Roronoa Zoro is undoubtedly one of the most famous One Piece characters. Like Luffy, Zoro wants to be the best in his class, that is, he wants to become the best swordsman in the world, surpassing his idol and rival, Dracule Mihawk, who is considered the best swordsman in the world. But his beginnings were quite humble and are linked to a character named Shimotsuki Kuina, who managed to defeat Zoro 2,001 times without ever losing to him. Kuina died at the age of eleven, a significant moment in Zoro's life. But could Kuina still be alive? In this article, we will address this theory.

Shimotsuki Kuina died at the age of 11, and as far as is known at this point, she is dead. There is a very popular fan theory that her death was faked and that she is actually Tashigi, but this has been officially refuted by Oda himself, who provided us with a drawing of Tashigi as a child, and she looked different from Kuina as a child. There is also a theory that she escaped from the village, but there is no proof of this either.

The rest of this article will focus on the character of Shimotsuki Kuina and the theories surrounding her death in the story of One Piece. We will tell you if Shimotsuki Kuina is actually dead, that is, if the theories surrounding her death are true or not. This article may contain a smaller number of spoilers, so be careful while reading.

What happened to Shimotsuki Kuina in One Piece?

Kuina was born in Shimoshiki twenty-one years before the beginning of the story and trained from a young age in the art of swordsmanship in her father's dojo. One day, her father told her that girls could not become the strongest in the world. She defeated Zoro in two thousand battles, even though, in the last one, the young Zoro used two shinai.

Ten years before the beginning of the story, her grandfather Kozaburo died, and Kuina attended his funeral with her father, weeping. One night while she was training, Zoro approached her and challenged her with a real sword, asking if she had one. She replied that he always had it with him and accepted, managing to win shortly afterward, noting that she had won two thousand and one times. Zoro expressed his anger, to which Kuina replied that she was sorry because as girls grow up, they become weaker than men, and the children training at the dojo defeated her.

She pointed out that Zoro had always said he wanted to become the world's best swordsman, something girls weren't allowed to do, tearfully explaining that her father had told her so. She added that she envied him because he was a man because she also wanted to become the world's strongest swordsman and that her breasts were growing, confessing that she wanted to be born a man. Zoro yelled at her that she had won and shouldn't complain, calling her a coward and telling her that this was her goal.

The boy grabbed his two swords and shouted at him that it made no difference whether he was a man or a woman, asking if he would say the same thing when he managed to defeat her, as if it wasn't just his skill that mattered. He also added that he seemed like an idiot who was training to be able to defeat her, so he shouldn't say such a thing, asking him to swear that one day, one of them would become the strongest swordsman in the world, proposing that they fight for that title. Kuina wiped away her tears, called him a fool, and told him he was still weak: the two then confirmed his promise by shaking hands.

However, the next day, Kuina fell down the stairs while sharpening her sword and died. Zoro then swore an oath to honor Kuina and took Kuina's sword, which he always kept by his side.

Could Kuina be alive in One Piece?

Now, Kuina's death was a fact of Zoro's life that surprisingly turned into one of the biggest mysteries of the series, with fans suggesting that Kuina is actually alive and is either a completely different character or has escaped. Here are the theories in a nutshell, thanks to One Piece Wikia user Jameselite2c-therealdeal:

1. Kuina and Tashigi are one and the same. Now, while I consider this unlikely, I've gone around and watched various videos from people like Tekking 101 and The Legend Mac, and while some agree with this theory, I couldn't understand their reason for her running away and joining the marines, but the biggest problem was that she's considerably weaker than I could imagine Kuina to be.
2. Kuina escaped from Shimotsuki Village and Koshiro, disgraced by her sudden disappearance, covers it up by faking her death, with a fake corpse. Using the excuse, she fell down the stairs to motivate Zoro who was close to Kuina to succeed in finding her one day and return her sword. This would make perfect sense since he gave his daughter's last memory, her sword to Zoro, this gives Zoro the opportunity to return Kuina a favor for making him the swordsman he is. This sword is also a memory similar to Luffy's straw hat which he must return to Shanks once he is strong enough, Kuina's sword could be used to return to him once he is a strong swordsman.

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According to the first theory, as you can see, Kuina survived the fall, her death was faked, and she simply changed her identity and became Tashigi, another character with a strong connection to Zoro. And while it's undeniable that Tashigi looks a lot like Kuina, as even Zoro himself pointed out, this theory was officially refuted by Oda himself with this single drawing:

Namely, this is Tashigi as a child, and as you can see, she was different from Kuina, meaning they are not one and the same, despite all their similarities. This was finally proven in SBS Volume 68, the specials in which Oda answers fan questions and requests, as you can see here:

D: Following the recent SBS Children series, I would like to see Hina-san, Smo-yan and Tashigi-chan from the Marines when they were children!! PN Kumakoro

One Piece Figure

Come see

O: Okay.

And yes, Hina and Smoker's drawings were also provided, but the gist is that Tashigi as a child looked distinctly different from Kuina, meaning they are not one and the same (unless Oda decides to piece something together, but that's not likely).

The second theory was officially disproved with the end of the Wano Country Arc, where no such character could be seen. There was no reference to an adult Kuina during the Wano Arc, and we can now officially confirm that Kuina unfortunately died in One Piece and that the theories are false based on what we know now.