Monkey D. Luffy was supposed to be involved in a three-way battle with Eustass Kid & Trafalgar law, but it looks more lopsided than it is supposed.
The following contains spoilers for One Piece Ch 1076, “Old Friends,” By Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul, and Vanessa Satone. Viz Media
One Piece juxtaposes Monkey D. Luffy Eustass Kid & Trafalgar Law are shown as equals. They always perform similarly whether they’re competing in determining who can carry the greatest number of stones, which ship is destroyed first, and how long they can go without being hit with a fireball. They all came from Wano with the same bounty. Although they don’t directly relate to strength, these are examples of how the narrative suggests that they can be seen as equals.
However, Eiichiro Oda would like readers to think they are as similar as these three. While they are often presented as equals, the parts that they have played thus far tell a completely different story. Their roles in One Piece’soverarching narrative have made the supposed balance between them appear more unbalanced than what was intended.
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How Strong Are Luffy, Kid, & Law Compared to One Other?
At first, there seemed to be some confusion about which of these three might have a distinct advantage. Luffy was able to use his superior mastery and Haki to attack Kaido, but Kid and Law could also damage Big Mom through their Devil Fruit Awakenings. These men had a power Luffy didn’t have and vice versa. They had very different techniques but used them all to achieve similar results. However, there was still some uncertainty about their performance against one another.
Luffy was however at least one league better than his rivals by using his newest power-up Gear 5, which is his fifth generation. He had a distinct advantage over Kid & Law with his superior Haki Control and Devil Fruit Awakening. Kid and Law have to continue their training with Haki if they are to challenge Luffy.
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The story of how Luffy managed to take out Kaido is also interesting. Luffy was the only person strong enough to give a knockout blow regardless of how the others tried to bring down the King Of The Beasts. Kid and Law had the task of working together to beat Big Mom by ringing out. Even taking into account any possible unforeseen circumstances, each win is far more impressive than another.
Many people are skeptical that Kid and Law will be able to beat Shanks’ and Blackbeard’s Emperors because of the way they deal with them. They will likely lose but put up a strong fight. This is the same way Luffy would expect to do against these Emperors. This typically means that he’s still comparable, but not quite, to Kid and Law.
What do Kid and Law Have to Improve on?
The law might come closest to being an ideal rival to Luffy. His participation in Dressrosa Arcs (Punk Hazard) and Dressrosa Arcs has made him a popular character. Kid’s roles within One Piece are relatively minor in comparison. The kid is the weak link between their rival trio because of Law’s strength & Luffy’s popularity.
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It’s not easy to say that Kid or Law can field crews as strong as Luffy’s. It’s possible to imagine the Straw Hat Pirates fighting one-on-1 against even an Emperor-level pirate team. It is not possible to say that for many of the Kid Pirates, or Heart Pirates. Even if Kid & Law are as strong as Luffy is, it won’t mean much if there aren’t good shipmates to support them.
This may all change when Luffy Kid and Law meet up again. It could even change due to Kid and Law’s fights in the past with Shanks. Kid and Law could focus on improving their Haki and getting more involved in the story (Kid specifically) and they would be set. These rivals would be much more credible as they compete for One Piece.