early on in the story, zoro is clearly not used to people like nami and sanji. probably because he’s historically been very independent, he gets kind of stunned by people who willingly let themselves be used/people who take advantage of being liked. (plus i think he’s really not used to sanji’s over-the-top performance of heterosexuality… cause he’s very Not Straight but also because he’s operated in predominantly male spaces his whole life.)
the only time zoro ever calls nami a witch in canon is during the baratie arc, and it’s in response to witnessing nami leverage her femininity for the first time (to receive favors from sanji, of course.) he’s clearly surprised by the whole situation, because he cannot imagine how nami got this random waiter to fold so completely. he himself would not be swayed by a hug and a few surface-level compliments, so why is this weird blond guy acting like that?
i think this comes to a head during whisky peak, which is when nami finds a button that does work on zoro — his promises. zoro’s consternation in whisky peak mostly comes from him not wanting to feel like he’s being used, because he’s still got that independent streak and isn’t used to being ordered around.
but, crucially, whisky peak is the big moment of this. after that scene, zoro and nami settle fairly comfortably into a mutual understanding of each other, and zoro doesn’t really care about getting ordered around by her anymore because he understands that she’s asking him as a crewmate and friend. in punk hazard for example, when nami orders him to follow sanji, he does it without protest even though he complains about it. (nami does not need to perpetually hold some nebulous debt over his head to get him to do what she wants, lol.)
i will also say, it’s funny to me that zoro has so much initial resistance to taking orders from nami and can’t believe why sanji would do favors for her so readily, but he’s immediately down to take orders from luffy and swear devotion to him on his sword. zoro i think you are gay.
