One Piece Theory Explained: Is Kuina Alive?

Roronoa Zoro is undoubtedly one of the best-known One Piece characters. Like Luffy, Zoro wants to be the best in his own category, i.e., he wants to become the best swordsman in the world, surpassing his idol and rival, Dracule Mihawk, who is said to be the best swordsman in the world. But, his beginnings were quite humble and are tied to a character named Shimotsuki Kuina, who was able to defeat Zoro 2,001 times without ever losing to him. Kuina died at the age of eleven, an important moment in Zoro’s life. But could Kuina still be alive? In this article, we are going to touch upon that theory.

Shimotsuki Kuina died at the age of 11 and as far as it is known at this moment, she is dead. There is a very popular fan theory that her death was faked and that she is actually Tashigi, but this was officially disproven by Oda himself, who provided us with a drawing of Tashigi as a child and she looked different than Kuina as a child. There is also a theory that she escaped the village, but there is no proof of that either.

The rest of this article will focus on the character of Shimotsuki Kuina and the theories surrounding her death in the lore of One Piece. We will tell you whether Shimotsuki Kuina is really dead, i.e., whether the theories surrounding her death are true or not. This article might contain a smaller number of spoilers, so do be careful while you’re reading.

What happened to Shimotsuki Kuina in One Piece?

Kuina was born in Shimoshiki twenty-one years before the beginning of the narrative and trained from a very young age in the art of swordsmanship in her father’s dojo. One day the latter told her that girls could not become the strongest in the world. She defeated Zoro in two thousand fights, even if, in the last one, the young Zoro resorted to using two shinai.

Ten years before the start of the narrative, her grandfather Kozaburo died, and Kuina attended her funeral with her father, crying. One night while she was training, Zoro approached her and challenged her with a real sword, asking if she had one of hers. She replied that he always carried it with him and accepted, managing to win shortly after and pointing out that she had won two thousand and one times. Zoro expressed her anger, so Kuina replied that she was sorry because as girls grow up, they become less strong than men, and the children who trained in the dojo would overcome her.

She pointed out that Zoro always said that he wanted to become the best swordsman in the world, which girls weren’t allowed to do, tearfully explaining that her father told him so. She added that she envied him for the fact that he was a man because she also wanted to become the strongest swordsman in the world and that her breasts were growing, confessing that she wanted to be born a man. Zoro shouted at her that she had won and shouldn’t complain, calling her a coward and telling her that it was her goal.

The boy grabbed her two swords and shouted at her that man or woman made no difference, asking her if he would say the same when he managed to beat her as if it weren’t just his skill that mattered. He also added that he seemed like an idiot training to be able to defeat her, so he shouldn’t say such a thing, asking her to swear that one day, one of them, would become the strongest swordsman in the world, proposing that they compete against each other to obtain this title. Kuina wiped away her tears, called him a fool, and told him that he was still weak: both then confirmed her promise by shaking hands.

However, the next day, Kuina fell down the stairs while going to sharpen her sword and died. Zoro then made an oath to keep his promise to honor Kuina and took Kuina’s saber, which he always kept by his side.

Could Kuina be alive in One Piece?

Now, Kuina’s death was a fact from Zoro’s life that surprisingly turned into one of the biggest mysteries in the series, with fans suggesting that Kuina is actually alive and that she is either one completely different character or that she escaped. Here are the theories in overview, thanks to user Jameselite2c-therealdeal from the One Piece Wikia:

1. Kuina and Tashigi are one in the same. Now while I do see this being unlikely I went around and had a look at various videos of people like Tekking 101 and The Legend Mac, and while some agree with this theory I couldn’t bite their reason that she one just ran away and joined marines, but the biggest problem was that she is considerably weaker than how I could visualise Kuina.
2. Kuina escaped Shimotsuki village, and Koshiro being disgraced at himself of her sudden dissapearance covers it up by faking her death, with a fake corpse. Using the excuse she fell down the stairs to motivate Zoro who was close to Kuina to hopefully succeed in finding her one day and returning her sword to her. This would make quite a fair bit of sense since he gave the last memory of his daughter her sword to Zoro, this gives Zoro the opportunity to return a favour to Kuina for making him the swordsman he is. This sword is also a similar memento as Luffy’s strawhat which he is to return to Shanks once he is strong enough, Kuina’s sword could be used to return to her once he is a strong swordsman.

(Source)

According to the first theory, as you can see, Kuina survived the fall, her death was faked, and she simply changed her identity and became Tashigi, another character with a strong connection to Zoro. And while it cannot be denied that Tashigi looks a lot like Kuina, as even Zoro himself remarked, this theory has officially been disproven by Oda himself with this one drawing:

Namely, this is Tashigi as a child, and as you can see, she looked different than Kuina, meaning that they are not one and the same person, despite all of their similarities. This was finally proven in SBS Volume 68, the specials where Oda answers fans questions and demands, as you can see here:

D: Going along with the recent SBS Children Series, I’d like to see the Marines’ Hina-san, Smo-yan, and Tashigi-chan when they were kids!! P.N. Kumakoro

O: Ok.

And yes, Hina’s and Smoker’s drawings have also been provided, but the gist of it is that Tashigi, as a child, looked markedly different than Kuina, which means that they are not one and the same (unless Oda decides to retcon something, but that is not likely).

The second theory was officially disproven with the end of the Wano Country Arc, where no such character could be seen. There was no reference to an adult Kuina during the Wano Arc, and we can now officially confirm that Kuina is, sadly, dead in One Piece and that the theories are wrong from what we know now.