Overpowering Kaido at the end of a very intense and difficult fight, in which Luffy had to receive help at multiple points, isn’t the same as Luffy low/mid diffing Krieg and clearly showing his superiority. No one doubted Luffy was much stronger than Krieg after their fight. Many, if not a majority, of people either believe that Kaido is still outright stronger than Luffy with both at 100% power or believe that it’s hard to say who would win.
Completely irrelevant.
There’s no such thing in the actual series as “mid-diff” or “low-diff”. What we actually have is Kaido’s words that clearly spell out just how strong Luffy and that he’s the one who beat him. Stick in a few people shouting “Luffy beat Kaido” and that’s over and done with.
Also it seems no one can actually remember Luffy vs Don Krieg, because a fight with the strongest pirate in East Blue (that we knew of at the time) that ended with Luffy unconscious, tied up and sinking to the bottom of the ocean needing to be saved by Sanji was not a “low/mid diff.”
You guys are all thinking like Worst Gen powerscaling readers (hence the OP‘s over the top emotive language literally crying about the idea of ZKK) and ignoring how Oda actually writes.
Again, my argument is not about ZKK (personally, don’t think it will happen anymore) but the entire dumb hysterical premise of this thread. It’s irrelevant what happens from now on to Kaido and if another character comes in. Luffy has still beaten him. He’s ruined his FC plan, he’s freed Wano, Luffy’s crew has beaten Kaido’s and Luffy has beaten Kaido. If Kaido gets up next chapter, in an hours time, in a weeks time, that will not change.
This has always been a series where winning a fight can be more than being the last man standing. That comes straight from Oda in a very early SBS when he says why Luffy doesn’t kill. It’s why Luffy vs Krieg was a win for Luffy despite what I‘ve said above. It’s why Luffy vs Crocodile was not a draw despite Luffy also being unconscious, trapped underground and needing an antidote not to die. It still would not surprise me if Kaido considers one of his losses to be to Oden, and that’s a fight that ended with Kaido conscious and Oden unconscious.
You can even win a fight without throwing a punch- Shanks vs Higuma, Luffy and Zoro vs Bellamy’s crew.