- —Tagline
Zoro VS Erza is the 70th episode of Death Battle, featuring Roronoa Zoro from the One Piece series and Erza Scarlet from the Fairy Tail series in a battle between loyal anime swordfighters. Zoro was voiced by Kaiji Tang and Erza was voiced by Katelyn Barr.
Interlude
Boomstick: Past, present, or future, one kind of fighter has stood the test of time: The swordsman.
Wiz: And today's combatants are two of the most skilled warriors to ever wield a blade.
Boomstick: Roronoa Zoro, the feared swordsman of the Straw Hat Pirates.
Wiz: And Erza Scarlet, the battle mage of the Fairy Tail guild.
Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
Roronoa Zoro
Wiz: As a child, Roronoa Zoro dreamed of becoming the greatest swordsman in the world.
Boomstick: But he didn't just enroll at a dojo. He showed up, challenged everyone, and then just sort of stuck around.
Wiz: Zoro's dojo training sharpened his natural talent with a sword, but there was one person he could never quite manage to beat: his sensei's daughter, Kuina. They dueled A LOT, and Kuina won every single matchup. All 2,001 of them.
Boomstick: Damn, you'd think he would've gotten at least one win in!
Wiz: Despite the constant defeat, Kuina and Zoro were very close friends. Together, they promised that someday, one of them would become the world's best swordsman.
Boomstick: And then she fell down some stairs and died, which just seems like an unacceptable way for a master swordsman to bite the dust.
Wiz: Does thin out the competition for world's best swordsman, though.
Boomstick: True. I mean, that's how I became the world's best shotgun wood carver!
Wiz: After Kuina's death, Zoro inherited her sword, and used it to hone his skills even further, eventually leaving the dojo in search of the current titleholder of "World's Greatest Swordsman", Dracule Mihawk.
Boomstick: But, he immediately got himself lost. With nothing better to do, he became a bounty hunter and wandered around the ocean until he ran into a weird, stretchy, pirate kid.
Wiz: You mean Monkey D. Luffy, who brought Zoro onto his crew of Straw Hat Pirates.
Boomstick: Actually worked out pretty well, since Luffy was already looking to hire him anyway. Turns out, Zoro has quite a reputation.
Wiz: At this point, he was already a master swordsman, and, after finding and training under Mihawk, his swordsmanship became legendary.
Boomstick: He created his own fighting style, Santoryu, also called "Three Sword Style", because he uses THREE swords, one in each hand, and one in his friggin' mouth!
Wiz: That doesn't seem very safe...
Boomstick: Ah, shut up, Wiz. Badasses don't care about safety!
Wiz: Regardless, with the Three Sword Style, Zoro can perform several unique attacks, including the Oni Giri, where he strikes with all three blades at once.
Boomstick: Or the Tatsu Maki, where he makes a tornado dragon!
Wiz: By swinging his swords a certain way, he can fire compressed air projectiles toward an opponent,
Wiz: ...like with his deadliest technique, the 1080 Pound Cannon. And last but not least, he knows the Kyutoryu Nine-Sword Style.
Boomstick: Wait, did he just grow four more arms and two more heads?! How the hell'd he do that?!
Wiz: It's just an illusion, but, it still somehow has physical presence.
Boomstick: He's like a human Slap-Chop, with a total of nine swords!
Wiz: That's one way to put it... in addition to his skills with a blade, Zoro is able to use Haki, a mysterious power that every living thing possesses, but only a select few have learned how to use.
Boomstick: Haki, much like Neapolitan ice cream, comes in three flavors, and Zoro only has access to chocolate and vanilla.
Wiz: Chocolate... I... what? I... I don't even... well, one of those... flavors... is Observation Haki.
Boomstick: That's vanilla!
Wiz: Of course... which, in some ways, is similar to Spider-Man's spidey-sense. Zoro can sense the location of other people, even if they're invisible or far away, and can also predict most opponents' attacks.
Boomstick: Then chocolate, everyone's favorite Haki flavor, is Armament Haki. This lets him form an invisible armor around himself as protection, or harden his swords to make his strikes cut through almost anything.
Wiz: With both Haki, Zoro has been a real asset to the Straw Hat Pirates. They've traveled the world and had a lot of... weird adventures.
Boomstick: Like that time Zoro fought a literal living mountain man named Pica, and sliced him clean in half!
Wiz: A strike so powerful, it didn't just cut through Pica, it sent his top half flying upward. Considering Pica's enormous size and approximate mass, this strike had to have been more powerful than the first-ever deployed hydrogen bomb: the 11 Megaton Castle Romeo.
Boomstick: Also, Zoro's pretty damn fast. One time, he moved so quickly, he seemed invisible to a room of highly-trained assassins. And when the odds are against him, he'll keep pushing himself, even past the point of bleeding out.
