Then we have tons of bad writers if hyperboles are a lie. We, as readers, have enough critical thinking to understand certain things. For example, we also had Zoro assuring there's nothing he can't cut yet this is obviously wrong (can't cut fire, to begin with), but such exaggeration made sense in the context of his words and the impact Oda wanted to achieve. As I said, the tale of Oden and Kaido is an epic one (well, it is meant to be, at least), so Oda just went for a classic tool for storytelling: make it sound greater than it actually is. But again, the moment you see the big picture it just makes no sense for Oden and Kaido to be stronger than Whitebeard and Roger, and the moment we compare those two pair of figures, their plot relevance, etc. I believe we get to determine what is hyperbole and what is legit portrayal
All those examples that you brought up are one thing, only one or two things that are meant to hype up and exaggerate things, and yeas I agree, there's a place even for those kind of things but Oden case is much, much, much different.
1. If it was only Oden's words I would dismiss it.
2. If it was only narrator's words I would still dismiss it.
3. If it was only the feats I wouldn't even pay attention to it.
4. If it was only portrayal I wouldn't care less.
5. If it was only the hype I would bypass it.
6. If it was only the plot I wouldn't care that much.
7. If it was only comparison to the strongest I wouldn't mind.
8. If it was only Oden's followers having more YCs than the Yonkos themselves I wouldn't even bother.
9. If it was only Kaido taking Oden more seriously than Big Mom I again wouldn't care less.
But all together? At the same time? Like I'm not blind or stupid, if we're using facts and logic to power scale characters then Oden is at the very least equal to Whitbeard or maybe even little bit stronger. You gotta understand that it's in my interests so that Oden would be weaker but when even I came to this conclusion then there's something to it, and again maybe you're right and I'm wrong, I'd be happy to be wrong but I'm very pessimistic cuz I know how much Oda loves Samurais, I've read his interviews and SBS section and I'm telling you, the guy is the biggest fan boy of Samurais, but when It comes to power scaling, let's not be a hippocrates and pretend that all evidence that I brought up have zero value.
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