@RobbyBevard:
I liked it. Some cool visuals, and while Tashigi didn't excel or win the fight on her own, she had a couple moments.
Zoro saw his opponent as weak and didn't need to go all out. HE DIDN'T PUT HIS BANDANA ON. Should have realized that last chapter.
Sex comes into it some, but the entire point of Sanji's scene, AND Tashigi's, AND Zoro's dialogue, was to say it wasn't about that. Zoro doesn't care to fight women, but that wasn't what held him back. That was explicitly said several times by a couple characters, including Zoro himself.
It was entirely that he was leagues stronger than her. Its the same weird standard that surrounds the "next nakama" crowd. "Monet is a girl so I want her to join!" isn't too far off from "Monet is a girl so Zoro didn't have to try very hard!" If Monet had been an ugly weird dude with the exact same personality and abilities that poisons kids and turns into a big toothed shoulder biting monster, and is all evil and stuff, not only would nobody be wanting her to join, but they wouldn't have a problem here either. (Well, there are the people that wanted Caribou to join…) Also, even with icepicks and a steel-wing move, she wasn't really a sword-user.
Zoro cut himself to give a handicap against Cabaji all the way back at the start of the series. Had a crippling Mihawk slash against Hachi. Sliced his own legs in Little garden. Usopp tied to his arm during Enies Lobby. Had less than three swords during thriller bark. Kuma damage during Sabondy. Still with Kuma damage against those baboons on Mihawk's island. Fought a fishman underwater and one shotted him.
Really I think Mr. 1 and Ryuma is pretty much the only times he's gone all out, (Mihawk aside) and he was handicapped in odd ways in those fights too.
Zoro is ALWAYS handicapped, and always in a bad condition. But he also gauges his opponents and fights them at their level, if he's in full health and way ahead of them, he holds back. He didn't go all out at Fishman Island, and he didn't go all out here. Its back to the start of the series question of not "how will they survive this" but "Just how strong are these guys?"
Remember who he just spent two years training under. Mr. "I'm going to stop all three of your swords with the smallest pocket knife I have because it's the fairest thing I can do, sorry I don't have anything smaller." You don't use a canon to hunt rabbits, you use what's appropriate to the situation.
Zoro saw Monet as a threat to the weaker people who were escaping... but didn't see much threat in her to him. He traded a few testing blows and saw he was stronger and faster than her and knew he could one shot her and utterly destroy her, (and he proved his point, even without using Haki on her) and there was no need to go all out.
That's exactly the same kind of restraint Mihawk showed when that little ant in the east blue challenged him. Tashigi said she wanted to fight Monet, so Zoro let her. (And he probably gauged that she could probably meet the challenge.) Same way Luffy let Zoro fight Mihawk.
If Zoro had a pocket knife on him he might have played around a bit more and the blatant similarity might have been more obvious. Tashigi is being shown that there's an entire monstrous league ahead of her and she has to try harder to catch up.
This post should be highlighted at the top of every page.
It's a damn shame that there's a ton of people who can't read the chapter with this mindset.
