This Wasn't An Accident 

DOWN D. STAIRS

Her death was so bizarre. Especially in One Piece world. Usually if someone fell off the stairs they would've said "itai" and move on with their lives. 😂

"Humans are fragile things" is in my opinion the message Oda wanted to convey with this flashback. Tragedies happen and sometimes we can't make sense of it. Even great and powerful people die suddenly like from a common disease.

Honestly, I think it really was just stairs. We think Kuina was crazy strong because of how strong Zoro got but she was still a kid from the East Blue, even with her training a fall down the stairs could kill her. I also think it's meant to simply be tragic, that after finally deciding to pursue her dream regardless of obstacles, fate decides to take that from her and thus give Zoro the resolve to pursue it for both their sakes. Having Kuina be revealed to be alive later would ruin things.

What makes Kuina's death so difficult to take seriously is that in any other story it would be something tragic and realistic that could happen to anyone... Except that One Piece has people being cut in half, thrown off cliffs, starving for weeks, taking cannonballs in the face, getting shot at and surviving like it was nothing.

Kuina changing from a girl to a boy would defeat the purpose of the Zoro's words which had a huge impact on her psychology. He said it's got nothing to do with being a boy or a girl and beating her is his dream. Beating her the way she was back then, a girl swordsman. Thus changing from a girl to a boy would not only disappoint Zoro because Kuina didn't put trust in herself and her abilities but would also go against the acceptance Zoro showed that a girl can be a great swordsman.

This is one of the moments where the anime stretchs things out and actually makes it better. The part when the sensei says something like "Zoro... I'm a swordsman, but I am still a father. And when I look at you, I can't help but feel sad" with a dead cold face, hits like a truck. Luckily they both find some peace of mind through Zoro inheriting her sword.

Every time Kuina comes up I feel like I have to say this because of all the crazy fan theories and feelings and stuff surrounding it. I think Kuina's death is a great backstory for Zoro exactly as it is. A lot of people will say that it's unsatisfying or lame or silly and like...yes! That's the point! It IS unsatisfying. Zoro had a friend and rival that he never defeated and never will. He promised that one of them would become the greatest swordsman in the world, and she was robbed of her chance to fulfill that promise. Not by any fault of her own, not even by being born female. But by a cruel twist of fate. There is no reason, no logic, no fulfilling answer for why she died. She was simply unlucky. For someone so driven by hard work and self-improvement as Zoro, how could he possibly accept such an unsatisfying end to her story? The fact that it is unsatisfying is *exactly* why it's such a great motivation for Zoro. He *must* fulfill that promise. Not just for himself, but for Kuina as well. Since she was robbed of her chance to fulfill that promise and become the ultimate swordsman, he must be the one to fulfill it in her stead. And in the end when Zoro has beaten Mihawk and become the greatest swordsman to ever live, when everyone on earth recognizes his skill as unmatched, he can say "You think I'm the best? I knew an even better swordsman. Someone I dueled 2001 times and never beat. I never defeated her and I never will. Her name was Kuina." Any of these theories that she's secretly still alive or she's Tashigi or whatever are so lame to me. I seriously hope none of them are true because they would cheapen this story so much. This is such a simple backstory, but it's perfect for Zoro. He's a simple character, and that's ok. I would be extremely disappointed if Oda retroactively ruined this story by inserting some unnecessary plot point. Not everything has to be some grand plan or conspiracy or have some supernatural powers or forces behind it. This backstory is already great as it is.

Most people keep making fun of Kuina dying from falling down the stairs, while completely neglecting the possibility of her dying from falling down the stairs *_with a sword._*

The live-action scene of Koshiro telling Zoro hit me like a truck. It was damn near word for word what my mother told me after my father died. For that reason it makes sense why he doesn't say exactly what happened and can't bring himself to say she's dead. It's too painful to when it's that recent.

Oda came out and said she did fall stairs. The reason he had to do that was because everyone was saying suicide. From what I understand at times falling down stairs is a cover story for suicide, but Oda said she really did just fall down D stairs.

I like the cursed sword theory. Zoro resolve has been resolute every time it needed to be around his swords, while Kuina's resolve was waning when she was a child. The sword killing her for a new master is one of the more logical theories.

