One Piece shows Zoro fighting an awakened Devil Fruit user, proving that the Straw Hat’s swordsman is at the same level as his captain Luffy.
Warning: SPOILERS for chapter #1072 of One Piece.
One Piece convincingly settles an obnoxious debate among its fandom regarding Zoro‘s power level. The latest chapter sees the Straw Hats’ swordsman easily handle an awakened Devil Fruit user, proving that Zoro’s feats against Kaido and King in Wano were not a fluke.
Surprisingly enough, Zoro is one of the most divisive One Piece characters. A section of the fandom loves to spend time debating exactly how strong Zoro is, splitting into two factions. One group believes that Zoro is as powerful as Luffy. This is mostly based on Zoro’s accomplishments in Wano, where he injured the invulnerable Kaido, awoke Advanced Conqueror’s Haki, and defeated the powerful Lunarian, King. The other group, instead, believes that Zoro is “pushed” by Eiichiro Oda to appear stronger than he is, and his exploits don’t make much sense in the context of the power scaling of the series. On top of that, there is also another huge split between fans of Zoro and fans of Sanji, which often pollutes One Piece-related content on social media.
Chapter #1072 of One Piece gives fans of Zoro a lot of support for their arguments. The Straw Hats are currently under attack by CP0, the elite agents and assassins of the World Government. The group includes Lucci and Kaku, who have a grudge to settle with the Straw Hats after being defeated in Enies Lobby, respectively by Luffy and Zoro. Lucci has already shown the awakening of his Devil Fruit, which was easily countered by Luffy’s Gear Fifth, and now is Kaku’s turn, who is surprisingly also capable of using that powerful technique. Facing Zoro, Kaku attacks him in his awakened form, but the swordsman first blocks his attack with ease, then counters and, with a simple sword swing, sends Kaku crashing to the ground.
Zoro Is The Only Straw Hat Besides Luffy Who Can Handle Awakened Devil Fruit Users
The fight was brief and not meant to be a full display of the characters’ abilities, but it’s still impressive how Zoro handled Kaku. “Awakening” is the most advanced use of a Devil Fruit, and only a handful of people in the world were able to achieve it, and they all unlocked monstrous power. One attack from Lucci in his awakened form took down Sentomaru, a powerful Haki user renowned for his peerless defense. Zoro, instead, was able to block Kaku’s barrage of attacks, and even counter and push him away, without using any special techniques or Conqueror Haki. After this chapter, Zoro is now the only member of the Straw Hats besides Luffy who has been confirmed as capable of fighting against an awakened Devil Fruit user. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Zoro is as strong as his captain, but at least it’s a factor to be considered.
Regarding the “Zoro vs Sanji” debate, the Straw Hats’ cook still has not had a chance to prove his strength against an opponent of this level, but it could happen soon. Until that happens, Zoro’s supporters have the upper hand after how easily he handled an awakened Zoan Devil Fruit user. While these debates are usually quite unhealthy for the One Piece community, chapter #1072 seems to support the thesis that Zoro is on the same power level as Luffy.
