Why Zoro is the First mate of the Straw Hat Pirates
Zoro’s position in the Straw Hat Pirates has always been up for debate. While he was the first to join Luffy, there was never any official agreement between them that he would be the second in command.
Rather, Luffy just talked him into becoming his crewmate.
Which is why some fans are often in disagreement over Zoro’s standing, because let’s be honest, the Straw Hat pirates are more like a friendly family, so we can’t really gauge their hierarchy in a traditional sense.
Well then, let’s talk about it and analyze the evidence we have to come to a proper conclusion regarding Zoro’s standing in the straw hat pirates and whether he is the first mate or not?
But before that, it’s important to rehearse the meaning of “First Mate.”
The literal definition of this term goes like this, “the officer second in command to the master of a merchant ship.”
Which indicates that the first mate of any crew is the second in command, or in other words, the vice-captain of the crew. You can also think of them as the captain’s “Right hand man.”
Obviously, One Piece has brought up this term plenty of times.
Silvers Rayleigh is the first mate of the legendary Roger Pirates, and Benn Beckman is the first mate of the Red-Haired Pirates.
But in cases, where the crew is notoriously large, like the Whitebeard pirates, or the Beast Pirates, or Big Mom pirates. The division is a bit different, instead of first mates, there are division commanders and officers.
However, in Whitebeard’s case, he named Marco to be in charge of the crew at the battle of Marineford.
So that’s it for the definition of “First mate” and what this term means in the One Piece world.
Now onto all the evidence that is in favor of Zoro being the uncrowned First mate of the Straw hat pirates,
Out of all the Straw Hats, Zoro has always been the one whose loyalty factor has been the most prominent ever since he joined Luffy. That is not to say, other straw hats aren’t loyal to Luffy, of course, they are. But it’s a tad bit different in Zoro’s case, because loyalty is his character defining quality…
The moment he decided to follow Luffy, even though he didn’t say it out loud, he pledged absolute loyalty to him as his captain.
The display of this unwavering loyalty can be seen during his fight with Mihawk. After his loss, he vows to never lose again, and addresses his captain as “The King of Pirates.”
Now guys, I know, its not that big of a deal, but think of it in terms of context, this man was just about to die while fighting the strongest, he had just realized the gap between him and the top of the world.
And yet, not only did he vow to never lose again himself, his absolute trust and devotion to Luffy also showed up when he addresses him as “The King of Pirates,” right there and then. He believes that Luffy will become the King of Pirates and so he has to become the Greatest Swordsman too.
That’s right guys, in reply to Mihawk’s question, “What do you desire once you obtain Power?”
Zoro reply made it clear that “The World’s Strongest Swordsman,” is what the King of Pirates would need.
Then we have the instance of Mock town… even thought Bellamy continued to ridicule both him and Luffy.
Just because Luffy told him to not give in to their provocations, Zoro followed his captain’s order without saying a word, and took in all that ridiculing despite being fully capable of destroying Bellamy in one swing.
Zoro’s essence is that of ultimate devotion and loyalty to Luffy.
Now, let’s talk about Zoro’s ultimate test of devotion to the Straw Hat Pirates and his captain.
The legendary feat he pulled off at the tail end of the Thriller Bark arc.
As the rest of the crew is unconscious, Zoro pleads to Kuma to just take his life instead. Sanji also enters the chat and declares that Kuma takes his life instead, but Zoro gives him a concussion.
And just like that, Kuma puts him to a test.
The sheer amount of Luffy’s pain, all of it, Zoro takes in everything and doesn’t even say a word.
Because “Nothing happened.”
In all three of these scenes, Zoro has embraced a virtue regarding Luffy.
First, he puts undeniable trust in Luffy, then he devotes himself, and then he is finally ready to literally sacrifice himself and his dream for the sake of his captain.
No doubt, aside from Luffy, Zoro has had just as many character defining moments as him.
He was the first to get a bounty after Luffy, and he also got acknowledged as a Supernova along with Luffy. Oda likes to give Zoro spotlight that is second only to Luffy.
We know he is the one who fights the second strongest, and we know how he is the one who always upholds Luffy to a certain standard and criticizes him when Luffy is obviously not meeting that standard (remember the Usopp incident?). He is also ready to take action when needed, like when Kuzan attacked the strawhats.
During Dressrosa, we had Bartolomeo refer to him as the Vice-Captain.
Throughout the series there have been several instances where others wonder why someone as strong willed as Zoro is following someone else.
Then there are blatantly obvious parallels with Silvers Rayleigh.
He was also the first one to join Roger, and if you look into his title “Dark King.”
You’ll see that the Japanese fans have a very specific interpretation of this title, which indicates; that this man could have been number one if it weren’t for a certain someone. Hence, the Dark King.
Zoro has many parallels with Rayleigh, even his Post time skip character design has a scar just like Rayleigh’s. Not to mention, he also possesses Conqueror’s Haki as it was finally revealed in the 1010th Chapter.
So, you can say that Zoro being the First mate isn’t something canon, and Oda might never make it canon either because he likes the Straw Hat Pirates to be non-traditional.
Rather, its something that goes without saying.
He is indeed Luffy’s right hand!
That’s all folks.
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