Questions & Mysteries Explain to me why people don't think Sabo should beat Akainu
- Thread starter Peenix
- Start date
The silly excuses still don’t work. Luffy vs Akainu is still the greatest mutual personal conflict in the series.
It still baffles me that anyone would want anything less just because of agendas or fears about a character’s powerlevels.
Any petty argument made for Sabo is always more relevant for Luffy. More importantly, it’s quite telling that those who try to peddle this never try to argue it from the opposite side, which is why Akainu should care more about Sabo than Luffy in the first place.
Sabo isn’t the one that Akainu scarred in a failed attempt to kill him…Sabo isn’t the one with bad blood in him…Sabo isn’t the one that Akainu set above every other target in the war…even when Sabo & Luffy were both involved in the same incident, Akainu didn’t mention Sabo’s name once but instead focused on Luffy and getting Luffy’s head.
No matter how many new threads are made year after year, the answer is still the same: Luffy vs Akainu is storytelling 101.
It still baffles me that anyone would want anything less just because of agendas or fears about a character’s powerlevels.
Any petty argument made for Sabo is always more relevant for Luffy. More importantly, it’s quite telling that those who try to peddle this never try to argue it from the opposite side, which is why Akainu should care more about Sabo than Luffy in the first place.
Sabo isn’t the one that Akainu scarred in a failed attempt to kill him…Sabo isn’t the one with bad blood in him…Sabo isn’t the one that Akainu set above every other target in the war…even when Sabo & Luffy were both involved in the same incident, Akainu didn’t mention Sabo’s name once but instead focused on Luffy and getting Luffy’s head.
No matter how many new threads are made year after year, the answer is still the same: Luffy vs Akainu is storytelling 101.
That doesn’t change anything at all. Big Mom has always been a side character by comparison. She didn’t scar Luffy or kill anyone he loves and even Katakuri arguably did worse to him.
Nothing mandated that Luffy had to be the one to defeat her, and I never even had that expectation knowing what manga I’m reading. Oda will never have Luffy in a prolonged brutal fight with a woman, caving her skull in, lol.
Wild expectations that are already “out there” by One Piece standards simply don’t compare to standard tropes or aspects of storytelling itself.
The protagonist defeating the one who killed the person dearest to them in the world is universal for a reason.
Whether anime, manga, comics, TV or movies, that’s the case because it’s the max emotion that could be drawn out of a story and the reason we love them so much.
Nothing mandated that Luffy had to be the one to defeat her, and I never even had that expectation knowing what manga I’m reading. Oda will never have Luffy in a prolonged brutal fight with a woman, caving her skull in, lol.
Wild expectations that are already “out there” by One Piece standards simply don’t compare to standard tropes or aspects of storytelling itself.
The protagonist defeating the one who killed the person dearest to them in the world is universal for a reason.
Whether anime, manga, comics, TV or movies, that’s the case because it’s the max emotion that could be drawn out of a story and the reason we love them so much.
I never said anything is 100% confirmed. Oda can pull out any crazy bullshit he wants in regards to the story after all.
Besides that, a lot of what Morj put in the video is basic stuff that doesn’t make any special case for Big Mom.
None of it is at a meta level of storytelling either. 1 of several villains with no special significance to the MC has no special reason to get directly beaten by them.
An antagonist that killed the person the MC loves most is in a different stratosphere by comparison. Especially since it was an event that ignited the entire second half of the story.
It should be easy to test for yourself. Which do you think would generate more emotion in a reader:
- The MC defeating 1 of 4 antagonists that’s done no special damage to him
- The MC defeating the antagonist that killed their beloved brother after failing to save him, physically scarred him and made him give up on his dream.
I don’t think that should be controversial in any way.
Besides that, a lot of what Morj put in the video is basic stuff that doesn’t make any special case for Big Mom.
None of it is at a meta level of storytelling either. 1 of several villains with no special significance to the MC has no special reason to get directly beaten by them.
An antagonist that killed the person the MC loves most is in a different stratosphere by comparison. Especially since it was an event that ignited the entire second half of the story.
It should be easy to test for yourself. Which do you think would generate more emotion in a reader:
- The MC defeating 1 of 4 antagonists that’s done no special damage to him
- The MC defeating the antagonist that killed their beloved brother after failing to save him, physically scarred him and made him give up on his dream.
I don’t think that should be controversial in any way.
