Worstgen

Chrono

Yes I believe that too. Its dumb to blame it on hunger. Since he hasnt shown he was hungry before the fight. I do think it was PIS just for Zoro to be with Hiyori. Of course Oda could've done it in another way.

Cinera

I don't think it's dumb to blame it on hunger/poisoning. I mean the folks who argue that way do have reasonable points:
* Zoro had been eating poisoned food and drinking poisoned water.
* He stopped doing so after finding out that the food was poisoned and started starving himself.
* He asked Hiyori to provide him with food and drink as compensation for helping them.

Cinera

It's not really any more unreasonable than a lot of other circumstantial inferences people make (e.g Luffy only got oneshot by Kaido because he couldn't use his Future Sight due to being enraged).

I mostly attribute the injury to the stab wound because it's a simpler/more straightforward and the kind of complicated inferences required to argue for hunger/poisoning are a little sketchy/hard to defend.

Cinera

Besides if Oda really wanted us to believe that it was mostly due to hunger and poisoning he could have indeed done a better job.

Ultimately I agree with you that the true cause is plot for Zoro to end up with Hiyori.

I do sympathise with the folks like @Light D Lamperouge who try to argue that the in universe reason was the hunger/poisoning.

Sade

I think it's both
there is a panel of growling stomach

Cinera

@Sade, like I said, there are reasonable arguments to support the poison/hunger angle.

Sade

I think they are more than reasonable when the author splaps that panel just before fainting.
Anyway Plot > everything

Finalbeta

I honestly don't know for sure however it is weird that Killer put Zoro in those conditions given that Zoro also one shot Hawkins that's why.

Zenos7

Im thinking it was a combination of both, and the extent of the hunger cannot be known to us readers anyway though. . .