| abstract | - Zoro usually maintains a stern, serious, and distanced personality, but often loses his temper in a goofy and exaggerated comical style. It would seem however, that this anger is the only emotion that Zoro often feels comfortable showing. Outside of situations where he feels confident in battle, he rarely smiles or laughs. In fact, his defeat at the hands of Mihawk and subsequent vow to Luffy is the only time since his friend Kuina passed that Zoro has been seen crying in the series. Even in moments that are particularly tough on the crew and would warrant sadness, Zoro chooses to maintain a quiet solemnity rather than outwardly express his emotions. He has been shown to believe to a degree that these emotions can hinder his judgement as a swordsman: when Ohm asked him if he was out for revenge upon discovering Tony Tony Chopper wounded and unconscious, he replied that he doesn't like to fight for reasons like that. Despite this assertion, though, he cares deeply for his crewmates and wishes to protect them, telling Ohm that in spite of his preference for fighting without a motivation he can feel one coming on. He can also be extremely intimidating, easily frightening weaker opponents with just his glare. It has been stated that he has a monstrous killing intent evident from the fact where he almost drew his sword on one of the World Nobles. Furthermore, it has also been stated that Zoro is a born killer capable of showing no mercy during combat; it has been mentioned that Zoro has killed before joining the crew. Despite this, Zoro has a kind heart, shown as he was willing to risk his life for the sake of a little girl he did not know shortly after his introduction. When fighting weaker or innocent people, he does try to hold back when fighting and use the dull side of his swords in order not to seriously injure them though as pointed out by Nami, his monstrous strength still manage to cause great damage. He has a strong sense of leadership and reasoning. While technically not a samurai, Zoro maintains Bushido to a certain degree (e.g. he consistently refuses to attack an adversary whose back is turned, the only exception being when his friends are in imminent danger of losing their lives in which Zoro would strike the attacker from behind, and Zoro himself considers a scar on the back to be a swordsman's greatest shame). Whether he agrees with them or not, he will stand by Luffy's decisions, stepping in only to point out the seriousness of a situation where it has been overlooked by his crewmates (most notably when they wanted to bring Usopp back into the crew after Usopp challenged Luffy to a duel over the Going Merry and lost, even willing to quit the crew himself if Luffy just brushed the incident off because it betrayed his strong values in loyalty). Zoro has been absurdly reckless in the face of major battles, often at the cost of his own well-being. Many times, he has suffered injuries which would kill a normal person and muscled through them through sheer willpower, such as when he was given his gaping scar, which he allowed to be inflicted on himself deliberately, and when he absorbed all of Luffy's pain from his fight with Gekko Moriah after Bartholomew Kuma pushed it out of him and made Zoro take it upon himself in return for sparing his captain's life, which was so traumatic that his eyes temporarily became bloodshot. As a result, he has often been left very heavily bloodied and bandaged, as well as gained scars more times than anyone else in the Straw Hat Pirates crew, all of which were notably inflicted after joining Luffy on his travels. Despite this, he has a habit of ignoring these dire injuries and continuing to fight, sometimes before he is fully healed. This has threatened his life by causing unhealed wounds to reopen or be strained, leaving him in crippling agony. His recklessness extends to the point of self-mutilation, willingly risking a limb by throwing the Sandai Kitetsu in the air while holding out his arm and allowing it to land and see if he could overcome its curse (a successful risk), and slicing up his ankles to escape a deathtrap, which not only failed, but made him lose a lot of blood and gain more scars. Furthermore, Zoro tends to face death in a defiant manner and show no fear of dying even when he is in a gravely injured state. However, since the timeskip, Zoro has not been injured. He also seems to be partially irreverent, but not seriously so, simply choosing to focus more on his training and what is clearly in front of him than worry about spiritual matters as well as questions about its mysteries that he cannot truly answer. When Enel posed as God, Zoro was asked by Sanji if he believed in God, but Zoro did not show any devotion toward the idea of one, and didn't care one way or the other. Yet, Zoro showed belief in a paradise after death, though Usopp joked Zoro's behavior in this life wasn't likely to get him into Heaven, with Zoro becoming offended because Usopp implied he would go to Hell. A running gag throughout the series is that while he is very perceptive during battle (as well as out), his sense of direction is extremely poor, to the point of getting lost on a straight path. This often results in Zoro not understanding directions. In the Alabasta Arc, he mistakes going north for going up. In the Drum Island Arc, he