Zoro declares his Loyalty - Scene Breakdown
Warning, the following program contains strong
Zoro fanboying. Viewer digression is advised.
It starts, as most things do in Shounen, with
an epic battle. On July 27th, 1998 - 22 years
ago - Shounen Jump Magazine published the
50th chapter of a fresh story about a young
man dreaming of becoming pirate king. And
it was on this hot Sumer day that everything
changed for the 23 year old upcoming Mangaka
Eichiro Oda and his ambitious story One Piece.
Because this 50th chapter not only marked
the beginning of one of the most rememberable
fights in the series, but it also set the
tone for what kind of story this was going
to be . I’m of course talking about the
battle between Roronoa Zoro and Dracule Mihawk
at the Baratie.
Now, I think it’s time to finally come clean
about something I’ve been asked about more
times than I can count: ‘Ohara, who is your
favourite character?’ And for the longest
time, I didn’t wanna reveal this, because…I
have actually no idea why, but I swear I had
good reason for this - I think. Anyway, let’s
get this out of the way. Here is my top 5
Number 5: The blind swordsman, Fujitora. Number
4: The laughing skeleton, Brook. Number 3:
The rubber boy, Luffy. Number 2: The next
straw hat, Yamato - I bet that choice wouldn’t
ever come back to haunt me, would it. And
the undisputed Number 1 - my favourite character
in all of One piece, that no-one would have
ever guessed - iiiiis: The legendary swordsman,
ZORO! no, not that one - thank you. The
secret has finally been lifted, and yes, I
actually like the same character most that
you guys like most as well. I know you probably
expected me to say something like ‘I like
Otohime, because the way her character is
designed by Oda…’, but fuck that, though
Otohime is actually a pretty well written
character - especially when you consider how
she …Aaanyway. The reason why I always liked
Zoro the most is of course because he is by
far the coolest and most badass character
in One Piece. And this is where we have to
get a tad more serious again, because what
exactly does it mean for a character to be
cool? Is Zoro my favourite character because
he can fight well? Well, no - that goes for
countless characters in the story - so there
must be something more to it. And this brings
me back to this moment right here at the Baratie,
where Zoro faces off Mihawk and declares his
loyalty to Luffy. While there will be quite
a bunch of iconic Zoro moments that we will
discuss in the Iconic Scene Analysis Series
- trademark -, it is this scene right here
that made me fall in love with Zoro’s character
and that has made me cheer for him ever since.
And so today I want to break down with you
what makes the fight between him and Mihawk,
I said Mihawk , so special and how it was
a turning point, guaranteeing the story’s
lasting success. So as you know as a loyal
viewer of this series , we’ll start with
a quick recap of the scene, before diving
deeper into the analysis part of this video.
If you want to skip this part, like Kaido
skips leg day , then you can go to the time
code up here and if you want to follow along,
we’ll be discussing chapters 49 to 52 of
the manga, episode 24 of the Anime or you
can also watch the updated version of the
scene in the episode of the merry. Weeeee.
The scene takes place after Sanji saving Gin,
- no, you don’t know that yet - and after
Don Krieg and his decimated Crew have made
their way back from the Grand Line. Thanks
to Zeff and his cooks, the starved crew starts
to recover and are rejoicing at being saved
and having survived the horrors of the Grand
Line, somehow making it into the East Blue
alive. Amidst their joy however, Krieg tells
them that they will actually return to the
Grand Line and upon seeing the understandable
lack of motivation of his crew to return to
the place they were almost killed at, he shoots
one of his men who dared criticising his decision.
He then declares that he will be taking the
Baratie ship, since the cooks there are easy
to defeat, despite them having saved his life.
When his men start attacking the floating
restaurant however, the heavily damaged gigantic
ship they arrived on is suddenly cut in half.
