Problem with Ouchako is he feels too weak for Rayleigh.
IMO people are putting too much thought into it. Oda established Shiki having a rival for seemingly no reason but matchup. If Ray doesn’t fight Shiki and Gaban fighting silver axe, the introduction no longer makes sense imo.
I think it’s likely that Shiki would try and kidnap Shakky for himself seeing that he’s shown to be a known double crosser in the Rox pirates so Ray saving her from him would be enough narrative imo.
I hear you and you make a good point on Shiki v Ray with regards to the bolded bit, but it doesn't really feel special given his relationship with Shakky. Shiki doesn't really have as much weight in this plot line as Ouchoku does.
Defeating one of the gooners fighting to claim Shakky vs Defeating the one who kidnapped her in the first place?
Narrative-wise I feel if Oda intends to give Ray some sort of special achievement on God Valley he has to be the one that takes out Ouchoku.
Also although I don't think Ouchoku is as strong as Shiki, he's one of the named pirates in Rocks flashback and also a significant stepping stone for Blackbeard with regards to him becoming a Yonko and also claiming Hachinosu for himself. He's clearly not weak.
Perception that is weak is simply coz he doesn't have a cuul design but he's clearly not.
That said, I'm not saying Ray has to fight him to extreme diff either.
Ray vs Garling feels much more spot on.
Can't see it tbh. Only logic behind this matchup is Garling wanting to win Shakky as price but that's everybody on God Valley.
Garling is simply an attractive matchup to folks coz he's strong. However Garling's role on God Valley is far bigger than Shakky. He potentially has ties to the capture of the Davy Clan, also the Shanks/Shamrock plot line, Whitebeard in addtiion to being the so called Champion of God Valley. Ray v Garling imo is far-fetched but I digress.