Yeah, it is a shame how just because Kata lost to Luffy all YC1s have been brought low. Like people don't understand that Marco was a Yonko candidate.
King is getting some much deserved hype and respect now.
It infuriates me when people start putting guys like Sanji etc above Marco. The feats and portrayal for Marco dwarves Sanjis. Even Lucci, Law and Kid are not above Marco imo. Imagine Shanks asking a guy to join his crew multiple times when he can 0.5 shot him.
Kata was just unlucky that he had to be sacrificed for Luffys progression, but then he was not like Marco and King, recognized RHM of their Yonkos.
Right.
Luffy getting blitz and one shot by base Kaido, after he grew to be relative to Katakuri, did one hell of a propaganda campaign to bring down the YC1s in the eyes of the fanbase.
This even resulted in an indirect propaganda campaign to bring down the admirals' (and Mihawk's) portrayal as collateral damage, cause WB's top commanders were holding their own against admirals.
People might not remember, but yonkos taking down admirals with a mid diff (or even lower) was a common take during pre rooftop era.
When in reality, Luffy's one shot was just the exception, and only served to show that Katakuri was a glass canon and weakest YC1.
Big Mom's crew really was the weakest in raw power, it is increasingly becoming abundantly clear.
Aokiji no diff'd Cracker as collateral damage, while Jozu was fighting very well against Aokiji.
Marco came and fought BM for almost as long as scabbards vs Kaido, and came out of it unscathed. This was the first real sign that Marco's feats against admirals weren't retconned, or that admirals were weak compared to Yonkos.
King was basically mid diffing rooftop Zoro, who looked FAR superior to post WCI Luffy. Then we got King's flashback where Kaido called teenage King strong, and founded the beast pirates with him as the actual first mate, where more of their duo moments were revealed.
We should really just adjust the powerscaling of commanders.
King, Marco, Jozu and Vista are simply far stronger than people give them credit for.
They can hold their own against top tiers.
Whitebeard had world's strongest crew.
It narratively wouldn't make any impact, if his top commanders were utter fodder against top tiers.