never said he wasn't.. he certain was but PS just diverts attention from it.. i believe if the majority of zoro bios wanked his character to the skies this forum would have still sustain some level of rationality.. but seems'nt to be the case (yea i made that word up)
pretimeskip Zoro was on a different level of grind and suspense..just built different.. from mr1 to the TB moment.. they guy and his dedication to his swords and his philosophy and reconciliation between dreams and bonds.. honesty i the 2nd most prominent character personally in terms of worth in SHP as a character..
him and post TS sanji are just frigging insane characterization wise..
i don't wanna rank one iver another but I'm more fond of zoro as a character.. but there is something about sanji that just immerses me into the guy... the downplay on the dude is SAD even character wise
that said with Monkey D sky splitter and Shirohige existing in One piece and some other zoro and sanji are my top 3's lol
Oh cools.
My favourite part and the one thing about Zoro's character that I like the most is his absolute loyalty. The way he slowly went from "I'll make you cut your belly open if you interfere in my dream." to placing that very dream and his life in an exchange for his captain's life and dream over the course of the Pre Timeskip arcs was materful character writing tbh.
- He is the first Strawhat to call Luffy the PK - Baratie Arc.
- He tells that Baroque works agent that he'd only join an organization if he'd be the boss in Alabasta.
- He then slowly starts to care for his crewmates in Skypiea.
- Then he holds Luffy to a higher standard as his captain in the aftermath of Luffy vs Usopp at Enies Lobby. During the same arc, he also leads the strawhats into the fight when Luffy goes off on his own first and he also fights to save Robin, his crewmate. He even awakened Ashura at that moment when Kaku talks smack about the crew and Robin dying there.
- And then he leads the crew in fighting Oars.
- This entire character arc culminates in my most favourite moment in One Piece, bar none - Nothing Happened. Where he readily and willingly gives up everything that he ever holds dear in exchange for his captain's life. He goes through the ultimate test of loyalty and doesn't even want the basic recognition or atleast a simple thank you. Him saying those words was him being very clear that he wanted nobody to know about what he did for the sake of his Captain.
The most impressive part is that Zoro rivals Luffy as in they both have individualistic dreams which are driven by their ambition. Luffy atleast has a reason to become the Pirate King, being the freest man in the World and his experiences with Shanks, Sabo and Ace shaped his dream. Zoro is a character who wants to be the best simply for the reason of being the best - which is what most real life competitors who are the best at what they do are motivated by.
For such a character to make that sacrifice for his captain in one of the best displays of loyalty accross all media, that was instantly and to this date, my favourite One Piece moment tbh.