When it comes to One Piece ships, one of the most frequently mentioned characters in this category is Roronoa Zoro, who is also one of the most popular characters in the series. This makes a lot of sense, considering how popular Zoro is. With that in mind, we've decided to dedicate this entire article to Roronoa Zoro and one of the most popular ships involving him—the one involving Kuina. In this article, you'll find out whether the two were in love or not.

In canon, Zoro and Kuina weren't lovers but were very close friends. It's unknown if there would have been anything between them, as they were very young when they met, as Kuina died when she was still a child. Still, Zoro undoubtedly cared for her, and he considered the promise he made to her to become the best swordsman in the world a very cherished memory and a goal he simply had to accomplish in life because of the promise he made to her. This is why this ship is so popular, but since Oda later revealed that they were distant relatives, their chances of ending up together would be zero.

The rest of this article will explore the potential relationship between Zoro, one of the most popular characters in the series, and Kuina, a supporting character whose story is closely intertwined with Zoro's. We'll explore Zoro and Kuina's personalities in more detail, as well as the nature of their relationship within the world of One Piece. This article won't contain too many spoilers, but be careful how you approach it if you don't know the full story.

Kuina and Zoro were close as children

Zoro and Kuina's relationship is very interesting, especially since it began when they were children. In this respect, it deserves to be analyzed properly. Of course, as we always do, we will first analyze their personalities, then their relationship to determine if there is any basis for considering a potential relationship between them. Let's see what we can say here.

Although he often provides comic relief, Zoro is naturally shy. He also has a poor sense of direction, causing him to get lost even on straight paths or when someone leads the way. While the crew is at sea, Zoro either sleeps or trains. He and Sanji regularly argue (verbally and violently) under inappropriate circumstances. They are passionate rivals. However, when they work together (rarely, which is the case), they make a formidable team.

Zoro is motivated to surpass Kuina as the world's greatest swordsman after Kuina's death. Since then, Zoro has committed himself to developing and improving to get closer to his goal. He encounters enemies throughout his journey, and after each conflict, he reflects on what he could have done differently to win. Like Luffy, Zoro has a specific goal in mind, but he also enjoys fighting other enemies and, if possible, ends up causing trouble or scandal.

He is incredibly stubborn and arrogant; whenever Chopper advises him to take a break due to his injuries after each fight, he simply ignores it and continues doing what he normally does, displaying his lack of concern.

Zoro initially explains to Luffy that he is simply taking this journey with him to fulfill his ambition. During the fight with Kuma, he also stated that "Luffy must be the man who becomes the Pirate King," which can be interpreted as a goal in itself since he gradually began to think differently. Throughout the series, he has always shown himself to be the most loyal to Luffy, even referring to him as the "Pirate King" after Mihawk defeated him and during the battle with Kuma.

As for Kuina, she appears cold, arrogant, and haughty with her other classmates, especially Zoro. However, she ends up confessing to him, through tears, that she has always lived knowing that when she grew up, she would no longer be able to compete with boys because women are physically weaker than men. Her father had also warned her that being a girl would force her to abandon her dream of being the best swordswoman in the world.

For this reason, Kuina always regretted not being a man and told Zoro herself that she wanted to be a boy. Eventually, Zoro made her understand that willpower, not strength, would make her a great swordswoman. These words restored her confidence; she and Zoro promised each other that one of them would eventually become the greatest swordsman in the world, with Kuina also adding that Zoro would never be able to beat her.

As you can see, there were some similarities between Kuina and Zoro. They both acted like boys; they had similar personalities and aligned their common goals. In fact, what's interesting here is that they both managed to overcome their arrogance in front of the other, with Kuina breaking down and revealing her doubts to Zoro and Zoro finally showing his soft side and making a pact with her. At the time, they were still too young to be a couple, but they cared deeply for each other, which was already evident back then.

As for their relationship, it is known that when they were children, he had never managed to beat her (he lost their matches in a row in 2001) and aspired to be as strong as her. After their two thousand and first duel, Kuina confessed her fears to Zoro, saying that she wanted to become the best in the world. Zoro was then annoyed by the fact that even if he surpassed her one day, she would believe it was because of her body and not her swordsmanship. This led to their promise, but Kuina died shortly after, shocking Zoro.

However, Zoro considers the promise he and Kuina made to each other to be very dead, and whenever he is in a near-death situation, he remembers her and the promise to encourage himself to keep fighting. He is currently working on fulfilling the promise he was made. And while many fans thought there would have been potential for a ship between the two, in an SBS, Oda revealed that Kuina and Zoro are actually related.

They are distant relatives, and it's quite possible they didn't know they were related as children (it's debatable when Oda himself decided this, probably much later), so naturally, many fans saw them as a potential couple. However, we can now confirm that this would never have happened, even if Kuina had survived.