One Piece: Roronoa Zoro's family tree, explained

One Piece is a series with a lot of secrets, and Roronoa Zoro's family tree is probably up there as one of the biggest mysteries within the fandom. While the character of Zoro has been around since the beginning of the story, being the first person to join Luffy's crew, very little was known about him beyond his passion for swordsmanship, which was something that generated a lot of curiosity regarding his family and upbringing.

There was already a precedent of One Piece author Eiichiro Oda adding more to one of the Straw Hats' backstories, with Sanji being revealed to be a prince during the events of the Whole Arc, which further developed his character. While it is true that Zoro's past doesn't reach those levels of connection with the main story, Oda has confirmed a little of his family tree.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the One Piece series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda.

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Explaining Roronoa Zoro's family tree in One Piece

There was a long-standing theory in the One Piece fandom regarding Roronoa Zoro's family tree, and it was that he was a descendant of Ryuma, the legendary swordsman that the Straw Hats crew member fought during the Thriller Bark arc. Well, author Eiichiro Oda revealed Zoro's entire family line in an SBS back in 2023, which confirms that his ancestors hailed from Wano Country and that he is, in fact, a descendant of Ryuma.

The SBS went on to reveal that a member of the Shimotsuki family, Kozaburo, sailed on a ship to the East Blue fifty years ago. That ship also included Shimotsuki Furiko, who went on to become Zoro's grandmother (and the sister of Shimotsuki Ushimaru, who also happens to look a lot like Roronoa) and got married to a man known as Roronoa Pizoro, having a kid named Roronoa Arashi, Zoro's father.

There isn't a lot of information about Zoro's father in the One Piece universe, with Oda only revealing that he died at some point before the beginning of the series fighting pirates in the East Blue and that he had his son with a woman named Terra, who died of an illness. It was also revealed through this SBS that the Shimotsuki Dojo he was a part of as a kid was his family, with Kuina, the girl who served as an inspiration to him, being his cousin, so it is very likely they took him after his parents passed away.

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The importance of Zoro's heritage

Zoro after the time skip (Image via Toei Animation).

Roronoa Zoro's family tree was something that a lot of One Piece fans were expecting to see across the series, especially since Ryuma's entrance during the Thriller Bark arc, although it is fair to say that the results in the Wano Country storyline were somewhat disappointing. This was also part of a running criticism that a lot of fans have had with Oda regarding Zoro's character since the time skip.

Ever since the time skip took place, Zoro's character became a lot more focused on just fighting and had very little agency in the plot or engaging with other people. This is something that bothers a lot of fans, as Zoro had shown a lot of different sides to his personality in the early days of the story, and the Wano arc was, on paper, a very good opportunity to explore his character even further.

However, most of the discussions regarding his heritage on that island were cast aside for the SBS info dump and a filler episode in the anime adaptation that added a bit more. It seems like a wasted opportunity for the character of Zoro to get some limelight beyond cool moments in battle, and it doesn't seem likely that he is going to have another chance like this in the coming arcs.

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Final thoughts

Roronoa Zoro's family tree in the One Piece universe confirms that he is a descendant of Ryuma, the legendary swordsman, and that he also has ancestors from Wano Country. There was also the revelation that Kuina, the girl from the dojo in his childhood who inspired him to become the best swordsman, was his cousin.