ROBIN AND ZORO: ANALOGIES IN CHARACTERS' PRESENTATION

Another factor that highlights the affinities between Zoro and Robin, and therefore their being a couple, concerns the moments in which Zoro and Robin meet Luffy, which have different similarities. In ep3 of the manga, titled "Pirate Hunter Zoro enters", Zoro and Luffy meet thenselves for the first time. Zoro uses three swords, and the episode is the third. In addition, Zoro has the shark as a symbol: this explains the cover.

Besides, in ep3 Coby, Luffy's friend, says that Zoro has the reputation of being a monster or ademon for his ruthlessness. Luffy, therefore, is uncertain: he does not know if it is appropriate to insert him in his crew or not. In fact, Zoro's menacing aura is noticed during their meeting, with an ideogram that indicates the presence of a demonic aura. At that moment Zoro is a prisoner of the Navy, because he wanted to protect a little girl from the attack of the spoiled son of the Navy admiral.

When Luffy meets Zoro, he, being imprisoned, asks him to put in his mouth the rice that the little girl - which he had saved - had prepared for him, even though it had been thrown to the ground by the marines. And he tells Luffy to tell the little girl that the rice was great. From this we understand that Zoro cares about weak people and children.

Luffy, speaking with Zoro, realizes that he is not evil and proposes him to join his pirates crew. Zoro disagrees, because he is a hunter of pirates, not a pirate. But Luffy does not listen to him and insists on repeating his invitation to him: he wants Zoro as a companion at all costs. Eventually he will convince him: but this fact - Luffy not listening to Zoro - is an important detail. We will be back soon about it.

Besides, Zoro states that he does not care what people think of him, even if he will become a pirate. His real goal is to become the greatest swordsman in the world, and he does not want to be influenced by others' opinion.

Let's now turn to Nico Robin. We are towards the end of Alabasta arc: Robin was in service of Crocodile, the powerful pirate of the Shichibukai, who held the country in his hand. We are arrived at the final battle between Luffy and Crocodile. Robin was wounded by Crocodile himself and she is about to die (ep218). At that moment, officially, she is still Luffy's enemy. Now, Robin, hurt and now defeated, says she doesn't care what people say about her, or what happens to people about her. Basically, it is the same sentence said by Zoro, quoted above. Also, Robin has, like Zoro, the sinister reputation of being the "demonic child", just as Zoro is considered "a demon".

Robin says her specialty is murder (ep217). Her sinister fame is therefore deserved: the fact remains that Robin helped Luffy survive Alabasta and she protected the city itself from the discovery of the ancestral weapon Pluton, which Crocodile wanted. So, like Zoro, Robin has a sinister reputation, but a different demeanor. She is only interested in knowing the true history of the world's past (she is an archaeologist).

Luffy, after defeating Crocodile, brings with him the king of Alabasta and Robin, who, however, wanted to die there, because she was tired of living: her search for the past of the world had proved a failure. But even here Luffy doesn't listen to what Robin tells him, just like he did with Zoro: another parallel between Zoro and Robin.

When Robin asks Luffy to join his crew, he accepts and, faced with his companions' objections, Luffy says that she is not an evil person. It is the same reaction that Luffy had towards Zoro. These similarities are very significant, because they unite Zoro and Robin.

Additionally, Zoro and Robin have both experienced what it means to fail to fulfill their dream. In fact, Zoro had lost against Mihawk, the strongest swordsman in the world (cap52), and so his dream of being the best swordsman in the world had not come true. And Robin, during the final defeat of Crocodile in Alabasta (chapter 218), understands that it is impossible for her to find traces of the world's past: here too there is a character who faces her personal defeat. There are even construction similarities of the pages relating to the fall of Zoro and Robin, both in tears of their undoing. It's pretty much the only time in the entire series that Zoro and Robin cry.

And, in both cases, Zoro and Robin get up and resume their journey thanks to Luffy. This does not happen in any of the characters of the crew (an exception is Nami, but here we are talking about the Luffy-Nami relationship, and that's another story). To conclude, Robin will be part of the crew in ep217: it should be noted that this chapter contains the number 7, the number of Robin (because it is the seventh member in order of time) and the number 2, the number of Zoro, which is the second member in order of time. Another Zorobin track.

ALL THE ONE PIECE/ZOROBIN ENGLISH LINKS

Edited by joe 7 - 6/9/2021, 16:50