diadem application —

[kitetsu]

Player Information

Player: Abel
Contact: unbearable
Invitation OR characters played: Arisa @ hepburns
Are you over 18?: Yes


Character Information

Character: Roronoa Zoro
Canon: One Piece (Netflix Live Action), post season one
Age: Twenty-one
History: Link
Possessions: Just the clothes he's wearing and his sword.
Weapon: Wado Ichimonji, his katana. It doesn't have any special abilities - Just a sturdy, well-crafted blade of high sentimental significance.

Powers/Abilities: Zoro is demonstrated to possess inhuman strength, able to lift incredibly heavy weights (a wall safe, roughly 300-500lbs.) and carry it over distances. He is in peak physical condition due to his training as a swordsman, and is proficient in both armed and hand to hand combat. While it would be a stretch to say he is a strategist, Zoro shows keen battle intelligence; he is quick to adapt and will use his surrounding environment to his advantage, sometimes able to defeat opponents without ever drawing a blade.

His primary technique is his self-invented Three Sword Style; as the name would imply, Zoro wields a sword in each hand, while holding the third clenched between his teeth. He is also skilled in both dual and single sword combat as well. As two of his katana were irreparably shattered in a previous battle - and in light of the game’s one weapon limit - he will be relying on the latter for the time being.

Although it is typically played off as a joke, Zoro’s sense of direction is infamously terrible. He is incapable of following directions, and will get lost on even the most direct routes – It’s almost impressive.


Application Questions

Who is the most important person in their life and why? What might be different if this person hadn't been around?

His childhood friend, Kuina.

For Zoro, there has only ever been one goal – to become the world’s greatest swordsman. Orphaned at a young age, he spent the majority of his time training at the local dojo, challenging its members and honing his skills. Possessing both endless determination and raw talent in swordplay, he was able to hold his own against even more seasoned combatants – all but the master’s daughter, Kuina. With every defeat, Zoro would redouble his efforts, working night and day in order to best his greatest rival.

After demanding that they duel using real blades, rather than their usual bamboo training swords, Zoro lost yet again. Frustrated and at the brink of giving up, he conceded that he would never beat her, at which point Kuina confided that it would not always be the case – that eventually, she would no longer be able to compete, due to his size and strength as someone born a man. Incensed by this response, Zoro wrote it off as a stupid excuse; to him, Kuina was everything he aspired to be.

“Don’t make excuses. You’re my goal – If you just give up, then what has all our training been for?”

The two decided to make a pact – They would train together every day from that point onward, with the goal of one of them claiming the title of world’s greatest swordsman. However, as Zoro waited for her to arrive the next morning, he was instead met by her father, Koushirou - While retrieving her sword, Kuina had slipped on the stairs and was killed by the resulting fall.

Devastated, a grief-stricken Zoro approached Koushirou during the funeral, asking that he be allowed to wield her weapon, Wado Ichimonji. With Kuina gone, he would need to keep their promise for the both of them.

Her memory follows Zoro to this day, and has played a significant role in shaping both his worldview and the man he has become. He continues to carry her - and by extension, her dream - in a very tangible way, in wielding her sword. Notably, Wado is the only sword he has ever held in his mouth as a part of his Three Sword Style, regardless of the strain or discomfort that comes from that. (This continues to hold true in later arcs of the manga/anime as well, despite him taking up several named blades throughout that time.)

As he doesn’t remember or show any attachment to his birth parents, Kuina could be considered Zoro’s first real experience with loss – and predictably, that shock and grief shook him to his foundations. This person he idolized, who he upheld as his image of strength, had lost her life swiftly and quietly. No battle, or reason – Her death was sudden, cruel, and completely beyond anyone’s control. It cemented the idea that humans are fragile creatures, and that regardless of physical strength, none are beyond death’s reach.

With this revelation, his view on strength overall was shifted. His ambition remained, but for Zoro, strength became something measured in his ability to protect those he cares about – and anything less than that is a failure. He will stop at nothing to prevent another loss like Kuina, pushing his body to its absolute limits to ensure the safety of his friends. While he is still quite early in the canon timeline, this has already been shown in the way he fought at Arlong Park, despite his grievously injured state.