believes that he can keep the ship on course by heading toward a large cloud (which can move and change shape). He is unaware of his lack of direction. (For instance, in the Enies Lobby arc, when Nami said to go up the staircase, Zoro went to the opposite side, and then said that Nami has misguided him) Often when he gets lost, he mutters "the others are lost again". However, after the timeskip, Zoro is the first Straw Hat to arrive back at Sabaody Archipelago days before the others, shocking Sanji, though it was Perona who helped Zoro reach Sabaody early. He seems to make up for this, though, by confusing a gigantic pirate galleon for a fisherman's small boat when it is pointed out to him. Another running gag of the series is Zoro's ability to effortlessly deliver perfectly timed lines in passing or even during battle that are deemed "cool" by other characters, leading him to be borderline worshiped and idolized especially by crewmates Usopp, Chopper, and Brook. Another running gag is how Zoro keeps untying bandages when he is not fully healed, claiming that they make it hard to move, only to be scolded by Chopper, who tells him that they are there so that he does not move. A fourth running gag are the situations Luffy puts Zoro in. While in midair or far away Luffy tends to grab Zoro with stretched arms and make him fly through the air, crashing with force that would kill any normal person. Zoro´s usual response to this is that he is one day going to kill Luffy, while Luffy responds only with apologizing to Zoro. Like Nico Robin, Zoro is also easily sensitive when put into embarrassing situations to where he prefers to object vocally (though Robin usually ignores these situations most of the time because of her patience), rather than respond violently like Nami or Sanji. Examples are during the Thriller Bark Arc, Zoro refused to do something stupid like address Franky as "Bro", or Franky's later joke technique "Pirates Docking 6" where after they disassembled, Zoro felt stupid for agreeing to do it in the first place. In the Dressrosa Arc, Zoro was embarrassed when he had Wicca with him when traveling through town, as trying to communicate with her made the people around them think Zoro was "talking to himself" as they could not see Wicca due to her small size (though it was revealed at the end of that arc that Dressrosa's citizens were secretly aware of the dwarves' existence) . Also during anime-only events in the Post-Enies Lobby Arc, when Zoro was forced to help take care of children, he intended to make sure that the crew or any of the town's residents that knew him personally did not find out about this embarrassing situation. Zoro does have rare moments of responding violently in these situations, such as choking Chopper during Aqua Laguna for mentioning to Luffy and Nami the embarrassing story of how Zoro got stuck in the chimney of a house which Luffy laughed about (though Luffy was also in a similar situation earlier). Zoro is very proud of the reputation he has built for himself both as a swordsman and as "The Pirate Hunter", starting with his File:Beli.png60,000,000 bounty which has quintupled since then. He also enjoys the fact that he has a higher bounty than Sanji. During the assault on Enies Lobby, one of the Marines referred to Zoro as "Luffy's underling" much to the delight of Sanji, who quickly became infuriated when Zoro pointed out that Sanji's lack of notoriety puts him below Zoro in status. Since then, once in a while to anger Sanji, Zoro will refer to him as "Pirate A". More recently he has been calling Sanji "#7", referring to his order of arrival at Sabaody. However, in spite of his personal pride and self-respect, Zoro has shown to be willing to lower himself to the ground in complete humility for the sake of his friends, as was seen when he begged Bartholomew Kuma to spare Luffy's life in exchange for his own (Zoro's). And then again when he shamelessly bowed before Dracule Mihawk, begging the Shichibukai who is his enemy, to train him in the ways of the sword. While the crew sails from one island to another, he normally spends time lifting weights or napping, only to be regularly awakened in a rather violent way by Nami, Sanji, or (accidentally) Luffy. He cares greatly for his swords and often holds them close while napping and was considerably upset when his Yubashiri was destroyed. He also likes to drink alcohol (sake), almost to the degree that Luffy loves meat, and Nami loves money. Also like Nami, he has an inhumanly-high tolerance for alcohol. On top of this, Zoro loathes being deprived of alcohol, evident when Mihawk imposed temperance on him until he mastered coating his swords in Haki as an incentive. He also regularly reverts to drastic measures to solve simple problems, suggesting solutions that others would normally consider to be their last possible, worst-case-scenario choices. When he and Usopp were accidentally handcuffed together, Zoro's first suggested solution was to cut off one of their hands. In addition, when he, Vivi and Nami were stuck on Mr. 3's candle set, he actually tried to cut his own feet off in an attempt to escape, and when that failed, decided he would strike a cool pose for his dying moments upon being encased in wax. He also is one of the first Straw Hat members to suggest killing someone or threatening to kill someone. Zoro