Amidst the confusion that ensues, Nami steals
the Merry to travel home. And, while Zoro
thinks that it’s not worth pursuing her,
both Luffy and Usopp disagree - Usopp wanting
the Merry back and Luffy insisting on making
Nami their navigator. Zoro agrees, despite
being annoyed by Luffy’s attitude, however,
when he and Usopp prepare to set sail, Mihawk
arrives at the scene. Zoro is in absolute
disbelief that the man he was looking for
has now actually arrived right before his
eyes. As it turns out, it was Mihawk who had
attacked Krieg’s fleet and had chased after
after them to simply ‘kill some time’.
Upon hearing this, one of the Krieg pirates
attempts to shoot him, but Mihawk easily deflects
the bullet with his mighty black sword Yoru.
And while some of the pirates think that they
missed, Zoro immediately understands what
has happened and he addresses Mihawk - thank
you - and he addresses Mihawk directly. He
tells him about his goal to take his place
as the strongest swordsman in the world and
challenges him to a duel, seeing the chance
to fulfil his dream right here, right now.
Mihawk however doesn’t seem to be particularly
impressed by this. He gets off his ship, approaches Zoro
and calls him a weakling, telling him that
if he truly were a great swordsman, the difference
in their powers would be obvious to him without
the need to cross blades. Zoro however insists
and Mihawk humiliates him even further by
picking a small pocket knife as his weapon
of choice, stating that it would be inappropriate
to use his big sword to hunt a mere rabbit,
referencing the East Blue as the weakest of
the four seas, not capable of producing any
notable fighters. He then uses the small knife
to stop Zoro’s fierce attacks, who in disbelief
about their striking difference in power first
thinks of his promise to Kuina and then Luffy
and redoubles his efforts. Mihawk realising
his anguish, asks him what is burdening him
and finally stabs him right in the chest.
While everyone is shocked at the devastating
blow, the biggest surprise comes from Mihawk,
as Zoro simply stands there with the knife
in his chest not making any attempt to withdraw.
In this moment, Mihawks annoyed impression
changes for the first time and you can see
his respect for Zoro grow. Only now, he actually
asks Zoro for his name, promising to remember
it and as a gesture of respect to a fellow
swordsman, he tells Zoro that he will fight
him with the World's Strongest Sword. In
this last standoff, Zoro unleashes his ultimate
attack on Mihawk - - but it’s not enough
- . He sheds the Wado Ichimonji no I said
WADO Ichimonji , and he turns around towards
Mihawk, presenting him his open chest, prepared
to receive his death blow. Mihawk is pleased
with Zoro's brave gesture and slashes his
chest open noting that Zoro shouldn't rush
his own death. After seeing his first mate
apparently killed in front of his eyes, Luffy charges
against Mihawk full of rage while Johnny
and Yosaku dive into the water to save Zoro.
Instead of fighting Luffy, Mihawk tells him
that Zoro isn’t dead and properly introduced
himself for the first time, urging Zoro to
become stronger and face him once again. He
then asks Luffy for his goal and once Luffy
answers - - Mihawk acknowledges that this
will be an even more difficult task than surpassing
him. In that moment, Zoro regains consciousness.
Coughing up blood, he lifts his blade in the
air and makes an oath to Luffy. Now looking
more than pleased, Mihawk turns to leave without
paying much attention to the Don Krieg pirates
who he was looking for in the first place.
He tells Luffy that him and Zoro make a good
team, and that he wishes to meet them again
in the future.
Honestly, no matter how often I watch or read
this scene here, it always gives me shivers.
I think it just has this sense of tingling
atmosphere that I love so much in great stories.
Now, while the last scene surrounding Blackbeard’s
speech on Jaya was made so special mostly
by the incredible amount of symbolism it carried,
one might think that this moment here is made
amazing mostly by the fighting choreography
between Zoro and Mihawk - thank you - but
what I really think this scene here excels
at is something that I think is quite often
overlooked in One Piece: Dialogue. The conversations
and dialogue in this scene are fantastic and
do a wonderful job of enhancing the other
artistic elements in this moment. So, I really
wanna talk about this in a second. First though,
actually do start with symbolism once again,
since there is a lot of interesting stuff
packed in here that I think will give us a
good grasp of what’s going on.
