Character Discussion How would you re-write Gaban’s abilities if you could and/or want?

[Dark Knight Sanji]

As you all know, I’ve been a massive fan of Gaban ever since we got his name revealed in Blue Deep as the Bronze/Copper member of the Roger Pirates. His cool shades and hair bangs were also instrumental in stanning the character. I always knew he would be relevant despite many on here discounting it because of the obvious Sanji parallel bias.

Then, when his character was fleshed out more (confirming he was Sanji's parallel - LOL), we got his portrayal as the OG #3 / Left-hand/wing of the Pirate King and someone who had strength on par with legends like Roger and Rayleigh. Then we got the fact that OG is a family man who loves AND is faithful to his wife; loves his son, and actually never went to get the milk like Bum-sopp's dad; that bro, set up in the strongest country in the world and is revered by its inhabitants. AMAZING CHARACTERIZATION!!

My only gripe is that his fighting style is so bland. When we saw bro dual-wielding axes, I was thinking to myself that we would get some berserker-type rage mode. I actually had a theory where Gaban's able to tap into a primal mode the angrier he becomes. But all we got was copy and paste ACoC strikes. Really disappointed! Is it a deal-breaker? No, I actually like how strong he is and his status as a top-tier (I always knew he would be one), but it doesn't do justice to such a cool character to be a generic ACoC bro.

 

[Boiroy]

Roger's equals are all copy paste fighters
Nothing u can do

 

[Yo Tan Wa]

U should set expectations as per the author.

 

[RiShin]

I would rehual Gaban character into a martial artist who mastered all the hand to hand martial arts in one piece. So a character like Gouken from Street fighter.

Because all these weapon users in the old gen and only Garp as the gold standard is booring.

 

[MonsterKaido]

Give him a DF

 

[shastar-sei]

More Sanji-coded but with contrast:

Instead of wielding a pair of axes, Gaban could have been a user of copper-colored dual gauntlets. These gauntlets would be more tech-themed than medieval, like Vi's from Arcane, but more streamlined. He possesses elite boxing skills with a style that relies on hand speed, footwork, and future sight. Gaban is great at slipping and countering, and he unleashes flurries when it's time to finish or when he's pissed. He never throws kicks or knees to stay light on his feet. Like Ideo, he can generate explosive punches, but on a whole different level of potency. He reinforces his gauntlets with CoA to handle the firepower and infuses them with ACoC when necessary.

His boxing-based martial art is called Bright Fist (明拳 or Meiken). It's also his epithet and sounds similar to Dark King (冥王 or Meiō) in Japanese.

 

[NicoRobinIsQueen]

I would change it completely, make it so his wrapons are 2 shovels, and what he does is he goes quickly, speeding underground while just digging under his opponents so they don't know where he is and he creates holes so his opponents can fall into. Then Gaban just pops out, biting his opponents and bringing up dirt and rocks with one shovel while hitting his opponent with his other shovel. That's what you call a mountain eater. He has no ability but he moves so quickly that the ground stays up as he's digging.

 

[Rumble]

I'd be cool if he had some elemental buff.

Lightning goes well with axes.

 

[Cruxroux]

He was shown with Axe the entire time.

Haki was the only vertical investment in him.

Advanced Conqueror was as well.

 

[Garps tekkai]

I wasn't in the CoC coating camp before it got revealed, because I wanted more variation, instead I thought he might compensate with physical stat enhancing abilities like life return, which could have made him a speedster and a physical powerhouse at will, like a light version of shuron hakke Kaido.
I'd have given him a speed mode via bulky legs and a AP boost via bulky arms and an all out everything enhanced time limited form.
This might have even made him stronger than his current CoC version.
But ofc now that we know CoC is seemingly needed for the HKs' regen CoC makes sense.