What I really don't understand is why, when Luffy is regarded as such a great character for aroace representation, Zoro is so often just tossed aside, like they are not the same in this regard.
While Luffy gives vibes of a person that really does not understand what you all have going on with all that (sex, romance, whatever) and does not give a fuck (or rather he's so beyond these things on some transcendent level that us poor mortals with wisdom stat lower than nat 30 cannot comprehend), Zoro is a learned individual that knows what this is about, but is decidedly not interested.
Aroace people are not some pure naive little flowers that do not understand what's sex, romance and love is. If you look at it that way, 'don't know - don't care' position is more likely to turn into an interest than 'I fully comprehend, but it's not for me'.
Mother-darkness forbid, this is not anti-shipping. I adore ZoLu as a ship just as much as I enjoy the aro-ace relationship representation. I just can't get why push so hard for Luffy being aro-ace and deny the same thing for Zoro, who shows the same (none) amount of interest in this side of the relationship spectrum.
Their relationship won't lose the meaning if you take away sexual and/or romantic dimension from it. Zoro can still be focused entirely on Luffy even if he is in aro-ace spectrum. Luffy is his guiding star, the one who showed him the path to his dream, helped him find his true self when he was lost. Knowing his track record with getting lost, it's obvious for Zoro to follow Luffy to the end of the world. Luffy will always be Zoro's wanderlust and wistfullness personified, whether you add sex and romance into the mix or not.
And, well, people on the spectrum can, but don't have to be in relationship. "Aro/ace" is not some kind of a stamp you put on characters forehead as a way to prove that he's off limits for shipping. Sure, it may be different from your regular toxic yaoi, but it is still valid. Denying and chucking off a huge chunk of connections and relationships aroace people may have rather takes away from representation than solidifies it.