Wiz: Thus, he's powered through some incredibly intense pain. Such as...
Zoro gets a taste of Luffy's pain and spasms wildly.
Boomstick: HOLY SHIT! How the hell is he still standing after that?!
Wiz: That's a good question. After a battle with Kuma, a bear man -because this is One Piece- Zoro took on not only his own pain of near-death, but also Luffy's, despite being told that doing so would surely kill him, but it just... didn't.
Boomstick: And he doesn't even brag about it. What a badass.
Wiz: Zoro is definitely the stoic, badass type, but he can't do everything. He's a swordfighter above all and prefers to fight up close and personal.
Boomstick: He also has the world's shittiest sense of direction. He gets lost without someone there literally reading the map for him, and could never survive on his own without his friends.
Wiz: You might think Zoro would be more of a lone wolf type of guy, but no, much like how Kuina's death spurred him on to become a great swordsman, it's his friends who keep him fighting.
Zoro: I set sail for only one reason: To meet you!
Mihawk: And what is your goal?
Zoro: To beat you!
Erza Scarlet
Wiz: Erza Scarlet grew up in a small, rural town called Rosemary Village. It was pretty picturesque, as far as childhoods go.
Boomstick: Hold on, Wiz, I'm getting a premonition. Despite everything seeming perfect, something... something terrible happens.
Wiz: A murderous cult attacked, destroyed the city, and enslaved the children to build a tower to resurrect their evil overlord.
Boomstick: There it is.
Wiz: Young Erza was tortured, and while she may have lost an eye in the process, she also gained a friend, Jellal Fernandes. He actually gave Erza her last name, Scarlet, after her red hair.
Boomstick: She and her buddy swore they'd escape, so Erza ended up staging a revolt, and saved the other slaves, thanks to discovering her latent magical powers.
Wiz: Unfortunately, not everyone made it out.
Boomstick: Turns out, Jellal got possessed by some spirit that made him a huge dick, and she had to go without him.
Jellal: Fine, if you want to leave so badly, then I'm not going to stop you. But you'll have to go alone.
Wiz: After that nightmare, Erza swore to dedicate her life to helping and protecting the innocent, and so joined the Fairy Tail Magician's Guild. Luckily for them, she possessed a great skill set for a mage.
Boomstick: Her main thing is Requip magic, which is basically like having an armory with you at all times, without having to lug it around.
Wiz: Requip magic allows Erza to summon her vast array of weapons and armor at will, meaning she can use multiple combinations of swords, lances, and outfits, all in one fight, without ever really slowing down.
Boomstick: Damn, that'd be useful for all my weapons. How many is she packin'?
Wiz: She's rumored to have access to as many as a hundred sets of armor and 200 weapons.
Boomstick: Nice! As far as armor goes, her go-to is the standard Heart Kreuz set, but there's also the Heaven's Wheel Armor, where she can send swords flying at people, the spiky, defensive Adamantine Armor, and the Black Wing and Flame Empress armors, which have wings, for... flying!
Wiz: Don't forget her Giant Armor, which she uses with a lance, Purgatory Armor, which has a lot of spikes, and, uh... Seduction Armor? I'm not really sure what purpose this serves...
Boomstick: Probably to make enemies terribly aroused. Ever tried to fight with an erection, Wiz? (chuckling) Believe me, it's not easy.
Wiz: Right... Well, Erza claims her most powerful armor is the Armadura Fairy armor, which is very... pink.
Boomstick: These are fancy and all, but sometimes...
Boomstick: She doesn't even bother suiting up. If her back's against the wall, Erza equips her Clear Heart clothing. This enhances her speed and attack over defense, and channels all her magical energy into her katanas for a decisive blow.
Wiz: She can charge magic through her swords to perform all sorts of magical attacks, even mixing and matching weapons and armors to better her chances in a fight.
Boomstick: She's also just really good at sword-fighting. Actually, she's really good with a lot of weapons, including hand-to-hand.
Wiz: All of this makes Erza an excellent addition to the Fairy Tail guild. She quickly became one of its highest-ranking mages and was the youngest member to ever pass the S-Class Mage Promotion Test, an incredibly difficult gauntlet only the strongest and wisest of warriors can even attempt.
Boomstick: Speaking of achievements, she's pretty friggin' strong. Don't believe me? Well, here she is, lancing a hole through a giant, floating cube!
Wiz: This cube was about a hundred million cubic miles in volume. To punch through it, Erza's lance must have dealt about 16 kilotons of force.
Boomstick: Erza's also fast enough to deflect bullets point-blank from a flintlock pistol, guns with a muzzle velocity of about 540 miles per hour, and that's without a speed boost from her armor.
Wiz: Right, many of her armor sets grant her stat boosts, increasing her speed, magic, defense, etc. She's survived plenty of destructive blasts, including one that blew up an island. Considering that island's size, that's an explosion equivalent to two kilotons of TNT.
Boomstick: So, she's sexy, can survive island-busting attacks, and has a shit-ton of weapons? She's basically perfect, just wish she used a gun or two.
Wiz: Well, she may have a vast armory, but swapping them in and out requires magic, and she can run her supply down if she's not careful.
Boomstick: So, it's just like a mana bar in those fantasy games you always play.
Wiz: Exactly, ahem, though, even when she's out of magic, she's still quite deadly in hand-to-hand, like when she fought her alternate self from another parallel universe.
Boomstick: That universe has a lot less clothing. Sign me up!
Wiz: But when you're among the best in the guild, you get the job done, no matter the limits.
Erza: I will withstand any physical pain, to protect the ones that I love!
Prelude
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set. Let's end this debate once and for all!
Boomstick: IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLEEE!!!
Death Battle
Erza and Zoro walk in the middle of a seaside village and accidentally bump into each other.
Zoro: Oh! Sorry, lady. Could you point me in the way of the shipyard? I've been looking around for hours...
Erza looks at a paper she was carrying around that contains a bounty for the pirate. Recognizing Zoro from the picture on it, she drops the paper and summons her sword.
Erza: Aha! You're the one I'm looking for! Come peacefully and you won't be harmed.
Zoro: Sorry, I'm busy. Maybe later.
Erza points her sword closer to Zoro's face.
Erza: Then we'll have to do this the hard way...
Zoro draws his sword and points it at the Fairy Tail Mage.
Zoro: I told you I'm busy!
Erza leaps in the air and swings downward toward Zoro, who blocks the overhead attack.
Zoro: Well, I guess we're doing THIS now...
Zoro counters more of Erza's blows and pushes her back. He tries some of his own slashes that Erza dodges. He then takes out his other two swords and leaps high in the air for a Santoryu attack. Erza manages to step back in time to avoid Zoro's attack, which destroys the house right next to them. Erza then requips into her Black Wing armor, surprising her opponent.
Zoro: Woah! What?
Erza: You're coming with me!
Erza flies downwards and grabs Zoro before kicking him to a nearby rooftop. Zoro quickly regains his footing.
Zoro: Neat trick...
Erza then dives towards the roof to attack Roronoa, who avoids her continuous attacks by leaping to the other rooftops. Erza re-equips her Flame Empress armor and causes a large flaming explosion that Zoro dodges by leaping off the rooftop. Zoro then gets up to continue the battle but is quickly distracted by a flame on his clothes causing him to panic and roll on the ground to put it out while Erza watches and chuckles.
Zoro: Try laughing at this!
He throws compressed air projectiles at her, knocking her away. Zoro charges, but she blocks with her Adamantine armor, she then discards it, before they clash. Erza leaps onto a rooftop and switches to her Giant armor, she throws the lance, but Zoro knocks it into the air with his swords and then strikes it back at her. She swaps to her Armadura Fairy armor and slices the lance in half.
Erza: You are strong, pirate, but this is TRUE strength!
She rockets toward him, glowing with green energy, he leaps and hurls an air blast, the two collide, leveling that part of town. Zoro lies in a crater, bloodied a bit and unmoving, Erza's armor falls off, revealing the Clear Heart clothing under it.
Erza: (sighs) Fool, nothing is worse than the loss of life.
Zoro then groans and stands up, blood dripping.
Zoro: Don't start crying, woman.
Erza: What?!
Zoro readies his swords.
Zoro: So much for all that "true strength" bullshit, huh?
Erza: No, I can do this!
She changes to Heaven's Wheel armor, she flies up into the air and summons several swords around her, she aims them all at Zoro, who puts on his bandana.
Erza: I will claim this bounty for my guild, for my strength, for my friends!
The swords fly down, Zoro spins and knocks them away, he sees more coming towards him.
Zoro: Bring it on!
He does his Nine Sword Style illusion and knocks the swords away, he leaps up and hops toward her, using the swords as stepping stones.
Zoro: You're not the only one who fights for their friends!
Erza swaps to the Clear Heart clothing and lands on one of the swords, they leap toward each other and clash.
Erza is sliced completely in half down the middle, along with part of a mountain in the background. The two halves of her body land messily on the ground and blood spurts out, Zoro lands and sighs as he walks away.
Zoro: Now, where the hell is that shipyard?
Zoro arrives in a different location next to characters from Metal Slug, confused about his surroundings, while remainder of Erza's swords fall around her corpse.
Results
Boomstick: Jesus! Talk about a killing blow!
Wiz: In the past, Erza could react to projectiles flying over 500 miles per hour, but Zoro can move faster than the eye can see. U.S. Air Force tests have shown that a well trained human eye can consistently spot and recognize an image in one 220th of a second, so in this case, Zoro would've had to move from point A to point B, which is about 57 feet, in 4.5 milliseconds. That's close to 9,000 miles per hour.
Boomstick: That's more than five times faster than a bullet. Erza didn't really rely on speed anyway, and there's no evidence any of her armor magic could've helped close that wide of a gap.
Wiz: Speaking of her armor, Erza did have more options in defense and weaponry. Unfortunately for her, she was simply outclassed in damage dealt.
Boomstick: Erza could withstand hits of about two kilotons, like the blast which destroyed that island, but Zoro has dished out much stronger blows than that.
Wiz: Slicing Pica in half, for example, was equivalent to 11.5 megatons. That's about 6,000 times bigger than anything Erza's survived, and while Erza's artificial eye may have seen through Zoro's Nine Sword Style illusion, it couldn't prevent him from actually attacking her.
Boomstick: She also has that habit of stripping down to Clear Heart clothing in a bind. Yeah, it gave her more sword power, but at the cost of less defense. This sounded like a good idea on paper, but close-range combat was Zoro's bread and butter.
Wiz: Erza was mostly self-taught, and while proficient with a blade, Zoro has trained with swords all his life, even with the greatest swordsman in the world; an up-close duel was exactly what he was looking for.
Boomstick: Guess she won't be getting a Fairy Tail ending.
We cut to the "Winner" card.
Wiz: The winner is Roronoa Zoro.
Trivia
Production
- The connections between Roronoa Zoro and Erza Scarlet are that they are both incredibly skilled anime swordfighters, have incredible superhuman prowess, and are extremely loyal to their friends, who they are willing to fight for no matter the cost. Both fight with a unique dual-wielding style, are able to withstand an exuberant amount of pain (including having losing an eye at some point in their lives), and are usually the more level-headed members of their groups barring the occasional moments of goofiness and idiocy. Both of their backstories involved the tragic departure of a loved one at a young age (Zoro's childhood friendly rival Kuina died unexpectedly, and Erza's childhood friend Jellal exiled her after being corrupted by Possession Magic), subsequently leading them to wander aimlessly until finding a new home and family with a group of fellow adventurers (the Straw Hat Pirates and the Fairy Tail Guild, respectively).
- Both also have notable feats of destroying meteors (Zoro sliced Fujitora's meteors in half in One Piece: Stampede, and Erza managed to obliterate her mother's Deus Sema asteroid enchantment).
- Interestingly, both of their official English voice actors voice a character in the other's series; Zoro's voice actor, Christopher Sabat, voices Elfman Strauss in Fairy Tail, while Erza's voice actor, Coleen Clickenbeard, voices Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece.
Easter Eggs
- Zoro being unable to find the shipyard in the fight and ending up in the world of Metal Slug in the post-fight animation are references to the running gag of him getting lost due to his poor sense of direction in One Piece.
Other
- This is the first Anime-themed episode, with the next 18 being Natsu VS Ace, Lucario VS Renamon, Naruto VS Ichigo, Jotaro VS Kenshiro, Roshi VS Jiraiya, Sasuke VS Hiei, Mob VS Tatsumaki, All Might VS Might Guy, Gray VS Esdeath, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, Sanji VS Rock Lee, DIO VS Alucard, Madara VS Aizen, Tanjiro VS Jonathan Joestar, Deku VS Asta, Gogeta VS Vegito, Killua VS Misaka, and Gojo VS Makima.
- This is the first Hitotsubashi VS Kodansha-themed episode, with the next two being Natsu VS Ace and Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia.
- This is also the first One Piece VS Fairy Tail-themed episode, with the next one being Natsu VS Ace.
- This is the 10th Male VS Female-themed episode, after Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2010), Yoshi VS Riptor, Justin Bieber VS Rebecca Black, Starscream VS Rainbow Dash, Gaara VS Toph, Boba Fett VS Samus Aran (2015), Dante VS Bayonetta, Meta VS Carolina, and Tracer VS Scout, and with the next 15 being Deadpool VS Pinkie Pie, Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake, Thor VS Wonder Woman, Carnage VS Lucy, Captain Marvel VS Shazam, Dragonzord VS Mechagodzilla, Mob VS Tatsumaki, Gray VS Esdeath, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, The Seven Battle Royale, Red VS Blue, Shadow VS Ryuko, Steven Universe VS Star Butterfly, Killua VS Misaka, and Gojo VS Makima.
- This is the third time the Male character wins, after Yoshi VS Riptor and Dante VS Bayonetta, and with the next five being Captain Marvel VS Shazam, Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia, The Seven Battle Royale, Shadow VS Ryuko, and Gojo VS Makima.
- This is the first episode to get age-restricted, with the next five being Sub-Zero VS Glacius, Carnage VS Lucy, Goro VS Machamp, Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers, and Iron Man VS Lex Luthor.