I got distracted from NaNo because I went back to writing the Sanji Breaks His Arm fic. I got distracted from that fic because I started on a Kuina Lives and Zoro Dies AU fic
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That's an interesting dilemma there. I don't know that I'd necessarily find Zoro at that age less driven or even moody-- I think those are fundamental components of what makes him tick in general. He was like that before Kuina died, certainly, it's just that his motives are more self-involved and inwardly focused. He wants to beat her out of his own sense of pride, out of his competitive nature, out of spite to a degree, and certainly to become the sort of man he wants himself to be. What other reason would he have for going around challenging a dojo full of training students when he clearly has no skill whatsoever? Kuina's death didn't change his fundamental personality, it just changed the focus of his 'purpose in life', as it were. It's still self-centered and about pride, ego, vanity, competition, spite, and his sense of masculine fulfillment, but those things are now tied to a sense of responsibility for someone else
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That's a really wonderful assessment of Zoro's character! I'll have to keep it in mind. One shift in character from child to adult I do find in Zoro is that somewhere along the way, he became a very quiet person. Obviously there are moments when he's super shouty and full of action and drunk, but I read them as triggered outbursts. Most of the time he's fairly silent and still and seems to have his mind on something else, whereas as a child he's full of physical and vocal energy all the time. I'm not quite sure how far I'll take that idea yet, but probably something like with Kuina alive, Zoro doesn't go from one extreme to the other, but ends up somewhere in the middle
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Well, we don't know all that much about Kid Zoro before Kuina's death. I mean, he's trying to knock over dojos when he's, what, 6? 8? He's desperate for strength, desperate to win. Why?
I don't know, but you'd think there has to be a driving reason, even before Kuina's death. Kuina shaped him, but she didn't start him on that path. We don't know anything about his family or life before the dojo, and Kuina's dad is definitely his only parental figure, so you might be able to write something interesting about that.
Yeah, that's a good point - and definitely agreed there has to have been something that started him on swords and the obsession with being strong. I guess I wasn't very clear in the post on what part of AU Zoro is "regular" - it's more his temperament than his motivation. Zoro as a child is much louder and hyperactive than Zoro as an adult, and I've always read him as gaining added intensity directly from Kuina's death. His motivations do change at least three times over the course of the series. The first, whatever his motivation was pre-story; second, making the promise with Kuina; third, changing the promise after Kuina's death; and fourth, I'd argue, after his encounter with Kuma. So it seems like environment and situation are both factors. On Zoro's end I'm kind of playing around with how he'd change if he and Kuina both survived into adolescence, and he did become stronger and taller than Kuina. Would he be determined to make Kuina catch up? Would he think the battle already has a foregone conclusion and start trying to
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I'd like to think he'd force her to keep up - what's one win? They'd have to fight at least another 1000+ times, so their scores are even, right?
On the plus side, One Piece is a world where a woman could absolutely become the strongest swordsman in the world, with special moves and weird blade techniques and Haki and such, without having to worry about less muscle mass or sexual dimorphism or whatever.
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I don't know, but you'd think there has to be a driving reason, even before Kuina's death. Kuina shaped him, but she didn't start him on that path. We don't know anything about his family or life before the dojo, and Kuina's dad is definitely his only parental figure, so you might be able to write something interesting about that.
-- Guile
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On the plus side, One Piece is a world where a woman could absolutely become the strongest swordsman in the world, with special moves and weird blade techniques and Haki and such, without having to worry about less muscle mass or sexual dimorphism or whatever.
Go Kuina!
-- Guile
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