First off, I don't see where you're deriving this point from. Law moving on and him being the one to land the final blow do not contradict each other seeing as they both fought him at one point and Law landed a lethal blow; what actually prevented Law from doing anything more is him getting his arm ripped off, he simply wasn't made strong enough to avenge Corazon, but he allied with the man who could. We even have Law stating that he'd done everything he could and now puts his faith in the strength of Luffy, stating that everything he does until he dies represents what Corazon achieved and that the Strawhats are miracle workers that will definitely take down Doflamingo. At no point was it ever hinted that Law was trying to move on but rather he put his trust in someone that can do what he couldn't.
And since we're talking about themes, we have a depiction of the Naval Admirals as one of the forces Luffy himself needs to surpass to reach his dreams. Luffy's scar still aches at the mention of Akainu and it's something he'll carry on his chest for the rest of his life . The scar Sabo acquired was by the hands of a Noble thus he'll be the one to destroy them while Luffys scar came from Akainu and he'll destroy him. That fits thematically.
And since we're talking about themes, we have a depiction of the Naval Admirals as one of the forces Luffy himself needs to surpass to reach his dreams. Luffy's scar still aches at the mention of Akainu and it's something he'll carry on his chest for the rest of his life . The scar Sabo acquired was by the hands of a Noble thus he'll be the one to destroy them while Luffys scar came from Akainu and he'll destroy him. That fits thematically.
A major theme of the Dressrosa arc was that revenge is destructive.
Kyros spent his entire life atoning for two murders he committed as a teen out of revenge. They had taken the life of Kyros' friend, and so he murdered them out of rage. He spent the rest of his life regretting what he did to them. Likewise, a major part of Rebecca's character is that she chooses to honor her mother's memory by following her beliefs of pacfisim instead of trying to avenge her. Towards the end of the arc when Kyros is fighting Diamante, he isn't motivated by revenge and instead is fighting to protect his daughter.
Doflamingo's main motivation is that he wants to take revenge on the Celestial Dragons that screwed him over his entire life by enabling Kaido to start a war that would end with the World Government getting toppled. The world treated Doflamingo like shit, and so he wanted to watch the world burn for the sake of vengeance.
The fact that Law, who was motivated by vengeance, never got to defeat Doflamingo fits the themes of the arc. It was never going to satisfy him, and the fact that Luffy was the one to land the final hit on Doflamingo ironically made it easier for Law to move on.
Kyros spent his entire life atoning for two murders he committed as a teen out of revenge. They had taken the life of Kyros' friend, and so he murdered them out of rage. He spent the rest of his life regretting what he did to them. Likewise, a major part of Rebecca's character is that she chooses to honor her mother's memory by following her beliefs of pacfisim instead of trying to avenge her. Towards the end of the arc when Kyros is fighting Diamante, he isn't motivated by revenge and instead is fighting to protect his daughter.
Doflamingo's main motivation is that he wants to take revenge on the Celestial Dragons that screwed him over his entire life by enabling Kaido to start a war that would end with the World Government getting toppled. The world treated Doflamingo like shit, and so he wanted to watch the world burn for the sake of vengeance.
The fact that Law, who was motivated by vengeance, never got to defeat Doflamingo fits the themes of the arc. It was never going to satisfy him, and the fact that Luffy was the one to land the final hit on Doflamingo ironically made it easier for Law to move on.
You're injecting some of your own subjective opinion here. Law from his own mouth told us that he wasn't capable of taking Doffy down but put his trust in the man who could, he wanted Doffy destroyed but admittedly couldn't achieve it on his own. And I think you're missing my core point here, I'm not saying that it was bad writing for Luffy to defeat Doffy, in fact one can argue that many of the villains he defeats should have been taken down by someone else who was far more directly affected by said villain, but this in and of itself proves why Luffy will defeat Akainu. Luffy is the physical manifestation of freedom and hope, he vanquishes darkness with light only HE possesses as the Sun God, he is the hero who doesn't desire to be one. Looking at Akainu, as you stated in your post, he represents ultimate restriction, an absolute sense of Justice that has no room for freedom or independence, it promises the people that they will for eternity be held and controlled by the Nobles, who are the true darkness that plagues the current world. It is only befitting thematically that Luffy destroys Akainu who represents something polar opposite to Luffy. So this idea that you speak of is not something Oda will apply to Luffy since HE is the hero of this story and no one else.