I’m making this thread as one of the few people who fully believed none of Zoro’s lineage stuff would matter from way back as shown here
https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/forum/threads/zoros-lineage-is-bait.17027/
https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/forum/threads/zoros-parentage.1434/
I first realised none of this was going anywhere around 30 chapters into Wano. This was around the time Luffy was in prison and Zoro was just walking around Wano doing nothing.
I realized none of this was going anywhere because Zoro himself had nothing going on in the arc. Oda skipped showing Oda meeting and bonding with Yasu. Oda made nothing out of Hiyori’s interaction with Zoro. Oda introduced Ryuma and Black Blades and immediately had Zoro say he will only investigate them AFTER THE WAR WAS OVER so none of these would matter during the arc itself (and then Oda skipped having Zoro even care about these things again at the end of the arc)
Honestly I should have probably realized sooner than this because of one simple thing. Zoro was an NPC until Luffy arrived.
Zoro had spent TWO WEEKS in Wano before Luffy arrived and yet it was made crystal clear that Zoro knew nothing and no one in Wano and had not talked to a single person or done a single thing until Luffy entered the arc.
Zoro was just a background NPC waiting to get activated by the plot that is proximity to Luffy. That’s how I should have known all the way back in Act 1 that this wasn’t actually Zoro’s arc.
And that term “Zoro’s arc”, what does it mean? If OJ forums still existed you would find my many posts disliking Sanji and “Sanji’s arc” and the whole of WCI really. So I HEAVILY feared that Oda was going to do that to Zoro as well.
I followed the common assumption that “Samurai arc = Zoro’s arc” but I HATED “Sanji’s arc” so I did not want any of that nonsense from WCI to be applied to Zoro. Nonsense about hidden family in Wano. Nonsense about Zoro having weird personality issues that didn’t exist before suddenly existing now for the sake of forced drama. Nonsense around the rest of the crew and Zoro’s role in the crew being weirdly altered for this fake drama. All the shit I hated about Sanji in WCI.
I feared “Zoro’s arc” but I also wanted “Zoro’s arc.” So I imagined a better version of the nonsense Oda wrote in WCI. If Zoro’s parentage mattered then they should just be nobodies like Zoro was. If we are to examine Zoro’s character to dig up personality issues with him then focus it on his dream, not family shit. Unlike Sanji, Zoro actually does shit to accomplish his dream. Create or expose a personality flaw centered on Zoro’s dream for him to resolve. And to evaluate Zoro’s place in the crew, WHY NOT MAKE HIM THE OFFICIAL VICE CAPTAIN?
This last point is where I believe Oda complete and utter failure in writing Zoro stems from. Why doesn’t Oda make Zoro the vice captain? Because he would have to actually change how he writes the story. Oda doesn’t want to change. He wants the story to be the same as it always was. The reason I hate “Sanji arc” the most is because Sanji is the same before and after WCI. Oda introduced Sanji having Daddy issues specifically for WCI and then resolved them in WCI so that Sanji comes out of the arc exactly the same as before it. Oda CANNOT change how he writes any of these characters or their stories so he cannot actually make Zoro the vice captain. Which on its own is simply lazy wiring but it turns into Bad writing when Oda wants the gratification of supposedly changing something when he didn’t.
Why does Zoro have CoC? The one and only prediction I had for Wano for years before it started was that Zoro would unlock CoC in it. But why did he though? Zoro unlocked CoC when he fought Kaido. Okay so what? What about fighting Kaido means Zoro unlocks CoC? Isn’t CoC about kingly ambitions? What did Zoro fighting Kaido have to do with Kingly ambition?
It was clear Zoro should have CoC due to parallels with Rayleigh and his general demeanor but the fact that Oda hadn’t given it to him implied it must be something worth waiting for to see him unlock. And it wasn’t. Nothing about Zoro changed or evolved for him to unlock it. He just fought harder than he fought before and that’s it.
Nothing about Zoro’s leadership ability or kingly ambitions or desire to be at the top factored into Zoro unlocking CoC. He is exactly the same. Hence he can’t even be Vice Captain. He has the Haki that definitively proves that Zoro has the greatest leadership potential on the crew behind Luffy but Zoro has DONE NOTHING TO EARN IT. And that’s what Oda wants. He wants people to be satisfied with a thing Zoro should have without writing anything for him to earn it.
Nothing changes even when Zoro gets the one power in the series that is directly tied to characters growing in certain aspects and changing when they acquire it. NO. For Zoro he is exactly the same because Oda will not change anything about his story ever.
This is why Zoro’s parentage and lineage went nowhere. Because Oda will not change anything about the story or characters. Sanji didn’t change from WCI and Germa are useful for future plotlines. That’s why Oda was fine writing this “Sanji arc”. Specifically because nothing changes.
If Oda ever had an idea to write Zoro a lineage or parentage that mattered, he thought to himself “how can I write this making sure NOTHING CHANGES about Zoro?” And when Oda realised that it was impossible, he scrapped it all. That’s why he scrapped very other plot line or potential character arc regarding Zoro. Because there was a chance that it changed Zoro.
Zoro and Hiyori? Scrapped. Can’t have Zoro express romantic interests. Zoro wanting revenge on Orochi? Scrapped. Can’t have Zoro be killing people out of revenge, that sets a bad example for the kids. Zoro and Ryuma? Scrapped. Zoro’s goal is Mihawk, can’t have Zoro goal complicated by a legendary swordsman of the past.
NO NO NO, instead of having Zoro tied to Ryuma to propel a story for Zoro regarding Ryuma, it’s Luffy who is compared to Ryuma at the end of the arc. It’s Luffy who is the new Ryuma and parallel in the new age. Zoro is just some guy who follows Luffy around.
