#Zoro is Luffy’s most devout follower

[revlischarm]

I don’t know what they were expecting.

[ascesabo]

the great irony of early one piece antagonists believing zoro was the actual captain and using luffy as a puppet ... oda really threw us a bone and curb-stomped it right in our faces. yes, zoro could be a captain in his own right. yes, zoro could match luffy in strength. yes, zoro knows this perfectly well. and you know what? he chose luffy two years ago, and he will continue to choose luffy again and again. roronoa zoro, the pirate hunter, who followed a wannabe pirate with a nonexistent crew on a whim because luffy brought him his swords and made a half-assed attempt at a bargain. zoro, who made a vow to never lose again on both his and luffy's honor. zoro, who told luffy he'd make him commit harakiri if he got in the way of zoro's goal, only to turn around and be willing to sacrifice his dream if it means that luffy reaches his. zoro, who stood in place and took luffy's pain and told a warlord to take his head instead of luffy's, who got down on his knees before his supposed rival and begged mihawk to mentor him so that he could return strong enough to protect his captain. zoro, who has conqueror's haki- a natural born leader- but chooses to stay at the right hand of a man he has deemed greater than himself.

and the thing that luffy fears most? being alone. being rejected. being left behind. and what should have been his foil- the pirate hunter to his pirate king, the nonbeliever to his divine, the king of hell to his sun god- instead becomes his first and most devout follower; the one who demands to follow him to hell and back. oughhhggg i'm sick to my stomach

[outofpocketonepiecethoughts]

I don’t really think this was intentional but it’s so interesting to me that Zoro almost died on a cross in the first few episodes/chapters of one piece. (Sorry for what is about to be some very Christianity centric overthinking. I grew up around several Christians. I am also not a Christian myself so everything said about Christianity in this post is purely speculative and not anything I actually believe.)

He was tied to a cross to pay for the sins of someone else, but who decides what is and is not a sin? Generally god. Now god in this metaphor would be either Axe Hand Morgan or Helmeppo, depending on how you look at it, but either way, they arbitrarily decided Rika and her mother had committed a sin, and Zoro willingly decided to take the punishment for their sins.

Zoro nearly died on that cross, but he was saved at the last second, and he became Luffy’s most devout follower, despite having the skills to be leader himself. I wonder, if someone had saved Jesus from dying on the cross, would he have become a follower instead of a leader? Would he have turned away from god to devote himself to this new savior? Would he believe himself a sinner, and be happier than he’s ever been?

And on Luffy’s side of things, imagine if some guy heard about Jesus for the first time, and got told he was the worst and was being executed for being dangerous, and that guy not only fully didn’t care about the dangerous part but decided he would not let Jesus die, and just went and rescued him despite never having met him before.

Anyway, I’m saying that Zoro and Luffy’s relationship is like if some guy decided, hey maybe killing Jesus is a bad idea, and decided to do something about.