Anyway, back to the main story, 20 years ago Oden decides to fight Kaido, and dies the same year. That very year, Orochi asks the other daimyos to submit to his leadership, but they refuse and start a rebellion, which is soon crushed by Kaido. Ushimaru dies here.
Considering Orochi’s paranoid nature, I think it’s fair to assume that he sent people after Ushimaru’s family, to make sure they don’t come back for revenge. He learns that Zoro’s mother was pregnant and insists on the child being killed.
Now, back to Shimotsuki Village, where Zoro is born and lives with his mother in his uncle’s dojo. Zoro’s mother tells Koushiro to keep Zoro’s real identity a secret from Zoro, so that he doesn’t reveal himself to Orochi by mistake. He takes up the name Roronoa instead of Shimotsuki, like Ace took up Portgas instead of Gol.
I actually have reason to believe that Zoro’s mother told him stories about Wano, without revealing his lineage, which I will explain after I finish the theory.
So anyway, I speculate Zoro’s mother dies (since I have no leads to go off how it happens, I cannot theorise further than that, but let’s just assume it’s an illness that causes it), before Orochi’s men can find her.
Now remember how I mentioned that Kuina is a Shimotsuki? What if, Orochi sent his men to go kill Zoro, but since he wasn’t the one using the name Shimotsuki, they killed the wrong child instead? Koushiro, knowing Zoro would blame himself and seek revenge, decided to cover up the incident as an accident.
And with that, we come to the end of my theory on how Zoro’s backstory plays out.
- Ushimaru and Yasuie were daimyo at the same time of different regions but of the same clan. As we know, Yasuie had no family of note and O-Toko was confirmed not to be his actual daughter in Vivre Cards;
- Realizing this, Yasuie and Ushimaru might have devised a plan to send his wife away to preserve the family line;
- Yasuie was the daimyo of the only “proper port in all of Wano” we see this in the flashback with Oden just prior to his death, he took great pride in that job. I bet that even after Orochi’s take over he knew the ins and outs and could have successfully got a ship out;
- When Zoro arrives in Wano Yasuie was immediately attached to him and Zoro also was shown to really care for him. Yasuie could have recognized Zoro or had a feeling about him, esepecially given the resemblance we’ve seen to his family member, Ushimaru.
I actually have reason to believe that Zoro’s mother told him stories about Wano, without revealing his lineage, which I will explain after I finish the theory.
Now to explain this statement. The real purpose of a backstory would not be fulfilled, unless it explains some aspects of Zoro’s character. This is a pretty short segment, I promise this long post is almost over.
First, let’s delve into Zoro’s ambition: becoming the world’s greatest swordsman. As of now, we do not know how this ambition was planted in him, but what if it was stories about the masterful swordsmen of a certain clan? In Thriller Bark, when Zoro meets Ryuma, he already seems to know all about him and his legends, and claims he always wanted to meet him. I don’t think it’s far-fetched to assume his mother told him all about Ryuma, and maybe even his own father.
The next thing to note, is one of the aspects of Zoro’s personality. Loyalty. It’s pretty well known how far Zoro will go to express his loyalty, and it’s highly reminiscent of how the other daimyos like Yasuie believed in Oden to the very end, and stayed loyal to him, even if it meant dying. I’d also like to highlight a particular line from Zoro’s speech in Water 7. “A crew which does not respect its captain, is bound to fall apart”. This reminds me of the entirety of Wano booing Oden, their saviour, and the fate the country finally met.
Those are 2 comparisons I found, and with that I come to the end of this segment as well.
Lastly, I’d like to mention to fun facts.
Fun fact 1: Zoro being revealed as the rightful daimyo of Ringo, gives weight to this statement back in Zou. If his lineage is revealed to the nation, I wonder what kind of reaction they’ll have.
Fun fact 2: Zoro being the daimyo of Ringo makes him the rightful ruler of people like Izou, Kiku and Kawamatsu, who are all natives to Ringo.
Fun fact 3: While Ushimaru had Gyukimaru, a fox who can transform into a human, Zoro has Chopper, a tanuki that can also transform into a human.
With that, I come to the end of the post, so if you stuck around for this long, thank you for reading.
*Theory by ashuraichibugin