I think the Wado may in fact be a cursed blade, but not to extent of something like Enma. In fact I think we've seen the curse of the Wado many times in action and its "lack of a personality" as GLR puts it, plays into this curse. The Curse of..... Misdirection. Kuina, Wado in hand is walking at night in the dark, suddenly becomes completely lost, goes the wrong way and falls down the stairs. Zoro inherits the blade and from that point on grows up with a lifelong case of "wrong way syndrome." As he has become a greater swordsman and called on the power of his blade more, he gets lost more and more easily

Kuina's demise stood out because she didn't have a heroic last stand to protect Zoro. Just an unceremonious end.

I really like the idea that Kuina's dad was a very traditional Wano Samurai, but Oden brought about the change to Wano itself with his boundless chad energy that accepted any1 and anything he deemed worthy of his chadliness, even minks, fishman and other weirdos.

I remember very positively that, in the 4Kids dub, after Kuina was 'disabled', Koshiro told Zoro that the only reason he told Kuina she couldn't become as great of a swordswoman as she wanted, was to motivate her. Are you really telling me that wasn't in the Japanese dub, or at least in the Funimation dub? Because if not, then that's a pretty big improvement made by 4Kids (along with replacing the stairs with a group of thugs).

In 4Kids adaptation, Kuina got attacked by a mob of angry guys and lost her ability to walk. A fate worse than death.

ive always felt like the whole not being able to take over the dojo "in her current state" was talking about her doubt. the whole thing in one piece when it comes to dreams is that whole "f the world i do what i want" attitude so she could never accomplish her dream if all it took to scare her off of it was someone saying "yeah but you are a girl". so as long as she doubted her own dream her dad couldn't let her take over

Kuina in the live-action destroyed me, how it made me wish so much that she didn't die. I didn't strictly count but she could've killed him least 3x in that duel to death. The action sequence was sooo good. They did a great job at portraying just how much stronger she was compared to Zoro that's why it pains me so much that she's gone.

The thing is, Kuina falling down the stairs and dying does seem a litte realistic until you realise One Piece is a series where characters have survived a point blank nuke, a hail of lightning, a flaming sword to the head and getting shot in the back and front in a sea of sharks. Suddenly, getting clapped by a measly set of stairs seems very unbelievable and impossible, also considering Kuina's body didn't seem bruised or wounded the last time we see it in the manga.

It would be interesting if the spirit of the wado, being a meito blade rebelled against kuina, causing her to maybe quite literally fall on her own sword

I am so happy Condoriano was mentioned here. You just can't hate that guy, he's just so lovable.

I love how Ivankov manages to somehow get into every theory ever

Virgin Beta Kuina: _dies from falling down d. stairs_ Gigachad Sigma Pell: *survives a literal fucking nuke*

I don't think Ivankov would have done the thing to kuina even if she asked. Her problem is not one of sex, rather it's her mindset that's the problem. Ivankov would probs realise that and decline the sex change

I think we're looking at this too hard. I think the ridiculous nature of Kuina's death is symbolic of the fact that no matter how strong you are death can come for us anytime and anywhere. Death was the only thing that defeated Kuina so Zoro throughout his journey has to defeat death, which he has on several occasions. Overcoming Death for Zoro is in essence surpassing Kuina.

Your videos are like morning cartoons for me, love em

Honestly, I wish it stays like this. This was a good backstory and makes so much sense. The message is great as well, humans are fragile. Also it was early One Piece, like Shanks lost his arm to basically a fish. As Oda kept writing, the story became bigger and characters got way more plot armor.

Does it ever say Kuina died the next day? In the manga I read it as the flashback jumping to the next important event to keep it short, meaning any amount of time (provided it’s short enough that Zoro didn’t visible age) could have passed. In the live action I definitely felt that her death was after enough time had passed so that Zoro and Kuina meeting to duel outside of regular training was just part of their schedule.

I feel like memories in One Piece are just what happends in that characters head. People usually picture themselves as older people when looking back at being kids. This is my head canon to fix Shanks and Buggy looking old and pimp Rayleigh

Bro kuincident for sure got me😂😂😂😂😂

Padmé Amidala: *”I have taught her well”*

i like how in the live action, it is just said she died with some kind of mysterious look on their face with no explanation of how. which makes me think that the director definately knew about kuina's death being controversy and had it play out like that in purpose.

