How Mediterranean combat might reshape the A6M Zero

Would the A6M Zero have developed in the same way without the Second Sino-Japanese War but with combat experience in the Mediterranean?

Probably not exactly, although the aircraft would remain recognizably similar and its Mediterranean experience would drive later changes.

An A6M developed under different combat conditions would remain broadly recognizable rather than becoming a wholly unrelated aircraft. Mediterranean operations and training would still feed back into the design, showing how combat experience can alter an aircraft after its initial conception.