Powers & Abilities Did Akainu hold back against Aokiji?

[Lor D. Coast]

I'm going with my headcanon they where equal when the fight started, but after 10 days of fighting Akainu finally unlocked the power no one ever did before him, awakening a logia, this gave him the advantage to win the fight.

This would also put him above the other admirals with a fair margin, making him still a relevant battle strenght wise against Luffy

Akainu being the only awakened logia would be mid, OP doesn't need that kind of gatekeeping.

 

[MonsterKaido]

Yes... Akainu deliberately held back, just so he could, for some inexplicable reason, spend ten days fighting, and getting permanently scarred in the process....

 

[ThreePiece]

It makes sense that he did. Magma >>> Ice.

Even Ace was overpowering Luzan in a power struggle.