Roronoa Zoro Falls Into the Sea

Blades fully unsheathed, Zoro can hardly accept that the finest swordsman alive has crossed his path this soon into the voyage. Everyone present, the Krieg crew, the Straw Hats, and the Baratie's cooks, locks their attention on the duel about to unfold. Mihawk shames him by drawing only a small pocket knife strung around his neck, reasoning that no clever hunter throws his full strength at a rabbit. He points out that, among the four oceans that the Red Line and Grand Line divide, Zoro's home waters of the East Blue rank as the feeblest, and he even wishes he had brought something smaller still.

Cut by the disdain, Zoro lunges, yet Mihawk stops all three katana dead on the knife's tip. Comparing him to a frog trapped in a well, Mihawk presses him to taste the broader world. A mere toy halts Zoro's Oni Giri, and Johnny and Yosaku cannot fathom how a signature move collapsed so quickly. Whipped into a frenzy, Zoro slashes recklessly while Mihawk slips aside and answers each blow effortlessly, asking what weight pushes the young man toward absolute strength.

Calling up his vow to Kuina and then his pledge to Luffy, Zoro prepares the Tora Gari, but Mihawk drives the knife into his chest before the swing can land. Astonishing everyone, Zoro will not give ground, declaring that one backward step would betray every promise he has ever made. Mihawk names that defeat, yet Zoro insists it is all the more cause to hold his place, even preferring death to retreat. Moved by such conviction, Mihawk pulls the blade free, requests his name, and at last unsheathes his real sword, Yoru, honoring a fellow swordsman.

Zoro lets fly his ultimate Sanzen Sekai, but Mihawk's counterstroke breaks all of his swords save the Wado Ichimonji. Surrendering, Zoro turns toward him and throws his arms open, telling Mihawk that any wound dealt to a swordsman's back brings shame. Pleased with the act, Mihawk lays his chest open, and as Zoro topples he hears that he should not rush toward his own end.

The cover carries on Buggy's Crew Adventure Chronicles, bringing in a heart-themed lady pirate, Alvida, who chases off the crab and rescues Buggy. This bout leaves Zoro with the lasting scar across his torso and confirms Yoru as the strongest blade on the planet. Mihawk's frog-in-the-well comparison lodges deeply enough that he later turns it on other foes. For the series' twenty-second anniversary one-shot, Boichi redrew this chapter as an entry in the Cover Comic Project for One Piece.