ZORO'S FEELINGS FOR TASHIGI
(long, very long writing, so sit right down when reading it)
In the first instance we must dive in and go back to their first meeting in Loguetown. Where Zoro felt the need to run away from Tashigi, since, she triggered the memories of his best friend: Kuina.
Memories that made him question if he was really ever in love with Kuina.
To clarify this, in the Loguetown Novel, Zoro is tormented because Tashigi's mere resemblance to Kuina sparked feelings in him that he had never felt for anyone else:
"Struck by his resemblance to Kuina as by a punch in the face, Zoro , the feared pirate hunter, had panicked. Kuina had played an important role in his life, and her resemblance aroused in him an indescribable feeling. Because of this, the negligent style sleeper that Zoro was could sometimes show feelings.
Did this mean that he was in love with Kuina? Certainly not, he was still too young at that time."
Does this mean that Zoro could have fallen in love with Tashigi in this first meeting? Yes and no.
Possibly, Zoro was always focused on becoming strong and being able to keep his promise to Kuina, i.e. he never had time to sit down and think about his feelings. Already in the Loguetown Novel, it is emphasized that Zoro never was and felt feelings of love for Kuina, she is and will be "His promise and goal to achieve".
As to whether there is the moment when a person meets someone and knows that person will be important to him, or simply in the case of "the soft side" that awakened Tashigi in Zoro at their first meeting, whether it revokes a large sentimental attachment. In the case of the actor who plays Roronoa Zoro in the Live Action: Mackenyu. He in an interview talks about his relationship with his wife and states the following:
"I definitely won the lottery in life. I've never met anyone as beautiful and cute as her in my life. I say that every day. The first time I met her, I knew I immediately wanted to marry her."
In his first meeting with his wife Mackenyu already knew that she would be his wife, real feelings from the first meeting do exist and this is a great example.
Something that Tatsuya and Oda emphasized very well when writing Zoro's feelings for Tashigi from their first meeting.
To conclude this first meeting, it must be considered that Zoro at the moment he met Tashigi for the first time, he felt something so strong that he had never felt for anyone else. Feelings that made Zoro himself question if he had ever been in love with Kuina.
Where, the magnitude of that feeling was so strong that he linked them with feelings of love.
But what happens next? We Zotash shippers know that the conflict of enemies to lovers arises in their fight in Loguetown (romantic fight in my heart, clashes of swords, challenging and provocative looks, under the singing of the rain) in this duel both Zoro and Tashigi were baffled by the implication that they were both unaware of each other's identity. Tashigi did not know that the man he cared about and helped pick out his Sandai sword was a pirate. And, Zoro didn't know that the woman who looked so much like his best friend and was an expert swordswoman was a Marine.
Zoro's thoughts and his unintended encounter that Tashigi was a Marine haunted him during their duel:
"I was a swordswoman, but I belonged to the Navy."
"So you used to be in the Navy…" Zoro smiled bitterly.
"I never imagined I'd ever meet that woman, let alone belong to the Navy." Loguetown Novel
Something that for Zoro himself the interest for her was great, that she is part of the navy is a surprise that should not be taken well at all, well the same author of the Loguetown Novel clarifies it with better words:
"Considering that he was a pirate and she was a Woman Marine…. Life was definitely full of surprises."
But it wasn't just Zoro who was stunned by his Marine/Pirate encounter. For Tashigi it was also hard to take in, although she in their duel was always questioning how someone like Zoro could have such a fair and righteous mastery with his swords:
"Impressed by her opponent's strength of conviction, the swordswoman could not say a word."
Although, it should also be stressed that for Tashigi, Zoro's words left traces, traces that even in Punk Hazard do not heal:
"But above all, he found it impossible to forgive that man who had dared to tell him that his existence bothered him."
The feelings of both Zoro and Tashigi in this duel were of coping and recognition. Zoro acknowledges that Tashigi is an expert swordswoman, just as her very existence makes him nervous, he stresses that her presence alone makes him feel nervous. On the other hand, Tashigi was upset at being teased, insulted and hurt, but even so, she maintains that Zoro is an expert swordsman, and will pursue him to catch him with her bare hands.