can also be very vigorous when he is determined to achieve a goal or defeat an enemy. The risks that he will often take to pursue his dream of becoming the world's greatest swordsman often leave others wondering if he is crazy. As far as Zoro is concerned though, only he has the right to call himself "crazy". However, he is able to accept defeat when he perceives it to be inevitable. Also, as pointed out during the Skypiea Arc, Zoro does not care if any gods exist or not. When Zoro has the intention to fight seriously, he ties his bandana (normally kept tied around his left arm) around his head. Zoro lives for the thrill of combat; Scratchmen Apoo commented on his "insane killing intent", acknowledging that Zoro was a "real beast".Indeed, when an average human has the intention of fighting Zoro, his glare alone is usually enough to make them back off. He also has a habit of smiling in satisfaction whenever he faces a particularly skilled opponent, which often unnerves both friend and foe alike. However, Zoro will still maintain his stern demeanor during the thrill of combat if the stakes are high enough. In his battle with Ohm, the priest stood in the way of him rescuing Nami and Gan Fall from Nola's stomach. Against Kaku, the ability to save his crewmate hinged on him defeating the CP9 agent in a timely fashion. He instantly lost his cocky attitude against Shu after the latter destroyed Yubashiri, as his katana were in serious danger. This seems to suit Zoro perfectly; as any given moment where Zoro is not in battle, he's typically sleeping, lost, yelling at/being yelled at by someone, or training. Zoro is also very perceptive, something he demonstrates by providing important and logical decisions at critical times and by evaluating the situation from an objective point of view, as he did in Water 7 by evaluating the best way to handle what, at the time, seemed like Robin's betrayal, and again when the crew wanted to bring Usopp back after he challenged Luffy to a duel over the Going Merry and lost. Zoro is the one who noted that Usopp was at fault for leaving the crew of his own accord. However, while on some occasions he can be the voice of reason, most of the time Zoro rushes into things and leaves it to fate to decide the details, much to the horror of crew members as he fails to see his own fault. He seems to have a very strong belief in fate and destiny in general, making him very similar to members of Blackbeard's crew in several aspects. He is even known to resort to methods like drawing sticks or casting lots whenever the Straw Hats need to choose someone to do a particular task. One of the most obvious instances of this is when he took an interest in the cursed blade, Sandai Kitetsu, and left it up to fate to decide if he would wield it by testing his luck against the sword's curse; he tossed the sword spinning into the air and extended his left arm into its falling path, to see if it would cut him, fully aware that the sword was sharp enough to easily sever his arm. This is later shown again after the two year timeskip when he tells the pirates of the ship he had just destroyed to blame fate for him ending up on their ship. Zoro values loyalty highly and will not easily forgive fellow crewmates if they break ties with the crew, first seen when Nami took the Going Merry. Zoro was furious and stated that he never trusted Nami in the first place; when this happened again with Robin and Usopp, Zoro was wary of Robin, questioning whether should they treat Robin as friend or a foe, and after Enies Lobby Zoro didn't accept Usopp wanting to rejoin the crew saying he stepped on Luffy's pride and he wouldn't allow the Sniper back unless Usopp got down on knees and apologized for his disrespect to Luffy. This dislike for leaving crewmembers was once shown once again in Zou this time over Zoro's long standing rival Sanji, the Swordsmen was angry that the Cook had gone without so much apology or a "thank you for everything" calling Sanji a "idiot" for messing around with Big Mom when they already facing Kaido. This cold attitude towards crewmates received negative attention from the crew and will provoke certain crewmembers (mainly Nami) to yell at him. Unlike some of the members of the crew, Zoro does not shrink from the idea of using deadly force against dangerous enemies and has been noted by several of his fellow Supernovas to be capable of exuding a tremendous amount of murderous intent. While he is quite indifferent to the gender or/and age of his opponents, many of his adversaries (like Tashigi and Monet) seem to believe he does not take women seriously when in fact it is only because Tashigi reminded him too much of Kuina and that Monet was merely a distraction. When the latter tried to take advantage of this belief he cut her down without hesitation, only refraining from killing her because she was too weak to even be considered a proper opponent, using a non-Haki strike in lieu of a blunt attack. It should be noted that he does disagree to a certain extent about using excessive force against women. For example, when Nico Robin was violently electrocuted by Enel, Zoro was extremely ferocious at him, reminding the God that his target is a woman. He has also taken a liking to fishing, as well as training and drinking.
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