Here is the actual quote:
Oda "When Kaidou appeared for the first time, I said that Luffy can't defeat such a strong character yet. And I'm yet to know how Luffy would defeat Kaidou. Probably my audience will not be satisfied if the reason for defeating Kaidou is just because Luffy's punch is so strong. Luffy and I have to find a solution somehow."
Source 1
And
Source 2
This needs to be talked about. Luffy's entire character-arc in Wano was just him powering up his punches. The only reason he's going to defeat Kaido, literally, is because he powered up his attacks to be able to injure Kaido. Metaphorically, Luffy is only defeating Kaido because his punches got stronger.
Which Oda explicitly said would be a disappointing way to write the Kaido fight.
Some might say "Oh well, Luffy isn't defeating Kaido because his punches got stronger, he's defeating Kaido because his Haki got stronger"
Which is a nonsense argument. You may as well say "Luffy isn't defeating Kaido because his punches got stronger, he's defeating Kaido because his
kicks got stronger"
It completely misses the point of the criticism, that Luffy vs Kaido is not going to be different from any other fight that Luffy has had in the manga. Now Luffy has earned an invisible powerup which has turned Kaido into a generic "let me punch him as hard as I can over and over again until he gives up" fight which Luffy is notorious for.
When Oda first gave the above quote, it's hard not to imagine that he was trying to wrack his brain to make Luffy vs Kaido different and more memorable. But it looks like this fight is going to be the same as any other Luffy fight both artistically and narratively. Just Luffy spamming punch attacks over and over again until Kaido gives up.
I pitty those who actually thought Luffy learning advanced Haki was actually going to make the Kaido fight different from every other Luffy fight in some way, and that includes myself lol.
Did Oda let himself down here? Is this a disappointing way to carry out this fight?
@Light D Lamperouge @Owl Ki @Blackbeard @LuthonTheDragDown @Jiihad @Haoshoku @Van @Bogard @Cinera @ShishioIsBack @Jo_Ndule @Chrono etc etc etc