A lot of people mistake the words of the characters for the words of Oda.
Luffy says that he will defeat big mom, that means he must defeat her, right? Well no, because Luffy isn't omniscient. He doesn't know everything that's going to happen. Luffy says he will beat big mom because big mom is a yonko and the yonko are contenders for pirate king, therefore Luffy wanted to defeat all the yonko. It's plain as that.
Whenever Luffy said he would beat big mom, he never expected big mom to follow him to wano and ally with kaido. Once that happened, Luffy changed his plans. He stated twice during onigashima, that the point of the war was to beat Kaido, Orochi, and big mom.
However, I don't think we needed to wait up until the narrator confirmed Kid and Law's victory, and BM's subsequent dethronement from the ranks of yonko, to guess that BM was probably never going to be dethroned by Luffy. It was blatantly obvious from the very beginning of WCI. Take a look at BM's commanders. We have:
I think another formulaic element you can look at is the setting. Most major arcs involve a villain oppressing some people, which Luffy then befriends and ultimately frees by defeating the villain. Who was Big Mom oppressing? All the people in totland wanted to be there, they paid taxes in order to stay there. This isn't the type of person Luffy overthrows.
I think one final element to look at is story progression. Oda doesn't want to right OP forever. Once Luffy was called 5th emperor, it basically defined how the progression would go from then on out.
"5th emperor"---> yonko---> pirate king
If post WCI Luffy is 5th emperor, then wano has to make him a yonko. If he is already a yonko after wano, then the final saga is going to make him PK. Each saga has to have major progression as they take years to write. Within this frame, there is simply no room for BM. If she were to be defeated by Luffy, it would be a minor fight of a much bigger arc. Like Luffy vs Cracker in WCI. Hence, the most impactful way she could have been defeated was by Kid and Law in Wano; the penultimate fight of one of the biggest arcs in one piece.
Now was the execution good? imo, it clearly wasn't. However, I think the intention was always there.
Luffy says that he will defeat big mom, that means he must defeat her, right? Well no, because Luffy isn't omniscient. He doesn't know everything that's going to happen. Luffy says he will beat big mom because big mom is a yonko and the yonko are contenders for pirate king, therefore Luffy wanted to defeat all the yonko. It's plain as that.
Whenever Luffy said he would beat big mom, he never expected big mom to follow him to wano and ally with kaido. Once that happened, Luffy changed his plans. He stated twice during onigashima, that the point of the war was to beat Kaido, Orochi, and big mom.
However, I don't think we needed to wait up until the narrator confirmed Kid and Law's victory, and BM's subsequent dethronement from the ranks of yonko, to guess that BM was probably never going to be dethroned by Luffy. It was blatantly obvious from the very beginning of WCI. Take a look at BM's commanders. We have:
- Cracker; a man Luffy defeated
- Smoothie; BM's #3 who so happens to be a woman
- Katakuri; BM's right hand, who doesn't seem to use a sword. Also, Luffy defeated him.
I think another formulaic element you can look at is the setting. Most major arcs involve a villain oppressing some people, which Luffy then befriends and ultimately frees by defeating the villain. Who was Big Mom oppressing? All the people in totland wanted to be there, they paid taxes in order to stay there. This isn't the type of person Luffy overthrows.
I think one final element to look at is story progression. Oda doesn't want to right OP forever. Once Luffy was called 5th emperor, it basically defined how the progression would go from then on out.
"5th emperor"---> yonko---> pirate king
If post WCI Luffy is 5th emperor, then wano has to make him a yonko. If he is already a yonko after wano, then the final saga is going to make him PK. Each saga has to have major progression as they take years to write. Within this frame, there is simply no room for BM. If she were to be defeated by Luffy, it would be a minor fight of a much bigger arc. Like Luffy vs Cracker in WCI. Hence, the most impactful way she could have been defeated was by Kid and Law in Wano; the penultimate fight of one of the biggest arcs in one piece.
Now was the execution good? imo, it clearly wasn't. However, I think the intention was always there.
