'One Piece' Introduces Zoro's New Friends

One Piece has proven Monkey D. Luffy has a knack for making friends wherever he goes, but the same cannot be said for everyone. Guys like Roronoa Zoro aren't the most approachable, but it seems the swordsman has managed to wrangle himself a few new allies… whether he wants them or not.

Recently, One Piece stepped out with its newest chapter, and it was there fans caught up with Zoro. The pirate got separated from Luffy awhile back, leaving him to meet up with a man named Tonoyasu. The eccentric man was thought to be a gag at first, but it turns out Zoro has come to befriend most of his village.

Needing a rest, Zoro was taken to Tonoyasu's home at Ebisu Town. The pair were greeted by scores of people in various states of hunger and poverty; However, as Zoro noted, all of the townsfolk were smiling and laughing. The pirate was understandably curious about the villagers' joy given their hardships, but Tonoyasu was quick to explain their touching mentality.

"Very astute, my good man! The people are cheerful, no?! After all, of the many living things in the world, only a human being as the ability to smile! So why waste a goo thing? Let those smiles ring," Tonoyasu explains.

As the trip continues, Zoro is given clean water by the villagers and enough laughter to make even Usopp jealous. By his visit's end, the man was quite enamored with the town and ready to defend it however he could.

"See, in this country, people call a smilin' face an Ebisue Smile, my friend," Tonoyasu tells Zoro. "We don't let poverty get us down! Cryin' won't make ya rich, so use that mouth of yers and smile, smile."

So, which of these new attacks is your favorite? 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. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.