Preamble
We're roughly 70 chapters deep into Wano, and the fighting portion of the arc has now commenced. Many believe this will be Zoro's and Sanji's opportunity to finally show what they are made of. I will be breaking down some points as to why they will and should fight Calamities in this war. Those being King and Queen in particular.
1. The Dynamic
From the outset, the first thing that got readers thinking King and Queen would face the monster duo are their introduction. Their spat and bad blood reminiscent not just of Zoro and Sanji, but some of their past opponents as well.
King and Queen possess traits akin to Zoro and Sanji as well. Queen being the eccentric womanizer and chain smoker, while King is the stoic swordsman with a ton of pride.
2. Preliminary matchups
During the second act of the Wano arc, Oda has been carefully building Zoro and Sanji up towards their inevitable fights. It's clear after the effort Luffy took to bring down two commanders during WCI, some ground work had to be laid out. And while it wasn't as extensive as Luffy, Oda managed it by giving them preliminary fights.Those being Killer and P1.
Starting with P1, Sanji resorted to his power up. While the result of the match was dubious, Sanji demonstrated more control during the fight. This was also him testing the suit out, and not really going all out.
Next is Zoro vs Killer, aka, Kamazou. While the results aren't as ambiguous, circumstances towards it were. Questions are raised whether Killer was fighting to his best potential. Those debates aside, Zoro wasn't in the best of condition either, missing a sword and being hungry, suggested so by his demand to Hiyori to feed him food and sake once he beats Killer.
Zoro was also in a 2v1 situation when he was struck by Killer.
Despite all this working against him, Zoro was capable of not only taking Killer's weapon from him, he also struck him down with a Santoryu move using a weapon he has never used before.
These matchups in particular are interesting as P1 and Killer should represent the spectrum right under Yonko Commanders. With Sanji having the upper hand in his fight, and Zoro decisively winning his, these levels of fighters don't represent an extreme challenge for Zoro or Sanji to outstrip.
The second set of matchups they had weren't as elaborate, but they paint a picture. The next time we see Zoro and Sanji fight someone, they are Kyoshiro (Denjiro) and X Drake.
Starting with Zoro vs Kyoshiro. Zoro was stated to be putting up a good fight against Kyoshiro, as stated by Kyoshiro's men.
Kyoshiro did not put his all into that clash, however, we know Zoro wasn't either due to only having two swords and not resorting to haki. However, the brief exchange they had, as well as Kyoshiro's men's comments, implies the two are of striking distance to each other.
The next is Sanji vs X Drake. While Sanji did not look as good against Drake, he still manage to take attacks from him quite well. Half of the clash also saw Sanji having to take Toko's safety into consideration, while Drake was only focused on Sanji.
Sanji did not rely on the RS during this scuffle, so it's safe to say he wasn't trying his hardest to beat Drake.
Now lets go into explaining who Kyoshiro and Drake are. Starting with Kyoshiro. He is the Yakuza boss for the Kyoshiro family, and secretly Denjiro of the 9 Red Scabbards. Denjiro was singled out by Kin'emon as one of 3 powerful samurai whom the alliance had to recruit. The other two samurai include Ashura Douji and Kawamatsu. The former having not only scarred a Calamity, but mocked them as but merely a subordinate.
This same Ashura Douji even cautioned everyone about Kyoshiro, labeling him a "demon with the blade" when it was thought he was an enemy to the Alliance.
Onward to X Drake, his clout speaks for itself. He was a former Rear Admiral for the Marines, now Worst Gen pirate. He managed to climb the ranks of the Beast Pirates during the 2 year timeskip and make it to the Rank of Flying Six, or Tobi Roppo.
In the most recent chapter where all Tobi Roppo were introduced, the question came up as to who would replace Queen as a Calamity. This appears allude the Tobi Roppo to rank just below the Calamities. Drake in particular was singled out as a potential candidate.
These various instances imply Kyoshiro and Drake are just below, if not, borderline of where the Calamity sit, strength-wise. And Zoro and Sanji clashed with such characters relatively early in the arc. And before their real preparations. Speaking of which.
3. Preparations
Despite the earlier scuffles, Zoro's and Sanji's available showings in Wano doesn't represent what they are currently capable of. Before the War, there was a period for preparations.
We'll start with Zoro who is the most apparent. Zoro received the legendary blade Enma and spent the remaining days of the raid (5 to be precise) training with the sword, which he claims will make him stronger once he gets use to it.
Sanji isn't made as obvious, but he did mention Usopp and Franky modifying the Raid Suit just before his clash with P1 got off-paneled.
