'One Piece' Sets Up A Much-Wanted Zoro Battle

Roronoa Zoro may be the longest-standing Straw Hat aside from Monkey D. Luffy, but he's still waiting for his close up. The swordsmen dreams of becoming the best in the world, and that goal hasn't gone away just yet. After all, the pirate swore to see his ambition all the way through, and One Piece just set up the perfect way to help Zoro do that.

Sorry, Mihawks. You might be impressive and all, but it is time Zoro went sword-to-sword with someone who fights like him.

Recently, One Piece dove deep into the history of the ever-elusive country of Wano. The isolated land has been teased for years, and the Straw Hats converged upon its shore recently. At long last, Luffy and Zoro reunited after the former went up against Big Mom. So, you know Zoro stans were happy when Sanji was sidestepped to tease a big battle coming for the swordsman.

As it turns out, the shogun of Wano happens to be Kurozumi Orochi. The military leader is touted by propaganda as being Wano's savior, and he became so strong thanks to his Dual-Edge sword style.

Yes, that's right. Zoro isn't the only fighter out there who wields more than one blade. The biggest baddie on Wano aside from Kaido uses a two-sword style, and fans are certain the shogun will face off with Zoro's own style before this arc runs up.

So far, fans have yet to see what Orochi looks like or how he fights. All of the details about his power have come secondhand, but he isn't big enough to avoid the Straw Hats forever. Luffy has a bit of a reputation, and his First Mate is no exception. As soon as Zoro hears about Orochi for himself, it will only be a matter of time before the pair meet in battle.

What do you expect to come from this fated showdown? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold.