(7) The resistance used dogs for spotting terminators
Terminators could so easily blend in with the resistance that they had to find any a way to detect and spot them. They used dogs for this as seen in this clip, they dogs react intently to the presence of a terminator
With the given context, this is almost a purposeful hint using an analogy that directly relates to the Terminator by Oda, that the relationship between Vergo and Smoker is like that between a dog and a terminator. This also makes further sense given that Vergo was highly weary of Smoker's discerning presence that had Vergo be extra cautious
(8) Vergo's invincibility theme
This was something that was highly emphasised throughout Punk Hazard where he was literally portrayed as someone that couldn't be beaten, that had the drop on everyone with his mogging skill, power and strength.
Vergo's very first portrayal: a beast slayer
Now that we know Kinnemon can cut and hurt Kaido with Homura Saki (the flame splitter attack), we need to revamp our understanding of the power standings in this verse yet again in favour of Vergo
Here the smaller dragon is said to be stronger and tougher than the bigger one Zoro defeated which was actually deemed a failure by Vegapunk
such that it requires Kinnemon’s strongest attack to take it down (while again he just used Homura Saki to damage Kaido) with the added help of Brook's hax attack which, let's not kid ourselves, is some very powerful shit.
But the very same Dragon that was wreaking havoc and being on the warpath against the strawhats (in fact wanting to eat them all) that same dragon started packing as soon as he sees Vergo
The dragon Zoro sliced up was therefore an obsolete model that was superseded by the newer and tougher one, defeated in joint effort by Kinnemon and Brook. That same dragon was a ravenous one but lost all its rapaciousness and became scared shitless of Vergo.
Vergo's capability as judged by his own men
"G-5s deadly duo is on the scene.
We're unstoppable now!". Having witnessed the Smile monster, Caesar, strawhat crew, dragons, etc the men are still truly confident in their commander Vergo making them unstoppable.
Vergo's handling of Tashigi and the G-5 (compared to Zoro, your favourite boi)
Here is a good way of evaluating Vergo's power level and capabilities if one does so honestly with no prejuidice or bias clouding judgment. For the zoro fanbois this becomes a question of damage control when it comes to Tashigi and G-5 and they love their boi so much it becomes a question of projecting them as weaker than they actually are. The zoro fandom is unfortunately very toxic in this question, whereas a more objective look at the situation leads to a different inference.
Zoro vs Tashigi
Now the aforementioned Kinnemon is a man with astounding power, able to hurt Kaido with just his flame splitting attack, and he channels fire into his attacks. Brook likewise uses his soul powers to impart heavy casualites on his enemies with his ice attacks with great area of effect. Both Kinnemon and Brook have dangerous aoe attacks and power that undoubtedly clears a lot of people for Zoro to handle the rest, yet the the numerous G-5 soldiers is still ganging up on them and presenting difficulties.
As one can see from the two panels here, the three are seen clashing and duking it out with the G-5 who keeps coming after them.. By no means are the G-5 soldiers "weak" when they can hold the three of them off like this, Brook and Kinnemon relying on elemental powers to try to hold them off.
We know at this time that time is of an essence, being that they have only 2 hours to escape before the gas envelops the facility. The G-5 soldiers present difficulties and stand as a firm obstacle in their way. In need of haste we see Zoro making a whipping motion of his sword, takes on a serious facial expression and makes a serious declaration to boot. Zoro is guaranteed to execute a powerful attack to clear an opening.
Then Tashigi comes out an parries it completely
This is very interesting. Judging from Zoros expression he is not holding back. Based on what he tells Tashigi, she is not putting in any real effort in the block, being that she has "got no fighting spirit". This becomes clear in the last panel when she tells the G-5 to not engage the strawhats but instead work together to escape and defeat common enemy (as she and Smoker had talked out with Law on how to proceed). What this means is that Tashigi casually blocked a serious, a potentially "named attack" from Zoro who was not holding back in his efforts, while Tashigi who has got no will to fight just meant to break off the clash, and as such exerted didn't rally exert any effort into this block. This becomes clear when look at Zoro who swings his sword with full power and has proper footing for better strength output, while Tashigi is midair, as in stopping Zoro's attack with no footing to leverage more strength in the block yet, she doesn't even perform a proper block here, just raising her sword in some kind of resistance without actually doing some counter attacking. She just raises her sword and that's enough to stop Zoro in his track.