I would say that the fact that the Wado seems to have shown no personality of it's own so far could be interpreted as evidence that it does have a will if it's own, at least to an extent. Think about it: it's a special sword made by the same guy who made Enma, but it's never displayed any will of it's own as far as we can tell. Which to me suggests that it's accepted Zoro as it's ideal wielder because it's never fought against Zoro's will at all. And the timing of Kuina's death could mean that it decided it wanted to be wielded by Zoro when Kuina used it against Zoro, and then it turned against her afterwards. Which could also explain why her father handed Wado off to Zoro. Because after she died, as the master he is (who has undoubtedly wielded the Wado in the past), he likely would have felt the Wado's will reaching out towards Zoro. Also, if the Wado has a will of its own and is capable of manipulating Haki through it's own will the same way Enma does, this could also help explain how Zoro started accidentally learning to use Haki before any other member of the crew: because Wado was slowly exposing him to it's own Haki over time. I'm not saying any of this is true, just that it could potentially explain a lot of you connect the dots this way, but I'm not expert and I have no doubt someone could easily debunk this idea or possibly provide better evidence for it.

I think it was a collaberative effort between Down D. Stairs, Con D. Oriano and Ask D. Question, to make sure Kuina would not find the one piece

I warned you Dawg! I warned you about those stairs!

the argument of "women can never be physically as strong as men" is so dumb in one piece. we have 30 feet tall humans, giants, fishmen, minks, and devil fruit users, being female does not matter much if any. not to mention one of the strongest character is a regular sized human with one arm and no devil fruit

Tashigi being Kuina is obviously not true. Though I still hold out hope that there's SOME connection. And since we are in the final arc presumably, I'm just holding out hope we get ANY kind of resolution for this. I think if Tashigi wasn't in One Piece, people would have stopped thinking about Kuina's suspicious death a long time ago.

DOWN D. STAIRS is a menace

Keep up the awesome work and videos Liam love the video

0:20 Kuincident is a terrible but hilarious pun.

I always thought that Kuina's death was a s*icide. Of course her father wouldn't tell Zoro that, because he was way too young. But think about it. Again and again she beats her greatest challenger and still she is convinced that she has no chance in the long run due to the physical limitations of her sex. And in her mind she would probably only slow Zoro's progress down of they continue to spar. Maybe a bit dark, but that was early one piece for you.

Amazing video

Great video

I like to believe zoro strives for the biggest bust size in one piece only to prove kuina wrong

The culprit of Kuina death was the user of the stair stair fruit

"Down D. Stairs" is hilarious.

Jajajajajajaja Liam went from "I don't buy too much into theories" to "Kaido is Kuina"

I always felt like it was implied she committed suicide.

One upon a time, here in Brazil, "fell down the stairs" was a veiled way to say "murdered". I know it has nothing to do with Oda or Japan but I find it a fun coincidence.

She decided to commit Sudoku.

What I think is that I would be pretty frustrated if Tashigi never does become truly important, because her introduction and he Kuina comparisons made me REALLY interested and invested in her.

I often think it must've been part of a plot thread oda originally planned but never found the correct time or place to devote space too, maybe we can hold hope that he's still got it locked in the chamber for "eventually" tho

Kuina's death was odd, but not unusual for One Piece's storytelling. She was Zoro's motivation to become the best swordsman in the world. Every character in Luffy's crew, EVEN BROOK, has an otherworldly motivation to become the best of the best. Nami loses Nojiko and wants to protect her home, Luffy is drilled by Garp and motivated by Shanks to become a pirate, Zoro loses Kuina and carries on her life-long wish along with his own, Sanji has a near-death experience but is saved by Zeff and taught about the All-Blue, Nico Robin loses her home village to the World Government including numerous good friends who protected her, Brook loses his own crew and carries on without them for Laboo as well, Franky loses his only father figure with Fishman Tom and loses control of his life before his new family urges him to become the best shipwright, Chopper is rejected by his own kind, eats a devil fruit and then gets taken in by a kind human called Hiriluk who makes him his assistant. Knowing Hiriluk was ill and dying, Chopper tries to cure him and instead brings him a lethal poison because he doesn't know what he's doing, followed by Hiriluk's suicide so the poison wouldn't take his life and force Chopper to blame himself Even Ussop, who most people would joke about for being relatively tame compared to everyone else's trauma experiences his own redemption arc in Water 7 when he realizes that the Going Merry won't be able to continue on. He realizes that the adventure ahead requires terrible sacrifices and overcomes his own ego for the sake of his friends. This is a long comment but I'm trying to say Kuina's death is that and not much more. It was a plot a device to help the viewer understand why Zoro has such an insane ambition, even willing to fight Mihawk blind-sighted.

