Questions & Mysteries Who will be EOS Sabo's opponent?
- Thread starter MonsterKaido
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Have a strong feeling it's gonna be Topman.
As strong as the Admirals are, narratively speaking, biggest battles as far as the WG as an antagonistic force are concerned are Imu and the Gorosei.
Sabo's the front runner of the revos who are in direct conflict with the WG so makes sense for him to be one of the major contributors to their down fall.
There’s also setup for Sabo v the Gorosei.
Only person outside the Gorosei that prolly even knows what Imu looks like is Sabo. He’s even seen his devilish transformation. Plus there’s the Nefetari/Imu plot line which Vivi will prolly be at the thick of during the final war & reckon Sabo will protect her given everything that went down with Cobra.
Argument for a gorosei matchup established, Topman fits for me coz he gives off the air of being the leading figure amongst the gorosei and if anyone is gonna fight a stronger opponent than Zoro and Sanji’s in the ultimate fight in the series with Luffy at the fore-front only one I feel gets a pass is Sabo. Then there’s how Sabo matches up against Topman. Sabo’s strong point seems to be armament & Topman’s strongest point is his durability + the two are fire users.
As strong as the Admirals are, narratively speaking, biggest battles as far as the WG as an antagonistic force are concerned are Imu and the Gorosei.
Sabo's the front runner of the revos who are in direct conflict with the WG so makes sense for him to be one of the major contributors to their down fall.
There’s also setup for Sabo v the Gorosei.
Only person outside the Gorosei that prolly even knows what Imu looks like is Sabo. He’s even seen his devilish transformation. Plus there’s the Nefetari/Imu plot line which Vivi will prolly be at the thick of during the final war & reckon Sabo will protect her given everything that went down with Cobra.
Argument for a gorosei matchup established, Topman fits for me coz he gives off the air of being the leading figure amongst the gorosei and if anyone is gonna fight a stronger opponent than Zoro and Sanji’s in the ultimate fight in the series with Luffy at the fore-front only one I feel gets a pass is Sabo. Then there’s how Sabo matches up against Topman. Sabo’s strong point seems to be armament & Topman’s strongest point is his durability + the two are fire users.
Hypothetically speaking even if Law fought a Gorosei alongside Zoro & Sanji I can’t really see it tbh. Mostly coz there’s really no need for it now that the Captain Trio dynamic has ended. The moment Luffy became a Yonko he set himself apart from those 2 and that was followed up by Law & Kidd dropping out of the race and gap is only gonna get bigger as we progress further down the series. This is not to say that Law doesn’t have potential to grow going forward into the series but justification for him to keep up with Luffy is gone.
Also, there’s the issue of Law breaking the dynamic Oda’s established for Zoro & Sanji with them both fighting the main antagonist’s top 2. Personally not convinced Topman is the strongest but I can see an argument for it. Regardless, if anyone is gonna break that dynamic. Luffy’s brother and the front runner of the Revos who have high stakes in the war fits imo.
Lastly, narrative-wise Law fighting a stronger opponent or in this case subordinate than Luffy’s wings in Luffy’s ultimate fight in the series doesn’t really compute for me. However, Sabo’s brother dynamic with Luffy can compete with that
All that said, I also lean more towards Law fighting Imu alongside Luffy as his support.
^^. Coincidentally we’ve had Oda use this similar D v Celestial Dragon dynamic on DR with Doffy so could be a repeat.
Also, there’s the issue of Law breaking the dynamic Oda’s established for Zoro & Sanji with them both fighting the main antagonist’s top 2. Personally not convinced Topman is the strongest but I can see an argument for it. Regardless, if anyone is gonna break that dynamic. Luffy’s brother and the front runner of the Revos who have high stakes in the war fits imo.
Lastly, narrative-wise Law fighting a stronger opponent or in this case subordinate than Luffy’s wings in Luffy’s ultimate fight in the series doesn’t really compute for me. However, Sabo’s brother dynamic with Luffy can compete with that
All that said, I also lean more towards Law fighting Imu alongside Luffy as his support.
