For the longest time Zoro has been held to a standard that no other character is held to. You have the most logical (minimal agenda posters) applying double standards when it comes to Zoro so much so that even some Zoro fans fall for their takes. My post is directed these two groups of people and neutral parties (fans already accept it and haters gonna hate no matter what you say).
This chapter I think should put to rest the things that were being held out against Zoro from being accepted as a top tier. IIRC the things were CoO (FS) and duration of KoH. Zoro's other stats were already agreed to be top tier.
Firstly, we only have 4 confirmed FS users, 1 is not top tier (Katakuri) and 1's usage is confusing (Did Kaido always had it or was it a specific usage with his drunken thief mode). The other top tiers have never shown FS, they are mostly gifted these abilities like Ray (because he told Luffy), Roger (because he is the benchmark) etc. Others like WB (has the sleep diff), Fujitora (best overall CoO I think) and Mihawk (Hawkeyes shit) have other hype for CoO. Personally I think Shanks has the best, 10 secs FS, better than Kata and Luffy's. Imo Zoro's first showing of sleep diff (blocking Kakus attack) and now dodging Lucci's attack easily, catching the sword mid air etc. is the top tier CoO feats in manga. Reminder that only 3 top tiers have FS and 1 has an asterisk with it. The other top tiers have never been shown to have FS. I think this excuse is no longer applicable in Zoro's acceptance as a top tier.
Next we have KoH time limit (I never believed it in the first place but anyway) and that Zoro was only a top tier for the duration of KoH. It had two things, Zoro could not use Enma like Oden without KoH and Zoro could not use ACoC without KoH. For those who were observant the hints should have been enough but apparently it was not so until this chapter came out. Zoro using Enma to cut the Eddy with a Bird Dance with no visual haki usage (coating or overflowing CoA) was the indicator. Now we got the confirmation and doesn't matter which way you wanna swing the outcome remains the same.
Option 1: Zoro dispatched a YC1 level character with using ACoC and a mid tier move. Lucci is at least YC1 cause I don't see a YC2 level guy clashing equally with a Yonko. Luffy is a Yonko and G5 is his peak (ACoC excluded), not seeing the likes of Queen clashing equally like that, tbh I can't even imagine Kata doing this. I don't think anybody would be calling this anything more than a mid tier move, its not Ougi, Asura or KoH etc. This in fact is something which only Yonkos have shown so far, Kaido against Luffy (Act 1 Wano) and Shanks against Kid (Kid is high YC1 or YC1+ if you wanna call it, not getting into Kid vs Lucci here). All three use and ACoC attack (signature for Kaido and Shanks) and defeat the YC1-/1/1+ opponent. It also puts to bed that Zoro needs KoH for ACoC and it shows that Zoro can easily use Enma (light as a feather emphasized by catching it mid air etc.) which puts him on Oden level who is relative to/equal to Yonko level.
Option 2: Zoro did not use ACoC to dispatch a YC1 level character which makes this a low (upper) tier move. This wanks Zoro to high heavens because it shits on Kaido and Shanks feat in comparison (@nik87 made a thread on this) and the reason why Zoro haters are calling it an ACoC move and the debate is raging on. Not to mention that awakened Lucci is most likely more durable than Kid and Luffy.
Not one for constantly comparing Zoro and Luffy because then people resort to clowning the other but have to do it here. Luffy is a top tier, he fought Kaido 1v1 and he fought Kizaru and Saturn etc. The low damage done etc. is all plot based. Luffy running out of G5 against Kizaru was plot just like Zoro being stalled by Lucci for this long. It took Zoro one named attack, a mid tier move at most, to outdo what Luffy couldn't achieve with 3 named attacks, low tier (non ACoC).
I will be going against some Zoro fans takes but here are my thoughts:
- Luffy would low diff Lucci like Zoro, using 3 named attacks does not hold up because both are different types of fighters. Lucci was in awakened form (I know the cloud is missing when he took those attacks but the style of his mane is different than hybrid, I just think it was a stylistic choice by Oda).
