Storyline
On the high seas, Luffy hauls in a box of cannonballs that he has acquired – he wants to practice shooting cannons. While Usopp tells his stories about this, Zoro is asleep on the deck of the The Going Merry.
Review: Zoro comes to a dojo as a child to challenge their best sword fighting student. Should he win, he would be given a drawing board. In the event of defeat, Zoro agreed to become Koushirou’s student. The master sends his daughter into the ring to fight the bamboo sword competition with Zoro. Despite his three swords, Zoro loses the fight to Kuina and becomes Koushirou’s student. The boy vows to train hard to defeat Kuina one day.
A year later: Despite his hard training, he loses to Kuina for the 2,000th time. That evening, Kuina overhears a conversation between her father and another trainer that Zoro has become significantly stronger and has matured into the best male student. However, Koushirou says that for Kuina, the time would also come when she would lose to a male fighter simply because she is a girl. Crying, the girl takes flight.
On a path she meets Zoro, who wants to challenge her to the 2001th and last fight – but with real swords. After Kuina has fetched her Wado-Ichi-Monji, they face each other in a meadow. Zoro’s heavy, real swords drain his stamina and Kuina wins the fight once again. In response to Zoro’s great disappointment, she only retorts that she had much more reason to be. For her, the goal of becoming the strongest swordsman in the world would be impossible since she is not a boy. She would envy him that fact. Zoro counters that he wouldn’t care if she was a girl or a boy, he would defeat her one day and then just be proud of his fighting technique instead of saying she lost precisely because she is a girl. He demands that they make a promise to each other that one of them will one day become the strongest swordsman in the world. In the end, they make that promise to each other.
The next day, Zoro continues training when he learns from three classmates that Kuina has died. She had fallen down the stairs at the village blacksmith while trying to buy a whetstone. Grieving, Zoro trains even harder and asks Koushirou to let him have Kuina’s sword, who agrees.
Eight years later: Zoro has grown up and cuts stones effortlessly with his three swords. Koushirou lets him leave the dojo, as Zoro now wants to go off and make good on his promise.
Present: Luffy and Usopp’s cannon shots wake Zoro up and he sees them aiming at a rock in the sea. After the four Straw Hats go inside, a voice suddenly sounds from outside. A stranger with a sword is on their deck, loudly asking why they almost killed his friend. Luffy goes outside and unceremoniously disables the troublemaker. Zoro now makes his way outside as well, he had recognized the man’s voice. Luffy wonders how the two seem to know each other.
| TV Episode Guide | Don War Arc (Anime) |