^^. Coincidentally we’ve had Oda use this similar D v Celestial Dragon dynamic on DR with Doffy so could be a repeat.
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Law was always portrayed as a bigger deal than Luffy’s subordinates. Literally every arc that Law was involved in… he fought the strongest guy on that island. He even beat 2 stronger guys than Luffy‘s opponent in PH. In Wano, Law beat a yonko before Luffy could. He is the leader of worstgen alongside Kid and Luffy, and a will of D — so narratively, he’s a much bigger player in this war than either Zoro or Sanji.
Why would you think that the dynamic would change? This is just wishful thinking. The only way Law doesn’t get the bigger fish is if he doesn’t come back into the story (Which is not happening).
Why would you think that the dynamic would change? This is just wishful thinking. The only way Law doesn’t get the bigger fish is if he doesn’t come back into the story (Which is not happening).
Agree with the unbolded bit but context is also important. At that point in the series Captain Trio dynamic was getting played up to hype the front-runners of the Supernova going into the .vs Yonko saga. However even with all that Law has never broken the Zoro/Sanji v antagonist’s top 2 pattern. On PH he faced off against Vergo who was the main antagonist of the arc alongside Ceaser. On DR he faced off against Doffy with Luffy & didn’t fight Pica. On Wano he didn’t fight either King or Queen but someone unrelated to the Beast Pirates in Linlin. Anyways went on a tangent there but story’s moved on from those times pre Yonko saga. Currently Luffy’s a Yonko and the other two are not. Moreover they’ve already dropped out of the PK race & Luffy’s still in it. Whole Captain Trio dynamic was built around the race for the PK with those being the most promising from the new gen. Now that they are out dynamic is effectively over.
With regard to the bolded bit I completely disagree. D connection gives Law plot relevance going into the final war but doesn’t make him a bigger player than Luffy’s wings. Doesn’t make any sense for Law to play a more supportive role to Luffy than those two. Nuance is literally in the title ‘Wings of the PK’. Captain Trio dynamic that’s effectively lost its meaning winning out against the Wings dynamic & taking priority over Luffy’s biggest support pillars in his wings in the ultimate fight in the series makes no sense to me but we can disagree on this 🫂
For the reasons I gave above but again we’ll see ^^
With regard to the bolded bit I completely disagree. D connection gives Law plot relevance going into the final war but doesn’t make him a bigger player than Luffy’s wings. Doesn’t make any sense for Law to play a more supportive role to Luffy than those two. Nuance is literally in the title ‘Wings of the PK’. Captain Trio dynamic that’s effectively lost its meaning winning out against the Wings dynamic & taking priority over Luffy’s biggest support pillars in his wings in the ultimate fight in the series makes no sense to me but we can disagree on this 🫂
For the reasons I gave above but again we’ll see ^^
No build up?
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Am I am not even saying this for Akainu, since tbh Sabo might very well turn out to be one of the strongest characters period. He Is the brother of Joy Boy and the one that would have been Roger 2.0.
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Am I am not even saying this for Akainu, since tbh Sabo might very well turn out to be one of the strongest characters period. He Is the brother of Joy Boy and the one that would have been Roger 2.0.
I know most of these myself.
Let me rephase my statement.
There is no definitive buildup for who is to be Sabo's EoS opponent.
We know holy knights vs revolutionaries is built up. CDs in general vs revolutionaries is built up. But nothing individually for Sabo, these are meant for group fights.
We can speculate that Sabo can get one of the stronger holy knights or even may get a Gorosei fight, but we can only guess.
Only individual to whom Sabo may have personal grudge is Akainu, who is Ace's murderer.
But Akainu seems to have a grudge against Dragon, and Dragon may have been an admiral candidate back in his marine days. I prefer Dragon vs Akainu more than Sabo vs Akainu.
If you meant that there is no build up for who is going to be Sabo's opponent individually, I agree with you. There isn't: as I said, Shamrock, Garling, Topman; all are good.
From that post I wrongly get the impression that you were saying that there was no build up overall, when in my opinion there is clearly a build up of Sabo vs Govevernment. The only question is who from the Goverment.