Let’s start with something I noticed for
the first time when re-reading the scene for
this video - both Zoro AND Mihawk have the
theme of religion incorporated into their
characters. For Zoro, this clearly is Buddhism,
as we can see with his technique Sansen Sekai
- three thousand worlds - for the first time
in this scene here. It’s a pattern that
follows Zoro throughout the series, something
that my friend JoyBoy covers in this video
here , that will be linked in the description
below, so make sure to check that out. Also,
JB if you’re watching this, thanks for putting
up with my wacky ideas buddy. I rewatched
the intro to this video way more than I probably
should. Now, next to Zoro’s connections
to Buddhism, Mihawk’s character ALSO is
surrounded by a number of religious symbols.
However in his case it is Christianity, not
Buddhism that is referenced. In fact Mihawks
entire design strongly resembles that of the
stereotypical Spanish inquisition - or at
least a very religious Spanish swordsman.
His hat and the golden cross on his chest
that contains the small knife he stabbed Zoro
with, as well as his facial hair make this
connection obvious. Further, Mihawks ship
is literally a giant coffin with a large cross
for a mast, that also resembles the hilt of
his sword Yoru. So in essence we have two
swordsmen representing two religions in this
scene. You could of course spin this even
further and say that Shanks is also a swordsman
who represents another religion with Nordic
Mythology, but I think we’re kind of loosing
track of things here a bit. Next to the religious
aspect though, I think Mihawk’s swords also
have another symbolic meaning: Respect. Mihawk
uses the pocket knife, the smallest weapon
he carries to face Zoro at first, showing
how little he thinks of him and how unworthy
he is of facing the strongest swordsman in
the world - Mihawk is a quite proud character
after all. However once Zoro proves his determination
and honour to him, Mihawk switches from his
smallest weapon to Yoru, the mightiest sword
in the world, symbolising that Zoro has gained
Mihawks full respect as a swordsman and is
worthy of facing the blade of the strongest
swordsman. And speaking of swordsmen, of course
there is a lot of symbolism regarding the
Busshidou, the path of the warrior that both
Mihawk and Zoro follow and we’ll get into
this a bit more when looking at the dialogue
- but Zoro not stepping back after getting
stabbed, offering his chest and displaying
honour, respect and loyalty show that Zoro
and Mihawk are in fact following the same
path and that Mihawk can respect and accept
Zoro as a fellow sword master. And I feel
Oda goes even further than that. Because this
scene is the basis for the entire growth Zoro
has as a fighter over the course of the story
by offering parallels to Mihawk in this scene.
Mihawk uses a tiny blade here to fight against
someone he sees unworthy, - Zoro uses the
small sepukku blade to cut down the unworthy
samurai in the flower capital in Wano. Mihawk
cuts up Don Krieg’s ship at Baratie, Zoro
cuts up a ship when returning after the time
skip. Mihawk calls Zoro a frog in a well here,
basically implying that he is ignorant of
the world and Zoro says the same thing to
one of the fisherman on fishmen island. All
of this of course has happened after Mihawk
became Zoro’s mentor and taught him for
two years. These references to the scene here
at the Baratie symbolise how much Zoro has
grown and how much closer he is to Mihawk.
Meanwhile, I feel like the entire religious
aspect between them might finally make the
difference in Zoro surpassing his mentor.
In the end the scene tells us that will is
even more important than power, as Mihawk
expects Zoro to surpass him due to his burning
will. But Luffy also carries this symbol here
as his battle with Don krieg is also a clear
sign that a strong will is way more important
than physical power. And Luffy and Zoro share
something else in this scene, they show us,
what true leadership and loyalty should look
like. Luffy and Zoro have the exact opposite
dynamic from Don krieg and his men. The way
Luffy traits Zoro and vice verca is build
on trusting each other and believing in each
other’s dreams - all things that distinguish
the straw hats from most other pirates throughout
the story. And you can even include Nami and
Sanji into this. Nami steals the Merry to
look after her home village, however deeply
regretting having to leave Luffy behind and
betraying him. Meanwhile Sanji, who was opposed
to joining the crew, is finally convinced
to follow Luffy as his captain by his and
Zoro’s actions here at the Baratie. This
starts with Zoro’s incredible fight against
Mihawk and ends with Luffy’s victory over
Don Krieg. Finally, I think that the entire
sequence here serves a symbol for what is
to come in the story - the goal the straw
hats are heading towards: The grand line.
