Would Zoro Be Stronger With A Devil Fruit?

Through countless hours of training and hard work, Zoro has gone from a fairly strong bounty hunter to becoming one of the strongest swordsmen in all of One Piece. Constantly lifting and practicing, Zoro seems to be one of the few Straw Hats that consistently hone their craft, something that surely contributed to his incredible success in combat. In many ways, compared to the other Straw Hats, like Luffy with his Mythical Zoan Fruit, or Sanji with his genetic modification, Zoro seems to be the only one who works endlessly for his power in One Piece.

Due to how hard Zoro trains in One Piece, many fans have wondered just how powerful Zoro would be if he had a Devil Fruit on top of his mastery of swordsmanship. While some argue that a simple power buff would simply muddy Zoro’s arsenal of sword-based attacks, others feel that a Devil Fruit that simply enhances Zoro’s strength would make him near unbeatable. However, while it depends on what fruit he receives, would Zoro be stronger if he had a Devil Fruit in One Piece?

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Would Zoro Be Stronger With A Devil Fruit In One Piece?

Zoro Is Already A Powerful Fighter On His Own

Already, even without a Devil Fruit, Zoro has proven himself to be an extremely capable fighter in One Piece, defeating extremely strong opponents, like King. His near-obsessive training to become the best swordsman, and mastery over all three forms of Haki make a Devil Fruit for the character seem almost like overkill. However, depending on the Devil Fruit he receives, the power may be more of a curse than a blessing, potentially interfering with his swordsmanship.

Mainly, out of the three types of Devil Fruits in One Piece, the best fit for Zoro would likely be a Zoan Fruit. These fruits, overall, seem to require the least amount of practice to master, and with Zoro devoting most of his time to working on his swordsmanship, he would likely neglect to train his Devil Fruit. Plus, Oda has already stated that if Zoro were to have a Devil Fruit, the best fit for him would be Kaido’s Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, a very powerful mythical Zoan Fruit. Though Oda would want the fruit for Zoro’s sword, it would work just as well for Zoro as well.

A Zoan Fruit Would Be A Strong Physical Boost For Zoro

The Azure Dragon Fruit Might Make Him Incredibly Strong

• A Zoan Devil Fruit Would Be Perfect For Zoro
• It Would Provide A Strength Boost Without Getting In The Way Of Swordsmanship

Although there are arguably more intricate techniques that would require mastery over the Devil Fruit to perfect, like Kaido’s Blast Breath, using the hybrid form of the Devil Fruit seems to mainly be a raw power boost, simply increasing the strength and durability of one of One Piece’s strongest characters to an extreme degree. If Zoro were to have this Devil Fruit, it seems likely that he would avoid his pure dragon form, as it would prevent him from utilizing his swords. Instead, he would likely use the power buff of the hybrid form, and would most likely never explore the fruit to its fullest potential.

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Despite most likely not utilizing the fruit to its fullest, by merit of making him physically stronger, giving Zoro Kaido’s Devil Fruit, or any Zoan Devil Fruit for that matter, would likely make Zoro stronger. Already, there have been multiple fighters in the series who use their fruits in similar ways, limiting the amount of time they spend in their pure One Piece Zoan form, instead choosing their hybrid form as their primary means of combat. Characters like Kaku and Rob Lucci, although they do use their pure Zoan forms at times, mainly use their hybrid form in combat due to their high levels of training outclassing the raw power of their pure Zoan form.

Logia And Paramecia Fruits May Not Be Worth It For Zoro

They May Get In The Way Of His Traditional Swordsmanship

On the flip side, while it’s arguable that Logia and Paramecia Fruits wouldn’t hurt Zoro if he had one, there are a few instances where it would. Firstly, losing his ability to swim and adding a weakness to One Piece’s Seastone isn’t worth obtaining an ability he would rarely use. Plus, at the same time, having a strange ability, like Buggy’s Chop-Chop Fruit, while strong on a creative user, may instead just get in the way of Zoro’s traditional swordsmanship.

In the end, if Zoro were to get a powerful Zoan Devil Fruit in One Piece, he would likely be a good deal stronger, physically, than he currently is. However, for Zoro specifically, a Zoan or Paramecia Devil Fruit would likely not be worth the weaknesses that they bring to the table. Still, although it’s likely never going to happen, it’s interesting to imagine what Zoro would be like if he had a Devil Fruit in One Piece.

One Piece

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

• 

  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

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  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)