Character Discussion Wano is Zoro's Arc.

[Nidai_Kitetsu]

Is soloing King necessary? Zoro's build up is exclusively with Kaido, and so whatever combat achievements we evaluate should be vs Kaido.


I think being recognised as a saviour of Wano should be sufficient.


What do you think of Zoro protecting Luffy at multiple times during the Rooftop battle?

Thats why I said, its enough if he can do some of those 4.

One thing, who will beat King if its not Zoro? I am not hating on Sanji, but I honsetly dont see him beating King

Yeah, Zoro protecting Luffy multiple times is great. But we readers already know Zoro is the VC or first mate. Even Bartolomeo said the same. I was more comparing to Sanji's WCI arc when Luffy explicitly said, he cant be PK without Sanji. I am expecting something like that from Luffy directly.

 

[Cinera]

One thing, who will beat King if its not Zoro? I am not hating on Sanji, but I honsetly dont see him beating King

I've been leaning towards Marco. Sanji is another option (though I'm also sceptical myself), and there's also Yamato.

I am not against Zoro beating King per se, it's just that I think it's plausible that Zoro never fights King, so I don't want Zoro's evaluation to hinge on it.

I agree that it would be nice if Luffy acknowledges Zoro's role/importance the way he did Sanji's.

 

[ZoroSlaysDragonTuna]

Thats why I said, its enough if he can do some of those 4.

One thing, who will beat King if its not Zoro? I am not hating on Sanji, but I honsetly dont see him beating King

Yeah, Zoro protecting Luffy multiple times is great. But we readers already know Zoro is the VC or first mate. Even Bartolomeo said the same. I was more comparing to Sanji's WCI arc when Luffy explicitly said, he cant be PK without Sanji. I am expecting something like that from Luffy directly.

I've been leaningMarco., Sanji (though I'm also sceptical myself).

I am not against Zoro beating King per se, it's just that I think it's plausible that Zoro never fights King, so I don't want Zoro's evaluation to hinge on it.

I agree that it would be nice if Luffy acknowledges Zoro's role/importance the way he did Sanji's.

I think marco will beat king

 

[Cinera]

Wano is Zoro's Arc similar to how whole cake island was Sanji's Arc and here is why:

solid thread @ZoroSlaysDragonTuna
the rest of your points are solid but this is where your argument is wonky

central theme in ennies

in otherwords the plot ,cause for conflict between cp9 and the strawhats was nico robin
the entire plot revolved around her character
we also got a flashback
her history and much more .


whole cake island

similar thing here
sanji is the reason the strawhats took a detour in wci in the first place .
sanji is the cause of conflict.
we get an expanded backstory, sanji gets to show his worth to the crew as a cook etc.


Wano
here's why saying its zoro's arc falls flat
- central story has revolved around oden
- cause for conflict is oden
- his children both momonosuke are hiyori are both key in ending or gaining an advantage in this war. (at least to king).


these other points
- Zoro had a connection to Wano another time after, When he met Ryuma's Corpse
- Zoro could be a Shimotsuki himself there is alot of hints towards this but the obvious one is Zoro being a resident of the Shimotsuki village. I am pretty sure we will know in this arc the same way we knew about Sanjis lineage in WCI.

hasnt been touched/confirmed within the story yet . at least not in this arc.

Zoro Received Enma, The sword that cut kaido, The sword that inherited Odens will to cut down kaido. This is not a coincidence that Zoro was given the sword. If plot needed luffy could have got it and zoro could have been given any other sword, Or maybe stayed with shusui, Giving Zoro Enma is important to highlight that this is Zoro's Arc, And that Zoro will be the star of the arc.

gaining massive feats doesnt make it his arc.
see sanji(lol) and robin's arc .
heck even killing kaido doesnt make it his arc.
it just makes him zoro , likely the second most important piece in this story in general.

so this point
''Zoro had many 1v1 fights in his own in wano. He fought 3 super novas.(fought hawkins killer and apoo), clashed with kyoshiro and others.''
along with fighting 2 yonko doesnt make it his arc. if we were to look at it this way , then technically almost every arc is luffy's arc. certainly not the case, zoro is prominent in wano because he is prominent in one piece in general.

I agree that Zoro isn't driving the story/progression of Wano the way Robin drove Enies Lobby, Sanji WCI, Nami Arlong Park or most of the other Strawhats their recruitment arcs. In that sense, Wano is not Zoro's arc.

However, it is blatant dishonesty to claim that Zoro's role in the plot of Wanokuni is representative of his role in One Piece plots in general.

In no other arc after the timeskip has Zoro:

• Hailed from the country
  • He appears to be a descendant of the Shimotsuki clan
• Bonded with the princess of the arc:
  • Hiyori
• Received a new sword:
  • Enma
  • Nidai (?)
• Formed strong bonds with the citizens of the country and shared in their plight:
  • Otsuru
  • Otama
  • Yasuie
  • Ebisu Town
  • Otoko
• Repeatedly declared his intent to defeat the main antagonist
  • This album contains Zoro's declarations of his desire to defeat Kaido:

    http://imgur.com/a/ONXvDO5

• Tag teamed the main antagonist with Luffy
  • Fought the main antagonist as his arc fight
  • Defeated the main antagonist (???)
• Fought and defeated several named powerful antagonists (all fellow Supernova):
  • Hawkins
  • Killer
  • Apoo
• Had such deep connections to the national and spiritual heroes of the country:
  • Inherited Oden's sword, his unfulfilled will and bears his mantle
  • Is the second coming of "Sword God" Ryuma and shall leave Wano recognised as a national hero

Zoro isn't the driver of the narrative in Wanokuni the way the other Strawhats have driven other arcs (that honour goes to Oden, his son and his Scabbards — essentially just Oden himself), but Zoro is the next best thing. He's the Samurai that bears Oden's mantle and shall fulfill his will. Wano is the arc of Kozuki Oden; Zoro is his symbolic and spiritual successor.

At any rate, if you try to claim that Zoro's role/importance/relevance in Wano is at all representative of his role in previous (or future post timeskip arcs), then you're a terrible liar.

Until his battle with Mihawk, Zoro shall never again feature so prominently in any of the arcs going forward.

@KiriNigiri summarised it well I think:

Let’s change the question.

Is Zoro an important character in this arc? Is he more important here than he normally is? That’s all you need to ask.

 

[Warchief Sanji D Goat]

Wano is not really Zoro's arc since there's no actual build up except for Samurai theme and backstory for Zoro but it's better to say that Wano is Zoro focused arc. That's how I feel.