Modifying the suit doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna get better, but the point is, Oda suggest the suit will change next time we see it. There wouldn't be a need to change it if it didn't get upgraded in any way. Usopp and Franky have also had more than a week to work on a blueprint for a redesign.
With the Alliance heading to war, it is logical to assume everyone made the necessary effort to best prepare for it. In short, Zoro and Sanji have a starting cap going into the war higher than when they set foot in Wano.
4. Dramaticism
Tension makes battles more interesting. Zoro and Sanji have already clashed and even bested some characters who rank just below the Calamities prior to the big war. For all this planning to amount to battles against relatively minor antagonists like the Tobi Roppo would not satisfy the build up put into this war and their involvement in it. Luffy considered Sanji a valued asset combat wise during Zou, and was one of his major reasons for even going to Big Mom's territory in order to get him back.
For Zoro, he is the only swordsman on the alliance to have tamed Enma. A feat only performed by Kozuki Oden. Arguably the second strongest swordsman Wano has ever produced. This puts Zoro's narrative and strength potential this arc far higher than all the Scabbards. Of which include the likes of fighters who pressed a Calamity Jack.
In previous arcs, there would be build up to how formidable the enemies will be for the Strawhats. An air of uncertainty as to whether they could win. Oda created this atmosphere around Luffy and Kaido. But even prior to that, a notable example would be during Enies Lobby/Water 7 when Zoro and Sanji had clashes with CP9 agents and did less than flattering on their first encounters.
Take this clash for instance.
The interaction with Blueno set CP9's threat level, Sanji barely being able to injure Blueno. The 4th strongest CP9 agent. Sanji would then proceed to challenge someone more than 3 times stronger than Blueno in Jabra. The stakes and tension for that fight high as Sanji was last seen struggling against somebody who forced his captain to use his power up and who he struggled to even damage. Sanji would defeat Jabra, creating catharsis through him overcoming a wall that was thought out of his reach not long ago. The Calamities similarly representing that wall he and Zoro should strive to surpass at the current stage of the story.
One Piece is on the verge of ending, and Wano represents a major series milestone. Just as how Luffy shall cement himself on the level of the Emperors, his strongest fighters will solidify themselves on par with the top executives of Emperor crews.
We're roughly 70 chapters deep into Wano, and the fighting portion of the arc has now commenced. Many believe this will be Zoro's and Sanji's opportunity to finally show what they are made of. I will be breaking down some points as to why they will and should fight Calamities in this war. Those being King and Queen in particular.
1. The Dynamic
From the outset, the first thing that got readers thinking King and Queen would face the monster duo are their introduction. Their spat and bad blood reminiscent not just of Zoro and Sanji, but some of their past opponents as well.
King and Queen possess traits akin to Zoro and Sanji as well. Queen being the eccentric womanizer and chain smoker, while King is the stoic swordsman with a ton of pride.
2. Preliminary matchups
During the second act of the Wano arc, Oda has been carefully building Zoro and Sanji up towards their inevitable fights. It's clear after the effort Luffy took to bring down two commanders during WCI, some ground work had to be laid out. And while it wasn't as extensive as Luffy, Oda managed it by giving them preliminary fights.Those being Killer and P1.
Starting with P1, Sanji resorted to his power up. While the result of the match was dubious, Sanji demonstrated more control during the fight. This was also him testing the suit out, and not really going all out.
Next is Zoro vs Killer, aka, Kamazou. While the results aren't as ambiguous, circumstances towards it were. Questions are raised whether Killer was fighting to his best potential. Those debates aside, Zoro wasn't in the best of condition either, missing a sword and being hungry, suggested so by his demand to Hiyori to feed him food and sake once he beats Killer.
Zoro was also in a 2v1 situation when he was struck by Killer.
Despite all this working against him, Zoro was capable of not only taking Killer's weapon from him, he also struck him down with a Santoryu move using a weapon he has never used before.
These matchups in particular are interesting as P1 and Killer should represent the spectrum right under Yonko Commanders. With Sanji having the upper hand in his fight, and Zoro decisively winning his, these levels of fighters don't represent an extreme challenge for Zoro or Sanji to outstrip.
The second set of matchups they had weren't as elaborate, but they paint a picture. The next time we see Zoro and Sanji fight someone, they are Kyoshiro (Denjiro) and X Drake.
Starting with Zoro vs Kyoshiro. Zoro was stated to be putting up a good fight against Kyoshiro, as stated by Kyoshiro's men.
