Why is Oda so obsessed with creating so much controversy in fights?
1v1 fights on equal terms where one character wins because he's simply stronger seems to be forbidden to use as a concept for a fight.
That blackmail plot was totally unnecessary, it just dehyped the current main antagonist of the coming battle.
Yeah, he loves it this way.
Oda's mentality is exactly like "Thorkell" in "Vinland Saga" when he tells the prince that it's not easy to tell who's stronger and who's weaker. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, as simple as that. And that's the fun part of fighting.
I think Oda likes to do that a lot.
The most funny thing recently about this was the Movie "Bullet"
As there were some side info about Bullet, outside of the movie, but didn't appear in the movie. That info was Crocodile having a past with Bullet (which appeared in the movie with Crocodile saying "it's been a long time")
And the info stated that Crocodile had a fight with Bullet in the past, and the result was "Draw"
Which made me laugh at Oda or the movie maker, where they made this whole Bullet legend, the demon heir, stating that he's able to go toe to toe with Rayleigh! Only to then say Crocodile faught him before, and it was a draw.
And sure, it gives credit to Crocodile, and I understand that Bullet could have gotten stronger, but c'mon! It just feels like they never try to make it a clear cut of "XXX is stronger than ZZZ". They always love making it controversial in power scaling