It's clear from this who stands as the physically superior of the two. But that's not even the end of the story.
Zoro vs Monet compared to Tashigi vs Monet (who really looked more impressive)?
This is where we can just outright dismiss Zoro as a serious combattant at this point.
Zoro is fighting against toothpicks weapons here. Even I who specialise grip training and arm wrestling would struggle against my 9 year old niece if he has a stick and I’m using a needle. This much should be obvious.
Zoro is using graded swords here, sturdy and tough as hell, much thicker and stronger than the needle weapons. Hell, Monet doesn't even fit her tongs around the wooden hilt so she doesn't even have proper grip, meaning she is relying a lot more on just using grip muscles and not able to recruit any bigger muscle groups to anywhere near the extent that Zoro does. Monet cannot leverage anywhere as much power compared to Zoro, but still puts up a fight and forces Zoro to go heavy in his his blocks as seen here he actually blocks with two swords, and all you swordbois should recognise the left sword he holds, ie the famous Shushi just to block some pathetic needle weapon attack.
Here again we see where Zoro blocks with Shushui and I highlight how Monet can't properly fit her tongs around the wooden hilt, as such not leverage proper force in her clashes on top of having a significantly weaker weapon than Zoro
Here Monet uses a skin blade, but Zoro needs a two-armed block with a serious countenance meaning he ain't blocking this with any ease.
Here Monet is using some kind of weak ass feather for attack. From this we learn that Zoro only opts to defend and not attack, but that doesn't change the fact that he is in a position where he needs to expend a lot of effort just to block super weak attacks.
Even here you see a big haki splash, which can only have come about from both Monet and Zoro using haki. Zoro used haki to defend against Monet!!
Needless to say Tashigi never fought against the toothpicks. First she blocks a blindside attack from Monet's strongest form.
She then gets blindsided from behind by a fully powered up kick by Monet where she hasn't got time to react and prepare a block. Of course needless to say this kick would hurl Zoro into the wall when he can't even properly defend against nail weapon attacks. Here Monet is able to exert a lot more power, a full body motion not armed with puny, tiny needles that only serve to weaken her physical output.
But we see how Monet looks up to Tashigi's fighting prowess much more than she does Zoro, hence why she starts using dirty tactics on her and commending her skill and strength.
Now here is where Tashigi really does come off as something special. Monet was portrayed as someone that could restrain Luffy in base, yet Tashigi restrained her monster form's head. Monet is strong enough in her monster form to just chop through shoulders of G-5 soldiers (that Zoro and Co. had an altercation with) but fails when she tries it against Tashigi.
Tashigi also has this terrific feat where she's able to stop cannon balls entire momentum using no real leverage as she is midair with a fully straightened out arm, essentially using just her hand strength.
Oda highlights just how she rolls it along her sword from having her arm fully straightened out. Yeah she stopped it because otherwise if she didn't have this capabiltiy she would've never used a straightened out arm, but would've flexed her arm and use the cannon ball's own momentum to deflect it. Therefore she didn't deflect it but actually stopped the cannonball's momentum, hence the straight arm, then the panel where it rolls down slowly means that's when it hasn't got any momentum left and Tashigi just exerts perfect control over it
The sum of sums, Tashigi faced a stronger version of Monet, she blocked and made Zoro look like a fool with total ease. Tashigi has shown nothing but terrific feats.
