ooh?

the dragon chapter reminded me of some Zoro head canon I had floating around a while back

tell, tell!

Zoro seems to like stories. At least, he appears to be familiar with a lot of myths and legends.

I can't see little hick boy Zoro learning about it just lounging around in the dojo so it must be something he went out of his way to learn

about.

What other myths and legends does he know about?

HMM... wait. I'll try to pull together an info packet. I just remember a few throwaway lines from earlier episodes. But, uhh, look at some

of his attack names. They reference Japanese myths.

I mean, I'm not gonna put too much meaning into it but. Myths and legends, religious stories.

Oh! Well, that's cool in that case.

It makes sense that he'd be familiar with all the usual sailors myths like the kraken and mermaids but I have to wonder where the rest of

I've absolutely built a lot of headcanon on much smaller things than that.

And Zoro often seems a bit out of it when it comes to pirate lore, so I'm not sure he'd be more informed of sailor myths than other myths.

his knowledge comes from. Like, I think he mentioned that peach boy myth at one point? idk I really need to go through the anime again.

Usually I won't bat an eyelash at anime characters being familiar with japanese myths but Oda's

made it a point that Their Culture Is Not My Culture so...

Hmm, I dunno. Zoro seems generally out of it, period, but he's like that kid at the back of the class, the one you think isn't listening but

when the teacher calls him to recite he gets it right anyway. Sometimes. If he's not asleep.

But early manga stuff is what decided that for me. He was smarter back when the competence level basically consisted of Nami screaming at

everyone.

He's very, very laser-focused, I'd say

Oda does make allusions to Japanese stuff at times... I get the impression that's part of the big culture mix of that world.

I'd definitely say so. There are so many stories/mythology/cultural examples of things that have their basis in Japanese history/mythology

Mm yeah, that's true too. More so for post-Baratie Zoro.

But if it's usually Zoro who does it, that feels right. I mean, Oda did say he'd be Japanese if they were from Earth

And yeah. The culture mix gets really confusing sometimes, buh

and of course, Zoro's entire flashback is steeped in all things Japanese

the dojo, the funeral, the memorial

And yet he didn't seem to know what samurai were

I know, that made me headtilt so much

Oda:

So where do you think Zoro picked up on these things, Clio?

Point! So all the Buddhist, j.mythology stuff makes sense. But I have to wonder if it was part of his general upbringing or if he really

had some kind of interest in it.

* tunnel-focused, that's the word I wanted

He seemed kind of anti-social as a kid. If he were more, er, normal I'd chalk it up to exposure. But he seems to work ok in groups........

Though laser seems good too

IDK I NEED TO CANON REVIEW

so maybe there could have been a specific person who told those stories that Zoro would seek out and listen to?

Or he could have found books with them, too

/sort of thinks his sensei was just full of old stories

Nghh... there's no specific mention of other mentor figures in his life and I think he would've brushed off the other kids...

His sensei would be my first bet, too. But we know so little about him. :|

Yeah. We know he's a bit of a sexist, he knows how to cut steel/cut without cutting, he may be liaison with the revolutionaries

and he doesn't quite seem to approve of Zoro's current career

IIRC?

He was mostly sweatdrop-y over the bad influence it would have on the kids in his dojo but I think he was glad that Zoro was doing well.

, is

Possibly Buddhist, seeing as he's so chill all the time?

ah yeah, something like that. Not totally okay with the students seeing Zoro as a role model but happy that Zoro

doing what he really wanted to

Yep.

ANYWAY I'll shelve this for now until I can do some legit data gathering

I like it, anyway. It's a different angle than we usually get of him

(and I also have to wonder if he picked up the Tarzan yell thing from the same source )

Haha. I like trying to figure out the extent of his intellectual side. He's a big ole dumbass but he can be pretty sharp sometimes. I just

have to wonder how much of it is driven by instinct. :|a

(and LMAO! I wanna know where he gets his weird sense of what's cool or not. I mean, dude)

... that "dude" is a link btw. Dunno why it's not blue. /squints

It's blue for me!

IF I'M GONNA BE A STATUE, IT HAD BETTER BE A COOL-LOOKING STATUE!

(Which would also deny Mr 3 the pleasure of seeing his victims eternally frozen in expressions of panicked fright)

HRRMMM. >B|a

Hmmm?

nothing, just glaring at the link

Huh, I just went to your own Plurk page and it's true, it doesn't turn blue here

But when I read it on my timeline it was blue

BAH. Maybe it's just the design of my timeline

Though modifying what I said before - it's not that strange that Zoro wouldn't know about pirate stuff like the Davy Back Fight

After all, he never planned to be a pirate. It's more weird that Luffy had no idea of those things (or who Silvers Rayleigh is)

Yeah, most of them seem kind of lacking in that kind of knowledge. I guess I can excuse some of them-- Luffy was raised in a forest (and is

a Grade A moron), Nami probably wanted as little to do with her pirate side as possible, Zoro is... idk, man. He was floating around for

a while and traveling with bounty hunters. I'd think he'd at least be familiar with sailor myths. GRADE A MORON #2?

Sanji grew up with a boat full of pirates but considering how bad their communication skills were on the Baratie...

Sanji did know about Davy Back Fight, as did Usopp

Usopp on the other hand...

OH

HAHA there we go then

Usopp grew up in an isolated backwater place, but he seems to have soaked up what he could find about pirates

I figured those two would know, if anyone.

I'd say that Sanji and Usopp seem to know a certain bit about pirate stuff that can pertain to East Blue too

Yeah, Usopp knows a lot for a (presumably) poor kid. His house wasn't exactly teeming with books. :|a

but they're utterly ignorant about Grand Line-only stuff

Actually, information seems to travel pretty well in OP. News and current events aside, none of the SHs lack basic knowledge. Except Luffy.

Zoro's math skills are actually pretty good. >_>

Oh yeah.

They didn't seem to know about the Shichibukai, though... or at least, Sanji and Luffy didn't seem to before Yusaku told them

And nobody knew about log poses and the chaotic weather on the Grand Line... though Nami knew how to enter it. Weird.

Hmm, well, they did mention that nobody knew much about the Grand Line. And Nami was already thinking of going there before she met Zoro

and Luffy so maybe she researched it beforehand.

OH speaking of entering the Grand Line. Do you remember that thing they did with the barrel?

I was just thinking that it was weird that Nami's sources only told her how to enter, nothing about how things were like there

Of course! Loved it.

But it makes sense if you think about it. :|a Reverse Mountain is a huuuge landmass. I'm sure folks would be all "I hear you can enter the

Grand Line through there but hell if I know what happens after."

Oh, re-reading the chapter... I think Nami figured it out just by looking at Buggy's map.

Ah, that makes sense!

It's not like Buggy was around to ask for more details.

* to be asked, rather

Yeah. :|a

Anyway! The barrel thing

I was just about to prod you! ^_^

I'm trying to figure out if it's some kind of sailing tradition or what. Because I remember the anime saying something like that ("it's a

tradition when entering a new sea!" but the manga just has Sanji saying they should celebrate.

/ looks up manga

Yeah, that's what it says in the Swedish translation too

I think the anime just elaborated. But I could totally see it as a tradition that Sanji had heard about!

HMMMMMM ok

just a thought

Well, it could be?