One Piece’s Zoro and His ‘Only Fight Swordsmen’ Rule Spark Debate — 5ch: ‘Bet You Can’t Name a Better Manga’

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The story

The thread kicked off with a claim that Eiichiro Oda himself may be breaking the principle he set for One Piece’s Zoro — that to become the world’s greatest swordsman, he’ll only fight other swordsmen — through recent developments involving Luffy (Nika).

On 5ch, the discussion didn’t stop at that question and expanded into a full-blown “name a manga better than One Piece” debate, with posters throwing out titles like Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen. Interpretations of Zoro’s rule were also split, with some pushing back that there’s nothing wrong with him fighting non-swordsmen at all.

What people said

1AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:12
Having Nika fight the swordsmen instead of Zoro
3AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:13
Who cares
If you've got complaints, go write your own
Do something about that empty life where all you can do is nitpick
4AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:14
Re: #3
If this is what passes for garbage manga, I could do better
9AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:15
Re: #3
It's obvious you're just jealous of Oda's earnings
I wonder how many months it takes Oda to earn what these guys make in a lifetime
10AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:15
Re: #3
If I wrote it, I could make something more interesting than this boring manga
16AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:17
You guys keep calling One Piece boring, boring, but I bet you can't name a manga more interesting than it
And your favorite moe slice-of-life 'Kirara'-style manga and web-novel isekai ('narou') adaptations don't count
17AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:17
Re: #16
So Oda-kun is losing even to Kirara and narou manga now?
19AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:18
Re: #16
Chainsaw Man Part 1 was more interesting than One Piece
22AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:19
Oda's probably already forgotten the dream he wrote about back then

26AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:20
Oda-kun's bad at making manga, but he's good at drawing
27AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:21
Re: #26
Good at what, exactly?
30AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:22
Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen are both more interesting than One Piece too
35AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:24
Re: #30
Never read Jujutsu Kaisen so I can't say, but Demon Slayer's story is dark, gloomy, heavy, and reeks of introvert energy
And the female characters have no charm either
37AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:25
Re: #30
But Akaza is basically Katakuri, right? (a running comparison in this thread — Akaza is a villain from Demon Slayer, Katakuri a villain from One Piece)
31AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:22
Luffy: 'Shanks, Imu, and Mihawk were all swordsmen, but I beat them.'

Zoro: 'Without even fighting, I'm the world's greatest!'

This could totally happen
42AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:26
Re: #31
Zoro: 'Now that the strongest guys are gone, I'm the strongest by default 😁'
34AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:23
Re: #32
Yeah, that's so One Piece
The fact that someone would post that just proves they're a fanboy
36AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:24
Re: #34
Lol you can't even give a specific rebuttal
39AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:26
Re: #35
Shinobu Kocho is way cuter than One Piece's weirdly-proportioned Nami or Robin
40AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:26
Come on, a captain who's lost sight of even his own crewmates' goals is just lame
Back in the day there was mutual respect among the crew, which made it satisfying to read
But now it's just a cult pirate crew

44AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:27
Re: #37
You already admitted Akaza isn't Katakuri
Give it a rest
58AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:31
Re: #44
Muzan's like a JoJo arc boss, and I admitted I don't get the standard by which Akaza's supposedly not Katakuri, but I never admitted Akaza isn't Katakuri
Re: #53
Sanji's the one who gave the word 'kuso' (damn/crap) the nuance it has today
53AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:29
Even when you quote a famous One Piece line, people just go '…huh?'
JoJo references land fine at work, but
I sang the 'Binks' Sake' song (One Piece's famous pirate drinking song) and not a single person picked up on it
55AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:29
Re: #19
Never read Chainsaw Man, but it seems needlessly grim and gory
Sorry for judging off vibes alone, but it lacks that One Piece brightness of punching every bad guy out one by one for a satisfying resolution
56AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:30
Re: #55
It's a manga where Denji, who's even dumber than Luffy, satisfyingly chainsaws through everything
62AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:31
Grown men playing pretend as 'Z' (Zoro)…
Creating a special-grade cursed object like this is way too sinful (borrowing Jujutsu Kaisen's term for a monster born of dark feelings)
Just end One Piece already and set these guys free…
65AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:33
Re: #62
If anything, the 'Z' crowd is dead center in the generation that grew up on One Piece
Right in the middle of the One Piece boom sparked by the show Hexagon, around the Marineford War to Fish-Man Island arcs
64AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:32
Re: #58
Akaza is NOT Katakuri
71AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:35
Re: #64
I mean, the way Muzan gets beaten and the way the 41-year-old gets beaten — Akaza's basically Katakuri
76AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:36
Re: #71
We're talking about Akaza and Katakuri here, so if you want to change the subject, settle this first
If you move on to something else, that means you've admitted Akaza isn't Katakuri
70AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:34
I'm not an anti-fan or anything
I just stopped reading because Nika is gross
One Piece was great back when Luffy still had some brains left
79AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:38
Re: #70
Same here
I still genuinely think it's great up through around the Grand Line
But past that it's a matter of opinion, and I don't think there's any point reading past the Nika stuff
Guess that makes me a flipped anti-fan
72AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:35
That rule is just something you made up yourself
Did Oda ever actually say 'Zoro will only fight swordsmen'? Huh? Did he?
80AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:38
Re: #72
It's not that he'll only fight swordsmen — it's that he can't be called the world's greatest swordsman unless he fights strong swordsmen
89AnonymousSep 9, 2026 18:41

Background and Key Points of the Debate

Within the story, Zoro has repeatedly been shown pursuing the dream of becoming the world’s greatest swordsman, a goal that requires defeating the world’s strongest swordsman (Mihawk). The claim at the center of this thread stems from readers’ sense that, in recent years, Luffy (Nika) has increasingly clashed with powerful enemies who aren’t swordsmen, making Zoro’s “only fight swordsmen” principle feel diluted by comparison. That said, it’s worth noting that Eiichiro Oda himself has never explicitly stated in the manga or in official materials that “Zoro will only fight swordsmen” — some posters in the thread pushed back, saying they don’t recall Oda ever setting such a rule — so the premise itself leaves room for interpretation. The comparisons drawn to Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Chainsaw Man are likewise subjective, personal-taste judgments rather than being based on objective measures like circulation figures or popularity rankings.

*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Image] Eiichiro Oda breaks another rule he made up himself wwwwwwwww.”

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