Says who? Whitebeard gets compared to Roger, not the other way round. You talking about fame? Roger doesn't even get any in-verse credit for beating his greatest opponent.
Shanks/Mihawk is tricky, so I wont go deeper into that one. But Gaban? Are you kidding me? You don't get compared to the GOAT just because some nobodies said something. Man has to build his CV over many portrayals/feats and chapters - then we can talk.
Says common sense - no pirate can compete with Roger in Fame because Roger is by far the most famous pirate.
Nobody can say Gaban/Ray stand shoulder to shoulder with Roger when it comes to fame and keep a straight face.
They absolutely can stand shoulder to shoulder with Roger when it comes to individual strength.
People keep forgetting the most obvious thing here - Ray and Gaban were on Roger's side, not against him.
Of course Whitebeard is compared to Roger, not the other way around, because it can be done only that way.
Idk why this is repeated all the time as if it means something, like cmon, bring some logic into it.
It is Whitebeard's introduction, not Roger's.
Roger doesn't get credit for beating who? Rocks? Who says he has beaten him in 1vs1? The story is way past Roger, he is irrelevant.
There are bigger fish to be hyped and given credit to. People simply don't get that Roger is irrelevant in the present.
Narrative requires other figures to be hyped and Oda was clear, they are not limited by Roger, when it comes to individual strength.
You are missing the point, the soul of the entire chapter, it's purpose...
It is clear to me, to introduce another monster comparable to Roger and Rayleigh.
And that is exactly what it means to stand shoulder to shoulder with those two.
Just because it comes from some random giants, it doesn't matter.
People refuse the same when it comes from King and Oden too.
I am not here to hunt fandom's individual agendas, I simply call out the wrong things.
Impossible
1- nothing can top old Rayleigh stoping non nerfed kizaru without dementia.
G5 luffy couldn't put a nerfed kizaru down for good and his g4 got one shotted. in the end kizaru had to brink him food to save luffy.
This put Old Ray=non nerfed Kizaru>>nerfed kizaru=Egghead Luffy.
2-Ray stop Blackbeard (unless Gaban beat shamrock or has same effect Ray has on blackbeard he arent beating this hype).
While Rayleigh's aura is certainly hard to match, it is easy for Gaban to get better feats simply due to the nature of story's progression.
He gets to show off in an era where haki is dominant while Ray did it while Haki was barely a thing.
And there is a chance that Gaban might have unique powers, limited to him and Sanji probably, at least among relevant figures, so if he puts aCoC to shame with something that ain't aCoC, he will easily score great feats.
After all, the point of his introduction is to hype him up so that is Oda's goal here.
Shoulder to shoulder in that context does not relate to strength.
Genuinely wondering what do you think shoulder to shoulder refers to here?