Recently, people have been handing out L's to Luffy for his defeat in a 1v1 battle against Kaido.
On one hand, it's warranted because he's just been KO'd and thrown off of Onigashima, but on the other hand, I think it's missing the point about him winning the war.
I'd posit that Luffy knew he'd loose (or at least probably loose) in a 1v1 vs Kaido, but that he took the battle regardless and chose to portray confidence to his allies anyway so that they wouldn't loose heart and start throwing or running from their own battles as well.
Luffy isn't above sacrificing himself to delay or neutralize a stronger opponent for his crew even knowing that he'd probably die. The first time he went up against Aoikiji, that's exactly what he did and to fantastic results:
Luffy sacrificing himself for the technical loss but the tactical victory isn't anything new, and I think that's what he's accomplished here as well vs Kaido in his 1v1.
Notice how similar Kaido's demeanor is to Aoikiji's in this:
Kaido may have won, but now that its over he realizes what a failure of his its even been to even accept and get excited about a 1v1 with Luffy in the first place. He hadn't properly highlighted how hopeless Luffy's solo fight would be for the fleeing supernova, and now the raid below have gotten the impression that things are going phenomenally well on the rooftop.
The raid ends when the alliance's confidence wanes and their cohesion as group of likeminded interest collapses. The alliances don't truly have any single unifying hope or figure to rally around, so if even one of the commanders decides to give up, that'll cause a cascade effect, which was basically what kaido and Apoo were saying earlier in the arc, about pirate alliances being marked by betrayal.
Thus under the strain of uncertainty, the alliance cant hold together. And as it has been clear just about this entire arc, the biggest failure point in the entire raid has to be the idea of actually taking down Kaido. Obviously the alliance don't have anybody on their side who can truly 1v1 him, and they're short-staffed for powerful fighters as it is. Defeating Kaido has always been viewed as the thing to do which is impossible, thus he is the biggest concern.
Yet Kaido shouldn't be so much of a concern if you're thinking tactically. He's just one piece on the chessboard right now who will be unwilling to all out with the destruction in targeting all of them, given that they're all currently in the walls of his house. The only way in which the battle with Kaido would realistically impact most of the other battles in this arc would be if the alliance suddenly gave up or refused to fully commit to their fights thanks to the fear of Kaido suddenly showing up and wrecking them.
And even though the alliance cant currently expend the manpower necessary to 20 v 1 Kaido to defeat, doesn't mean that they wont ultimately have that type of manpower available once they've finished off all of the rest of their fights. Jinbei, Marco, Yamato, Sanji, Hyogoro, Drake and even potentially the Franky Shogun. All of them have the potential to be relevant in a fight against Kaido yet none of them have gone to the roof yet. Hell, even most of the samurai remain in fighting condition for right now and could rejoin in a group fight vs Kaido once everything else has been handled. With this alliance, they have the potential to defeat Kaido. They just need to keep their eyes on the prize and not chicken out in their fights due to Kaido's looming shadow.
And that means giving off the impression that they don't need to worry about Kaido, which honestly, they don't. Kaido can only stop so many of them. The battles are going to trend in the strawhat's favor regardless of his personal interference. Meanwhile the moment Kaido shows a moment of serious weakness, his crew, built mostly of those who he's threatened, will turn on him on a dime.
Luffy might've seemed confident when he told Zoro that he had it handled, but all he was really doing is essentially this:
Calling it an intentional loss might be going overboard, but it was definitely an intentional air of confidence. And due to the victory Luffy's opened up the possibility for with his actions, though Luffy lost the fight, this still wasn't his L.
Thoughts?
On one hand, it's warranted because he's just been KO'd and thrown off of Onigashima, but on the other hand, I think it's missing the point about him winning the war.
I'd posit that Luffy knew he'd loose (or at least probably loose) in a 1v1 vs Kaido, but that he took the battle regardless and chose to portray confidence to his allies anyway so that they wouldn't loose heart and start throwing or running from their own battles as well.
Luffy isn't above sacrificing himself to delay or neutralize a stronger opponent for his crew even knowing that he'd probably die. The first time he went up against Aoikiji, that's exactly what he did and to fantastic results:
Luffy sacrificing himself for the technical loss but the tactical victory isn't anything new, and I think that's what he's accomplished here as well vs Kaido in his 1v1.
Notice how similar Kaido's demeanor is to Aoikiji's in this:
Kaido may have won, but now that its over he realizes what a failure of his its even been to even accept and get excited about a 1v1 with Luffy in the first place. He hadn't properly highlighted how hopeless Luffy's solo fight would be for the fleeing supernova, and now the raid below have gotten the impression that things are going phenomenally well on the rooftop.
The raid ends when the alliance's confidence wanes and their cohesion as group of likeminded interest collapses. The alliances don't truly have any single unifying hope or figure to rally around, so if even one of the commanders decides to give up, that'll cause a cascade effect, which was basically what kaido and Apoo were saying earlier in the arc, about pirate alliances being marked by betrayal.
Thus under the strain of uncertainty, the alliance cant hold together. And as it has been clear just about this entire arc, the biggest failure point in the entire raid has to be the idea of actually taking down Kaido. Obviously the alliance don't have anybody on their side who can truly 1v1 him, and they're short-staffed for powerful fighters as it is. Defeating Kaido has always been viewed as the thing to do which is impossible, thus he is the biggest concern.
Yet Kaido shouldn't be so much of a concern if you're thinking tactically. He's just one piece on the chessboard right now who will be unwilling to all out with the destruction in targeting all of them, given that they're all currently in the walls of his house. The only way in which the battle with Kaido would realistically impact most of the other battles in this arc would be if the alliance suddenly gave up or refused to fully commit to their fights thanks to the fear of Kaido suddenly showing up and wrecking them.
And even though the alliance cant currently expend the manpower necessary to 20 v 1 Kaido to defeat, doesn't mean that they wont ultimately have that type of manpower available once they've finished off all of the rest of their fights. Jinbei, Marco, Yamato, Sanji, Hyogoro, Drake and even potentially the Franky Shogun. All of them have the potential to be relevant in a fight against Kaido yet none of them have gone to the roof yet. Hell, even most of the samurai remain in fighting condition for right now and could rejoin in a group fight vs Kaido once everything else has been handled. With this alliance, they have the potential to defeat Kaido. They just need to keep their eyes on the prize and not chicken out in their fights due to Kaido's looming shadow.
And that means giving off the impression that they don't need to worry about Kaido, which honestly, they don't. Kaido can only stop so many of them. The battles are going to trend in the strawhat's favor regardless of his personal interference. Meanwhile the moment Kaido shows a moment of serious weakness, his crew, built mostly of those who he's threatened, will turn on him on a dime.
Luffy might've seemed confident when he told Zoro that he had it handled, but all he was really doing is essentially this:
Calling it an intentional loss might be going overboard, but it was definitely an intentional air of confidence. And due to the victory Luffy's opened up the possibility for with his actions, though Luffy lost the fight, this still wasn't his L.
Thoughts?
