I am a little dismayed to realize that I... I.. don't think I really remember much about the Zoro (and maybe Usopp?) backstory(ies). I mean I have flashes of images in the recesses of my mind, but I couldn't really tell you any but the fuzziest of details. Understandable, as it was really quite a long time ago, but it makes me sad. Not sad enough to go dig thru boxes to pull out old magazines so I can re-read the manga.. because I know the time I spend on that is precious time away from consuming new stuff. Wahh. (This might be a plea for someone to recap for me, or it might not - it just struck me as I was reading that OMG, how is it that I do not remember.)

Also, to quote hulu's page:
To celebrate the 500th episode of One Piece, episodes #1 – 202 and #391 – 500 will be available until June 8. Unfortunately, I glazed over this when I was reading about the 500 ep celebration a few weeks back, and there is this thing called life, so I will not be able to catch up in the span of 2 days. :/

(ps: no answer for the question at this time.)