This video will contain spoilers.
Duh.
The strongest creature vs the future king of pirates.
A gigantic dragon with power beyond comprehension vs a literal god, that can shape the world
in whatever way he pleases.
A clash of Haki on the absolutely highest level.
All spiced up with some of the best fighting choreography in the entire story.
What's up, I'm Manu and as you might have deduced by successfully reading the title
of this video, good job, I personally believe that the epic battle between Kaido and Luffy
is about to become the best 1 on 1 battle in the entire story.
Yes, better than Luffy's tragic brawl with Usopp, better than his incredible take-down
of Doflamingo and Crocodile, and yes, I'm gonna say it, even better than his manly and
emotional duel with Katakuri, that had been my previous favorite so far.
Now before I will tell you why I hold this radical idea, or completely reasonable idea,
depending on what you yourself think, I have to mention two caveats.
One, while some of the things I'll talk about I find pretty subjectively good, like the
development of Kaido's character throughout the story and the general set-up for how the
fight played out, other things are much more based on my personal taste for what makes
the BEST battle in what I also think is the best manga period.
And the second thing, is that we obviously don't quite know yet, how certain things will
play out yet, or maybe you know, depending when you're watching this, but I don't right
now, so yeah.
I doubt this will be the case, but the end to this fight might be really bad, or Kaido
might not have gotten the flashback he deserves.
But with all that boring pre-talk out of the way, what makes this clash more impactful
than Will smith's hand during the oscars?
There are of course a number of things I have to talk about when it comes to a manga fight.
The battle choreography and art, the set-up for the fight, the motivation for this fight
and what is at stake, how the characters change and what the impact is on the overall storyline
at large.
In other words, a lot.
Gosh, so much pre-amble.
Let's get on with it.
So, set-up.
I hope no-one disagrees with the idea that this fight between Kaido and Luffy is the
climax of the Wano arc.
Which is not only the longest arc in the history of manga, I assume, I actually don't know,
but it is in itself the climax of a Saga that has started with Punk Hazard, with Kaido himself
being set up as a major player and antagonist back on Thriller bark, which was released
in 2007.
2007, that is a conflict in the making for 15 years.
And even though there was only very little Eiichiro Oda the author of One PIece was willing
to share about him until we actually reached Wano, it was as clear as Elon Musk's midlife
crisis that our rubbery hero would face off against Kaido.
At the latest when he formed his pirate alliance with Trafalgar Law on Punk Hazard to take
down the emperor.
When we actually make it to Wano, Kaido has been set up to be this invincible monster,
that not only is indestructible in battle, but also is one of the politically most influential
players in the one piece world.
He deals weapons with the government, builds an army of artificial devil fruit users, that
he produces himself across multiple islands throughout the new world, and he rules over
an entire county, that is home to arguably the most powerful group of people in the entire
story.
Not only that, but he also is also a former member of the infamous Rocks pirates, that
needed the pirate king Gol D Roger and the hero of the marines Monkey D Garp to work
together to defeat.
Side by side with the likes of whitebeard, Big Mom and Shiki and he is still trying to
find the one piece himself.
In other words, when Luffy arrives at the shores of Wano, I think it's fair to say that
in the big picture of things, Kaido is arguably his biggest rival to becoming king of the
pirates.
All right, so after seeing Kaido's dragon form and all the misery he brings to the people
of this country, Luffy who just successfully upgraded his observation haki to pro and defeated
the most powerful member of Big Mom's pirate crew, of course has to face this man.
Only to get completely hammered into the ground, by a Kaido that, and this is true, is also
completely hammered.
Now, Luffy has been defeated by major villains in the story before.
Like by crocodile in alabasta or Moria, it's a pretty common thing actually, showing us
how luffy overcomes his own weaknesses and takes down his opponent.
However I would argue that the gap between Luffy and Kaido at the beginning of wano is
far more gaping than the one crocodile left him.
In other words, Luffy will have to grow immensely to even stand a chance.
Which of course he does.
He learns Ryouu, grinding trait points and finally unlocking armament haki on a completely
new level.
Kaido meanwhile has formed an alliance with Big Mom, another Yonko.
But you know, no biggie.
And after raising Onigashima out of the ground, a way better time bomb than the birdcage I
think, the entire capital is at risk of being crushed under a surprisingly aesthetic looking
giant skull.
