Questions & Mysteries Opponents defeated by the STRONGEST MAN in the world and the sum of their rewards are about to exceed 10 billion at worst.
Volume 95 names KAIDO as the strongest living creature, "Kaido already is".
I think Whitebeard was definitely one. He was the user of a supreme grade sword, the naginata Murakumogiri, and so there's no particular reason why he should not have been labeled as one. According to Stephen Paul the Kanji for swordsman in One Piece corresponds to the simple description of ' sword user ' , but regardless of this point it's hard to think that Whitebeard would not have been catalogued as a swordsman if his weapon can indeed be labeled that way either way, and this seems the case for the very definition of the blade.
That's the apparent inconsistency. For all we know perhaps Kaido was still WSC whilst Whitebeard was alive and WSM either. We don't have proof about that notion if I'm not misremembering, it might of been the case however..
I think the fundamental point is that Oda probably doesn't necessarily label titles as universally accepted, rather relative to a certain group of people who might think something instead of something else. That would explain all and remove the fundamental inconsistencies with his writing.
For instance we don't have a good clue on who exactly labels Mihawk as WSS and what they believe of Whitebeard or Kaido for example. It could very well be a relative matter overall. Or what about the ones labeling Kaido as WSC, who are they? I bet many suffered psychological warfare and were tending to consider him stronger than what he actually has got to be accounted for. And perhaps even who eventually wasn't under warfare could still be misled. I don't really think he is the strongest creature alive considering what the plot sticked to. I can see more gap standing in between Current Zoro and Mihawk than not in between Zoro and Kaido. I also don't think creature simply stands for non human considering how the title was presented specifically.
I think the fundamental point is that Oda probably doesn't necessarily label titles as universally accepted, rather relative to a certain group of people who might think something instead of something else. That would explain all and remove the fundamental inconsistencies with his writing.
For instance we don't have a good clue on who exactly labels Mihawk as WSS and what they believe of Whitebeard or Kaido for example. It could very well be a relative matter overall. Or what about the ones labeling Kaido as WSC, who are they? I bet many suffered psychological warfare and were tending to consider him stronger than what he actually has got to be accounted for. And perhaps even who eventually wasn't under warfare could still be misled. I don't really think he is the strongest creature alive considering what the plot sticked to. I can see more gap standing in between Current Zoro and Mihawk than not in between Zoro and Kaido. I also don't think creature simply stands for non human considering how the title was presented specifically.
I actually think Zoro could do extremely good against Kaido if both stood under proper health conditions. Considering how he managed to stop Hakai for a while despite not standing in his best asset and how that was equating to tackling the energy blast of two yonko combined I bet he would probably be able to withstand several strongest Kaido attacks with his defensive output alone and he also displayed a very compelling attacking speed when finally unleashing his CoC in particular, enough to seemingly blitz him, or at least the panels made it look like Kaido didn't have enough time to launch his attack prior to Zoro's Onigiri. His Base speed should also be pretty consistent, I doubt there's such a large margin Kaido would start to let's say dodge his Shishi Sonson attacks. Overall I think that Zoro vs Kaido is already a fight all to watch.
That doesn't mean Zoro is necessarily ready to stand on yonko level, I don't know how many attacks it would take an healthy Zoro to defeat Kaido, probably less than a few dozens like some pessimistic users predict, but if I had to make a guess Mihawk still being likely 3 opponents away suggests that Zoro is probably still not pushing him past mid difficulty. Perhaps high end.
That doesn't mean Zoro is necessarily ready to stand on yonko level, I don't know how many attacks it would take an healthy Zoro to defeat Kaido, probably less than a few dozens like some pessimistic users predict, but if I had to make a guess Mihawk still being likely 3 opponents away suggests that Zoro is probably still not pushing him past mid difficulty. Perhaps high end.
