In the question corner of Volume 105, the author of One Piece dropped a bombshell about
Zoro’s lineage.
We finally get confirmation that Zoro is in fact related to the sword-god Ryuma that he
fought on Thriller Bark.
We also finally learn the identity of Zoro’s long lost parents and even some shocking clues
that not just one, but TWO of the admirals might be part of Zoro’s extended family.
Starting with Zoro’s relation to Ryuma.
Because when you look at the family tree, you can see that Zoro got his name Roronoa
from his father.
And it was actually his mother who is a direct descendant of Ryuma and the Shimotsuki clan
of Wano.
In case you didn’t know, we first learn about Ryuma on the zombie island Thriller
Bark.
During the final battles, Zoro duels and defeats the animated corpse of the long dead samurai.
Little did we know he was actually fighting his ancient ancestor, which may explain why
Ryuma gave Zoro his famous sword Shusui after being defeated.
And while eventually Zoro returned this blade during the Wano arc, now that we know Shusui
belonged to Zoro’s ancestor, we could see him reclaim the famous blade before the end
of the story.
But this is just the start of this ridiculous family tree.
We already knew that 55 years before the current story a single ship escaped the samurai country
of Wano with 25 people on board.
Eventually this ship landed at a small village in the East Blue, where the samurai of Wano
saved the village from bandits.
This village later became Shimotsuki village, the same place where Zoro learned how to fight
with the sword.
And here is where the family tree branches out.
(here could either go with Kouzaburou first or Zoro’s line first).
On this ship was Shimotsuki Kouzaburou, who we first learned about from Kozuki Oden’s
father back in chapter 955 [show Tenguyama or Sukiyaki].
He was a famous swordsmith who crafted two of Zoro’s swords: the Wado Ichimonji and
Enma.
We also recently learned that he was also somewhat of a mentor to Zoro, as we see in
the flashback from chapter 1033, when he gives Zoro two of his first actual swords that he
then used to challenge Kuina, Zoro’s first rival and the person he made a promise with
to become the world’s greatest swordsmen.
Kouzaburou married a girl from the village and became the father of Koushirou, who was
the master of the dojo where Zoro trained.
Koushirou later married and became the father of Kunia,
But with the new information from the question corner, as you can see here, we learn that
Zoro and Kuina were actually both a part of the Shimotsuki family tree, though whether
they are direct cousins or more distantly related is unknown.
This takes us to Zoro’s direct lineage, which is the most interesting part as it gives
us some incredibly juicy clues about Zoro’s future.
And you won’t believe what other powerhouses in the one piece world might actually be a
part of Zoro’s family.
But before we get into the juicy bits here, I want to mention that while it is incredibly
exciting to learn more about Zoro’s past, it is equally disappointing for me that we
are not learning about it in the main story.
I mean, there were so many opportunities in Wano to show this same information, but for
whatever reason Oda decided not to.
It is possible he thought it wasn’t important enough, or maybe it was so important he wanted
to spend too much time on it, so it was eventually cut in the prolonged chaos of Wano.
Whatever the reason is, remember that Sanji got TWO backstories, once during the Baratie
arc and once during Whole Cake Island, an entire arc that was dedicated to his family.
So I, for one, think that in the four years we spent in Wano, we could have at least gotten
one chapter or so on Zoro’s past, even if it’s just a side story.
It would have made Zoro’s role in Wano even more impactful, like the execution of his
relative Shimotsuki Yasuie.
That being said though, let’s continue with the family tree.
Because there are some insane secrets we can learn from Zoro’s family’s names.
Starting with Zoro’s grandmother, Shimotsuki Furiko.
Furiko was on the same ship that departed Wano 55 years ago, and we are told in the
question corner that she is the older sister of this guy [show Ushimaru], who we first
met in chapter 1024 during Yamato’s flashback.
This guy is the former Daimyo of Ringo, Shimotsuki Ushimaru, who for a while we thought was actually
Zoro’s father.
It turns out he was just his great-uncle.
And we’ve talked before on this channel about Zoro’s future after they find the
One Piece, but since it is now confirmed that Zoro was related to Ushimaru, do you think
that future Zoro could return to Wano to reclaim his family’s former role as a daimyo?
