He is massively underrated, including in his impact vs Big Mom and he has been extremely impressive for me, despite how little we got of him so far. He had some wickedly awesome feats and moves/abilities and I'm so happy he is awakened and has such iconic creations to use.
They keep thinking Kidd is the same level as he was 2 years ago, that he hasn't grown tremendously since then, I genuinely cannot fathom that at all. Out of the Supernovas, he had the 2nd best record too (ignoring Luffy and Zoro too I guess), but Urouge beat a YC solo and Kidd also injured a YC from that same crew and forced them to give him ponegylph rubbings and sank 3 of BMs ships too.
Kidd vs Shanks should be an AMAZING fight for both parties involved and thus both fanbases or even especially for the most based people who are fans of both too hahaha!
Shanks hasn't got some indestructible haki barrier around him nor the "indestructible outer layer" that Big Mom and Kaido had, plus he was gonna go after a guy who has an indestructible barrier as an ability ironically too (but Oda seems to have forgotten or dropped that or its gonna be a surprise twist later on regarding what happened with Barto and Shanks I guess) and thus Shanks is MUCH more vulnerable. He's gonna seem like a glass cannon compared to Big Mom, Kaido and maybe even Whitebeard too. Not that he is imo but as a "regular human" seemingly with only 1 arm and no DF, he is gonna need GODLY haki to compensate and even then, that can only do so much as far as we know ofc.
Shanks also HATES cocky/arrogant rookies too though, which is gonna make his encounter with Kidd all the more INTERESTING by far and also their similarities in appearance too ironically.
I pray Oda will give us at least one chapter of Kidd and his crew vs Shanks and his crew and the giants. I fear given how vastly outnumber Kidd and co are, how unfair their odds are, Kidd might get his Roger vs Shiki moment here but I have no idea how that could work without it being utterly ridiculous too lol.
I am hoping we get a really good fight between Shanks and Kidd at least though, a clash of ideals/perspectives/attitudes and fighting styles and Shanks flexing god tier haki, whereas Kidd will show off his awakening, more of his amazing creations and hopefully make the MOST of his magnetism vs a weapons focused crew (using guns and swords mainly I mean) and thus his major advantage in that sense too.
I suspect someone is gonna interrupt the fight like Saul, who is most likely the man marked by flames/the burned mark man who Kidd and Killer were looking for and came to Elbaf due to it and it will help to set up Kidd against the WG too, even more than his dialogue from Sabaody about the WG/Celestials and such too.
I am hoping also that not only after an epic fight, but Shanks might actually see somthing he likes in Kidd, maybe he won't be so harsh as Beckmann supposedly was and he might see something similar in Kidd that he sees in Luffy and such. (If Bullet was canon too, Kidd would remind Shanks of him HEAVILY too I imagine!) I'm thinking he will see the same kind of resilience, unfaltering, unapologetic sincerity, loyalty and such that Luffy has. Maybe seeing the state Killer is in due to the Smile fruit might garner some sympathy from Shanks and his crew too.
There's so many ways this can go, its a real enigma and so tense, I really want both sides to come out on top somehow, neither side to truly be sacrificed or clowned for the sake of the other. I want Oda to really surprise us like he did with the setup for Koby vs Boa (although I don't think that necessarily a positive surprise or that well writtten personally but alas) and I really am excited to see Elbaf, Shanks and Kidd all at the same time and in the same place/storyline especially!
Kidd has proven himself to be unrelenting, to never give up no matter how stacked the oddas are against him, people even say he has the "anti plot armour", the opposite of what Luffy has. He is Luffys Vegeta and Bakugo/Endeavour as I've compared him to before on here and elsewhere and I find him very endearing, respectable and relatable.
He's more layered than his haters/downplayers think and hes a compelling character like Zoro, Franky, Brook and others for example.
I need to see Law and Kidd become Yonkos by EOS, I always felt Buggy or Kidd would replace Shanks and since Buggy has replaced Big Mom and Luffy has replaced Kaido, once Shanks and Blackbeard do go down inevitably (Shanks might just retire and not die hopefully, although I feel Oda will kill off BB at least, especially after BM and Kaido were killed off too, 3 Yonkos have died now too), Kidd and Law will replace them too.
Shanks vs Kidd is a clash of titans and a fight for the new era/generation, Kidd is gonna prove his worth to Shanks directly, whether he's worthy of being a Yonko too, worthy of aiming for Laugh Tale, becoming Pirate King and getting the One Piece too.
But at the same time, I need to see Shanks test Luffy this way too, for them to have an all out fight but I don't think Oda can or wants to write that and is substituting Luffy vs Shanks for Kidd vs Shanks instead, giving Shanks someone "easier" for him to go all out against too.