This thread isn’t about how strong the SN should be but how strong they have been presented up until before the Raid which has just only begun to start on Onigashima. And why the established power hierarchy for these characters will change within the upcoming chapters.
This will be very very long bear with me if you can!!!!!!!!!!
It’s been widely accepted that most of the SNs have been bunched into a category we like to call YC4 level. Which is basically just outside the Top 3 of a Yonko crews strongest subordinates. It’s basically saying, if X character was a Yonkos subordinate then X character would be the 4th strongest outside the Top 3.
Oda has made this clear distinction apparent in the story for a while, some don’t accept it for fanboy reasons, but it’s basically an unconfirmed fact.
Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at a SN named Urouge the mad Monk, he was one of the most impressive SN pre skip despite having the lowest bounty among them all, being able to go blow for blow with a pacifista pre skip( mostly due to the nature of his DF) on his own for a little while.
He came to Whole Cake island and fought Snack a guy ranked right below the Top 3 of a Yonko crew and won what can be assumed to be an extremely tough battle against Snack. The battle was so grueling that it caused Urouge to have to run away from Cracker that it was so tough. This places Urouge on this exact tier.
Next we have X Drake, a member of an actual Yonko crew and another guy who also was impressive pre skip against a pacifista. He is one of the flying six within the beast pirates. When asked if something happened to Queen who would replace him the first person that was asked was X Drake. Now this doesn’t mean that X Drake is YC2 level but rather what we can infer from this is that if something happened to any of the Top 3 X Drake would logically be the most fit to replace them. Indicating that’s he’s in fact the 4th strongest out of the beast pirates crew( though I believe he could usurp Jack or Queens position at least at this point of time within the story if he cared and wasn’t an undercover agent he’s just been hiding his power) but I’m going to get into that later.
Next we have Zoro, Law, and Hawkins.
When each of these guys matched up with the other Oda made it pretty apparent to not have either of them win at least fairly against the other. Zoro fought Hawkins and the battle never had a conclusion, Law fought Hawkins and was all bloodied after the battle and only won due to outside interference from another SN.
Now you’re probably thinking, “what about Killer, who got beat by Zoro.”
I can say the same thing for this fight, I believe Kamazou isnt quite as strong as Killer. But not only that but Oda still portrayed the fight in an equal way between the two as Zoro eventually got put out of commission by the poison and wasn’t going all out when he won and Killer was hooked on that SMILE Cush and wasn’t at his best either.
Capone and Bonney and Apoo have always seemed like the weakest out of the group and I guess they are the outliers. Although Capone is probably the best defensive fighter out of anyone within the SNs with Big Father. Not sure what’s in store for Bonney or Apoo.
The only guy within this group that has a win against even one of the Top 3 of a Yonko Crew is Luffy, he has beat Doflamingo who I peg as YC3 level, Cracker, and Katakuri.
And those wins were only possible with G4. With G2/G3 he has been portrayed on the YC4 level which is where the other guys are.
But despite his lack of Feats and seemingly terrible luck within the NW there is one SN who I believe has been keeping pace with Luffy this entire time and we just don’t know it and that person is Eustass “Captain” Kidd. Despite big news Morgan’s and Brûlée making up stories about Kidd being a weakling, a coward, and him obviously being presented to being a wreck less hot head Oda has made it obvious that this stuff isn’t true. He could have beat Snack just like Urouge did but that wasn’t his goal, and he did injure Snack after all. He did lose his arm to somebody within the Red Hair pirates but we don’t know when exactly that happened nor who was the person who did it. It could have been from Shanks himself for all we know and it could have happened shortly after his arrival into the NW we just don’t know. But despite Luffys wins against Doflamingo, Cracker, and even Katakuri. Oda still felt that Kid was a rival to Luffy and had them competing against each other in udon prison, that’s clear obvious portrayal that Kid and Luffy were meant to be the Top SNs and above the rest. Which is why these two are the guys who are going to be fighting the Yonko, the battle will represent the Top SN vs the next established power the Yonko and the start of a new era will begin with these two.
So to end this thread I just want to say that most of the SNs up until this point have been presented around the same level which is YC4 level, and at least pre raid that’s where most of these guys stand with the exception of Luffy and Kid. And I fully expect them to keep pace with each other and ascend to a higher level. I expect the others to be stronger than even YC4 level when the raid officially happens and I don’t want people to be surprised when guys like Zoro are fighting King and Law is fighting alongside Luffy and Kidd. X Drake being mentioned as possibly taking Queens place is a dead giveaway that the established power is about to shift and that most of these guys with maybe a few exceptions are going to show off and finally shoot past YC3 level and above within the coming chapters. Guys like Law will go from being YC4 level and being weak compared to guys like Doflamingo to being strong enough to beat King or Katakuri and the same will go for Zoro who I believe will be Kings opponent. These guys will mimic the boost that Luffy got last arc on WCI.
They are all improving at the same rate and even though Sanji isn’t an SN I think we can compare the boost he will get to what the SNs will get. He will go from being on the YC4 level to being able to match Queen. That way Sanji being stronger than X Drake won’t be a thing but rather they both get stronger at the same time and are both strong enough to beat a YC2 which gives a lot of credence to the statement of X Drake taking Queens place.
