Why Zoro vs Lucci lasting till One Piece chapter 1110 was completely justified, explained

In One Piece chapter 1110, fan-favorite Roronoa Zoro once again proved his formidable strength as he defeated the iconic villain Rob Lucci. The CP0’s spearhead did the best he could to sell his skin dearly, but his efforts were in vain in the face of Zoro’s overwhelming superiority.

The previous chapters showed very little of the fight, except for some fast-paced exchanges of blows. One Piece chapter 1110 marked the end of the confrontation, leaving fans amazed by Zoro’s power. As soon as the green-haired swordsman stopped playing around, fans could see that Lucci’s time was over.

Despite Lucci’s physical prowess as an Awakened Zoan user, Zoro outclassed him with disconcerting ease, proving to be on a completely different level. Zoro handily dodged Lucci’s strikes, and defeated him with a single Advanced Conqueror’s Haki-imbued attack. This is all the more impressive as even Luffy needed multiple Gear 5 techniques to subdue Lucci.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1110.

The Egghead Arc climax sees Zoro destroying Lucci in One Piece chapter 1110

A clash between two deadly fighters

Zoro vs Lucci begins in One Piece chapter 1091 (Image via Shueisha)

As Lucci tried to kill Dr Vegapunk, Stussy acted as a human shield for him. Struck by Lucci’s Finger Gun attack, Stussy fell to the ground wounded. Before Lucci could inflict further violence, Zoro used two of his Armament Haki-enhanced swords to attack him.

Lucci managed to block the strike by hardening his leg through a combination of Armament Haki and Tekkai, but was still pushed to crash through the walls of the Labophase. Lucci then entered the Awakened Zoan form, while Zoro began using three swords and some of his Advanced Haki.

After some exchanges of blows, Zoro mocked Lucci, telling the latter that he wouldn’t be able to beat Luffy with his skills. Lucci replied that killing Zoro, the number two of a Yonko, would still be a satisfying achievement.

Zoro vs Lucci continues in One Piece chapter 1091 (Image via Shueisha)

As Saint Saturn's ominous aura spread on Egghead, Zoro and Lucci temporarily paused their confrontation once again. When they resumed clashing, Lucci was still using his Awakened Zoan form, while Zoro downgraded his effort to just two swords.

Lucci taunted Zoro by pointing out that he was holding up his crewmates, who couldn’t leave Egghead without him. However, Zoro retorted that he was the one controlling the duration of the fight. In One Piece chapter 1110, Jinbe arrived at the location of the battle. Meanwhile, Zoro was distracted by the Gorosei's powerful Haki, which was spreading across the island.

Zoro vs Lucci in One Piece chapter 1093 (Image via Shueisha)

Lucci exploited Zoro’s lack of focus to deflect one of his swords, throwing it up in the air. Upon hearing Sanji’s conversation with Jinbe, in which the former complained that Zoro was putting everyone else's lives at risk by playing around with Lucci, the swordsman was upset and decided to end the fight.

Lucci rushed at Zoro and tried to hit him with the Hand Gun: Spots, a special Rokushiki technique. Almost indifferent to the attempt, Zoro easily dodged Lucci’s attack, while simultaneously grabbing the sword that was still spinning in the air.

Zoro then defeated Lucci with a single blow, using a Three Sword Style technique called Huhuva Hell Leopard Hunt. The attack generated sparks of black lightning Haki all around, and caused Lucci to lose consciousness. Jinbe was watching the scene, in total awe at Zoro’s display of overwhelming power.

Zoro played with Lucci, and annihilated him as soon as he wanted

Zoro vs Lucci continues in One Piece chapter 1093 (Image via Shueisha)

Lucci initially claimed that he would kill Zoro. However, he soon understood that he could never win against the swordsman, and the best he could do was to keep him busy to stop the Straw Hats from leaving Egghead, as the crew wouldn’t escape without its second-in-command.

The fight lasted almost twenty chapters, but that can't be used as a measure of time, as chapters aren’t an actual time scale. Depending on the events that take place within it, a chapter could interchangeably equate to a few instants, minutes, hours, days, months, or even years.

For example, the various fights and developments of the Dressrosa Arc took place in a single day, but in the manga, it lasted for 102 chapters. Zoro’s fight with Pica in Dressrosa was child’s play, even though it lasted for 38 chapters, and almost nine months in real life.

Zoro vs Lucci in One Piece chapter 1107 (Image via Shueisha)

Evidently, the number of chapters or the passage of time in real life have nothing to do with the passage of time in the One Piece manga. Moreover, the fight between Zoro and Lucci started in chapter 1091 and ended in chapter 1110, but the chapters from 1095 to 1102 weren’t set at the present time, as they narrated Kuma and Bonney’s flashback.

All the events featured in the remaining chapters happened very quickly. Thus, within the context of One Piece’s narration, the fight only lasted ten or twenty minutes. If Zoro took out Lucci too quickly, the latter, as an Awakened Zoan user, could use his recovery speed to get up and attack the Straw Hats.