- Luffy running out of G5 against Kizaru is not a win for Kizaru nor is it a loss, it was purely due to plot, just like Zoro getting stalled by Lucci
In conclusion:
- Luffy and Zoro are top tiers, with the likes of only Mihawk and Shanks above them
- Luffy and Zoro will be equal (they might lose extreme diff) to Shanks when they finally meet
- Zoro one shotting Lucci looks better than Luffy but the fighting styles are different
This chapter I think should put to rest the things that were being held out against Zoro from being accepted as a top tier. IIRC the things were CoO (FS) and duration of KoH. Zoro's other stats were already agreed to be top tier.
Firstly, we only have 4 confirmed FS users, 1 is not top tier (Katakuri) and 1's usage is confusing (Did Kaido always had it or was it a specific usage with his drunken thief mode). The other top tiers have never shown FS, they are mostly gifted these abilities like Ray (because he told Luffy), Roger (because he is the benchmark) etc. Others like WB (has the sleep diff), Fujitora (best overall CoO I think) and Mihawk (Hawkeyes shit) have other hype for CoO. Personally I think Shanks has the best, 10 secs FS, better than Kata and Luffy's. Imo Zoro's first showing of sleep diff (blocking Kakus attack) and now dodging Lucci's attack easily, catching the sword mid air etc. is the top tier CoO feats in manga. Reminder that only 3 top tiers have FS and 1 has an asterisk with it. The other top tiers have never been shown to have FS. I think this excuse is no longer applicable in Zoro's acceptance as a top tier.
Next we have KoH time limit (I never believed it in the first place but anyway) and that Zoro was only a top tier for the duration of KoH. It had two things, Zoro could not use Enma like Oden without KoH and Zoro could not use ACoC without KoH. For those who were observant the hints should have been enough but apparently it was not so until this chapter came out. Zoro using Enma to cut the Eddy with a Bird Dance with no visual haki usage (coating or overflowing CoA) was the indicator. Now we got the confirmation and doesn't matter which way you wanna swing the outcome remains the same.
Option 1: Zoro dispatched a YC1 level character with using ACoC and a mid tier move. Lucci is at least YC1 cause I don't see a YC2 level guy clashing equally with a Yonko. Luffy is a Yonko and G5 is his peak (ACoC excluded), not seeing the likes of Queen clashing equally like that, tbh I can't even imagine Kata doing this. I don't think anybody would be calling this anything more than a mid tier move, its not Ougi, Asura or KoH etc. This in fact is something which only Yonkos have shown so far, Kaido against Luffy (Act 1 Wano) and Shanks against Kid (Kid is high YC1 or YC1+ if you wanna call it, not getting into Kid vs Lucci here). All three use and ACoC attack (signature for Kaido and Shanks) and defeat the YC1-/1/1+ opponent. It also puts to bed that Zoro needs KoH for ACoC and it shows that Zoro can easily use Enma (light as a feather emphasized by catching it mid air etc.) which puts him on Oden level who is relative to/equal to Yonko level.
Option 2: Zoro did not use ACoC to dispatch a YC1 level character which makes this a low (upper) tier move. This wanks Zoro to high heavens because it shits on Kaido and Shanks feat in comparison (@nik87 made a thread on this) and the reason why Zoro haters are calling it an ACoC move and the debate is raging on. Not to mention that awakened Lucci is most likely more durable than Kid and Luffy.
Not one for constantly comparing Zoro and Luffy because then people resort to clowning the other but have to do it here. Luffy is a top tier, he fought Kaido 1v1 and he fought Kizaru and Saturn etc. The low damage done etc. is all plot based. Luffy running out of G5 against Kizaru was plot just like Zoro being stalled by Lucci for this long. It took Zoro one named attack, a mid tier move at most, to outdo what Luffy couldn't achieve with 3 named attacks, low tier (non ACoC).
I will be going against some Zoro fans takes but here are my thoughts:
- Luffy would low diff Lucci like Zoro, using 3 named attacks does not hold up because both are different types of fighters. Lucci was in awakened form (I know the cloud is missing when he took those attacks but the style of his mane is different than hybrid, I just think it was a stylistic choice by Oda).
- Luffy running out of G5 against Kizaru is not a win for Kizaru nor is it a loss, it was purely due to plot, just like Zoro getting stalled by Lucci
In conclusion:
- Luffy and Zoro are top tiers, with the likes of only Mihawk and Shanks above them
- Luffy and Zoro will be equal (they might lose extreme diff) to Shanks when they finally meet
- Zoro one shotting Lucci looks better than Luffy but the fighting styles are different