There is a shake up about to happen, and a lot of people won’t like it but hey, they are going to have to deal with it.
Thoughts? Criticisms? Let me know
This will be very very long bear with me if you can!!!!!!!!!!
It’s been widely accepted that most of the SNs have been bunched into a category we like to call YC4 level. Which is basically just outside the Top 3 of a Yonko crews strongest subordinates. It’s basically saying, if X character was a Yonkos subordinate then X character would be the 4th strongest outside the Top 3.
Oda has made this clear distinction apparent in the story for a while, some don’t accept it for fanboy reasons, but it’s basically an unconfirmed fact.
Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at a SN named Urouge the mad Monk, he was one of the most impressive SN pre skip despite having the lowest bounty among them all, being able to go blow for blow with a pacifista pre skip( mostly due to the nature of his DF) on his own for a little while.
He came to Whole Cake island and fought Snack a guy ranked right below the Top 3 of a Yonko crew and won what can be assumed to be an extremely tough battle against Snack. The battle was so grueling that it caused Urouge to have to run away from Cracker that it was so tough. This places Urouge on this exact tier.
Next we have X Drake, a member of an actual Yonko crew and another guy who also was impressive pre skip against a pacifista. He is one of the flying six within the beast pirates. When asked if something happened to Queen who would replace him the first person that was asked was X Drake. Now this doesn’t mean that X Drake is YC2 level but rather what we can infer from this is that if something happened to any of the Top 3 X Drake would logically be the most fit to replace them. Indicating that’s he’s in fact the 4th strongest out of the beast pirates crew( though I believe he could usurp Jack or Queens position at least at this point of time within the story if he cared and wasn’t an undercover agent he’s just been hiding his power) but I’m going to get into that later.
Next we have Zoro, Law, and Hawkins.
When each of these guys matched up with the other Oda made it pretty apparent to not have either of them win at least fairly against the other. Zoro fought Hawkins and the battle never had a conclusion, Law fought Hawkins and was all bloodied after the battle and only won due to outside interference from another SN.
Now you’re probably thinking, “what about Killer, who got beat by Zoro.”
I can say the same thing for this fight, I believe Kamazou isnt quite as strong as Killer. But not only that but Oda still portrayed the fight in an equal way between the two as Zoro eventually got put out of commission by the poison and wasn’t going all out when he won and Killer was hooked on that SMILE Cush and wasn’t at his best either.
Capone and Bonney and Apoo have always seemed like the weakest out of the group and I guess they are the outliers. Although Capone is probably the best defensive fighter out of anyone within the SNs with Big Father. Not sure what’s in store for Bonney or Apoo.
The only guy within this group that has a win against even one of the Top 3 of a Yonko Crew is Luffy, he has beat Doflamingo who I peg as YC3 level, Cracker, and Katakuri.
And those wins were only possible with G4. With G2/G3 he has been portrayed on the YC4 level which is where the other guys are.
But despite his lack of Feats and seemingly terrible luck within the NW there is one SN who I believe has been keeping pace with Luffy this entire time and we just don’t know it and that person is Eustass “Captain” Kidd. Despite big news Morgan’s and Brûlée making up stories about Kidd being a weakling, a coward, and him obviously being presented to being a wreck less hot head Oda has made it obvious that this stuff isn’t true. He could have beat Snack just like Urouge did but that wasn’t his goal, and he did injure Snack after all. He did lose his arm to somebody within the Red Hair pirates but we don’t know when exactly that happened nor who was the person who did it. It could have been from Shanks himself for all we know and it could have happened shortly after his arrival into the NW we just don’t know. But despite Luffys wins against Doflamingo, Cracker, and even Katakuri. Oda still felt that Kid was a rival to Luffy and had them competing against each other in udon prison, that’s clear obvious portrayal that Kid and Luffy were meant to be the Top SNs and above the rest. Which is why these two are the guys who are going to be fighting the Yonko, the battle will represent the Top SN vs the next established power the Yonko and the start of a new era will begin with these two.
So to end this thread I just want to say that most of the SNs up until this point have been presented around the same level which is YC4 level, and at least pre raid that’s where most of these guys stand with the exception of Luffy and Kid. And I fully expect them to keep pace with each other and ascend to a higher level. I expect the others to be stronger than even YC4 level when the raid officially happens and I don’t want people to be surprised when guys like Zoro are fighting King and Law is fighting alongside Luffy and Kidd. X Drake being mentioned as possibly taking Queens place is a dead giveaway that the established power is about to shift and that most of these guys with maybe a few exceptions are going to show off and finally shoot past YC3 level and above within the coming chapters. Guys like Law will go from being YC4 level and being weak compared to guys like Doflamingo to being strong enough to beat King or Katakuri and the same will go for Zoro who I believe will be Kings opponent. These guys will mimic the boost that Luffy got last arc on WCI.
They are all improving at the same rate and even though Sanji isn’t an SN I think we can compare the boost he will get to what the SNs will get. He will go from being on the YC4 level to being able to match Queen. That way Sanji being stronger than X Drake won’t be a thing but rather they both get stronger at the same time and are both strong enough to beat a YC2 which gives a lot of credence to the statement of X Drake taking Queens place.
There is a shake up about to happen, and a lot of people won’t like it but hey, they are going to have to deal with it.
Thoughts? Criticisms? Let me know