a form of Gon that had undergone decades of training MASSACRED Pitou without even a tiny bit of challenge. Gons arm got cut off but who gives a shit he used he dismembered arm in style and smashed Pitou's corpse puppet to the ground.
Netero was shown training for decades and decades. We know Gon is a rare case but the same logic applies to Netero. Netero would've NEVER allowed Pitou the chance to escape his hatsu. It's a joke for people to try and say Pitou would win.
The guy above who freaking said Pitou doesn't need to be good at the gungi game is an absolute riot. The point is that Meruems tactical abilities were enhanced ridiculously due to Komugi pushing him further and further with his tactics. The damn narrator explains it for you, so did you just not read subtitles that episode? The game board was also shown several times during the battle.
Netero had ridiculous endurance, as shown by the several scenes of him taking a step, punching, taking another step, rinse and repeat, for YEARS and YEARS. Pitou would've never gotten through to take one of his limbs off. Netero could've gone on for a long ass time and also, the narrator said after thousands of hits Meruem was beginning to feel the sense of light pain all throughout his body.
Firstly: That is a form of Gon who forwarded himself into his max genetic potential in order to defeat a creature he gave his whole life up for in exchange of strength, a creature that he hated with his whole being and devoted anything and everything in his future to be exchanged for the power to kill it in that moment. So no. They aren't comparable. That form of Gon would stomped Netero clean off the Earth also.
Secondly: Yes. Pitou doesn't need to be good at Gungi to win. (Damn i said it again didn't i?) Netero said himself, he is no longer the strongest. In fact out of the Zodiacs we can assume that a couple of the combat orientated ones could at least give Netero a run for his money. But are all of them brainaics? Are all of them Championship level skilled at Gungi? Are you saying that even outside of Zodiacs, everyone that beats Netero has to be good at board games? Of course not, Meruem used that path with success but that isn't the only way to win a fight. Thinking so would be very basic and narrow-minded.
-Meruem could've beaten Netero without forcing Netero to use ALL his moves. This was a personal decision that Meruem himself announced to the Audience (Or did you not read the subtles?) He wanted to force Netero to show his whole hand so he could beat Netero without a shadow of a doubt as to who was 'King'. The same way you would beat someone in a board game. (Coincidence?) Simply put. He wanted a 100% Victory, all of Netero's moves countered and to tank his ultimate attack. Meruem could've just found an opening and settled the fight a bit sooner, but for his own ego (As he announced again) he didn't want Netero to lose heart before he has a chance to figure out his rhyme.
Thirdly, instead of being wrapped up in Netero's 'years' of training have you stopped to actually look at the physical stats and accomplishments of the combatants we are comparing?
-Pitou is physically comparable to the King who we know is FAR more durable than Netero. She moves fast enough (under her Hatsu) to catch Gon off guard and even God-speed Killua was barely there in time to save Gon. Her speed is in the same ball park, that's without her Hatsu.
-In addition to her speed that is comparable to the King's we have her Utility:
-->The ability to use dozens of Puppets in the fight means that Not only would Netero be using his HK to keep Pitou at bay, he would be busy keeping Dozens of puppets away. In a fashion that would only get more difficult, as puppets wouldn't take fatal blows. They can only be grinded to the point where controlling them isn't possible, and we've seen the hit and run style of combat that one has to adopt to get close to Netero. He can't spend time making sure to grind a Hatsu enhanced corpse to dust, he just has to swat it away and prep for the next attack. And as the number of puppets shrink, the remaining ones would move more fluently and quickly along with the actual controller, Pitou. Then you have to think about Pitou's En: This is an important point. En can be used in combat. We know this, however it shrinks variably but 1/10 of the size is about the universal. Pitou's En is about 2 miles when she is stationary and focusing (Not counting the length of the tentacles that extend well past the boundaries). so she'd have a combat EN of about 1050 feet. This is what would make her formidable (and personally makes me think help her excel) vs. Netero. She wouldn't need to see the moves to understand the openings like Meruem. She would FEEL The openings. And as a controller, she could move any number of Puppets into positions to take advantage of the openings AS THEY HAPPEN. She wouldn't need to wait it out and compile some type of attack pattern, she'd be able to respond as soon as his attack pattern is revealed to her in her En. This would force Netero to try and respond to her finding an opening with 2 or 3 puppets with a counter, which she would use en to sense the attack path's of and move more into place to attack the newer opening, and it'd become an Echo of Netero vs Meruem all over again.
-Nen aside. Pitou's physical endurance isn't that much farther than the kings. They are more genetically siblings than Meruem with other Ants (Save for Kite and other RGs). Since Meruem isn't an enhancer (Not that i know of) Their basic physical endurance is the same baseline. if anything Pitou might be 80% or so of Meruem's durability. but that in itself is MORE than enough to beat Netero with. (I doubt Pre-rose Meruem was using over like 60% of his actual combat compacity to beat Netero).
TL;DR: Pitou's stats without nen are close to about 80-90% of Meruem's. Her Hatsu that increases her stats makes her end up approximately in the same ball park as Meruem Pre-rose. Her puppets bring a different dynamic to the fight making it more fruitful for her. Her mid-combat usage of En can give her a solid 'read' on Netero's style of combat and help her succeed against him.
