Feel the same, like something is missing, something big for Zoro character and his journey for wano. Did we expect to much of him? Did he was like Sanji in his own arc?
In case Sanji had his big cake moment and when he save his family. But in case of Zoro, he neither got the hype by Kaido, he wasn't the monster samurai and at top no one in wano will hype him in case since they didn't witness anything about him. Zoro feels right now very irrelevant for the wano plot if this was really the end.
Perhaps I really expect to much?
Serious talk here.
I get it. I really get the expectation. But, in retrospect, even before WCI ended, people were already talking how "wano is gonna be Zoro's arc like WCI was Sanji's".
This was NEVER something Oda said. I don't say it to shit on Zoro or the fandom. It was just a misplaced expectation.
EVEN SO, Zoro still got himself a solo plot during the first half of Wano. His plot with Ebisu village is great, his bonding with Yasuie, etc. My biggest problem is that Oda didn't follow these through. Orochi was a clown, Kyoshiro became a good guy, no evil Samurai for Zoro to fight, etc.
The "second coming of Ryuma" is also wishful thinking. Zoro is Zoro. Zoro has never been "second Ryuma" like Luffy resembles young Roger multiple times throughout the story. Zoro is his own character with his own journey and would be best if people stopped trying to make him one of Mihawk's baboons that just copy stuff from other people. We had him ON THE SAME POSE as Ryuma when he cut through King's fire dragon, but people were STILL clinging to the idea that that wasn't it because it didn't 100% mimic what Ryuma did.
Zoro getting a Black Blade here in Wano was pushed as something MANDATORY. It wasn't. It never was. If the Tengu dude talked about it, it can mean something in the long run. This is One Piece. Things don't occur immediately. Never did. He still comes out of Wano having a rare power.
Anyway, I think Zoro was fine this arc, my biggest problem is how Oda timed some of his feats. His scarring of Kaido is still a big fucking failure to me, because it was completely overshadowed by Luffy IN THE SAME CHAPTER it happened. I really wish it was AT LEAST some "end of chapter" thing, and that Zoro could have had a 1v1 against Kaido similar to Yamato. But I don't DENY that the feat happened. He DID scar Kaido. I just think it could have been given a proper "flashy" treatment.
In the end, for a arc that ended up not being "Zoro's WCI", I think Zoro gets out of it really well.
Let's see if we still get some "lineage" thing out of it. There's still plenty of Wano to go.