One Piece: Will Zoro Join Baroque Works?

Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Oda’s One Piece has finally started, and with all the changes from the manga, as well as standalone questions, fans are demanding answers and in his article, we are going to answer one of the more important questions in the series. Namely, at the beginning of the series, Roronoa Zoro was approached by Mr. 7 of Baroque Works; Mr. 7 asked Zoro to join them, but before he could get an answer, he was cut down by Zoro. In this article, you will find out whether Zoro joined Baroque Works or not.

No, Zoro never did join the Baroque Works organization. He was initially recruited by Mr. 7, but Zoro simply killed him, which was as straightforward as one can go when a rejection is concerned. Zoro would never join a villainous organization in the first place, even if we completely disregard the fact that he later joined Monkey D. Luffy’s pirate crew. As manga fans will know, Zoro will later fight the Baroque Works in Arabasta, which was the ultimate confirmation that the swordsman had no intention whatsoever of joining Sir Crocodile’s villainous group in the series.

The rest of this article will tell you a bit about Baroque Works and Zoro’s relationship with the group, as it was depicted in the live-action series. We are also going to rely a bit on some information from the manga to expand the storyline, which is necessary because it will better explain some things that have been left unexplained in the live-action adaptation of the manga. As for spoilers, some spoilers will be present, so we’d definitely advise all of you who haven’t read the manga or seen the anime to approach the article with care.

No, Zoro never joined Baroque Works, and his killing Mr. 7 was the most straightforward answer he could give

When we first meet Zoro in the live-action series, he is depicted as a skilled pirate hunter. He is also a loner and has certain rituals that he respects, which is somewhat different from his initial appearance in the anime and manga; the live-action series actually added a bit of substance to his debut in the series, which made it look more effective.

Now, during one of such rituals, Zoro was approached by a man with a strange hairdo who introduced himself as Mr. 7, a member of an organization known as Baroque Works. Before continuing, let us tell you a bit about Baroque Works, since it is an extremely important part of the One Piece lore.

The Baroque Works was a criminal organization created and directed by the founder and Shichibukai Sir Crocodile to obtain the plans for the Pluton. It is not exactly known when Sir Crocodile laid the foundation for the organization. The only certain thing is that he offered Nico Robin, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, shelter on the run from the World Government, who then promised to lead him to the plans of the Pluton, a powerful ancient weapon.

Over the next four years, the two at the helm of the company work towards bringing about a utopia in the state of Arabasta and overthrowing the Nefertari royal family, mainly to be guided to the Poneglyph for Nico Robin to decipher for Sir Crocodile.

The company consists of a large number of agents divided into different ranks: The Millions represent the base. These approximately 1,800 agents report to the border agents and carry out simple tasks. More important and powerful are the 200 or so agents called the Billions, who report to the top agents.

The Frontier Agents are a group of special agents who are staffed in pairs and are only known by an alias. The men wear a number, the women the name of a tag. The lower the number or more popular tag, the higher the rank.

A special feature is the Unluckies, which consists of an otter and a vulture – Mr.13 and Miss Friday. The top agents are ranked above the Frontier Agents, whose lowest level is Mr.5, continuing the well-known scheme. The only exception is Mr.2, who no longer needs a partner due to his transgender appearance. At the helm of the Baroque company is Shichibukai Sir Crocodile, who operates under the alias Mr.0. His partner is Nico Robin, who goes by the alias of Miss AllSunday.

Now that you know who they are and who their leader is, you probably realize that Baroque Works is a villainous organization, which it is, seeing how their leader, Sir Crocodile, turned them into a group of… well, basically, terrorists.

But that has been taken care of now, and we can actually continue with our story. So, Mr. 7 walks up to Zoro, tells him who he is, flashes a standard Baroque Works card, and asks Zoro to join them. Zoro is skeptical and mocks Mr. 7’s face tattoos, which were actually tattoos of the number seven. So, what does Zoro do? As you can imagine, he is not really amazed by the offer and doesn’t really want to join them, so he makes it clear to Mr. 7 in his own specific way. What happens next? Well, knowing Zoro, you might actually take a guess, and you’ll probably be right.

Zoro draws out his swords, and a fight ensues. Mr. 7, underestimating Zoro and overestimating himself, thinks he can win, but in a few moments, he is literally cut in half by the dangerous swordsman and dies. What happened next? As far as Mr. 7 is concerned, Zoro packed him up in a bag and carried his body around until the Marines imprisoned him; he would later be replaced by a new Mr. 7 in the organization, but that is something we know from the manga.

In fact, this Mr. 7, whom the live-action series portrayed, was never even seen in the original series, and there only exists a rough sketch of him that Oda provided for an SBS, as this iteration of Mr. 7 was only mentioned in the original manga and never shown.

But, while Zoro did kill Mr. 7, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he won’t join the organization in the future, does it? But, if you have any doubts about it, we can help you by claiming that Zoro will absolutely never join the Baroque Works organization; he will soon end up, as you can see, joining Luffy’s pirate crew along with the others, but even if we disregard that part, Zoro would have never joined a villainous organization, as it was simply not in line with his personality.

Led by Sir Crocodile, Baroque Works was a truly villainous organization that terrorized not only Arabasta but also its own members (best seen in the example of Nico Robin in the manga), so Zoro, who valued justice and freedom, would never become a part of such an organization, regardless of what benefits Crocodile might have offered him.

In fact, not only did Zoro not join them, but he ended up fighting them in the Arabasta Arc of the manga and can be considered as one of the saviors of Arabasta since he helped bring the whole organization down (although it was Luffy who defeated Sir Crocodile in the end).