We all knew this was coming the moment Oda started spilling the beans on the most mysterious character in the whole of Wano!
We all thought Kaido was the most special character among beast pirates and it turns out that his mere underling is stealing the show despite Oda keeping it all under wraps until just several chapters ago... This mere commander ended up the only remaining member of a race that was considered gods in the distant past, long before the 20 Kings took over the world and drove out Lunarians out of their god's land atop of the Red Wall...
The mystery is still far from revealed and King's background plays a much bigger role than that of Kaido who is an Oni, a parallel to the baddie from Momotaro story and whose all the abilities are given through the devil fruit that Big Mom has gifted to him 38 years ago while King's abilities come from his Lunarian race. King is also the last Beast Pirates member whose hybrid form was revealed, Oda has kept that one hidden for the longest. All abilities surrounding Kaido are revealed while King is still a mystery.
The more time passes the more spotlight King steals from the captain of the Beast Pirates. Many among the fandom have wondered why the rooftop happened first and vs King happened afterwards - now it is all clear, because now King cannot be underestimated and downplayed after we have seen Zoro's performance on the rooftop. The bar is raised very high and King is delivering good, too good to the point that even Kaido fans are feeling uneasy and threatened by King's performance. That's how you quickly build up a powerful villain, by making him keep up with the guy that the Emperors cant keep up with. The rooftop was King's hype tool.
The anxiety is not unjustified because Kaido is a tough sitting duck while King is also tough without being a sitting duck and instead is delivering on all fronts. Both of them are the toughest creatures in the world and King just confirmed that his toughness is on another level.
He didnt need to confirm it because we already all saw that he handles Zoro's damage better than Kaido but it doesnt hurt spelling it out, to kill all the doubts. Once again, there are 3 confirmations that King's toughness eclipses even that of Kaido - King's own words, feats of shrugging off Zoro's hits and the foreshadowing all the way back from Punk Hazard.
When it comes to the comparison between a mere underling and a captain, this is not the first time that the underling looks better than the captain. Zoro broke that ice a long time ago and reinforced it again during the rooftop battle between the new generation and the old generation. I know that the fandom power scales with a blindfold and Muh captain>mere underling but we need to examine the difference between every captain and his right hand because the gap may not exist at all. Just because Meme addresses Katakuri with "lowly son of mine" it doesnt mean that Zoro cant clap Luffy or that King isnt comparable to Kaido because he definitely is...
The toughness is definitely the biggest shock considering that Kaido is called the toughest in the world:
Close combat attack frequency:
Kaido has something similar vs Yamato while they are using 1 weapon each. King is better since he is keeping up with 3 swords.
Ranged combat attack frequency:
Something similar to Kizaru's attack Yasakani no Magatama...
Attack traveling speed, basically instant and unblockable, with decent destructive capability:
Reflexes and dodging instantaneous attacks like Zoro's flying slashes:
Incredible physical strength that Zoro compares to two races which are known to be physically more powerful than humans:
Even more overwhelming physical strength gained through his speed flight paired with a slap of the giant wing in hybrid:
Close combat style complexity having to deal with kicks as well as sword and there is a possibility that he may include wings as well in future:
Kaido vs Tatsumaki:
King vs Tatsumaki:
Kaido's flying slashes vs Zoro:
King's flying slashes vs Zoro:
The list goes on and will continue to go on but you catch my drift, you have to try really hard to find a thing that Kaido is better at than King. What is going on?!
Is a mere underling supposed to look good? Is this the first time an underling looks good or they always looked good but were shrugged off as insignificant by people who cant power scale and because they fought Zoro?
An underling has never been limited by the captain's strength but in King's case, his captain is the strongest in the world... My question is how does a guy who is worse than King at almost every stat out there still remain stronger than King? Are endurance and stamina the key to Kaido's victory over King?
I guess it came true what I was saying the whole time - Zoro's opponents are incredible fighters, better fighters than people that Luffy faces.
Not just better but whole another level better:
The funny part is that this time they are not just stealing the combat spotlight but also the lore and significance in the world of One Piece...
As someone else said, Luffy's greatest chess move is recruiting Zoro into his crew and it seems Kaido plays chess just as well considering King's performance.
I cracked the ice with the difference between YCs and top tiers not being anywhere close to what people have imagined it to be and now it seems that King and Zoro have proven that there is no difference whatsoever. Is it a coincidence that Beckman is comparable to Shanks? Is it a coincidence that Blackbeard plays chess well too and recruits a man more dangerous than the man who ended entire Blackbeard pirates in an instant?
It is very odd that World's Strongest Creature isnt the one who gives the best performance against a power-seeking character like Zoro but instead his mere underling...
What are your thoughts on this?
