Replying to ONE PIECE : ZORO AND ROBIN, A HIDDEN RELATIONSHIP |
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- Posted 15/6/2016, 15:05ZORO AND ROBIN: A HIDDEN RELATIONSHIP
In One Piece story there are different relations, but these are hidden, for the fact of this manga being a shonen (manga for boys), instead of a shojo (manga for girls). Forums about this manga has often been snubbed this idea as a "mental idiocy" because Eichiro Oda, One Piece's author, has always said that his characters love only adventure. But Oda could not say that "this guy is in love with that chick" because, in fact, One Piece is a shonen. And, yes, the characters love adventure: they are the adventurous par excellence. But Oda has never said that there are no relationships between them.
LUFFY AND NAMI
A classic example is that of Luffy, the captain, and Nami, the navigator: they have, for many fans, a "hidden relationship" shown at different times, one of which, among the most famous and quoted, is one in which Luffy, front Nami in tears for the invasion of the pirate Arlong to her birthplace and for a complicated story that I'm not here to tell), takes off his straw hat, which is his only treasure and the thing that he counts the most, and he puts on Nami's head. One thing that Luffy had never done to anyone. He says to Nami that from now he will think to Arlong: in fact, from here begins the end of the invading pirate, in a fight to the death.
ROLONOA ZORO AND NICO ROBIN
But one of the more complex and fascinating "hidden relationships", in my opinion, is that one between the swordsman of the crew, Zoro Rolonoa, and the archaeologist Nico Robin. Both are characters with high combat capability: Zoro uses the three swords technique, Robin uses the technique given to her by a Devil Fruit, the Fior Fior, enabling her to make growing everywhere duplicate parts of her body: usually arms and legs, to use them in a thousand different ways. In this way, Robin can defeat even hundreds of enemies at once. Robin comes from a dark and tormented past; she studied archeology to discover the past of the world, something forbidden, for which the government wiped out the village and the whole island where Robin lived. Zoro, instead, comes from a past of pure battle, where he became a famous pirate hunter to become the strongest swordsman in the world, and so fulfill the promise made to Kuina, her friend, who died very young. Now he is the vice-captain, though not officially, and follows Luffy in his adventures, in which he hopes, one day, to cross swords with Drakul Mihawk, the strongest swordsman in the world.
Here are the main informations about them.
LORONOA ZORO
Zoro is the first person to join Luffy officially on his pirate crew and thus is sort of the second in command. At first, he joins Luffy on a whim and tells him outright that he will cut him down if he interferes with his dream of becoming the number 1 swordsman in the whole world (This shows how important is his dream for him). But this slowly changes and Zoro now believes that making Luffy the Pirate King is most important (He sacrifice himself instead Luffy in Thriller Bark and he begged Mihawk to teach him swordsmanship after the crew’s separation, the man whom he had vowed to defeat and become number 1 in the earliest parts of the manga). Zoro is best described as overconfident and loyal; as well as almost bloodthirsty. Out of all the Straw Hats, he is probably the one that loves to fight the most and along with Luffy and Sanji is described by Nami and Usopp as the three monsters (He is the second stronger member). Nevertheless, he has a more sensitive side that he tends to hide: he refuses to fight Tashigi and actively tries to avoid her because she reminded him of his dead friend Kuina (and possible crush). He also wanted to become number 1 as a promise to said to Kuina. He care a lot about the most vulnerable groups of the society inside One Piece likes kids&veteran, this thing is clearly show when Zoro protected a little girl from the marine.
He likes to party and after Robin is the most level-headed of the crew. He uses three swords, although he can also use a single sword and double sword style moves too. Often his sword attacks/styles are named after demons, food, and animals. He uses his black bandanna when he has a serious fight, this give to Zoro a more bad-ass design. Other features of Zoro is his tendency to sleep (except when there is Robin) and the fact that he has no sense of direction.
SbS information for Roronoa Zoro:
Age: 19 (debut)[5] - 21 (after time skip)[6]
Debut: Chapter 3; Episode 2
Animal: Shark, in the new world as a Tiger (there are a few cover with a tiger)
Color: Green
Favorite Type of Island and Season: Autumn on an Autumn Island
Cooking Specialties: Sashimi.
Hobby: training and liquor
Zoro is the first mate, and second straw-hat. He is represented officially with the number 2. The number 3 is also connected to Zoro (3 katana).