So far we have encountered a number of villains
that caused some trouble for our heroes but
never were truly threatening or pushing them
to the edge. This however is different. The
enormous ship of Don krieg coming back from
the Grandline, where he lost an entire fleet,
gives us a feeling of what lies ahead, and
it certainly doesn’t feel like it will be
the tropical adventure we had so far. When
Mihawk arrives at the scene and we learn that
he was the one who sank almost 50 of Krieg’s
ships simply to kill time, we understand that
the people the straw hat will be facing on
the grand line will be on a completely different
level. After all, Mihawk’s ship is a literal
coffin and the Grand Line is also known as
the ‘Pirates’ Graveyard’.
Something that I think is very interesting
to look at as well in this scene, are the
framing and composition. As mentioned at the
beginning, these chapters are form 1998 and
from a time where Oda’s art style was still
very much in it’s infancy. That doesn’t
mean of course that it’s bad or anything.
But comparing the chapter’s nowadays with
the early chapters of one Piece, you can definitely
tell that drawing everyday for over 20 years
helps you improve. Thus, the characters back
in the day still looked a bit more static
and simple and the artwork lacked some of
the spacial and ambient feel that Oda manages
to integrate in most of his panels today.
There are three things that are quite notably
great here already however: First, Oda already
displays a liking towards gigantism here.
This panel of Krieg’s flag ship towering
over the Baratie restaurant is fantastic and
gives the entire scene a otherworldly and
epic feel, something very fitting for foreshadowing
the grand line and how it will overshadow
the east blue. Secondly, the artwork here
already has quite decent framing and composition.
The way the ship is later cut in two, with
the Baratie as a reference point for its size
and the way that the ship’s figurehead seems
to be in pain here are wonderful details in
this shot. And thirdly, while I always mention
that there are other Mangaka out there that
outperform Oda in terms of battle art and
the overall battle system, Oda has a unique
sense for creating drama and conveying feelings
through body language and dialogue in his
scenes. They almost feel like conversations
in themselves. Thus moments like Mihawk stopping
Zoros 3 blades with his pocket knife, the
powerful moment before he stabs Zoro or Mihawk
actually cutting Zoro down have great composition
and the equine of events is portrait in away
that builds emotion and stakes very fast for
the audience. Also, I feel the updated version
of the anime does a particularly good gob
here, updating Oda’s work and giving it
a more modern and dynamic feel.
Okay, so let’s finally look at the dialogue
in this scene, which I think brings all of
these other elements together and truly makes
this scene unique and iconic. Before we get
into the fantastic conversation between Zoro,
Mihawk and Luffy, I quickly wanna direct your
attention to this panel here, where Nami tells
Jonny and Yosaku that she and the straw hats
will meet again if they are truly linked by
fate. I think this is a very powerful line
by Nami here in a number of ways. Because,
as we know Luffy and Co end up meeting her
again in the end, all right - but they don’t
randomly encounter her because of chance or
fate, but because of Luffy’s will to make
her part of the crew and save her from her
misery, that we can see when Nami wishes to
be free with tears streaming down her face
after leaving. So, it’s really not about
the straw hats being pushed forward by fate
as many people seem to believe, as was for
instance the case with NAruto or Ichigo in
the end, but I rather think it is Oda’s
way of saying very early on in the story that
Luffy doesn’t care about destiny and fate
but that his strong will allows him to forge
his own path ahead and overcome fate. That’s
why I found it important to include this part
into my analysis. And I think it also nicely
translates into the dialogue between Mihawk
and Zoro. Because Mihawk acknowledges Zoro
for his will and determination to surpass
him and not because he was always destined
to become the strongest. When Zoro refuses
to step back after Mihawk nearly pierced his
heart, he tells Mihawk that if he stepped
back right now he would loose his dream and
honour and a swordsman and would rather die.
