Who fights Akainu has been a pretty big topic in the One Piece fandom for a while now. And the primary reason for it being such a hot topic... is just powerscaling. If Akainu fights so an so he's xx amount of strong, if he fights Luffy hes above the yonko who luffy fought before him, he's the final antagonist of the series, he won't luffy so he doesn't matter like the yonko... etc etc. All of these statements are usually at the core of why it should be Luffy who fights Akainu and the anti-akainu fandom slandering with he won't fight Luffy.
PERSONALLY I don't give single about powerscaling for who fights Akainu. If Akainu fights Luffy he's still gonna be xx amount of strong and if he fights somebody not Luffy he's still gonna be xx amount of strong. How strong Akainu isn't changing based on who he fights for me. If Akainu is above the emperors for me he's still gonna be above them if he fights Joe Schmuck from South Blue instead of Luffy, just that Joe Schmuck would also end up being stronger than the emperors. Y'all get the idea.
Now to the topic at hand... why for me Luffy is the last person I want fighting Akainu:
Akainu's appeal for me has nothing to do with his powerlevel but his actual character makeup. He's a deep character with his own ideas on justice that should be implemented on the people, how to run the world, and personal political ideologies. His character stems from a child who went through hell in fighting from a small age (based on his kid picture) to a dude who became the top dog of the biggest military in the world. He is a very serious character to me.
1st. I simply don't want to see Akainu being up against Looney Toons mode. I really don't, we've seen two fights of that mode and both are gagish. I simply don't want to see Akainu (and tbh no Admiral besides GreenBull since he's got the exaggerated faces down like Teach) go through that gag bullshit.
2nd. The fight doesn't explore the depth of Akainu's character. Luffy doesn't have a political ideology to discuss about. He doesn't have opinion on the type of justice that is right. He doesn't have opinions or a solid foundation in the general politics of One Piece world. Even his last go at the CD imo is simply going to be taking out the CD because they oppress people and maybe some influence from Dragon.
So the fight essentially becomes about "revenge for Ace". And personally I'm just not a huge fan of that. That's fine for simple characters like lets say Kaido where it's "We gone conquer the world rah rah rah. Fight the strongest rah rah rah rah".
Why I want Sabo vs Akainu even more now:
Though my favorite scenario for Akainu is always going to be fighting against Fujitora. I will say the recent chapter makes me really want to see Sabo vs Akainu... and here's why:
- Sabo much like Akainu is a character with political depth to him. He from a young age is part of an organization that has gone to be labeled as "will of the people", much like Akainu who is willing to do terrible things for the overall good of the people (who aren't evil). This in addition to the fact Oda has stressed about him wanting to explore the ideologies of the Revolutionary Army, only give this fight more depth and meaning. There is also a very good contrast between Akainu & Sabo's childhood, Akainu's childhood based on his picture. On the other hand you have Sabo who was in a well-off place but chose the rough lifestyle. So it'd be a very good conversation between the two, that could give Oda the chance to dig into Sabo's growth in the RA along with Sakazuki's own growth in contrast to that as a marine.
- The underdog factor. The Akainu vs Luffy fight if it were to happen would happen post-Luffy being PK. And I'm sorry, nobody outside of Gorosei being hidden top tier gods or Imu being a top god is going to give the "underdog" impression against Luffy at that point. He would by that point effectively be above any Marine top tier or Pirate Top tier. Sabo on the other hand, while I believe his growth rate and potential is right up there with Luffy's, there's a factor that makes Sabo vs Akainu the big underdog fight... the mera mera. How Sabo overcomes the big disadvantage the mera mera is put in against the magu magu would be much more interesting for me, due to Sabo's fighting style itself that he uses with the mera mera.
- Both got better swagger. Lmao, i'm sorry man, i'm just gone be honest on this. The drip in Sabo vs Akainu would go got damn hard. You got the old suit set with Sabo and the modern day suit set with Akainu. I can already envision these mfs surrounded by magma and fire with em fancy drops.
- After 1083, Oda has decided to develop Sabo even more into the politics of the OP world, with now involving the Holy Knights and CD directly along with him lighting the flames of rebellion, and being held as a insanely high political figure of the OP world.
Conclusion:
So for me the Luffy vs Akainu fight is shallow, due to the type of character Luffy is. Sabo & Akainu storywise have more to give for both characters in character exploration. That Sabo vs Akainu I honestly believe has the potential to be a GOATED fight of manga in general if Oda decides to go that route. Because the way Oda has been drawing the mera mera with Sabo is fucking sick, and his drawing of Akainu with magu magu is already badass. Visually that shit is gone be brutal on next level.
And the revenge factor really isn't unique to Luffy, despite the scar thing being a factor for Luffy. Neither are the type to harbor "revenge" of some sort against somebody, but both would be more than willing to fight Akainu if he comes their way.
So Oda can have Kizaru vs Akainu, Fujitora vs Akainu, GB vs Akainu, Smoker vs Akainu, Dragon vs Akainu, Zoro vs Akainu, ANYBODY of major importance except Luffy and I would generally be fine with it. Luffy AFTER G5 is literally the last person I want to see going against Akainu, because I don't want to see Looney Toons Akainu. Where as before I just believed Akainu vs Luffy was just the least likely to happen out of the 3-4 scenarios I envisioned. Now after G5... yea bro keep rubber boy away from Akainu lmao.
Likelihood of Luffy vs Akainu happening? pretty high I suppose
How much I want it to happen? 0%
What I think will probably happen? Luffy-Akainu have a short confrontation/fight, Sabo or Fuji takeover for a full fight.