Zoro in Loguetown aroused romantic feelings for Tashigi, and in Alabasta in their second encounter we see that Zoro cannot face Tashigi, either because he was still not done unleashing those sentimental knots or simply because he was tormented by her resemblance to Kuina, we only know that Zoro himself states that Tashigi "is the only person he cannot fight" or by a more recent translation "she is the only one I am weak to".
By Zoro admitting that Tashigi is his weakness, he is assuming that she is the only person for whom he can show affection, predilection, passion and love. Someone's weakness is always their most precious treasure.
Then, Oda emphasizes it again in One Piece Blue Deep, placing that Tashigi, itself, is Zoro's weakness in 2012.
The same year that the Punk Hazard manga chapters come out.
Here we enter one of my favorite arcs, which according to me has many important panels for Tashigi's character development but that will be another story.
Zoro's feelings for Tashigi in Punk Hazard are different from those evidenced in Loguetown and Alabasta. In PH, Oda gives us an early Zotash moment, where we can see that Zoro cares and feels the need to know what Law did to Tashigi. A Zoro worried about Tashigi is both hilarious and beautiful.
But, in itself, then there is their first moment where they both find themselves in each other's presence. Subtly, Zoro in this part still considered Tashigi an "Imitator", but acknowledges knowing what Tashigi's rank was "Sergeant" and knows that she is now a "Captain" (the man pays attention to his girl's little details).
Why do you keep calling her an imitator and when she admits that she is no longer an imitation of Kuina? Easy to explain. At the moment when the G-5 sacrifices himself for Tashigi, their captain, loved and respected, Zoro is disturbed by what happened. At that time, the same Zoro could recognize that Tashigi is not a copy of Kuina, she is a woman worth having respect and loyalty to his men, men who gave life for her (something Zoro was going to be a time in Triller Bark to save the life of his captain). She recognizes that Tashigi in fact is and will be only her. In the Loguetown novel Zoro admits this:
"As their conversation progressed, he realized what made Kuina different. The bespectacled swordswoman was quiet and unassuming by nature, both in her manners and her appearance."
Then we have their reunion in the Cookie Room in Punk Hazard. Chapter 687 of the manga, which from the beginning screams that it was going to be a chapter dedicated to Zotash.
Starting with Sanji's panel where he admits that in fact Zoro "has a soft side" (2012) and that Tashigi in his hands will be protected. Something that already in the writings of the Loguetown Novel (2002) had been introduced stating that Zoro " Even in his sturdy heart there was a soft side capable of having feelings for another person". So yes, Oda used the same words written in the Loguetown Novel, to give Sanji that phrase that is nothing more and nothing less than linked to Tashigi in both parts: Loguetown Novel and Chapter 687 of the manga.
This confirms that Zoro has feelings for Tashigi, without admitting that Sanji himself may hint at them or have an idea.
In the official interview of Zoro's Ships released on the official One Piece Youtube channel, they stress that in fact, Zoro was all along aware of Tashigi. When she was hurt by Monet, his killer instinct was activated because he doesn't like her to be hurt. Besides, that the nickname he gives her "Captain Four Eyes" is a wholehearted nickname. Without obviating, that they claim that both were "fighting" but flirting.
Also, that in the SBS 70 Oda emphasizes that in fact, Zoro did care about Tashigi, as well as Tashigi's possible future feelings for Zoro.
Finally, in the SBS of One Piece Party 1 Oda again drops a very important clue to better understand Tashigi and Zoro's relationship. Stating that Zoro no longer considers Tashigi an "Imitator", to Zoro, Tashigi is "Captain Four Eyes".
I don't want to get too deep into One Piece World Seeker a game with a great functional trope between the relationship between Zoro and Tashigi. But yes, anyone who says that for Zoro, Tashigi means nothing has simply not understood everything Oda has built up since their first meeting.
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