Had it not been for her influence, there is no doubt that Zoro would have grown into a very different man. Even his signature fighting style was established as a means of carrying her memory in the use of a third sword - her sword. The fierce protectiveness and loyalty that set him apart were rooted in the grief he experienced, completely redefining how he viewed his own strength and how it is best used.

Robbed of that perspective, Zoro would likely skew toward someone more dominating and competitive. He would continue to fight to achieve his ambition, but without the underlying anxiety that can only come with an intimate understanding of loss.

Is there an event in your character's life that they'd do differently? How so and why?

“Why don’t you retreat?”
“I can’t… or my dream will be lost forever.”

Zoro is not one for regrets. He lives his life by moving forward – The past is already set and cannot be changed, so there is no use in dwelling on it.

That is not to say he is satisfied with every outcome – Far from it. Being taken unawares by Kuro’s henchmen, drugged and captured by the Buggy pirates… Zoro internalizes every perceived failing, not as a source of shame, but as motivation. Not moments to be changed, but rather, benchmarks – limits he must surpass, in order to prevent those same circumstances from ever happening again.

This is shown most overtly during his duel with Mihawk. It was established early on that Zoro, even impaled by the warlord’s blade, is incapable of backing down – He doesn’t regret having challenged him, nor does he cower at the prospect of his own death. Of course, the loss was a harsh blow, as it threw into sharp relief just how small he was in the grander scale, and more, compared to the man he must defeat.

This is Zoro at his absolute lowest, on the brink of losing his life and his dream – If ever there were a moment someone might wish to change, it would be this. However, he does not shrink away from his failure, instead using it to further cement his resolve. He makes an oath to both himself and his captain, that until he succeeds in besting Mihawk, he won’t allow himself to be defeated. To erase that scar would mean losing something significant, a galvanizing force in his journey to claim the title of greatest swordsman.

“Never again. From now, until I beat him. To become the greatest swordsman… I will never lose again!”

Zoro is not someone who functions in hypotheticals. He needs to continue pressing on, focusing on what he can achieve, and most importantly, how he can prevent his past mistakes from repeating themselves – A lesson he wouldn’t learn without that experience.

What's the greatest challenge you foresee your character facing in the setting?

Living the majority of his life as a loner, Zoro can often struggle with connection. He has only recently stepped into his role as first mate, the concept of teamwork still something he is adjusting to. And while he is fiercely defensive of those few who fall under Luffy’s banner, Zoro’s core instinct is still that of stubborn self-reliance and personal distance.

With the sudden incurrence of debt – a situation which already chafes – Zoro is now in the awkward position of needing to find legitimate work, while also navigating a world and society different from his own. As his primary skills pertain to fighting and violence, they are incredibly useful against outside threats – Far less useful in a social environment. With an immediate need for funds and no real reputation to fall back on, his usual methods of income may not prove as effective. Holding down a job where he is not allowed to cut someone, on the other hand, will prove a test of his already limited patience.

Not only that, but it will also force him to face the growing connection he has developed with both his captain and his crew, now threatened by both their current situation and, in some cases, separation. He will have to reevaluate just how deeply his concern and care for them runs – and worse, the subtle anxiety that that something may happen without his being there to prevent it.

(I would also be remiss not to mention the obvious hazards of giving a man this directionally challenged a working vehicle.)

What's the easiest thing you foresee your character adapting to in the setting?

Where the social obligations prove a struggle, the physical is where Zoro thrives. The harshness of the environment will not deter him at all – After all, he made his living at sea, and a name for himself by hunting down dangerous pirates as a bounty hunter. He knows how to survive, and more importantly, how best to navigate hostile situations, such as those that might arise with raiders and other unsavoury types.

A fight is a fight – Fluxdrift or Fluxborn, he’s sure they’ll cut the same.

During that period of his life, he drifted from town to town, paying his way using the bounties he collected. He understands how to live without roots, and how best to utilize his particular skillset, should push come to shove.


Samples

Sample: sample one, sample two, sample three, sample four