They're pretending he's the Sasuke in OP when his purpose and role was never equal to Luffy's. Zoro even put his own dream and goal second to Luffy's. That's not someone who's meant to be the deuteragonist equal to the protagonist. I'd claim Zoro's a better Genos to Saitama (ofc the difference between Luffy and Zoro isn't that huge), especially in post-ts. I know Zoro doesn't view Luffy as his teacher/master, whatever but what matters is the role between those two.
Sasuke vs Zoro debate ending is even more brutal than Zoro vs Sanji debate. As a member of Sasuke FC, we don't even look at Zoro as a rival or anything anymore. We're just filled with pity or indifference. Zoro is an absolute insect of a deuteragonist compared to the greatest #2 of all time. One overshadowed his MC for majority of the story and the other is cheap fodder that doesn't move plot and gets less screen time than Nami and Sanji lmfao.
Back in 2021, on tiktok, this used to be a legitimate debate on who was the better character but since then it's gotten so bad that Sasuke fans just moved on without caring. Zoro wasn't even worth time to run victory laps on, they just moved onto Kurapika because Kurapika actually is a well written plot mover.
This is why I warned Zoro fans from calling him a deuteagonist. Zoro would be okay as a character if he was just a normal side crew member but if Oda wanted him to be the story's #2, then Oda's done the worst job IN FICTION with regards to handling of #2s.
Zoro will never have the cultural influence of Sasuke. Sasuke still wipes him in terms of current influence despite his manga finishing 12 years ago. Brutal ending to a debate. More brutal than Messi vs CR7. Just nukes vs ants.