Yet she was completely banged up by Vergo. As you can see, she is going for a fullly powered up attack (just consider that she only raised her arm to block a serious attack from Zoro) and Vergo just shuts her down with one arm block of his own, so powerful that Tashigi is seen flailing in the air, as if she's hitting a brick wall, then Vergo grabs her head to give her some beating for daring to lay hands on him. Here is where it gets interesting because Tashigi receives a punch imbued with haki.
Then Tashigi is crying on the floor and Sanji was sent in to rescue Tashigi, only he got treated much worse than Tashigi
Vergo ankle vs Sanji’s shin (weakest part of the leg vs Sanji’s strongest and hardest part of the leg)
Vergo is attacking Sanji with his ankle foot, and Sanji is checking high up on his knee joint. Sanji’s shin bone is the strongest at this exact point; the leg bones and ligaments connect here, the connective tissues and muscles are thicker here. Vergo breaks Sanji’s fibula which is the backbone (behind the tibia) and this part is protected by more layers of muscles in between, compared to the tibia. Vergo is strong enough to with his ankle clash through and hurt Sanji in this manner.
Vergo is using minimum range of motion with his leg bent and he is using the weakest part of the shin which has weak muscles and weak ass bones, all very susceptible to trauma. The way in which Vergo attacks is the last thing you want to do because an ankle joint injury is as good as certain. We know Sanji even has hardening as he did use it against Drake (latest anime confirms) and we can be as good as certain he used it. Even Luffy mentions in the same arc that Sanji is part of the three in the crew capable of using armament haki, meaning he most assuredly used armament haki against Vergo.
Just for reference, just look at the most famous and iconic leg break in UFC history that is almost completely identical to the one featuring Sanji vs Vergo, only the result was the complete opposite: i.e. Anderson Silvia vs Wiedman. Here Silvia loses for the first time in 7 years because he does the same “mistake” Vergo does kicking with a low angle of his foot and Weidman checking high up, just like Sanji. Silvia is even lucky he didn’t kick as low as Vergo because an ankle injury would have been far worse. Just ask Silvia who needed surgeries, titanium implants, 6 months to recover and started taking steroids to dull the pain
Vergo should technically break worse than Silvia here, yet instead he is the one that cleaves Sanji’s bone almost in two.
The conclusion from this is that because the absolute weakest form of kick that carries weak strength and has low priority compared to Sanji's block, because that was all it took to break Sanji, it means the other panels where we see Vergo ostensibly using proper stances and kicks, those were not at all serious. It would follow that if a simple kick as this was all it required, it means Vergo was completey half assing it and mustn't have put any effort into his clash. None! Otherwise we woudl've seen Sanji breaking from the clashes. It's as if Vergo just wanted to test how a shitty clash using his ankle would break someone that only specialises in kicks.
To make matters even worse, let's break down an even more humiliating fact about Sanji's clash with Vergo.
Vergo switched legs
Let's look at this picture again. The way Vergo is positioned here in relation to Sanji, how his torso is facing Sanji, how his stationary leg is tilted to his left, how the inside of the foot is facing up (as highlighted), this all demonstrates that he is clashing with his right leg.
Now the thing is, he obviously raises his leg sort of feigning a roudhouse kick with his left leg, and even the anime and various adaptations have him clashing with the left leg for this reason (yeah major epic fail there!)
Yet only someone with subpar brain power and spatial intelligence can argue this amounts to a left legged kick (yes there are a few of you out there and Oda thinks you're trash), the position would be sort of similar to how a friend of mine is posing in this fashion
She just needs to pivot a slight bit and she captures exactly how Vergo kicks Actually she demonstrates the kick here perfectly, and she is just some cheerleading girl, not any world class martial artist with perfectly trained and stretched out abductor muscles or anything (she is good though, competed at high levels) yet she demonstrates it lol.
Otherwise you get a position like this and how much spatial intelligence does it actually take to realise this does not capture at all how Vergo stands? If you can't deduce that this is not how Vergo stands, then I suggest you noose and rope. Or just cope.
Biggest humiliation in One Piece
So, to break the whole clash down between Sanji and Vergo, at least the second part where things got serious.