Thus, Zoro controlled the duration of the battle to keep Lucci in check. In One Piece chapter 1110, he decided to end the fight because the crew is ready to escape, and there’s a much greater threat to worry about, the Five Elders.

Zoro vs Lucci ends in One Piece chapter 1110 (Image via HumanTripodOG/X)

Zoro said that the fight would be over when he said so, and he proved those words true by instantly beating Lucci as soon as he wanted. The dirt, blood, and scratches on Zoro’s face were already present in chapter 1091, before the fight even began, meaning that the swordsman outclassed his opponent without receiving any injury.

Lucci needed to go all-out with his peak power, the Awakened Zoan form, to match Zoro, who was significantly holding back and using only two swords and no special Haki mode. Zoro then beat Lucci with a single attack performed using the Three Sword Style.

To defeat Lucci, Zoro didn’t even need to use his strongest techniques, the Three Sword: Billion-fold World Trichiliocosm and the Nine Sword Style: Asura. He also didn’t need to use the King of Hell Style, in which he goes all-out with the advanced forms of Conqueror’s Haki and Armament Haki.

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As a masterful Rokushiki user, whose body is further amplified by the Cat-Cat Fruit Model Leopard, Lucci is a particularly fast character. His speed has been described as exceptional, and he proved those words true by dodging some attacks from Gear 5 Luffy and striking Sentomaru in a flash.

Still, Zoro nonchalantly dodged Lucci’s attacks, and struck the latter without giving him time to react. This proves that, at least in terms of combat speed, Zoro is much faster than Lucci, which is impressive, given the CP0 agent’s own incredible quickness and the fact that speed is not even Zoro's main speciality.

The very few manga panels of this fight show Zoro taking zero damage and defeating Lucci by a wide margin. Zoro’s overwhelming superiority over Lucci is all the more impressive, as the iconic villain is no slouch himself.

Zoro vs Lucci in respect of One Piece's powerscaling

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Lucci was able to equalize Gear 5 Luffy in a clash of Armament Haki and physical strength, which is amazing, given the immense boost this transformation gives Luffy. Lucci also fully endured two named attacks from Gear 5 Luffy, only going down to the third move.

Even then, Lucci reappeared in pretty good shape just a few moments later. Granted, Luffy’s superiority was indisputable, but the fact that Lucci was initially able to hold his own against the strongest form of the newly-appointed Yonko can’t be overlooked.

Using his Hand Gun technique, Lucci broke through Sentomaru’s Haki defense in a flash, grievously injuring him. With his Haki, Sentomaru could partially block a Glint-Glint Fruit-ampled kick from Admiral Kizaru. So, the fact that Lucci easily defeated Sentomaru, while simultaneously being engaged in a fight with Yonko-level Luffy, is remarkable.

Lucci clashing with Gear 5 Luffy (Image via Toei Animation)

Luffy immediately used Gear 5 against Lucci, but never considered using it against the Seraphim, whom he only deemed worthy of Gear 4. Likewise, when he fought the Seraphim, Lucci didn’t use his Awakened Zoan transformation, but just his basic Zoan form. This seemingly implies that Lucci is more powerful than S-Hawk, S-Bear, and the others.

Overall, Lucci seems a bit stronger than Katakuri, and comparable to average Yonko number twos like Marco and King. Still, that’s a level that Zoro already surpassed in the previous arc. Upon unleashing the true power of his Conqueror’s Haki, Zoro annihilated King, beating the Lunarian in three hits and countering whatever he tried to do.

Zoro entered the realm of the strongest One Piece characters (Image via Sword Conqueror/X)

Zoro defeated Lucci the minute he decided it was time to end the fight, and didn’t even need to go all-out to do that. He showed total superiority over a fighter who surpassed the average Commander-level, much like Kaido did with Luffy at the beginning of the Wano Arc, or like Shanks did with Kid.

That’s not to say that Zoro is already at the Yonko level. As the future World’s Strongest Swordsman, as well as the formidable right-hand man of the next Pirate King, Zoro is meant to reach and even surpass that level, but he is not there yet.

Still, Zoro’s ability to use the Advanced Conqueror’s Haki and to combine the King of Hell Style with the Nine Sword Style: Asura should make him a fighter above anyone who isn’t a Yonko, an Admiral, or someone of that level, especially as Zoro now seems to have mastered Enma and gained complete control over his Haki powers.

Luffy and Zoro in Egghead (Image via Toei Animation)

One Piece chapter 1110 was praised by fans for showcasing Zoro’s magnificent victory over Lucci, a character established as an iconic villain in the series since before the timeskip. This chapter also allowed fans to rate how Zoro compares to Luffy, as the latter already fought Lucci in Egghead.

Readers were amazed to see how Zoro could crush Lucci with the same ease as Luffy, just with different styles. Gear 5 Luffy is playful and joyous, while Zoro is calm, collected, and deadly. The swordsman proved that his fighting skills are not far from his captain’s, which is a testament not only to Zoro’s greatness, but also to how outstanding Luffy is to have someone like Zoro at his side.