But yeaaaaaaaa maaan, aye some y'all might love this Luffy vs Akainu shit to go down dawg... for me I just gotta pass on that shit.
PERSONALLY I don't give single about powerscaling for who fights Akainu. If Akainu fights Luffy he's still gonna be xx amount of strong and if he fights somebody not Luffy he's still gonna be xx amount of strong. How strong Akainu isn't changing based on who he fights for me. If Akainu is above the emperors for me he's still gonna be above them if he fights Joe Schmuck from South Blue instead of Luffy, just that Joe Schmuck would also end up being stronger than the emperors. Y'all get the idea.
Now to the topic at hand... why for me Luffy is the last person I want fighting Akainu:
Akainu's appeal for me has nothing to do with his powerlevel but his actual character makeup. He's a deep character with his own ideas on justice that should be implemented on the people, how to run the world, and personal political ideologies. His character stems from a child who went through hell in fighting from a small age (based on his kid picture) to a dude who became the top dog of the biggest military in the world. He is a very serious character to me.
1st. I simply don't want to see Akainu being up against Looney Toons mode. I really don't, we've seen two fights of that mode and both are gagish. I simply don't want to see Akainu (and tbh no Admiral besides GreenBull since he's got the exaggerated faces down like Teach) go through that gag bullshit.
2nd. The fight doesn't explore the depth of Akainu's character. Luffy doesn't have a political ideology to discuss about. He doesn't have opinion on the type of justice that is right. He doesn't have opinions or a solid foundation in the general politics of One Piece world. Even his last go at the CD imo is simply going to be taking out the CD because they oppress people and maybe some influence from Dragon.
So the fight essentially becomes about "revenge for Ace". And personally I'm just not a huge fan of that. That's fine for simple characters like lets say Kaido where it's "We gone conquer the world rah rah rah. Fight the strongest rah rah rah rah".
Why I want Sabo vs Akainu even more now:
Though my favorite scenario for Akainu is always going to be fighting against Fujitora. I will say the recent chapter makes me really want to see Sabo vs Akainu... and here's why:
- Sabo much like Akainu is a character with political depth to him. He from a young age is part of an organization that has gone to be labeled as "will of the people", much like Akainu who is willing to do terrible things for the overall good of the people (who aren't evil). This in addition to the fact Oda has stressed about him wanting to explore the ideologies of the Revolutionary Army, only give this fight more depth and meaning. There is also a very good contrast between Akainu & Sabo's childhood, Akainu's childhood based on his picture. On the other hand you have Sabo who was in a well-off place but chose the rough lifestyle. So it'd be a very good conversation between the two, that could give Oda the chance to dig into Sabo's growth in the RA along with Sakazuki's own growth in contrast to that as a marine.
- The underdog factor. The Akainu vs Luffy fight if it were to happen would happen post-Luffy being PK. And I'm sorry, nobody outside of Gorosei being hidden top tier gods or Imu being a top god is going to give the "underdog" impression against Luffy at that point. He would by that point effectively be above any Marine top tier or Pirate Top tier. Sabo on the other hand, while I believe his growth rate and potential is right up there with Luffy's, there's a factor that makes Sabo vs Akainu the big underdog fight... the mera mera. How Sabo overcomes the big disadvantage the mera mera is put in against the magu magu would be much more interesting for me, due to Sabo's fighting style itself that he uses with the mera mera.
- Both got better swagger. Lmao, i'm sorry man, i'm just gone be honest on this. The drip in Sabo vs Akainu would go got damn hard. You got the old suit set with Sabo and the modern day suit set with Akainu. I can already envision these mfs surrounded by magma and fire with em fancy drops.
- After 1083, Oda has decided to develop Sabo even more into the politics of the OP world, with now involving the Holy Knights and CD directly along with him lighting the flames of rebellion, and being held as a insanely high political figure of the OP world.
Conclusion:
So for me the Luffy vs Akainu fight is shallow, due to the type of character Luffy is. Sabo & Akainu storywise have more to give for both characters in character exploration. That Sabo vs Akainu I honestly believe has the potential to be a GOATED fight of manga in general if Oda decides to go that route. Because the way Oda has been drawing the mera mera with Sabo is fucking sick, and his drawing of Akainu with magu magu is already badass. Visually that shit is gone be brutal on next level.
And the revenge factor really isn't unique to Luffy, despite the scar thing being a factor for Luffy. Neither are the type to harbor "revenge" of some sort against somebody, but both would be more than willing to fight Akainu if he comes their way.
So Oda can have Kizaru vs Akainu, Fujitora vs Akainu, GB vs Akainu, Smoker vs Akainu, Dragon vs Akainu, Zoro vs Akainu, ANYBODY of major importance except Luffy and I would generally be fine with it. Luffy AFTER G5 is literally the last person I want to see going against Akainu, because I don't want to see Looney Toons Akainu. Where as before I just believed Akainu vs Luffy was just the least likely to happen out of the 3-4 scenarios I envisioned. Now after G5... yea bro keep rubber boy away from Akainu lmao.
Likelihood of Luffy vs Akainu happening? pretty high I suppose
How much I want it to happen? 0%
What I think will probably happen? Luffy-Akainu have a short confrontation/fight, Sabo or Fuji takeover for a full fight.
But yeaaaaaaaa maaan, aye some y'all might love this Luffy vs Akainu shit to go down dawg... for me I just gotta pass on that shit.
