The Swordsman of the Straw Hat Pirates, Roronoa Zoro, has a lifelong dream of becoming the strongest swordsman in the world of One Piece. He has worked hard and trained almost all his life to reach that level and his determination toward his goal makes him worthy of the title in the upcoming future.
However, there is one more reason why Zoro wants to be the strongest swordsman in the world. And that reason is his childhood friend Kuina. Kuina and Zoro used to train together in a dojo and Kuina was stronger than Zoro at that time. Zoro was determined to beat her but couldn’t. However, she later died and thus Zoro decided to fulfill the dream of becoming the Strongest swordsman for her too.
A recent crazy One Piece theory on the other hand explains that Kuina is not dead and Monkey D. Dragon, father of Luffy and the Chief of the Revolutionary Army employed her and faked her death to keep her secret safe.
Shimotsuki Kuina in One Piece
Shimotsuki Kuina was Roronoa Zoro’s childhood friend, relative, and rival. Being a descendant of the renowned Shimotsuki Family of Wano Country, she was the granddaughter of Shimotsuki Kozaburo and the daughter of Shimotsuki Koushirou.
Zoro’s aspirations as a swordsman, including the creation of the Three Sword Style, were greatly influenced by her death at the age of 11. Despite her small stature, Kuina was a powerful child talent in swordsmanship and was the Isshin Dojo’s best student for a while before her passing.
In her final match against Zoro, she used the Wado Ichimonji without any apparent difficulty which was later handed over to Zoro by Kuina’s father himself in honor of her memory. Her death is the main inspiration behind Zoro’s dream to become the strongest swordsman, but a theory says that she is alive and is a member of the Revolutionary Army.
One Piece Theory Claims Kuina is Alive
When Dragon leaves the town called Trash Heap village of Goa Kingdom in One Piece manga chapter 589 after saving his future secondary commander Sabo, he stops at the village where Zoro lives and trains in the dojo. According to the manga, Dragon went there to collect supplies for their journey.
However, Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece, is known as the king of foreshadowing and Dragon visiting Zoro’s village just for supplies seems quite odd. According to the theory, Oda foreshadowed Dragon visiting Zoro’s village which will be revealed in the future and this will bring out the mystery behind Kuina’s death.
According to the theory, the mystery is that along with the supplies Dragon decided to recruit Kuina because of her skills, and to hide it from the other students, Dragon and the dojo master decided to fake her death. The fact that Kuina died from “falling” off the stairs also supports this theory. Kuina will be revealed after the series when the Revolutionary Army takes center stage in the One Piece story.
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