Kaibutsu San-ningumi) of the Straw Hats.

Similar to Luffy's goal, Zoro wishes to [[ToBeAMaster become the greatest swordsman in the world]] as a promise to his childhood rival Kuina, whom he wanted to win against but never could because she died in an accident. Unlike Luffy, however, he needs only to defeat Dracule "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk, the current greatest swordsman in the world, to do so. He actually meets up with Mihawk fairly early in the story, but [[CurbstompBattle fails to land a single hit]] and ges sliced by Mihawk. Mihawk, however, holds back just enough to leave Zoro alive, and in a truly [[DareToBeBadass epic speech]] tells Zoro to travel the world, grow stronger, and challenge him again when he's ready. Zoro took this early defeat to heart, swearing an oath then and there that he would never lose a fight until the day that he duel Mihawk again and defeat him. In a strange twist of events, Zoro is eventually ''trained'' by Mihawk to become a stronger swordsman to protect his crew.

* TheGift: Zigzagged. While a major portion of Zoro's strength is due to the constant training he puts himself through while the crew is traveling from island to island, he is also naturally talented in combat. Flashbacks show him to be a ChildProdigy who could already defeat several adults on his own (with his only superior being ''another'' ChildProdigy), and in the series itself, he manages to master several powerful techniques, such as cutting steel, within a single battle alone. [[spoiler:He even manages to learn how to imbue Conqueror's Haki into his swords after one battle, despite only have just learned he had Conqueror's Haki to begin with ''during that same battle''. Compare that to Luffy, who did the same, but had known and trained his own Conqueror's Haki for ''years'']].

* TheGift: Zigzagged. While a major portion of Zoro's strength is due to the constant training he puts himself through while the crew is traveling from island to island, he is also naturally talented in combat. Flashbacks show him to be a ChildProdigy who could already defeat several adults on his own (with his only superior being ''another'' ChildProdigy), and in the series itself, he manages to master several powerful techniques, such as cutting steel, within a single battle alone. [[spoiler:While Zoro has prior advanced training with the two common forms of Haki, he learns to have Conqueror's Haki only during the Onigashima War and quickly learns to imbue it in his swords, something that took Luffy a lot of training]].