she challenged down d stairs like what was she expecting

The actress who played Kuina in the LA is so brave. Imagine how many jokes of Fall D. Stairs she has to hear from now on.

So now we are doubting Down D. Stairs?

People have taken Koushirou's statement about Kuina's gender in a negative light, which is the reason some people believe he actually killed her. But I don't think that's the case. Remember that Shimotsuki is a heavily japanese-inspired village, as it was founded by people from Wano. And sadly, this view toward women isn't too uncommon in Japan, as well as other countries. So I don't think he said it to be mean, this is just the "culture" of the village.

I was literally thinking about this last week while I was rewatching the East Blue Saga on Netflix.

This is what I like the most about One Piece! It keeps you guessing and speculating lol

This thumbnail was one of the best on the channel❤

I really liked the idea that the wado ichimonji was testing Kuina, like enma did with Zoro, and she failed which led to her death in some way or the other. That'll be my head cannon if we never get any more explanations.

Lord Down D. Stairs doesn't need another top tier to split the skips, he just stares at the sky and the heavens clears up

Rlly good thumbnail today

I understand why so many One Piece-Fans always think of Kuina's death as somewhat unbelievable, considering the injuries characters of the series have survived (and of course because her death seems unceremonious and meaningless). But it is still somewhat ironic because people ACTUALLY DIE from falling down the stairs in real life. Maybe there is a secret (I wouldn't mind that), but I also wouldn't mind the current version. Nothing is more tragic than a death that seems so senless and meaningless. Unworthy to the character, true, but many people die unworthy deaths. It shows how fragile a life can be, how easily and sudden it can end and how important it is to pursue your dreams and goals, before your life is over. Because it can end tomorrow or even sooner.

I think it's more powerful and incredibly sad that it's actually just an accident. I always imagined that Kuina was running excitedly to their fight, too excited in fact, causing her to fall. And Kuina might still be alive if Kid Zoro didn't cheer her up

Down D stairs, the final villain of one piece

Great that you inculded that bit on the myth of the falling down the stairs thing. People say it nowadays like it is a fact that she took her own life because they believe that this is actually a thing

I prefer the timeline where I just take it as it is where Kuina died due to an accident. No more "dark" back stories please. Thank you very much.

So we all agree Kuina is Mihawk

Kuina is the man marked with flames on the black ship creating whirlpools to peotect the 4th road poneglyph confirmed

we gotta stop and appreciate the banger of a thumbnail pic that is. 10/10 best one yet

SHE'S ALIVE!! She fell down the D.Stairs, got knocked out. Doctors thought she was dead but she wasn't (plenty of real life stories about this happening) They bury her body or partial bury her, she pulls a "Kill Bill" or something and breaks out of burial not remembering a thing. Wanders around gets found and saved by marines and becomes Tashigi... how do we know that Kuina didn't need glasses while reading? When she got older she needed her glasses all the time. I bet if she was wearing her glasses she wouldn't have fallen down D.Stairs. So the picture of Tashigi when she was young reading the book kind of fits in....

In the manga kuina dies the next day. It really seems like Oda intended to do the suicide story line for her but may have decided against it at some point. The most likely current answer is that after their duel, Kuina intended to do traditional maintenance on the Wado. As she went down those stairs certainly with Wado in hand, something happened. I do believe she is dead and that Tashigi is her clone. Separated by 1 year. That's time enough to obtain her body/DNA sample and clone her. I'm 100% convinced we will revisit this when we find out what the importance/spirit of the Wado Ichimonji truly is.

