- [Narrator] Hello, and welcome to the GrandLineReview,
your source for everything, "One Piece".
And today we are going to talk about Vassals;
a collection of curious characters
who are causing quite a stir
currently, the in Manga,
sparking all sorts of questions
about power consistency.
And, since we on this channel absolutely love
any discussion related to power scaling,
we're going to dive into it
because this is actually a more nuanced topic
than I originally thought it might be.
Surprisingly, it's not quite as simple as saying,
"yeah, these guys were this strong all along"
or, "there's no way these guys should be this powerful."
The more I thought about it,
the stranger of a topic it became,
and I think both sides do have something of a point.
So, what we're going to do in this video is analyze
why many fans thought the Vassals were weaker than they are,
why we shouldn't necessarily have thought that,
and very importantly,
why Oda may have intentionally
set us up to believe that.
It's sort of like how
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And unlike the rest of this video,
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And, obviously, before we properly jumped into this video,
this is a discussion
which will contain spoilers for act 3 of Wano,
if you did not realize that already.
So, if you're an Anime only watcher,
or just not caught up,
be very aware of that and proceed at your own risk.
Now, let's start with which side of the argument I land on.
And probably rather predictably,
to me, everything we've seen right now in regards
to the Vassals versus Kaido makes sense.
I am consistently surprised with many events
such as Raizo absorbing Kaido's attack,
or just the fact that the Vassals
are capable of injuring an emperor at all.
But it's a very good kind of surprise.
However, I can see that there is
a bit of a disconnect here
and some fans view it as absolute insanity
that, seemingly, all of a sudden
these figures are being portrayed as so powerful.
So let's examine why that is.
At the stage, the Vassals have been one of
the slowest burned character acts in "One Piece" history.
Some truly phenomenal seeding work by Oda here,
considering Kin'emon's debut in the series was in 2012,
and that's only just starting to pay off now,
eight years later.
And obviously I think a lot of the issue
is what happened between then and now?
That's eight whole years of samurai time,
which is more than enough to make a solid impression.
And unfortunately, prior to the raid on Onigashima,
that impression had been one of wild incompetence.
For most of their time in the series, Kin'emon,
and many of the other Vassals,
have existed as Comic Relief characters,
waiting patiently on the sidelines
for the part of the story
where they become dramatically relevant.
And I'll focus on Kin'emon in particular
because, he is the leader after all,
and he is essentially introduced to us
as a dismembered perverted Samurai
who has a special ability to communicate using farts.
Now cut to 2020, and this man is currently fighting against,
not only an emperor of the sea,
but an individual dubbed
as the strongest creature in the world.
Not fighting on his own, of course,
but still there is a bit of a cognitive leap
to get from here to here.
And it goes for the other Vassals as well,
particularly Raizo and Kanjuro.
Together, we were very much given the impression
that these three would have difficulty staying alive
if left to their own devices.
Which is feeling that has even carried over to Wano,
because we've lived with it for so long.
In retrospect, of course,
a lot of that stupidity and incompetence
can be directly attributed to Kanjuro's traits status,
and in fact, he is prime candidate, number one,
for why we never should have assumed the Vassals were weak.
Because he turned out to be
quite an amazing Devil Fruit user,
after being introduced to us as a fumbling artist.
Kanjuro, was a sign of things to come;
Raizo turned out to be a superb ninja;
and Kin'emon turned out to be a phenomenal samurai.
But I can see why it might be hard
to shake the impression
that Oda has very deliberately given us of them
which are the weird left field comic relief characters.
And we'll talk about why Oda chose to do that in a second.
But, as a secondary point as to why
weakness may have been assumed,
it also doesn't help that we almost never saw
any of them fight prior to the conflict with Kaido.
Going back to the Kin'emon example,
if we discount the current Kin'emon-Kaido conflict,
which is fun to say.
But if we discounted that Kin'emon's latest fight
would have been on Punk Hazard,
teaming up with everyone else
in order to defeat Vega Punk's small dragon thing,
which, just as a fun point,
that's very nice foreshadowing there,
having Kin'emon slay a dragon when his ultimate goal
is to defeat a bigger dragon.
I think he even says something along the lines of,
"I have a score to settle with dragon kind".
But still, if we take Kin'emon's two latest battles,
and put them side by side,
then we have another disconnect.
