New One Piece Theory Tries to Connect Zoro’s Wano Heritage

One Piece fans are always down for a good theory, and there are plenty going around. With the arrival of the Wano Country arc, fans are more eager than ever to talk theories, and one about Zoro’s past has got plenty scratching their heads.

Over on Twitter, a One Piece fan-translator hit up fans with their theory, and Sandman_AP did not skimp on the details. The netizen used every detail he could pluck from Wano to find proof Zoro’s history is intertwined with the island nation.

As the theory goes, it all starts with Zoro having been raised in Shimotsuki Village. The town is where Zoro began to study the blade, but little is known about the character’s earlier life. From the age of ten and on, Zoro was dedicated to all things swordsmanship, but his hometown got Sandman_AP talking.

“Shimotsuki Ryuma, Ushimaru, and Yasuie lived in Wano,” the translator pointed out before pointing out that Shimotsuki means ‘November’ in Japanese, the month Zoro was born. But if you ask the translator, there is more behind the name.

As you can read above, the fan breaks down how a common Japanese phrase and number word play could mean something bigger for Zoro. It turns out you can translate Shimotsuki Village as Samurai Village. With all of the other great samurai in Wano sharing the last name Shimotsuki, fans are curious whether Zoro is somehow related to them or another ancestor from Wano. For now, there is no telling what creator Eiichiro Oda is planning to do with Zoro, but many have felt the swordsmen has something to do with the nation. So if there were ever a time to learn about the connection, it would be in this arc.

Do you think Zoro’s past has to do with Wano? 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.