Personally I think you're underestimating Luffy's growth. You're comparing him to Jinbe before the timeskip, while ignoring the broken hax that is the haki Reileigh taught him.
His arm turned black.
No, not underestimating the monster trio.
From how the Kraken is portrayed, while very powerful, it doesn't seem to greatly exceed what we have seen the fishmen do under the water.
A band of fishmen led by Jinbe would be even more powerful, from what we've already seen them do.
We're not saying the Kraken is weak. We're saying the fishmen are strong.
So the Kraken alone shouldn't suffice a replacement for Whitebeard's protection, if fishmen needed such thing in the first place.
Kind of like a bouncer in a club. They're there to look tough. You might be able to take that one bouncer out, but if you know you're going to get a whole lot more after you for doing so, then you're probably just going to let things slide.
I can agree that he would HELP protect the FI.
But it definitely wouldn't suffice as a replacement for Whitebeard's name.
If the same amount of protection was to be given, it'll need something more than just that.
However, Luffy's own name PLUS the Kraken may be good enough, we'll see.
I'm still interested in whether oda's going to show how bounty hunters were such a big threat in the past.
Because unless the world nobles did something insane like drilling down a path from maraijoa to FI, I'm not sure how they could even have approched FI.
You just made me imagine an anti-Tiger Fisher of sorts.
An uber-powerful hunter diving to Fishman Island with his bare hands to wreck havoc on the island. :ninja: