Predictions Straw Hat Pirates Final Power-Ups!

[grey matter]

After thinking about it... I think the issue here is that oda doesn't have any fucks to give. He will rush the story so hard you'd think it's running on pounds of cocaine and meth per second. Consider the wano arc.

- First we see G4 luffy get speedblitz and one shot by first form kaido. Then a training montage later we see base luffy surviving kaido. Then several pounds of cocaine later we see CoC cladding luffy holding his ground against hybrid kaido. And of course G5 luffy eventually overcame kaido.

- Zoro went from wherever the fuck he was to being able to sustain nigh yonko level combat for a time due to emma shenanigans.

- Sanji has zero feats and shit development to speak of during the new world. Shit enemies during fishman island, no feats during punk hazard iirc, no enemies during dressrosa other than a tiny confrontation with doflamingo, spent 900 volumes baking a fucking cake during FI, and then didn't do shit in wano until he fought queen. Whom he defeated due to convenient mutations.

- Franky has no meaningful feats during the NW just in general. His only fight before sasaki was sr pink. I don't think much of the topo robi in general but even that was unearned for franky.

- Robin defeated black maria...

So this isn't an issue of time. Oda could as easily pull ussop using CoA and CoO out of his ass as easily as he did for sanji, franky and robin. It's too late for any of the characters to have any meaningful, systematic progression and the fact is that the story will soon need ussop to hold a candle to actual yonko executives. So he will.

I will also add to this:
- Law randomly getting strong enough to engage with Yonkos and tank thunder bagua from hybrid Kaido.
While the last we saw of him (in Dresrossa), he was getting dominated by Doflamingo

 

[kkck]

I will also add to this:
- Law randomly getting strong enough to engage with Yonkos and tank thunder bagua from hybrid Kaido.
While the last we saw of him (in Dresrossa), he was getting dominated by Doflamingo

Yeah, this is pretty bad though it doesn't sting as bad as sanji's development. It's a shame that oda didn't have the time to actually give every character some development. Welp, to be specific, oda did in fact have the time, he just grossly misused it in pointless nonsense. Fishman island showcased the strawhat's growth. So fine, even if the arc was a waste they at least had some progression. But punk hazard? It was a waste of a year with weak enemies and low stakes. On top of that very few strawhats even had enemies to fight at all. Caesar, vergo, monet.... Weak and uninteresting.

Then we get to dressrosa... easily and by far the best arc in the NW. Oda introduces the members of the pirate armada, doflamingo has a sufficiently large crew that seems to be a threat... And sanji, brook, nami and chopper fuck fight of the plot to zou. And the strawhat fleet gets a bunch of fights.

Then zou... not really an arc. And it was fine for the most part.

Then WCI... has the audacity to last 2 YEARS. The arc had luffy, nami, brook, chopper and sanji. Was called the year of sanji. Out of them only luffy got decent fights and one of them was against katakuri (whom I can't stress enough is the absolutely worst shit the manga has introduced and his fight lasted 900 volumes). Nami didn't get a proper fight. Brook didn't get a proper fight. Chopper didn't get a proper fight. SANJI didn't get a proper fight and instead baked a cake for 9000 volumes. On top of that sanji's story arc during this travesty was almost as bad as katakuri (whom I can't stress enough, is the shittiest character in the manga by far. It still pains me to remember how many times the manga told us katakuri was cool even though he decidedly wasn't). His story arc was basically "fuck you judge", which is a super flimsy to begin with because no one gives a shit about judge, and it only becomes worst by sanji finally awakening his mutations in wano.

So... yeah, oda could have actually developed all of the strawhats during this. He just made inane decisions that keep significant portions of the crew out of the plot. Specially during the wasted years in punk hazard and WCI. Even in wano which was incredibly long we didn't get to see many of the strawhats grow. Now ussop, chopper, nami, and brook actually are yonko executives and yet don't have any real feats to speak of that place them in this tier. And we just kinda have to accept that franky and robin are threats to pirates worth 500 mill even though that's absurd.

 

[Fox666]

And we just kinda have to accept that franky and robin are threats to pirates worth 500 mill even though that's absurd.

Everyone gained a massive power-up once the rooftop fight started.

Oddly, it's wasn't in preparation for the raid, which Luffy was training in Udon. It was the moment they stepped in the rooftop.

Luffy:
- Used Gear 4 to take down one of the Numbers
- Got knocked out by Appo
- Was forced to use Gear 4 against Ulti
Zoro:
- Had trouble against Hawkins
- Denjiro toyed with him
- Was put on his knees by Appo
- Teamed up with Drake to fight against Appo
Sanji:
- Had trouble against Page One
- Drake didn't even flinch from his kicks
Franky:
- One of the Numbers used General Franky as a toy;
Robin:
- Avoided at all cost to fight Fukurokujo
Law:
- Had trouble against Hawkins
Kid:
- Had trouble against Appo

Now compare it to after the rooftop fight started.

Luffy is fighting Kaido one-on-one. Law and Kid are tanking hits from Emperors. Zoro and Sanji opponents were the All-Stars. Franky and Robin opponents were the Tobiroppo.

 

[kkck]

Everyone gained a massive power-up once the rooftop fight started.

Oddly, it's wasn't in preparation for the raid, which Luffy was training in Udon. It was the moment they stepped in the rooftop.

Luffy:
- Used Gear 4 to take down one of the Numbers
- Got knocked out by Appo
- Was forced to use Gear 4 against Ulti
Zoro:
- Had trouble against Hawkins
- Denjiro toyed with him
- Was put on his knees by Appo
- Teamed up with Drake to fight against Appo
Sanji:
- Had trouble against Page One
- Drake didn't even flinch from his kicks
Franky:
- One of the Numbers used General Franky as a toy;
Robin:
- Avoided at all cost to fight Fukurokujo
Law:
- Had trouble against Hawkins
Kid:
- Had trouble against Appo

Now compare it to after the rooftop fight started.

Luffy is fighting Kaido one-on-one. Law and Kid are tanking hits from Emperors. Zoro and Sanji opponents were the All-Stars. Franky and Robin opponents were the Tobiroppo.

I can excuse apoo shenanigans to some extent largely because his ability has been framed as absurd from the get go. While he failed to deal damage, he did catch kizaru off guard. Two years later managing that on the gang is fairly consistent.

It's probably a bit of a stretch that denjiro toyed with zoro.

Yeah, sanji not wrecking a jackass like page one... I suppose is pretty consistent with sanji's shit development tbh.

It makes no sense whatsoever that franky didn't defeat hacha. And then had yamato one shot him? Why? This doesn't even serve the plot tbh.

Yeah, the bit with robin is laughable at this point. She probably could have defeated wano's entire ninja force on her own given her performance against BM and how pathetic wano's samurai and ninja were (specifically the ones under orochi).