One Piece VI: Wano Piece

[Traab]

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Kaido and Big Mom are using Armament Haki all of the time. It's just their default natural state. (Remember the assassination plot on Whole Cake where they had a brief instant of shock when Big Mom would drop hers and that was the only time the plan could work?) Luffy's whole time with Hyogoro in prison was to learn how to break through that, and breaking Yamato's cuffs was the first sign that it had worked and he could do it on purpose.

So yes, Luffy just laid a punch on Kaido right through his Armament Haki. He and Big Mom now have to take this fight seriously.

Ah ok I wasnt fully aware of the reason for whole cake. I figured that it meant she would be too distracted to defend herself in general giving them a free hit, not that her haki would drop. So thats good,

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it means neither of the two are going to go, "I guess I will take this seriously now" and suddenly become exponentially harder to injure with an attack. Though it also means they will take the incoming attacks, at least from luffy, more seriously, as both zoro and killer tried and failed to cut kaido (though zoro isnt going full out yet due to enma issues) Whereas they now know his hits will hurt, even if not currently enough to win the fight. The real issue is luffy and company's durability. if they have to land a thousand hits to win, but the yonko only need to land a couple, thats going to be a problem.

But yeah, as things stand right now, luffy has accomplished what I wanted to see in this arc. He has clearly gotten notably stronger and more dangerous, and has actually injured kaido, even if only slightly. I figure by the end of this arc, both luffy and zoro will be famous for having landed real hits on kaido, injuring him, and in the case of zoro at least, leaving him a new scar. That will be enough to justify this whole arc, and give us the knowledge that the straw hats are getting strong enough to match the challenges up ahead, so when the grand finale starts, they can actually reach the level needed to win. Like, had we gone from whole cake to marineford 2.0 final battle against yonko admirals etc, I would not have been able to accept luffy winning as making sense. But after this? You can see he is now capable of hurting yonko level threats, so he doesnt have as far to go anymore. He still has to get stronger, but there isnt as huge a chasm to cross anymore.

[Devonix]

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Kaido and Big Mom are using Armament Haki all of the time. It's just their default natural state. (Remember the assassination plot on Whole Cake where they had a brief instant of shock when Big Mom would drop hers and that was the only time the plan could work?) Luffy's whole time with Hyogoro in prison was to learn how to break through that, and breaking Yamato's cuffs was the first sign that it had worked and he could do it on purpose.

So yes, Luffy just laid a punch on Kaido right through his Armament Haki. He and Big Mom now have to take this fight seriously.

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That seems more like versus discussion talk than something fitting Oda's writing style. Big Mom and Kaido are just kinda built differently. Remember Big Mom was shrugging off blows from from giants when she was just a little kid. I don't think that they're using Armament haki all the time like you're saying. The whole thing on Wholecake was a nebulous " Her guard being down. " Nothing specific like " Not using Armament Haki. "

[GloatingSwine]

Ah ok I wasnt fully aware of the reason for whole cake. I figured that it meant she would be too distracted to defend herself in general giving them a free hit, not that her haki would drop. So thats good,

Spoiler

Show

it means neither of the two are going to go, "I guess I will take this seriously now" and suddenly become exponentially harder to injure with an attack. Though it also means they will take the incoming attacks, at least from luffy, more seriously, as both zoro and killer tried and failed to cut kaido (though zoro isnt going full out yet due to enma issues) Whereas they now know his hits will hurt, even if not currently enough to win the fight. The real issue is luffy and company's durability. if they have to land a thousand hits to win, but the yonko only need to land a couple, thats going to be a problem.

But yeah, as things stand right now, luffy has accomplished what I wanted to see in this arc. He has clearly gotten notably stronger and more dangerous, and has actually injured kaido, even if only slightly. I figure by the end of this arc, both luffy and zoro will be famous for having landed real hits on kaido, injuring him, and in the case of zoro at least, leaving him a new scar. That will be enough to justify this whole arc, and give us the knowledge that the straw hats are getting strong enough to match the challenges up ahead, so when the grand finale starts, they can actually reach the level needed to win. Like, had we gone from whole cake to marineford 2.0 final battle against yonko admirals etc, I would not have been able to accept luffy winning as making sense. But after this? You can see he is now capable of hurting yonko level threats, so he doesnt have as far to go anymore. He still has to get stronger, but there isnt as huge a chasm to cross anymore.

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I do expect by the end of this arc that at least Kaido will have been defeated and Wano will be opened to the world and no longer under his control. Big Mom might also be defeated, or she might hang on a little while, but I suspect they're both going out by the end of this arc so we can move on. Given that Kaido is the personally stronger of the two

Remember that One Piece as a whole has roughly 5 years left to run (maybe a bit longer due to covid delays), and after Wano is moving into its final narrative stage. (There are really only 3 more definitely required locations, Elbaf, Lodestar Island, and Laugh Tale. With quite possibly a storming of Mariejois and overthrow of the Celestial Dragons/Imu after that).

[Traab]

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I do expect by the end of this arc that at least Kaido will have been defeated and Wano will be opened to the world and no longer under his control. Big Mom might also be defeated, or she might hang on a little while, but I suspect they're both going out by the end of this arc so we can move on. Given that Kaido is the personally stronger of the two

Remember that One Piece as a whole has roughly 5 years left to run (maybe a bit longer due to covid delays), and after Wano is moving into its final narrative stage. (There are really only 3 more definitely required locations, Elbaf, Lodestar Island, and Laugh Tale. With quite possibly a storming of Mariejois and overthrow of the Celestial Dragons/Imu after that).

What im picturing as likely is,

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Kaido and Big Mom will both lose here. Maybe not outright defeated, or if so its because things spiraled out of control when they got weakened by this battle. Like say the marines show up with several admirals just as the battle is winding down and everyone has to book it because nobody on any side is in any position to fight off fresh heavy hitters like that. Or maybe things will be close enough that neither are willing to push to the breaking point and so choose to retreat since luffy wont stop even if it kills him and even if they DO win in the end, they will be too weak to protect themselves from treachery. But bottom line, kaido and big mom plus some of their best and most loyal units are out in the open, REALLY upset with luffy, and wanting some revenge. Thus setting up a huge finisher for the final grand line war.

[Braininthejar2]

It seems Kaido is getting a lesson in typical D&D issues of action economy.

[Traab]

It seems Kaido is getting a lesson in typical D&D issues of action economy.

Fair point. Of course there is a balance here. Just because he is being hit, what, 5 times a "round" while he only hits once? It doesnt mean he is outmatched if it takes 100 hits to defeat him while each of his opponents can take 1-2. And there is still big mom to consider.

[Traab]

Ok, I just wanted to post this here. I cant remember if I added a link to it before Stallion of the Line But if not, here it is. Its a ranma crossover with one piece. Ranma is reborn as Luffy in this story. His knowledge of fighting intact, he just has to train himself. The story only loosely follows cannon so far. As in you will see most of the events take place, they will just play out differently to one extent or another. Currently its up to Water Seven arc, they are about to reach the island to look into some shipwork. I dont want to give away too much because its fairly epic, but I will say that this luffy is way more dangerous than in cannon, and the marines know it. The story updates kind of slow, the author has a lot of stories, he updates monthly but generally only the ones that win the polls he puts up. But I really enjoy all his stories so it doesnt bother me too much as I get to read an update to 3-4 of his stories each month.