If he meets him again later onwards then yeah I wouldn't mind. He just ran from the guy, when he couldn't beat him and no he is suddenly going to win?
The problem is losing to not only him, but someone weaker than him WITH help, and then getting stronger enough to beat him in the same arc just because.
Yea It'll be too fairy tailesque. I hope Oda doesn't use rayleighs words to just give power ups in too many fights it'll be disappointing
Yup. It's an awfully slipper slope because it can remove the tension of someone being weaker than someone because you're just gonna be asking "Well, why doesn't his/her Haki just shoot up and he wins." And if it doesn't, you'll be left asking "Why did it work in that situation, and not this?"
Ah come on people. That's just this character vs character-attitude again where you want to establish a universal pecking order, but that's not how this works.
What Rayleigh said is something I already suspected years ago to the point that this was nothing more than a formal confirmation. And why did I suspect this? Because all the bits and pieces of information we received throughout the years and reading between the lines led to that natural conclusion.
In FT you could complain that characters just get more powerful for no particular reason, but that does not apply to this situation. In OP you have the concept of "Haki", which is literally your own will and spirit becoming something substantial rather than being purely abstractions.
During the ID arc BB already noted that Luffy's haki had become much stronger despite the fact that he didn't even know the concept nor trained specifically for it. It naturally happened because Luffy kept beating tough foes, which is the most conventional way to increase your haki. However if this was something "rational" there wouldn't be much difference with someone's regular physical abilities nor would they put so much value on it. The way how haki works is far less conventional and strongly differs from individual to individual.
This is a fictional world. It might contain elements from the real world, but that doesn't take away it has mechanics that are different, but what you are doing is narrowing your own view and then apply real world logic that's misplaced. Saying stuff like "why does that one's Haki shoot up, but that one doesn't?" or "why does it work in that situation, but not in this one" is simply wrong.
Why are some characters born with the CoQ?
Why are weak characters like queen Otohime and Aisa born with such strong CoO?
Why did Codi's haki got unlocked with full force out of the blue?
Haki isn't something that can be put into absolutes rules, but that is exactly what you are trying do here.
They are trying to take down a Yonkou and her crew, which are entities that defy all rules and common sense. If there was some rational way of dealing with them, the WG and the Marines would have disposed of them long ago. That's why I'm never going to understand these thoughts of some people about new time skips as apparently just taking a temporary break would somehow do what they deem impossible now? If it's that simple, the Yonkou wouldn't be so frightening.
They are irrational, messed up entities and to overcome them you need to employ irrational and messed up ways and paradoxically enough that in itself is a rational thought. Luffy could spend the next 10 years preparing and avoiding the Yonkou, but what he could gain from a single victory over Dogtooth would be incomparable. That's what Rayleigh meant and that's what Luffy almost instinctively understands. This is something that also had been pointed out during the Enies Lobbies arc: Luffy somehow knows who he has to take on. That's not just him being cocky or wanting to fight, he understands that he needs to beat them to become stronger and that it is necessary if he wants to become the PK.
It's completely irrelevant that Luffy needed "help" with a "weaker" character. It's irrelevant that Dogtooth was superior in the beginning of the fight. What matters is that Luffy is being pushed to his limits and that he understands that if he wants to reach the next level, he has to beat him, but he understands that this is a very thin rope he's walking on. It's easy to say, but firmly believing is a different matter. You can't just replicate a situation like this and the tiniest crack in his spirit would most likely be his end. This is an all or nothing situation: either he dies or he becomes stronger than ever before. That he defeated Cracker with Nami was not important, however it was important that he won and that he pushed his limits, which in return increased his haki.
When did Luffy became more evenly matched with Dogtooth? When the latter's spirit got shaken. When does BM's elephant skin becomes vulnerable? When her spirit wavered after Caramel's picture got destroyed. This sounds easy, but there are only a small amount of characters who could actually do what Luffy is thinking right now. If Luffy would retreat now, the damage to his spirit could be substantial even if he escapes and he understands that. But if he wins, he would gain so much more. It's this attribute of his that attracts so many people to him, both allies and enemies. It's not his strength or reputation, but his unwavering spirit that makes them believe he can do it and that is manifested in his haki.
You might be reading the pages, but you're certainly not reading the story. You deprived it of all emotions, feelings and individuality and reduced it to dry reasonings about who should be beating who. You portray characters like they're interchangeable grey blobs. It's not because Luffy would succeed, that any other character would be able to do the same.
