#caps from salteytakesonmanga

[swordsmans]

so i'm coming from LA and a friend's reccomendation, and i was told zoro keeps the crew's single braincell safe until someone needs it, can you confirm this?

this is definitely a loaded question, because my gut instinct was to say, “no! absolutely not!” he’s plenty smart, but not the keeper of the braincell. he’s the levelheaded backbone of the crew and the voice of reason when circumstances get utterly dire—and he’s an expert at close-range battle strategy—but 99% of the time he is one of the crew’s TOP mayhem mode enablers.

HOWEVER, i can absolutely see how you (and/or your friend) would get that impression from OPLA. despite the delicious violence (and sass!) OPLA zoro gave us, he is significantly less chaotic overall. in some ways, OPLA zoro feels closer to post-timeskip manga zoro—pre-ts manga zoro is just as silly as the rest of the straw hats—

(exhibit A—healing after trying to cut his own legs off)

(exhibit B—going without a coat or shoes on a winter island for “training” reasons, then regretting it a little)

but even after the timeskip (when he gets a bit more serious) he’s still Prime Dumbass (affectionate)

(exhibit A—they’re attempting to infiltrate another country using fake names and… well. 10/10 creativity, guys. absolutely killing it.)

(exhibit B—the joke here is that they’re attempting a stealth mission, but Zoro has just leveled several buildings and left a number of bodies in his wake… and yet…)

—all in all, manga/anime zoro is similar but fundamentally different from OPLA zoro, so the short answer is no, although he does have his turn with the crew braincell (and he’s by no means unintelligent), he’s definitely not the primary braincell holder. he’s way too chaotic for that, and we love him for it (♡-_-♡)

if anyone on the crew holds the braincell for safekeeping, i would argue it’s either nami or jinbei