And I agree Akainu vs Dragon, in case, would be better. However, if we go using personal connections, there are reasons to say Sabo vs BB too, or idk, Loki vs Shamrock/Garling during the final war. So, I think the safest way in general is going by narrative more than personal grudges. For the same reason Law and Kidd got BM and not Kaido.
If Dragon fights Akainu Sabo could fight Ryokugyu.
The Flame Emperor chapter was where Ryokugyu was giving his rant about the nature of the world. And arguably the Dragon/Sabo relationship could be akin to the Akainu /Ryokugyu one, where it’s one of admiration for a superior officer, rather than the brotherly bond between Akainu/Kizaru.
Ryokugyu protected the Celestial Dragons and tried to stop Fujitora from saving slaves, that’s contrary to what Sabo believes. And there’s fire vs forest, with Ryokugyu having worked against that weakness, so Sabo would have to work to overcome it (Awakening?)
The Flame Emperor chapter was where Ryokugyu was giving his rant about the nature of the world. And arguably the Dragon/Sabo relationship could be akin to the Akainu /Ryokugyu one, where it’s one of admiration for a superior officer, rather than the brotherly bond between Akainu/Kizaru.
Ryokugyu protected the Celestial Dragons and tried to stop Fujitora from saving slaves, that’s contrary to what Sabo believes. And there’s fire vs forest, with Ryokugyu having worked against that weakness, so Sabo would have to work to overcome it (Awakening?)
Aside from Luffy's scar which hasn't been mentioned for over half the manga, Sabo has just as many arguments for fighting Akainu as Luffy does and more
-Ace's brother
-Akainu is the Celestial Dragon's slave and defends them and the Celestial Dragons are Sabo's goal
-Inherited Ace's will
-Akainu wants to kill Luffy and Sabo has already shown that he will abandon his duty as a Rev to protect Luffy
-Fire vs Magma good thematic matchup
-Oda has stated that a weaker fruit can beat a superior one (e.g snow vs ice or fire vs magma) but we've yet to see it, Sabo vs Akainu is the perfect opportunity to show it
-Ace's brother
-Akainu is the Celestial Dragon's slave and defends them and the Celestial Dragons are Sabo's goal
-Inherited Ace's will
-Akainu wants to kill Luffy and Sabo has already shown that he will abandon his duty as a Rev to protect Luffy
-Fire vs Magma good thematic matchup
-Oda has stated that a weaker fruit can beat a superior one (e.g snow vs ice or fire vs magma) but we've yet to see it, Sabo vs Akainu is the perfect opportunity to show it
I think the match-ups are:
Shanks vs Garling - pro vs against WG conflict within Figarland family, complete opposites view of the world
Dragon vs Topman - he didn't know that Imu even existed so he always targetted Elders, Topman's thick hide vs Ryusoken style
Sabo vs Akainu - Ace's will within DF hinted back at Burgess that the unfinished business will be Sabo's theme, fire vs magma round 2
Shanks vs Garling - pro vs against WG conflict within Figarland family, complete opposites view of the world
Dragon vs Topman - he didn't know that Imu even existed so he always targetted Elders, Topman's thick hide vs Ryusoken style
Sabo vs Akainu - Ace's will within DF hinted back at Burgess that the unfinished business will be Sabo's theme, fire vs magma round 2
Used to be an advocate for Sabo v Akainu but that scar he gave Luffy is significant imo, particularly when you consider that Shanks scar is symbolic of his antagonistic relationship with Teach & that he’d most likely fall to the latter. Hell it ain’t just Shanks/Teach, same is true for Kaido/Oden, so don’t think you can underestimate the significance of scars.
There’s also the fact that Akainu has a bounty of 5bil which is Roger/WB range. Is Oda really gonna give a 5B bounty opponent to Sabo? Not sure about that. So think he’d go to Luffy as most expect only question imo is the timing.
There’s also the fact that Akainu has a bounty of 5bil which is Roger/WB range. Is Oda really gonna give a 5B bounty opponent to Sabo? Not sure about that. So think he’d go to Luffy as most expect only question imo is the timing.
