we need to dead this akainu's equal talk now
he's as good as twerkbull
Yea but it's clear to me now that Oda sees Kizaru as too close to Akainu in power, to let him go all out against Luffy.
If Kizaru fell this arc against Luffy, it would confirm Oda sees him as a commander, à la Katakuri, before Luffy faces off against Akainu, the Kaidou in this situation.
This tells me two things.
1.Kizaru is probably very close to Akainu in power
2.Luffy and Akainu will fight at some point
When Kizaru vs Luffy was going down, I was thinking perhaps Akainu won't face Luffy afterall, since I couldn't see Kizaru as the Katakuri (commander) who falls in this natural progression. But now I'm quite confident that Akainu is fighting Luffy at some point, and Oda refuses to spoil that fight by having Luffy take on someone close to Akainu's level going all out.