More One Piece (mostly Zolu) + Text Posts

Waiting for his captain

Zoro is always sensitive to luffy’s emotions IMAO

https://x.com/7nawon?s=21&t=55HyzerWcN_RxNpgV2Jocw

usopp interrupted their flirting

JAJSJJSKAKDJAJSKAKAJA

someone’s prolly done this already but—

Ok but the way luffy and zoro are the only two strawhats who were sent to one of the seven warlords of the sea by kuma, and at some point they bowed before the warlord for the sake of other people??

Now that i think about it, the thing about luffy and zoro that i can't help but to notice, something about some of their 'memorable/big' moments??

For luffy, i'm thinking about how often luffy sacrifices himself for (usually) more than one person, for many people in fact. Heck, even for a whole COUNTRY! (him vs crocodile, him vs kaido, et cetera) And in the panel above, luffy literally bows before hancock for the sake of his 'new' friends.

And for zoro... well, there's thriller bark... (not gonna talk about thriller bark anymore i rEFUSE to succumb to my brain and talk about thriller bark AGAIN) I think that's self-explanatory enough. And then in the panel above, he bows down before mihawk, for luffy's sake.

Ok so, i'm not saying zoro would only die for luffy (he'd also die for his crew, earlier @hellfire-fist talked about this point too), but sometimes i can't help but to think of this dynamic when i think about zoro and luffy:

I think it's pretty obvious who is who.

Like idk, but it's the way oda frames them(?) about what he shows to the audience, his storytelling. It's about the way he emphasizes on how zoro will and has sacrificed so muchhh for his captain's sake (His pride, his ambition, his life), it's about him taking on his captain's pain (which is pretty intimate btw.. if u ask me). And also how luffy will and has sacrificed his whole being, enduring any kind of pain, for the sake of sooo many people.

Like can't stress this enough, but zoro really is the perfect balance for luffy?? Luffy is so reckless, he headbutts danger right in the face, and that's why he has zoro, because zoro will be there to keep him on track.

Luffy wants to save everyone. Well, zoro will make sure that his captain is safe. And once again, they are the top 2 most powerful people in the SHC, so if anyone can keep an eye on luffy, it's zoro. They have fought the same enemies (the dragon from punk hazard, kaido, big mama, lucci, pica, hyouzou, fujitora, etc). If there's someone the closest to being on par with luffy, it's zoro. If anyone can fight alongside luffy against strong opponents, it's zoro. Zoro will do anything in his power to make sure that luffy stays alive (thriller bark, wano), in this (not) essay i will-

I love them 🥰 zolu needs more content >:(

Luffy be like:

That's Nami, she's a navigator, she's leading the way.

That's Sanji, he's a cook, he makes food.

That's Usopp, he does repairs and operates canon.

That's Zoro, he's my emotional support swordsman.

wano has become a favorite arc of mine for different reasons and it also gave me a lot of zolu brainworms to mull over, so here I go (again). spoilers for some of the big reveals in the arc so beware

despite getting separated shortly after reuniting, yasuie's execution once again highlighted how similarly minded zoro and luffy are - like zoro, luffy gets pissed at the sight of ppl laughing at yasuie after he's killed, though they both learn it's due to the effects of the smile fruits. and despite the fact that doing so could put their plan in jeopardy (hence why sanji yells at zoro to cool his head), luffy actively cheers zoro on (from the distance) when he goes after orochi in retaliation

a nice tiny moment is also back when they're together. luffy was worried since big mom appeared in wano yet jimbei (who had stayed in whole cake island to fend her off along his former crew so the straw hats could escape) hadn't arrived. albeit zoro wasn't even part of the WCI arc events, he's quick to reassure luffy:

although I'm not certain whether law was referring to them specifically or not, there's a part during the discussion of the raid where he says there's two idiots who, no matter how much planning goes into it, are likely to charge straight in regardless. then, of course, this happens:

(so yeah. I think they're probably the idiots)

and funnily enough, zoro doesn't get lost for once. not only does he find luffy, any intention zoro had of (ironically, considering he was causing a ruckus himself) chastising luffy for messing up the infiltration goes out the window when he tells zoro about the spilled oshiruko

this is a direct callback to their interactions with tama when they first reunited in wano. it's cute how attached they got to her and yeah, they're both stupidly reckless at times but this is one occasion in which it isn't just for the sake of chaotic shenanigans - it's them getting angry at how these ppl are disrespecting what tama and the oshiruko stand for. to those present, it seems foolish/weird since they don't understand the context behind it, but it's the kind of understanding that goes on between luffy and zoro precisely bc of the moments they share together.