Kyoshiro did not put his all into that clash, however, we know Zoro wasn't either due to only having two swords and not resorting to haki. However, the brief exchange they had, as well as Kyoshiro's men's comments, implies the two are of striking distance to each other.
The next is Sanji vs X Drake. While Sanji did not look as good against Drake, he still manage to take attacks from him quite well. Half of the clash also saw Sanji having to take Toko's safety into consideration, while Drake was only focused on Sanji.
Sanji did not rely on the RS during this scuffle, so it's safe to say he wasn't trying his hardest to beat Drake.
Now lets go into explaining who Kyoshiro and Drake are. Starting with Kyoshiro. He is the Yakuza boss for the Kyoshiro family, and secretly Denjiro of the 9 Red Scabbards. Denjiro was singled out by Kin'emon as one of 3 powerful samurai whom the alliance had to recruit. The other two samurai include Ashura Douji and Kawamatsu. The former having not only scarred a Calamity, but mocked them as but merely a subordinate.
This same Ashura Douji even cautioned everyone about Kyoshiro, labeling him a "demon with the blade" when it was thought he was an enemy to the Alliance.
Onward to X Drake, his clout speaks for itself. He was a former Rear Admiral for the Marines, now Worst Gen pirate. He managed to climb the ranks of the Beast Pirates during the 2 year timeskip and make it to the Rank of Flying Six, or Tobi Roppo.
In the most recent chapter where all Tobi Roppo were introduced, the question came up as to who would replace Queen as a Calamity. This appears allude the Tobi Roppo to rank just below the Calamities. Drake in particular was singled out as a potential candidate.
These various instances imply Kyoshiro and Drake are just below, if not, borderline of where the Calamity sit, strength-wise. And Zoro and Sanji clashed with such characters relatively early in the arc. And before their real preparations. Speaking of which.
3. Preparations
Despite the earlier scuffles, Zoro's and Sanji's available showings in Wano doesn't represent what they are currently capable of. Before the War, there was a period for preparations.
We'll start with Zoro who is the most apparent. Zoro received the legendary blade Enma and spent the remaining days of the raid (5 to be precise) training with the sword, which he claims will make him stronger once he gets use to it.
Sanji isn't made as obvious, but he did mention Usopp and Franky modifying the Raid Suit just before his clash with P1 got off-paneled.
Modifying the suit doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna get better, but the point is, Oda suggest the suit will change next time we see it. There wouldn't be a need to change it if it didn't get upgraded in any way. Usopp and Franky have also had more than a week to work on a blueprint for a redesign.
With the Alliance heading to war, it is logical to assume everyone made the necessary effort to best prepare for it. In short, Zoro and Sanji have a starting cap going into the war higher than when they set foot in Wano.
4. Dramaticism
Tension makes battles more interesting. Zoro and Sanji have already clashed and even bested some characters who rank just below the Calamities prior to the big war. For all this planning to amount to battles against relatively minor antagonists like the Tobi Roppo would not satisfy the build up put into this war and their involvement in it. Luffy considered Sanji a valued asset combat wise during Zou, and was one of his major reasons for even going to Big Mom's territory in order to get him back.
For Zoro, he is the only swordsman on the alliance to have tamed Enma. A feat only performed by Kozuki Oden. Arguably the second strongest swordsman Wano has ever produced. This puts Zoro's narrative and strength potential this arc far higher than all the Scabbards. Of which include the likes of fighters who pressed a Calamity Jack.
In previous arcs, there would be build up to how formidable the enemies will be for the Strawhats. An air of uncertainty as to whether they could win. Oda created this atmosphere around Luffy and Kaido. But even prior to that, a notable example would be during Enies Lobby/Water 7 when Zoro and Sanji had clashes with CP9 agents and did less than flattering on their first encounters.
Take this clash for instance.
The interaction with Blueno set CP9's threat level, Sanji barely being able to injure Blueno. The 4th strongest CP9 agent. Sanji would then proceed to challenge someone more than 3 times stronger than Blueno in Jabra. The stakes and tension for that fight high as Sanji was last seen struggling against somebody who forced his captain to use his power up and who he struggled to even damage. Sanji would defeat Jabra, creating catharsis through him overcoming a wall that was thought out of his reach not long ago. The Calamities similarly representing that wall he and Zoro should strive to surpass at the current stage of the story.
4. ConclusionOne Piece is on the verge of ending, and Wano represents a major series milestone. Just as how Luffy shall cement himself on the level of the Emperors, his strongest fighters will solidify themselves on par with the top executives of Emperor crews.
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). If they are not gonna be YC1 and YC2 this arc, Luffy just will be caring the crew of fodders.