Zoro proves his strong will here to achieve
his dream and it is this will that changes
Mihawk’s perception of him. As he says here,
‘your strength is not often seen in this
world’. Clearly it’s not Zoro’s physical
strength. So, for the very first time in this
moment, Oda presents will or more specifically
strength of will as the most important quality
for his characters, that counts way more than
raw physical ability and even more than faith.
And ultimately - with the introduction of
Haki - it becomes clear that willpower literally
surpasses both these things. You can use your
willpower to drastically increase your fighting
power and you can even use it to glimpse ahead
into the future and change your fate. I’m
not sure if Oda already had the concept of
Haki planned out at this early point in the
story, and if I had to bet, I would say probably
not - but it is painfully obvious that will
was gonna be the essential driving force in
the story right from the start. Similarly,
Mihawk also recognises Luffy’s will to strive
to become pirate king, without a hint of the
mocking he had for Zoro at the start. Of course
Zoro’s fight played an important part here,
but I think that Luffy - being a conqueror
Haki user - probably already radiated a strong
sense of will. And it is probably also at
this moment that Mihawk remembers the story
that Shanks told him of how he lost his arm,
seeing Luffy’s powers and the straw hat.
We can see this moment of recognition in this
panel here, where Luffy first stretches his
arm.
The dialogue does even more here though, especially
in the Japanese, but also in the English version,
the words Mihawk uses to address Zoro more
and more reflect his change in attitude and
his rising level of respect for him. His speech
pattern switches from this - to this - 
here Mihawk addressees Zoro by his first name
and challenges him to surpass him. I think,
to some degree this is due to mihawk yearning
for a true challenge after loosing Shanks.
But I believe that as a master swordsman and
sharing Zoro’s values and believes he has
chosen Zoro as worthy to follow in his footsteps
and keep these values alive and defend their
craft against non-believers, if you want to
bring it back to the religious theme. And
so, I believe it makes for an even starker
contrast when Mihawk is approached by Don
krieg again, as his face completely reverts
from an excited glow to disgust and annoyance
and he slashes the ship once more before disappearing.
Because I feel with this he contrasts the
difference between Luffy and Krieg before
their battle even begins.
Now last but not least I of course want to
address Zoro’s speech to Luffy, which is
the second of my favourite Zoro moments in
this scene. After Luffy has displayed true
care and fear for his first mate’s life,
even shedding a rare tear, Zoro now publicly
acknowledges and honours Luffy for the first
time in the story. Zoro clearly has realised
Luffy’s true love and respect for him as
he apologises for worrying his captain. He
declares that he will never loose again and
that he will stand by the next pirate king,
making clear that he fully believes in Luffy
and his dreams, just as Luffy believes in
him. As far as I can remember it is the only
time ever we see Zoro cry in the story outside
of Kuina’s death and it makes the scene
just the more impactful for seeing the otherwise
stoic and composed samurai this emotional
and vulnerable. I think it’s really what
makes it even better when you come back to
it later. And so, in just about three chapters,
Zoro has established himself as the most honourable,
loyal and determined person that Luffy could
have wished for as his right hand man and
the reason why I love his character so much.
This scene serves as a basis for so many other
wonderful Zoro moments in the story and it’s
an important element for making him a deeper
and more complex character and thus distinguishes
him from most other strong characters. The
scene is incredibly important for his and
Luffy’s development and their fights are
ultimately the reason why Sanji decides to
join them and follow his own dream. Another
moment with Zoro I really liked in this scene
is when Nami is leaving. Zoro thinks it’s
a bad idea following her and getting trouble
for it, but he follows his captain anyway.
This is wonderfully referenced during the
Whole Cake Island arc, where he also is sceptical
about following Sanji, but ends up respecting
Luffy’s decision anyway. As a result, when
the straw hats chase after Nami towards Arlong
park, we get another one of my favourites
moments in the story. Luffy saving Nami and
giving her his hat. And so, we’ll be looking
at that in the next video. So stay tuned for
that and don’t forget to leave me your feedback
and ideas for the next videos in this series.
Thanks guys. Peace.
