kuina

Kuina (くいな) was the childhood friend of Roronoa Zoro. Throughout her life, Kuina pushed herself harder than usual in kendo to be accepted in the male-dominated discipline. Even her father believed she could never be the best because she was a girl. While training in the same dojo, Kuina was the only person Zoro could never defeat in a sword fight. After overhearing her father's remarks about girls not being good at kendo one night, she rushed to find Zoro and challenged him to a duel with real swords. Though she defeated Zoro again (she was the best in the dojo, he was second-best), she still felt like everyone looked down on her just because she was a girl. So, she and Zoro made a promise to continue building their skills until they were the best swordsmen in the world, after which they would fight each other again for the title of strongest. She was the original owner of Zoro's white sword, Wado Ichimonji. Kuina died the very next day by falling down some stairs and breaking her neck. Zoro took her sword, Wado Ichimonji, for his own and vowed to become the best swordsman in the world in her place.