Close Menu
Roronoa Zoro in One Piece
Roronoa Zoro in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

Zoro’s family history in One Piece, explained

Stuart RayBy Updated:6 Mins Read Anime

Roronoa Zoro in One Piece, who is the second-in-command of the Straw Hat Pirates, is well-known both inside and outside of his universe for his undying will, loyalty, and burning ambition. In a world filled with Devil Fruit users, genetic enhancement, multiple races, and crazy powers, Zoro is a swordsman who has progressed using only his training and burning willpower – seeking to usurp Dracule Mihawk as the greatest swordsman in the world.

In any other pirate crew, Zoro’s abilities would have made him the captain. Moreover, his role as the second-in-command on the Straw Hats only manages to raise Luffy as a leader of the future free world in the One Piece universe, the ultimate connoisseur of freedom. However, one thing that users have been pondering from the very start of the series was Zoro’s origin.

Whereas characters like Luffy, Sanji, and Robin have received well-thought-out abilities, little has been said about Zoro’s backstory. Some fans have speculated his relationship to the fabled samurai Ryuma because of Zoro’s whole samurai-esque aesthetic. Many had speculated that Zoro would find his ancestors among the samurai of Wano, a land based off feudal Japan and its whole samurai system.

However, Oda revealed little to nothing about the same. There had been one panel with three samurai in Yamato’s flashback, where a Zoro-like character appears and reveals his grit in that single scene alone. Many fans have this been speculating about Zoro’s connection to his look-alike, although nothing was not confirmed for a long time. But that all changed with the SBS.

Taking a sneak peek into Zoro’s ancestry

Shimotsuki Ryuma, a renowned swordsman from Wano Country, is an ancestor of Zoro. The Thriller Bark storyline, where it was revealed that Moria had taken the body of the renowned warrior and revived it using Brook’s shadow, is where fans first became familiar with Ryuma. In his day, Ryuma was revered as the God of the Blade and was a great samurai.

Although the precise date of his existence is unknown, it’s probable he lived during the Void Century. Ryuma had a fantastic reputation since he had defeated a huge dragon in Wano, but the swordsman had many other notable accomplishments as well.

The Shimotsuki, Ryuma’s clan, kept their bloodline alive and continued to be active up until recently. It was fate that brought Zoro and Ryuma together during the Thriller Bark arc, and it wasn’t until Wano that it was revealed how much the two characters have in common.

For starters, their combat philosophies are similar. In addition, Hyogoro claimed on Onigashima that Ryuma was a one-eyed samurai like Zoro. The Straw Hat and Shimotsuki Ryuma have more than simply a shared bond. The Wano Country storyline revealed Zoro’s resemblance to Shimotsuki Ushimaru’s appearance. However, until the current SBS segment of One Piece manga volume 105, no additional clarification on this was provided to the audience.

It was in it that Oda provided a thorough family tree for Roronoa Zoro, and it has since been shown that he and Ushimaru do indeed have a common ancestor. A ship illegally departed the Wano homeland and made its way to the East Blue close to 50 years ago. The manga goes on to say that this ship was home to Wano’s renowned swordsmith Shimotsuki Kozaburo. On the ship, he wasn’t the only Shimotsuki, though.

Shimotsuki Furiko, a female passenger, was also aboard the ship, which was revealed in the SBS. It’s none other than Zoro’s own granny who is standing there. She also happens to be Shimotsuki Ushimaru’s older sister, who has a striking resemblance to Zoro. When Kozaburo arrived in East Blue, he built his own community, which he called Shimotsuki Village.

He also started a dojo there, which his son Shimotsuki Koshiro was subsequently spotted running. In the meantime, Furiko, Zoro’s grandmother, wed Roronoa Pinzoro, a village swordsman, and that’s where the family name Roronoa originates. As fhe Straw Hat swordsman everyone loves, Zoro eventually received this moniker when it was passed down from one person to the next.

Shimotsuki Furiko and Roronoa Pinzoro had a child, whom they named Roronoa Arashi, according to Zoro’s family tree. Given that both of Zoro’s parents were proud samurai, it may be presumed that his father, Arashi, was either a samurai or at the very least someone who studied the blade.

However, what fans do know about Arashi is that he perished in a conflict with pirates in the East Blue at an unspecified time. But before Arashi passed away, he wed a woman named Terra. Similar to Arashi, Terra has not had much information made public. Oda merely mentions that she was in love and that her parents were thieves and outlaws.

Soon later, Terra became gravely ill and passed away as a result of her illness, leaving Zoro an orphan. It is unknown whether Terra raised Zoro up until a particular point in time or passed away soon after giving birth. Later, Zoro continued his study of the way of the blade at the Shimotsuki Dojo in the hamlet, where he first encountered Kuina, his cousin.

It is unknown whether Zoro is aware that Kuina and he are blood relatives. Fans now have a complete understanding of Roronoa Zoro’s family tree, and it can be asserted that Zoro also had a colorful past. The Straw Hat soon after found his way into the East Blue (or rather lost his way and ended up in the East Blue), where he found the daimo, meet Kuina, and find his goal to a great destiny.

The fact that Zoro’s spoilers were revealed in an SBS, as opposed to going into detail, has irked many fans, especially with the amount of focus given to Sanji and his past. However, don’t you think that Sanji’s story is about how he overcomes his past through finding a new family better than his horrible siblings? In contrast, Zoro’s theme centers around the future as he looks forward to a great destiny. In that case, it makes sense to not delve on Zoro’s past as neither does the future strongest swordsman.

 

Share.

Stuart loves anime, writing, and writing about anime. Someday, he hopes to illustrate his own manga from his novel!