Inside the anime, Zoro is represented by Kazuya Nakai
NICO ROBIN
Robin is a very dinamic character that changed a lot from the miss All Sunday to the current Nico Robin that we know.
Robin is introduced as an antagonist and the right-hand woman of Crocodile. Seemingly emotionless and cruel, it is later revealed that Robin had to join a criminal organization to avoid being captured and killed by the World Government from the age of eight. Often leaving said organizations when the World Government came for her or when they tried to hand her over. She joined Crocodile for a similar reason, but also to read the Poneglyph in Alabastra. Robin’s dream is to discover the true history of the Void Century, which is said to be written on the Poneglyphs. Unfortunately, most Poneglyphs contain knowledge of ancient weapons, which is why she is wanted by the World Government (their official reason) and also the reason her hometown, family, and friends were destroyed and killed. Robin, realizing that the Alabasta Poneglyph doesn’t contain the True History, decides she is tired of running away and wants to die in the falling ruins. Luffy, realizing Robin isn’t a bad person as she saved him twice (not to mention others), rescues her from the falling ruins against her will. Robin then demands he take responsibility as she has nowhere else to go and he accepts and thus she ends up joining the Straw Hats. Other than Sanji and Luffy, most of the crew is suspicious of her but all eventually come to see her as a true crewmate and friend. Robin is very knowledgeable on many topics owing to her background as a scholar and prodigy. As such, Robin is the one that tends to explain things to the other Straw Hats. She also has a morbid sense of humour and likes to matter-of-factly state rather morbid facts to the other crew members, much to their dismay. Out of the whole crew, Robin is the most level headed. She is never seen over-reacting and she likes to adventure. Shown to be a capable fighter on a number of occasions with her Hana Hana no mi, and by her own admission, her specialty is assassination, which, given the nature of her powers, isn’t hard to believe. Her devil fruit powers are one of the most versatile: she can use them for combat, espionage, to support others, and defensively. After Zou, a new category of Poneglyphs (Road Poneglyphs) has appeared and marks her importance for the main story one more time. She likes all cute thing that include also Chopper. She is really interested in all kind of flower.
She and Usopp are the ones who care for the hairstyle of their mates.
Sbs information for Nico Robin:
Age: 28 (debut)[3] - 30 (after timeskip)[6]
Debut: Chapter 114; Episode 67
Animal: Crane (in some cover she is represented with a Hawk)
Color: Purple
Favorite Type of Island and Season: Autumn on a Spring Island
Cooking Specialties: Boiled food, Paella.
Robin is the 7th crew member.
Inside the anime, Robin is represented by Yuriko Yamagushi
Their relationship develops as an underground river in One Piece. First, Nico Robin appears later in the story of One Piece and she is an enemy of the crew, at the orders of the Pirate Crocodile, which aimed to conquer the Alabasta kingdom with a complex plane and having with him a string of killers belonging to ' Baroque Works organization, where Crocodile was the leader and Nico Robin the vice. After a long battle, known as "the battle of Alabasta", the band of Straw Hat (the name by which the crew of Luffy is defined) gets the win and moves away from Alabasta. And they realize, at some point, to have a clandestine aboard: in fact the clandestine was Nico Robin, who asks to Rufy to enter the crew. Already at this stage there is a small detail of the relationship between Robin and Zoro (those called the "Zorobin moments"): the girl shows up from the crew only after Zoro had just finished speaking. It is only a detail, but not very little, looking after the future developments.
NOTE: the comic below is read from right to left.
Immediately after Robin is accepted by Captain Luffy as a member of the crew, she is ranging to Zoro and asks him a question. How come she goes right to him? Perhaps to make sure that Zoro is not angry with her and trusts her (before this, they had been their enemy). Maybe for this motive Robin smiles at Zoro. But she could also show up in another way, no? Robin is a smart woman, after all... se could find another topic, like swords or drinking, and get closer to Zoro later. Instead she acts in this way: I think that (thanks to hints that there will be later) that Robin has found something more important about Zoro: his maturity. In fact, Zoro, is often the wisest and attentive of the crew. And a mature man needs to feel that he is liked by women. So, the moment was real flirting, even if it does not appear at first sight. Please note that is Robin who is going towards Zoro: that is, since from the beginning seems that Robin is interested in Zoro. And he, at the beginning, is puzzled, but, at the same time, without realizing it, he seems intrigued. Zoro suspect, but at the same time he does not understand and he is confused. A good psychological encounter.
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