I am highly confident Zoro's main fight is Kaido, so I don't think Zoro will fight King.
There are some compelling arguments in favour of Sanji vs King:
- Sanji and King seem to have some build-up
- They already had an actual confrontation earlier in the arc.
- Contrast this with the complete lack of build-up for Zoro vs King.
- King is most focused on killing Momonosuke
- Sanji rescued Momonosuke from King already (thus thwarting his plans)
- Sanji may have headed to rescue Momonosuke in the latest chapter
- Marco told King that he's up against the New Generation.
- Marco is himself not a part of this generation.
- The Strawhats seem set to defeat Kaido's executives:
- The Tobi Roppo appear to be matched against Strawhats:
- Usopp vs Pay Pay
- Nami vs Ulti
- Robin & Brook vs Black Maria
- Franky vs Sasaki
- Jimbe vs Who's Who
- The Calamities might also be matched against Strawhats:
- Chopper vs Queen
- ??? vs Jack
- ??? vs King
- Sanji vs Queen is looking unlikely
- Queen's conflict and grudge seem to be much stronger against Chopper and Drake
- Chopper
- Queen tried to kill Chopper after Zoro gave him the antidote
- Chopper has neutralised his viruses twice in a row
- His subordinates betrayed him to protect Chopper
- Drake
- He has already tried to kill Drake
- Queen mentioned eliminating Sanji in the same breath as eliminating Zoro. He didn't really give eliminating Sanji any special consideration.
- Sanji and Queen haven't had any confrontation or any real build-up for a fight later down the line
- In fact, Zoro has had more of a confrontation with Queen
- Sanji and Queen are only superficially similar opponents with mainly meta reasons suggesting a confrontation between them.
- The arguments for Sanji vs Queen are the same for Zoro vs King, and as mentioned I don't think Zoro will fight King.
As far as I can tell,
unless you think Zoro is facing King as his main opponent, you shouldn't expect Queen to be Sanji's main opponent. Those who claim that Zoro's main opponent is Kaido, but that Sanji's main opponent is Queen are being pretty inconsistent.
Provided that Zoro's main opponent in this arc is in fact Kaido, Sanji facing King is more likely than Sanji facing Queen.
The main caveats that are holding me back from endorsing Sanji vs King are:
- There's still a significant chance that Zoro defeats King
- While there's no in-story reason to expect Zoro to defeat King, there are very strong meta reasons to expect Zoro to defeat King:
- Zoro has always faced the strongest subordinate(s) of the arc antagonist:
- Cabaji
- Nyaban Brothers
- Hatchan
- Daz Bones
- Ohm
- Kaku
- Ryuma
- Hyouzou
- Monet
- Pica
- Zoro has faced all formidable swordsmen opponents:
- Cabaji
- Mihawk
- Hatchan
- Ohm
- Captain T-Bone
- Kaku
- Ryuma
- Hyouzou
- A non-Zoro Strawhat defeating the arc antagonist's strongest subordinate is unprecedented
- A non-Zoro Strawhat defeating a formidable swordsman opponent is unprecedented
- In conclusion, Sanji defeating King would require two unprecedented events to happen
- Similarly, there are meta reasons to expect Sanji to defeat Queen
- Sanji normally defeats the arc antagonist's second strongest subordinate
- Kuroobi
- Bon Clay
- Jabra
- Absalom
- Wadatsumi
- Albeit he shared him with Jinbe
- Sanji and Queen share some superficial similarities
- Both of them love women
- Both of them grieved over the death of Komurasaki
- Queen seems to be goofy like some of Sanji's opponents
- Queen also uses the power of science to fight
- While it was an offhand comment, Queen seems to have some history with Sanji's father
All the above said, until Zoro is yeeted from the Kaido fight, I find Sanji vs King more probable than Sanji vs Queen. And even if Zoro does leave the Kaido fight to defeat King, Queen still has a much bigger grudge against — and much more build-up for a confrontation with — Chopper/Drake. So
even if Zoro ends up fighting King, it's not enough to say that Sanji soloing Queen is now the most likely outcome.
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