there's some good panels of both worrying about each other after getting hurt and zoro carrying an injured luffy to safety. they're soooo.

this was pretty good too:

their plan to jump to the roof to face kaido ultimately fails here but it's still cute that zoro's so willing now to just cling to and let luffy carry him around like this (arlong park zoro has come a long way lol). it also says a lot abt luffy's trust in both the crew and zoro that he was fine letting them in charge below while he and zoro went to face kaido together.

the x drake ordeal was kind of funny but it served to show exactly why zoro complements luffy so well. luffy tends to be very trusting toward others, even those who might've started out as enemies which usually works out fine but still. zoro's quick to remind luffy that the guy's a traitor and unreliable, and (along with some of the other straw hats) refuses to blindly accept the impromptu alliance. it's interesting though, that zoro doesn't entirely disregard luffy's opinion nor x drake's help per se - he's just understandably wary of drake's true intentions (pointing out that he's still hiding where he stands in the whole conflict) and eventually agrees to team up. love the balance of it ngl.

that said, the actual fight on the roof has to be one of my favorite parts! it's probably one of the most obvious occasions in which zoro's role as luffy's first mate/right hand man and how much luffy relies on him too shines through. there's zoro slashing big mom and kaido's fire attacks so they wouldn't hurt luffy, taking the lead in attempting to stave off kaido and big mom's joint attack (and succeeding for a bit) despite the fact that he's got three powerful captains beside him, and several panels of him protecting luffy. this one was particularly crazy

this is pretty much zoro's equivalent to "if you wanna kill him you'll have to kill ME first". insane. I love them so much. zoro may be the one to have more instances in which he gets to demonstrate his loyalty and protectiveness towards luffy rather than the opposite - but knowing luffy's the one who usually risks himself for others in grandiose ways, I find it very compelling that zoro gets to be the one to protect him in these important moments, that luffy trusts him to do it and even thanks him for it here in this arc. to me, there's a reason why, out of the whole crew, zoro was the only one to take part in this particular confrontation. mutual trust/understanding/respect etc are at the core of their relationship. it's a two way thing.

fast forward to zoro vs king and OF COURSE this mf thought of luffy when facing the guy.

I posted about this the other day, but something similar happened during zoro's duel against mihawk. when the latter asks what drives zoro to fight despite being so weak, it's this exact part of his meeting with luffy at the marine base that he recalls. zoro has certainly driven himself to get stronger for the crew's sake and for his dream, but it's clear that luffy (and his own promise to kuina) is one of zoro's biggest motivators. he's also the one person zoro has cast aside that very dream of his for so... (thriller bark zoro you live in my heart always).

when zoro wins against king, too, it's his promise to never lose that he recalls. the promise he made to luffy. regardless of how you interpret their relationship, it's obvious luffy means a lot to zoro and moments like these don't let the readers forget it.

that said, this was perhaps the most insane part to me:

just when you think zolu can't get more trope-y than it already is, the manga says: wait a fucking second. canon sun/moon, heaven/hell, god/demon zolu.

I was already spoiled about these bits, though they were exciting to read through anyway. I think it's very curious that both zoro's ancestry and his conqueror's haki reveal happened during the arc where the true nature of luffy's devil fruit comes to light and his awakening into joyboy/nika takes place. can't say for sure what oda's planning for them in the future, but wano is probably the biggest glimpse so far as to the kind of figures luffy and zoro are bound to become (or are already becoming) in one piece's universe.

joyboy luffy being considered a hero to wano only rivaled by shimotsuki ryuma is also so... oof, knowing that ryuma (also called god of the blade) is zoro's ancestor, whose zombie he faced back in thriller bark and whose sword shusui he wielded for a while after that, and that he resembles physically too (both being one-eyed samurai/swordsmen). there's a lot more parallels to be drawn between them, and zoro's conqueror's haki adds a whole new layer to their relationship, but a detail that's fascinating to me is that both zoro's presence and joyboy's awakening in wano are hailed as the work of fate at different points, by kawamatsu and zunesha respectively.

overall there seems to be a thread of "fate" that's tying the story together from the void century to roger's era to the present but choice is also an important aspect imo. zoro and luffy are an example, bc in spite of how their stories have turned out to be somewhat intertwined... it was luffy's choice to seek out the demon pirate hunter and rope him into his crew. it was zoro's choice to join him, to make a promise that'd tie his own dream to luffy's. there's a potential that neither of them could've reached if they hadn't come together to sail in that dinghy and formed an entire crew (a family!) that have all of them journeying towards their dreams, always relying on and striving to become better for one another. all of these little choices for luffy and zoro led them up to this point and onwards, which tbh is just really fucking good.