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Continuing the family tree, Zoro’s Grandmother Furiko married a swordsman from the Shimtosuki
village in the East Blue named Roronoa Pinzoro.
Clearly Zoro was named after his father, so we might as well call him Junior.
And we can assume that Pinzoro and Furiko are both dead, keep watching to find out what
insane clues we learn from their names.
Next we have Zoro’s father, Arashi.
All we know about this man is that he has spiky hair and that he died in a battle against
pirates.
Which makes me wonder if he died protecting the village or if he was a pirate himself.
However, Zoro remembered enough about his father to name an attack after him, Hana Arashi,
which we saw when he wielded Sogeking and his sword together during the fight on Enies
Lobby.
Arashi was married to Zoro’s mother Terra, but similarly all we know is that she was
the daughter of thieving bandits and that she died of some illness.
Which seems to be a common fate for straw hat character’s mothers since both Usopp
and Sanji’s mom’s also died of illness.
Could Nami’s mom have suffered the same fate?
And with both of his parents dead, that leaves our green-haired swordsman orphaned at the
Dojo in Shimotsuki village.
And while that’s the end of the family tree in the question corner, there is a lot more
that we can speculate based on the names of Zoro’s direct family.
Thanks to Sandman on twitter, it is clear that Zoro’s family names are based off of
traditional Japanese dice gambling.
Pinzoro, Zoro’s grandfather, means to get double ones.
Furiko, his grandmother, means a person who rolls the dice.
Arashi, Zoro’s father, means to get three of the same number.
And Terra is a possible connection to Tera-Zeni or vigorish, which is a fee taken by gambling
companies.
We even see that Zoro is fond of dice in Wano.
In chapter 929, Yasu, who is actually Zoro’s relative Shimotsuki Yasuie, claims that Zoro
had just won a large sum from a dice gambling house.
Also, he often leaves things to chance, as he did back in the sword shop in Logue Town
[ch 97].
But what is most interesting about this family of dice gamblers is the other character who
might also share this connection with the Shimotsuki family.
Remember that back in Dressrosa, we are introduced to this blind gambler, who turns out to be
the admiral Fujitora [ch 701].
And what is he gambling with…?
Dice.
Seems like a pretty solid connections.
Beyond this, Fujitora strongly resembles a samurai and wields a traditional Japanese
shikomizue.
We also know that Fujitora was born 54 years ago, which was after the Shimotsuki ship left
Wano, so it makes sense that is out in the world instead of still being stuck in Wano.
We also know that he blinded himself at one point because he had seen too many atrocities,
so could it be that one day he returned to Wano, saw the devastation left by Kaido, and
then took the blade to his eyes.
Another marine with ties to Wano, and possibly the Shimotsuki, is Sentomaru, the bodyguard
of Dr. Vegapunk.
Sentomaru’s appearance is based on the japanese folklore samurai Sakata no Kintoki and Sentomaru’s
name is written in kanji, just like the people of wano.
So it’s possible he could be a descendant of the Shimotsuki or another person who left
Wano 55 years ago.
And if Sentomaru is from Wano, it is possible another marine, this time the admiral Kizaru,
is as well.
Kizaru speaks with a similar respectful, old fashioned tone and Sentomaru even refers to
him with the honorific title Uncle.
And the reveal of Zoro’s family tree of course also added some fuel to the fire surrounding
the Marine Captain Tashigi.
We’ve long known she looks strikingly similar to Kuina [ch 100], and with all that we learned
in this question corner, it is even more likely that she is a Shimotsuki.
She could have been another descendant of Kouzaburou or another unnamed Shimotsuki from
that ship.
And if this is the case, does Tashigi even know that she is a descendant of the samurai
of Wano?
In fact, even Zoro and his childhood friend Kuina are unaware of their famous ancestors.
Which makes me wonder why no one ever told them.
Were their parents trying to protect them from the marines or even keep Zoro and Kuina
from returning to Wano?
While we don’t have those answers yet, if you want to learn more about Zoro as a kid
and the true origin of his dream to be the strongest swordsman in the world, you can
watch this video about every backstory in One Piece.
Shanks for watching.