You are both on extremes.
Old Gaban's showing was just the 1st taste of "Imu isn't invincible". It's an extremely common trope for these "big strong baddies" that are out of reach currently for the heroes.
Think like this:
Imu 1st appearance nuking everyone is like Tai Lung escaping the prison.
Imu vs Luffy/Loki initially, is like Tai Lung vs the Furious 5.
Imu vs Old Gaban is like Tai Lung vs Shifu, which is the fight that Tai Lung actually struggles a bit before absolutely dominating (going into his 2nd form). It is meant to show that this enemy is formidable, but not invincible.
We wont get our Tai Lung vs Po yet, because this isn't when Imu gets defeated for good, but he will be driven away, so you kinda can say we will. We have both hybrid Loki+Luffy coming back. Luffy may not care about the world's lore, but it doesn't stop the world lore from happening. Nika is a god revered in Elbaph and its been a plot point since the beginning here. the whole god of destruction/liberation dichotomy, etc.
So, the "old man" tax exists. Oda LOVES his "old gen" characters. Gaban would always have a good showing against Imu, especially because he's currently much more proficient in ACoC than Luffy, and we were told already Haoshoku Haki is the nemesis to Omen/Maki.
It's like Gaban "defeated" Gear 2nd, but Imu immediately gets up and goes gear 4th instead.
There's nothing "contradicting" itself here. It's a perfectly normal and cliche shounen battle progression against big baddie.
Old Gaban's showing was just the 1st taste of "Imu isn't invincible". It's an extremely common trope for these "big strong baddies" that are out of reach currently for the heroes.
Think like this:
Imu 1st appearance nuking everyone is like Tai Lung escaping the prison.
Imu vs Luffy/Loki initially, is like Tai Lung vs the Furious 5.
Imu vs Old Gaban is like Tai Lung vs Shifu, which is the fight that Tai Lung actually struggles a bit before absolutely dominating (going into his 2nd form). It is meant to show that this enemy is formidable, but not invincible.
We wont get our Tai Lung vs Po yet, because this isn't when Imu gets defeated for good, but he will be driven away, so you kinda can say we will. We have both hybrid Loki+Luffy coming back. Luffy may not care about the world's lore, but it doesn't stop the world lore from happening. Nika is a god revered in Elbaph and its been a plot point since the beginning here. the whole god of destruction/liberation dichotomy, etc.
So, the "old man" tax exists. Oda LOVES his "old gen" characters. Gaban would always have a good showing against Imu, especially because he's currently much more proficient in ACoC than Luffy, and we were told already Haoshoku Haki is the nemesis to Omen/Maki.
It's like Gaban "defeated" Gear 2nd, but Imu immediately gets up and goes gear 4th instead.
There's nothing "contradicting" itself here. It's a perfectly normal and cliche shounen battle progression against big baddie.
Oda nerf the man before he get here for a reason and he still fucking up everyone .
You guys crazy and let disagree on that lol .
