#zoro's def one of my fave characters and kuma has become one too I've been sobbing my eyes out with these chapters

[general-cyno]

just when I think zoro's sacrifice in thriller bark couldn't be more meaningful than it already is chapter 1097 comes for my life (spoilers ahead under the cut)

as more of kuma's heart-wrenching story is told - we now learn that just like zoro took luffy's pain as his own during thriller bark, kuma had been doing the same thing for his fellow villagers back when he was a pastor in sorbet kingdom.

for kuma, whose life since childhood had been deeply marked by the discrimination he faced as a buccaneer and the slavery forced upon his family, using the paw paw fruit's power to free slaves and relieve those in suffering of their pain was his way of liberation - and this ideal was fueled in the first place by his belief in nika, the sun god who embodied the fight for freedom, which was passed on to him by his father. as ivankov later says, kuma now has "the hands of liberation that set people free".

of course, kuma's backstory is completely different from zoro's own, so they're not really comparable in that sense per se. but it speaks highly of both their characters that they're the only ones so far to have sacrificed themselves for others in such a specific way. this shows the strength of their spirits and bodies, how far they're willing to go for their beliefs and the ppl they cherish, the plain goodness and selflessness that's written into who they are within the story.

zoro is a bit of a curious case, in that he's "selfishly selfless/kind" just like luffy, and doesn't enjoy being treated nor seen as a hero despite what he and the crew do for ppl. still, his kindness and willingness to protect others have been there pretty much since the start. the reason why he ends strung up by the marines in shells town is because he chose to save a little girl from helmeppo's violent wolf. the reason why luffy chooses to recruit him as part of his crew is because he eats those stomped riceballs and asks luffy to thank rika for them in his stead. imo, luffy and zoro start out as the pillars of the crew (they are the first two after all) but zoro and the rest of the straw hats each represent all the good qualities luffy himself has and admires in others.

throughout his journey with luffy and the straw hats too, zoro starts driving himself to get stronger not just for the sake of his dream anymore but also to keep his promise to luffy and for his crew. of course, thriller bark is that one moment in which this part of his development is made perfectly clear.

also - while zoro's sacrifice was rooted in how loyal he is to and how much he cares for luffy (and by extension the crew), by going through with this, unknowingly, both zoro and kuma ensured, at least in this instance, that nika's fight for liberation would continue to exist within and later awaken in luffy via his devil fruit.

in the aftermath of thriller bark, kuma acknowledges that luffy has exceptional friends and says that "he's your son after all, dragon". knowing now about kuma's past and how/why he came to join dragon's revolutionary army, there's no one better suited to highlight this moment - the kind of loyalty, devotion and endurance zoro displayed for luffy's sake is not the kind that's earned without reason. this says as much about zoro as it does about luffy. considering that now luffy's unlocked joy boy/nika the warrior of liberation through his devil fruit and zoro's been revealed as a descendant of folks who have either been heroes and/or stood firmly against oppressors (ryuma and ushimaru), that both of them alongside the crew have fought for the freedom of different people/nations so far... well. you can see why zoro's sacrifice, why kuma protecting the straw hats and the sunny in sabaody have all become so much more important.