Gotta love that characters like Pell can survive city sized explosions but Kuina can't survive tripping

HOLY CRAP THIS HAD ME ROLLING

I think it odd that there’s such a conspiracy with this. Essentially any scenario where Kuina survives ruins the main point of Zoro’s backstory, and I don’t think it’d be an interesting twist. I always thought the implication was she got killed by Wado when falling down the stairs while carrying it (though theory 2 may be an interesting possibility because if this), as opposed to how many people seem to think it was literally just falling down some stairs

I genuinely believe the theory that Kuina is Tashigi or at least related to. We still haven't really know where Tashigi actually come from most likely she have wano lineage. And it's just convenient that Tashigi reappear and likely going to play big role again for the final saga

great writing!

That stair shot in her TikTok gave me real dreamcore vibes.

Ok now hear me out. "She fell down some stairs" as in "she failed to step up". As in, she was so skilled that she was ready to use cursed blades with Haki but her life force was so weak it drained all of it and she died. She fell down at the stairs of success. She died chasing her dream. This makes a lot more sense to me given what we know of the story so far.

Koushirou's demeanor can be explained by him being that rare type of people that take the world - as it is. Regardless of what happens, they think it should have happened like that, and that even if there is no visible reason for it to happen, that it was all part of a greater plan/destiny/fate. He's just taking Stoicism to another level.

Kuina: hey I got surprised for you. ???:this sounds like a conversation we should have at the top of the stairs

Lmao at Zoro learning the stairs meta

I'm of the opinion that this is a mix of power creep and the fact that the East Blue is the weakest, so Kuina would logically be more fragile than the monsters we meet later on. Seriously, I get the feeling that if Kuina had met just one female fighter from the Grand Line, she'd change her mind about becoming the Greatest Swordsman pretty quickly.

Well in some corners of Japan "falling down the stairs" was a popular way of saying they did it themselves😬

The thumbnail is insane

I never in my life expected I would see a live action One Piece actor post an Office voiceover meme, but I'm even less prepared for how much I love it 😮

I think the fact the sword showing no personality so far is the biggest clue. I think she maybe sacrificed herself, or just "transported" her soul into the sword.

Love waking up to a new GLR ready to distract me at work

Someguy-San must be brought to justice

You could say her dream was just a few steps away

It was an accident she fell down the stairs

Theres still a good chance that Kuina is Tashigi. In return for helping Dragon, Koushirou asked a favor later on to take her daughter with him(Which I think they faked her death for reasons only oda knows as this time) and since there are no proficient sword user in the Revolutionary army, He decided to drop her off with Garp and have the goated Bogart train her. And more importantly to ease the parting with her village and for her to have a fresh start Dragon had kuma removed parts of her past memory in regards with her ties from the village except her passion as a swordsman. Hence why she still love swords.

u nailed it here falling down the stairs is what they all say when they end up getting beat to much an end up in the hospital yet most wont rat out the one that did that to them so it rarely resolves the ones that do rat have a chance move on an do better

"Committing Outro isn't part of One Piece Ideologies and the Anime is Against it" KAIDO: Hold My Beer 🍺🍺🍺

The most puzzling thing about Kuina's story is, it really feels like Oda was setting up something down the line with Tashigi but then went "Nah... Let's end this story here and move on to something else." I guess, on some meta level, that COULD be considered an echo to Kuina herself, who was showing the premises of a long, passionate story, with both hardships and successes, and Down D. Stairs just went "Nah... let's end this story here and move on to something else." That being said, I really love the theory of Ivankov being involved. And considering we know for a fact there is a "secret" linking Crocodile and Ivankov, but we still do not know what, we haven't had a single additional detail or callback on that matter in literal decades, it would seemt that Iva-san takes privacy VERY seriously and keeps secrets absolutely safe.

Kuina got recruited by the god knights and she went with them because she wanted to get stronger. Her character is about ultimate power, leaving behind her friends and family in pursuit of strength, so basically an Aramaki type of ideology where the strong eats the weak. It compliments zoro’s hardwork and loyalty for his friends. They fight and then zoro defeats her and the wado becomes a black blade

Kuina was holding an umbrella.

I think it is like most pre grand line things: odo didnt have any solid plans for anything beyond the straw hats, if even.