In other words, we suddenly have ended up with the highest possible stakes for any 1v1
battle luffy ever had, except Marineford with Ace's life on the line of course, but then
again, that was not exactly the classic Luffy vs the villain arc in the first place, so
it doesn't count.
The stakes are absolutely awesome.
With the scabbards, Yamato and all the other supernova having failed to deal any major
damage to this gigantic blue dragon, Luffy is the last man standing who has any hope
of actually defeating him and somehow win this war for the alliance.
At this point, the main motivation for Luffy sailing to Onigashima to take down Kaido is
two-fold: Freeing Wano from his tyranny, while at the same time taking out his biggest rival
and gate-keeper to reaching laugh tale.
Or from a storytelling perspective, legitimising Luffy as one of the emperors and playing on
the highest power level of the story in preparation for other big shots like Akainu or Blackbeard.
Now, since you already know what's gonna happen, no need to follow the line of events here.
Because there is actually another motivation added to the mix as well.
As it looks like Kaido was actively trying to bring about the return of joy boy and change
the world, as I explained in more detail his character analysis, it will be Luffy's job
to free Kaido from this self-induced state of suffering, where he feels like he is the
only one who can change anything and so he has to do it, even if there is collateral
damage and he has to play the villain.
Once again, mixing his fights with Katakuri, Crocodile and Dofi, it's about Luffy not only
freeing the country and the princess, but also about freeing the villain himself.
In other words, I feel like Oda took the best parts out of each of Luffy's previous best
fights and mashed them into a soup of peak storytelling awesomeness here, like mixing
the best alcohol, gin, the best plant, rosemary and the best water, tonic, into the ultimate
beverage.
Perfection.
And lucky me, I accidentally built myself the perfect bridge into talking about how
Luffy and Kaido have grown throughout this fight.
Luffy once again cements his determination to become king of the pirates or die trying,
his change is much more physical.
After failing to have any major impact on Kaido even with his newfound ultra fancy shockwave
flowing armament haki, he follows Rayleigh's advice and lets his Haki bloom.
He learns to use his conquorors haki as a weapon, which is more effective, but still
not enough.
Kaido keeps almost knocking him out to the point where Luffy actually loses his life
for a second.
It is at this point, where we get the biggest reveal of the story yet with Luffy's awakening
of his mythical zoan devil fruit and of JoyBoy himself.
By the way both these power-ups, the conquerors haki and the devil fruit reveal have been
wonderfully worked towards for many chapters during the raid on onigashima.
In other words, Luffy is learning how to be a Yonko in this fight.
BUT EVEN STILL, it's not enough to actually take down Kaido.
He has closed the gap between them dramatically, but despite awakening one of the most powerful
devil fruits, I mean maybe even THE strongest, the emperor still has no problem keeping up
with Luffy.
But the playing field has been levelled.
That's JUST for Luffy, who I think also has some of his best moments in the entire series.
Walking between big mom and Kaido.
Revealing Gear 5 and becoming a giant.
Riding Momo.
And sending Zoro, Law and Kid down so he can deal with Kaido himself.
Kaido's arc meanwhile is completely character focused.
Again, if you want the whole story, I recommend you check out my video on that, but in summary:
He goes from a nihilistic and depressed drunk at the beginning of wano, that is disappointed
by Luffy's abilities to smiling, acknowledging Luffy's growth and genuinely enjoying this
fight.
And again, I think having Kaido laugh as he used to in the past and become his old self
again, is a major part of this.
To me, he has quickly developed from a club-swinging evil brute, to one of the most complex, emotionally
expressive and genuinely interesting antagonists.
During this fight the characters involved and also myself have basically gone through
any emotion imaginable.
Hype, anger, fear, happiness, sadness, shock.
It's been a true whirlwind of feelings and thoughts for me ever since chapter 1000.
Then of course we have the artwork and choreography.
And what can I say.
There has just NOTHING like it ever been in the story of one piece before.
Kaido's design in all of his form is just absolutely breathtaking.
One Piece isn't exactly famous for it's fight scenes, but the movements and attacks throughout
all are drawn in such a dynamic and energetic way that it captured me much more than many
of the previous fights.
Oda-sensei truly made me feel the impact and power behind every single punch.
There is a great balance between dialogue and action, between humour and seriousness
and most importantly between giving us a new perspective on the fight and letting things
play out for a while.
A true masterpiece of storytelling and fighting choreography, that has made me fall in love
and relish in the greatness of this story more than ever and that I think will be tough
to top in the future.
However, if you truly want to take this to the next level and understand the depth and