 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything One Piece. And today we're going to do something a bit unusual for this channel and dive into the wonderful world of speculation. And generally I don't like to cover this sort of thing because theories make up something like 99% of every other One Piece channel on YouTube. But in this particular case, it's just a little bit too intriguing to avoid. And that may, admittedly, be because it involves one of my favorite characters. And because this idea is pretty damn out in the open and practically on the verge of being confirmed before it has even been potentially revealed. Before we get started though, I want to say that this video will include some very, very minor spoilers of the Wano arc. I really don't think anything I'm going to say here today is going to impede your enjoyment of Wano if you aren't caught up with the manga or ruin any particular moment. In fact, pretty much the only thing I'm going to be talking about is a very simple name. No plot points, no action, not a whole lot of anything really. But I figured I'd just give you that little warning anyway just because. But with that out in the open, let's proceed to discuss the idea of is Zoro from Wano? Or I suppose the more accurate question would be, is Zoro a descendant of an individual from Wano? But that doesn't make quite as snappy of a title for a video, sadly. Now, this idea has been spoken of at great length. Ever since the existence of Wano was made known to the fan base, a famed land of samurai and a sword paradise, it would only make sense for Zoro to feel very much at home in such a place. However, leaping into the Wano arc has taken this from mere outrageous speculation to an incredibly likely possibility. And it has been done as I mentioned before, through one simple word, that word being Shimotsuki. Thus far in the Wano arc, we have been introduced to two characters who bear the name Shimotsuki. And I won't go into who they are because one of them is, it's a bit of a potential spoiler, but they were both fairly high ranking officials prior to this whole Kaido business and very, very well known in the history of the island. Now, why is this important in any way? Well, it's because Shimotsuki also just so happens to be the name of the village where Zoro grew up and was trained in the art of swordplay. Now, having gone on for over two decades, now we have seen instances where names in One Piece had been used more than once like Suru and Suru or Pudding and Pudding. But in each of these situations, the doubling up of the name has been inconsequential, whereas the linking of the Shimotsuki name between a Dojo and East Blue and a famed clan of Samurai on Wano seems a little bit too perfect to be a coincidence. Furthermore, the Shimotsuki shenanigans don't stop there. As we turn our gaze to the thriller bark booster pack of the One Piece Viviacart data book and here it was revealed that the legendary Samurai Ryoma who lived literally centuries ago, well, his full name is Shimotsuki Ryoma, a man who just so happens to look exactly like Zoro, by the way. However, let's not put too much stock into that right now because from a meta perspective, we know exactly why that is. It's because the One Shot Manga Monsters which Ryoma was featured in was published along before the character of Zoro came to fruition. So it was more than likely a repurposed design. And hey, you know what? Even if we disregard that, there's a billion people in the world out there who look like Nami. So for now, let's just add it to the pile of speculation and build our mountain of evidence. But here's the thing that is absolutely undeniable and it comes from a most unlikely character by the name of Minotomo. Now just stay with me for a bit here. But this little chap was invented as a joke character in a very early SBS segment to explain a particular continuity era in which a destroyed door appeared to be perfectly fixed in a subsequent panel. And of course, this occurred in East Blue. Now Minotomo would then go on to appear in Wano which naturally resulted in another SBS question inquiring as to if this was the same Minotomo who appeared in East Blue. A very valid question considering how unlikely it would be for him to travel all the way into the grand line, much less the New World, and much, much less make it to Wano. And the answer to this question is where things get real crazy because Oda responded with the following. Yes, he is. Back then he was fixing the broken door to the bar in Fusha Village. He was introduced as carpenter Minotomo-san exclaiming, who did this? And now he somehow ended up in the New World in the closed border country of Wano. Isn't that weird? That's right, they actually aren't the same person. They have the same last name because they're related by blood. The fact of the matter is, a ship from Wano reached East Blue a few decades ago. One of the descendants of someone on that ship is a person that everybody is familiar with. This part might be featured later in the main story so I won't mention any more than that. It isn't going to be a major plotline, it will just be a minor story. And just, wow. Out of nowhere, it honestly feels like Oda has practically confirmed that Zora is the descendant of one of the travelers who came from Wano to East Blue. But just let's hold on a second. Minotomo being confirmed is one thing, but how do we know that Shumotsuki Village was populated by the travelers of Wano? I mean, at the moment all we have is the name coincidence here. Well, no. As it turns out, we have a fair bit more than that because if we take a look at Zora's sensei, Koshiro, or more specifically the dual blade symbol on his attire, well, it matches the ones we've seen on other characters during the Wano arc. Furthermore, getting into a very minor manga event that has yet to be animated, there is eventually a scene where Momonosuke is training and he shouts out a word that he learnt directly from Zora which has been roughly translated as snatch. However, Kiku then informs Momonosuke that this is a taboo word in an old dialect and goes on to state that it may just be a coincidence that Zora uses it. But as we know in most simple media, stating the possibility of something being a coincidence is more often than not narratively intended to highlight the very fact that it isn't. But the only place Zora could have learnt such a word would be Shumotsuki Village, which once again just so happens to hold the exact same name as a famed line of samurai. Now, I will say that this does not necessarily prove that Zora was a descendant of Wano. He could have been a simple East Blue child that got caught up in the art of the sword and was taught the ways of a samurai. Really the strongest piece of evidence we have to support Zora being from Wano are Oda's words. One of the descendants of someone on that ship is a person that everybody is familiar with. Now, to me, that statement actively eliminates characters like Koshiro or Kuina from being the person that Oda is referring to. I mean, yes, Koshiro and thus Kuina are almost certainly descendants of Wano folk anyway, but they're not characters that I'd say everybody is familiar with. This series has gone on for more than two decades and there are going to be a lot of people out there who have missed or even forgotten about Koshiro and Kuina. However, I can say with full certainty that everybody is familiar with Zora. Add that to the fact that Zora looks exactly like Shimotsuki Ryoma. The idea he comes from a village founded by Wano citizens. And you know what? Even his bright green hair adds evidence to this idea because bright and vibrant hair does seem to be a trademark feature of Wano's inhabitants. Look, it would honestly not surprise me if in the near future, Zora's full name was revealed to be Shimotsuki Zora in the same way that Sanji was revealed to be Vince Moxanji. Because with that move, Oda proved that it is never too late in the game to make world-changing revelations about characters that we are ever so familiar with. Now with that, I should also go on to highlight the fact that Oda went on to say, this part might be featured later in the main story, so I won't mention any more on that. It isn't going to be a major plot line, it will just be a minor story. So look, if these heavy, bordering on confirmed hints do become blatantly stated in the series, it is not going to be a huge deal in the grand scheme of Wano. It's not like Zora was going to find out that he's a descendant of Ryoma and then go on some sort of quest to fulfill his destiny. No, he's still here to take down Kaido along with the Alliance. So all this may have some interesting implications. I highly doubt that it will become a huge focus at any point during the arc. It's more of a nice connecting of the dots, which is something that the series is so fantastic at. But finally, once again, I have to say there's much that I'm not a huge fan of making theories or posing speculation to all of you. This is just a bit too much to ignore. And at this point, I would be much more surprised if Wano ends with Zoro not having been revealed to be a descendant of one of their citizens. But that pretty much does it for this discussion on whether or not Zoro is from Wano. 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