Vergo who first gave the impression of chambering and attacking with his left leg, changed leg and instead attacked with his right ankle (as you can see the inside of the foot is the one facing up and the stationary leg is aligned with the left hip, which means it can only be the left leg, and just see the streaks of action lines along the stationary leg that continue up the hip). This is just Vergo's way of signalling he is joking around with Sanji.
Next panel we see him swinging around his left leg for a reverse roundhouse kick. This means, and what is implied here, (but we don't get to see because Oda has a limited amount of panels so instead highlights Sanji's painful and fearful expression) he broke off the clash and left Sanji's leg hanging haplessly in the air, while he was fast enough to switch leg yet again using his left leg for a reverse roundhouse kick that Sanji barely dodges. Vergo is looking bored while doing this, as if he is just doing some light sparring with a complete noob.
Vergo toyed with Sanji in a playful manner, and the implication here is that Sanji has to be saved by plot, ie the emergency signal that revolves around Law breaching into the SAD room which Vergo has to listen in on. While Sanji is struggling for his life Vergo has to pay attention to the emergency message to divert his attention away from Sanji. A massive humiliation for Sanji.
Look again at the next to last panel where vergo performs a reverse roundhouse kick and now see how there are apparent white flames covering the page! This is rather interesting. If this is really what Oda is going for, it means Vergo can produce even hotter flames than Sanji and might even have a similar method of combustion, which is not at all impossible being that I showed how Vergo is the progenitor of Germa! Look how Vergo looks completely bored, and instad of kicking Sanji in when he has his leg up in the air, Vergo just chooses to play with Sanji just to show who is boss.
It also means Sanji who came to save the damsel in distress, came out looking so significantly worse than the damsel in distress it is not even funny. Sanji is like a Muay Thai fighter that only specialises in kicks and shin hardening, and Vergo is an all-round fighter, let's say he is a Kali fighter or more like a ninja fighter considering he uses a blowgun. Sanji who is a Muay Thai fighter got his fibula snapped almost in half by a ninja fighter who clashes with his ankle while Sanji performs a perfect block with significantly more priority and strength. This is straight up degrading! It is clear who should break. Sanji is not the one that should be breaking here, yet he does in the most humiliating way.
Tashigi by contrast got a haki punch and comes off with nothing broken.
Now this is a way to break a man if you ask me. Imagine some punk ass comes up to you with an attitude, wanting to flex his shit and be all swagger, how is it you take down the man in mind and spirit? Humiliation, my friend. Make him feel like a hird rate punk by fighting him in the most patronizing way. Yes, Vergo can teach us a thing or two about what it means to take someone's soul, chew it and spit it out, Discard the trash without so much as even giving him the dignity of a proper fight
"BuT WhAt AbOuT ThE ExPlOsIOn!!!"
ah yes, who coukld forget about the damage control (I mean you ain't doing any damage control you're jsut making Sanji look weak, so you ain't winning). I am talking of course about the explosion that Sanji and Usopp took, and Nami was in Sanji's body at this time.
If Usopp can get no fractures from the explosion, it means Sanji who is significantly more durable got no bone impacting injuries whatsoever. Nami even said his body was freakishly tough. Oda wanted to highlight just how tough Sanji’s body was by using Nami as a reference.
So this amounts to another copypasta argument as Usopp here is perfectly fine
Let's keep in mind that Sanji is the guy that could bluewalk and operate at a high level even at 500 atmospheric pressure (they were down at 5000m close to the whirlpool near Fishman Island) without feeling any ill effects from the barotrauma, in fact being perfectly fine, while Usopp is just some above average but still relatively average human. To make the argument that this explosion had any ill effects on Sanji's bone strength is an absolutely absurd argument.
Oda makes a special note just to clarify how tough Sanji is before he goes to fight Vergo and have his shit broken
You could argue Vergo was the one that was actually nerfed because he took 2 DJ attacks from an enraged Sanji without so much as giving a shit.