We've gone from, irrelevant,
mini-beast to King of the beasts,
and there's nothing in between
that can really bridge that power perception gap.
So it can be challenging to reconcile what's going on
just given our history with these characters.
Now this perception is inconsistent
and it does not apply to all of the Vassals.
In fact, it's pretty much exclusive
to our time traveling band.
Oda has also painted these guys as quite goofy
and very ill suited to high level combat
but this could not be further from the truth
for everyone else.
Take the next two Vassals we run into for example,
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi.
During the Zou arc we discovered
that each of them were roughly equal to Jack
and in fact if they had worked together,
instead of fighting in shifts,
then they probably would have beaten him
in their base foams.
Because, yes, they equaled Jack,
before we even got to the Sulong realm,
so I really don't understand anyone surprised
that Sulong, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi,
are capable of not only fighting
but actually damaging Kaido.
They were always set up to be
massive powerhouses of the series.
And I'd also say the same about Ashura Doji
who not only equaled Jack,
but it is entirely possible
that he was even more powerful.
I mean, poor Jack,
he gets wrecked a whole lot, doesn't he?
But still, this pudgy dude with weird pink hair,
and strangely rounded teeth,
was immediately shown as a force
that any Emperor would be lucky
to have fighting amongst their top ranks.
And speaking of,
I probably don't have to go over Izo, right?
Former white beard pirate commander,
dude is going to be strong.
Meanwhile, Kawamatsu, I suppose,
didn't have a showcase against commander.
But he was also shown as being
absurdly powerful from the get go.
Denjiro, meanwhile,
was shown quite comfortably holding of Zoro,
which is not exactly the easiest task in the world.
I guess I will grant
that Kiku is a bit under featured, though.
But regardless, just look at this group.
Oden's Vassals are absolutely on par
with any set of Yonko commanders.
And in fact they may even prove superior
to a whole ton of them.
The problem is that some of them
have always been portrayed as set powerhouses
whilst others have been treated as comic relief
and very deliberately not focused on in the combat realm.
And it's bringing these two groups together
where this disconnect happens.
And I suppose one theory you could propose
to bridge this perceived gap is simply time.
Every Vassal we were shown packing a serious punch,
prior to the Kaido fight,
has had 20 years
to develop their skills and become stronger.
Something that I suppose is,
quite literally, stated by Ashura Doji,
which makes a lot of sense,
but there is still an inconsistency.
For example, this won't apply to everyone
like say Kawamatsu, for example,
who spent a large majority of that 20 years
sitting in prison.
And then the time skip is being Kin'emon,
Raizo, and arguably even Kanjuro,
are generally presented as at least equals in this force.
At no stage do they feel like weak links
in fact, after chapter 992,
they almost feel like its greatest asset.
So I really don't think
that the 20 years has anything to do with it.
Really this is just one of those situations
where the fact that "One Piece" is a story
kind of comes to the forefront
because Oda has chosen
to do what is the most dramatically potent
and that intuition will always trump
any sense of internal power scaling.
Although I do think it's very important to note that
we should not consider the Vassals individually so much,
but rather as a group.
Before the infamous "born to boil" line,
Oden said, "don't make the mistake
of underestimating our samurai."
And looking back on it,
it almost feels like this line
was directly intended for the fan base,
as much as it was, Kaido.
And I really don't know
how much clearer Oda could have made it,
especially with the iconic part image,
which isn't just intended as some heroic display
of Oden's abilities and tragic optimism,
but it's also a very effective visual way of saying,
"all of these characters here, when together,
are roughly equal to one Kozuki Oden.
So, however powerful you believe Oden was,
that is what Kaido was currently facing off against,
in the modern day, if not a force even greater.
Because that is the wonder of legacy and inherited will,
something that Oda is going to great lengths to display
through the Oden two-sword style
and through the various flashbacks,
that have accompanied key hits,
which does of course include the very first Sunacchi
that started the fight,
and in fact, Kaido himself even perceived
the Vassals as Oden in this moment.
So while I still don't think
that they will ultimately come out on top,
I see no real issue with how extraordinarily well
the Vassals are performing against Kaido.
It's surprising because it does subvert
prior expectations of characters,
like Kin'emon and Raizo,
but in the best way possible.
But no I will admit it doesn't necessarily make
the greatest degree of technical sense
because it does generate retrospective questions like,
why hasn't Kin'emon been more useful
in the journey thus far?
He could have been phenomenal on Dressrosa.
And similarly, why wasn't Raizo
tapped to help fight Jack on Zou?
If his ninjutsu is that powerful,
then he really could have been
the deciding factor in Jack's defeat.
And if you know Jack is beaten then
there's no need to hide Raizo in the first place
because his presence won't be reported.
I mean, well, traitor aside,
but hiding Raizo did no good in that regard, anyway.
But the easy answer to all of those questions
is always going to be for the sake of drama.
Hiding Raizo was the smartest move
from a storytelling perspective,
because it allows for hard hitting moments
like Raizo is safe.
Similarly, not revealing Kin'emon's true strength
on Dressrosa makes that arc a much more desperate situation
and allows for greater stakes.
But that leads us into something
that I did start on before,
which is an explanation as to why
Oda had the time traveling Vassals act as Comic Relief
prior to and, honestly, even during, most of Wano.
And I think this is probably
the single greatest contributing factor
to the disconnect here,
because the time traveling Vassals were purposely designed
not to be taken seriously in their first few arcs.
And the reason for all of the goofiness here,
is simply to build a connection.
It's a very classic "One Piece" feature.
But Oda doesn't begin your investment
in most characters via drama or action.
Instead, he usually chooses to do so via comedy,
at least in the case of protagonists.
So as an example,
take Ace's proper introduction into the series,
where in the Manga,
the very first clear scene we have of Ace
is him falling asleep in his own food.
It's quirky and it generates lighthearted intrigue.
It's a gateway into immediately liking
and investing into this character
which is then immediately built on
with some nice action against Smoker.
And ultimately, down the track,
it helps the feeling of tragedy of his death at Marineford
because that connection was made
and it all started with goofy comedy.
And that's because, as an audience,
we will immediately bond with a character
who is able to make us smile.
Which in turn allows for an audience to care
about the drama of said character later down the line.
And this is true even in some
of the most serious of cases like say, Mihawk.
In his introduction he's actually quite hilarious.
Like when he states that
he destroyed Krieg's armata for fun.
Or apologizing to Zoro for not having
a smaller weapon on hand to deal with him.
They're probably the most underrated aspects
of Mihawk's introduction,
but they are absurdly important because they add levity
and it's an invitation to enjoy and invest in the swordsman.
and applying this theory to the Vassals
is just a more extreme case.
Oda has played them for comedy
to invite us to like them
through whatever charming failures they concoct.
But then when he flips that switch,
and makes them a center of drama,
that comedic investment pays dividends.
Because these aren't just some dudes in a bad situation,
they're some dudes that we know and we like
and they're in a bad situation.
They've made a laugh, they've made a smile,
and now they're in the most dire spot, so we care.
Or at least we care more than we would have
without the comedy.
And to be perfectly honest,
power has no real place in this discussion.
Yes, it does need to be vaguely consistent,
or it would get ridiculous,
but what guides Oda is always going to be
the significantly more basic elements
of emotional investment.
Oda wants you to feel the determination and plight
of the funny fart Samurai.
And if that means that he needs to fight
the strongest creature in the world,
then well, that's what's going to happen.
And it's not like it really came out of nowhere either.
Because other than the weird fights on Punk Hazard,
Kin'emon's power has been deliberately shrouded
and anyone who assumed that he was weak,
because of that, is guilty of basic conjecture;
forming a strong opinion without all,
or even most, of the evidence.
So while I will agree that it is a bit jarring,
I honestly could not be more satisfied
with what's currently happening
with the Vassals versus Kaido.
I love every second of it
because it's finally paying off our investment in the group.
Every subsequent chapter of this arc
makes me appreciate Punk Hazard, Dressrosa,
and Zou more and more.
And I think that those arcs
are going to be a very different experience
to go through following the events of Wano.
But in any case,
if you are in the opposite camp of opinions to me,
I'll just say, be careful about assumptions
that you might make especially in "One Piece".
This is a series where
the most bizarre left field characters
frequently shatter your expectations
and have been doing so for close to a quarter of a century.
So much so that, at this point,
you should probably expect
to have your expectations demolished.
Which is strange, but (mumbles) it is what it is.
So what do you guys think?
Please do leave your thoughts in the comments below
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