@SunnyBlue:
I don't even know if I should post this…
A thought just suddenly occurred to me regarding Rebecca’s character.
Rebecca is basically a child who tries to act like an adult. However, when things go horribly wrong, the child would go crying and asking for help from their parent.
Looking at Rebecca’s past, you can actually notice how overly reliance she is on her father. He saves her from an angry pack of wolf, beat those who bully her and beat up her admirer. When she got kidnapped, the first thing she do is asked for her father to save her. When he wants to teach her how to defend herself, her first response is that he will be always be there to protect her so she doesn't have to do anything! Of course, he pulls the “I won’t always be around to protect you” card to convince her to learn. When things get too hard, she breaks down and says she doesn't want to do it because he will always be there to protect her! Then, Kyros pulls out that CARD again to convince her to keep learning.
16 years old Rebecca is caught in the transition between a child (more exact a teen who is childish) and a young adult. She clearly knows that her father will never be around to protect her yet she still has a tendency to rely on him. During her time in the coliseum, she acted like an adult who doesn't rely on her father and bravely fought for her life without ever comprising the values her mother instil in her. Sure, she end up crying something but who wouldn't if you end up in this situation? I gives her prop for that. She also took the initiative to participate in the match to win the mera mera no mi. She wants to be the one who does the protecting because she’s fed up of her father risking his life for her. She doesn't want him to die.Of course, her extremely naïve and childish plan was going to fail.
She managed to make it to the finals and she’s determined to win. However, the moment Diamante struck her down and taunts her with the knowledge that he kills her mother, everything went downhill from there. She breaks down and is unable to continue on. She tells Toy Soldier she can’t continue with her goal.
After being saved by Bartolomeo and Sabo and meeting up with her relatives on the plateau, she regain some composure. She’s determined to help out in whatever she can despite the risks. However, the moment she meets up with Diamante, she reverts back into a pile of sobbing mess. After getting struck down again by Diamante, she’s scared and she does what she always does when she’s in trouble. DADDY, SAVE ME!!!
After Kyros saves her, he assures her that she doesn't have to fight any more since she never like fighting to begin with. Kyros being the over protective dad also promises to protect her. Throughout the fight, she is pretty much a child. She says she want to help him and tries to do something but didn't contribute anything to help him. Kyros would never allow his child to fight her mother’s murderer which completely makes sense. He keeps treating her like a child and doesn't want her to get hurt or killed by Diamante. This is just his instinct as a parent. Of course, Rebecca can totally go against his order and help out. But she’s still acting like a meek child who obeys her parent. Then, Robin came in and protects her. Rebecca continues get treated like a child who needs protection…and she keeps acting like a child.
Then in this chapter, Rebecca is enraged that Diamante is tormenting Kyros. She wants to attack him but Robin stops her because she will drop dead in mere seconds if she leaves the umbrella. Then Kyros makes a comeback and tells her some bunch of things and she meekly accepts whatever he say like the child she is.
So, after the Doflamingo family has been kicked out and the Riku family has been reinstated as the royalty, Rebecca and her father can finally live happily ever after. Kyros would continue to be an overprotective dad because that’s just how he is. Rebecca will continue to rely on Kyros to protect her. She will probably end up as a spinster because no guy would ever get the stamp approval from her father and she will meekly accept his reasoning. The end.
On a serious note, I do hope Oda actually address the issue of Rebecca being overly reliance on Kyros and her wanting to protect him. Kyros is always going to be overprotective regardless of how old Rebecca is. That’s how parents are. She can’t stay a child forever and Kyros is not going to live forever.He could die from all the wounds he have now! There are many ways she can protect her father without resorting to fighting. Give us a scene where she takes care of her father when he’s recuperating after fighting Diamante. Where she tells him she’s thankful for him protecting her all the time but she wants to be able to protect him too. Or she tells him that she’s no longer a child and she wants to be an adult who can make her own decision with him trusting her. Or make her express her frustation of being saved by her father for the umpteen time!
If Oda doesn't address it (99.9% probability), Rebecca is easily the most pathetic character in OP universe. AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HER GENDER. The moral of her story is “ You can always rely on your parent! Don’t ever try to do anything for yourself because you will just end up crying and asking your parent for help! They will solve all your problem!!.” That’s the WORST message you can ever tell a child. Rebecca will probably be living with her father until he dies…
I fully understand that Oda is trying to get a genuine touching moment between a father and his child. I really enjoy the backstory of Rebecca and Kyros. But he has to address the issue that a child will grow up eventually and a parent can't always be there 24/7 to protect their children. Don't forget at 16 years old, Vivi had her coming-of-age ceremony!
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But seriously, from when we found out about Kyros' backstory it was always apparent that he would fight Diamante so that Rebecca would not have to sully her hands with blood. That's why as the Toy Soldier he made Rebecca a 100% defensive fighter who with a combination of some knowledge of Kenbunshoku Haki and her opponent's momentum to either knock the other gladiators out or out of the ring.
This is a man who refused to touch her as a kid without wearing gloves because he did not want the sins of his past to somehow pass to her/have her life defined by what he did (Which is a huge recurring topic in One Piece: The children of "Terrible Men" such as Ace an Luffy being judged because of their infamous parent's actions). Kyros, despite being ultimately beloved by the people of Dressrosa, viewed himself as a monster for killing the two people who killed his best friend and as such, would never wish that his child would never have to do what he has done, which leads to him (possibly) taking out the one of the main man that has caused so much trauma for him and his entire family.
I also truly believe your belief that Rebecca was forced to grow up to fast and that mentally she thinks she is a adult but she clearly isn't there in some aspects. Now, people will point out that Luffy and Ace were thrown in that situation as well but every situation is different. Rebecca basically had Kyros only while Ace and Luffy had Sabo, the mountain bandits, Garp, and everyone in Foosha village to help form them into the men they became.
To me, people can complain about how Rebecca hasn't hurt/killed anyone and how that's sexist, but it has been shown that Rebecca has always been at a disadvantage (extremely dull sword and shield and basically no armor) in a coliseum that added killing to it when Doflamingo and Diamante took control because of mainly her ties to her grandfather, who was seen as a monster. But Rebecca thrived because of her defensive abilities taught by her father until she started facing stiffer competition, including the man who killed her mother and was def. a league above her both physically and mentally. I, like many hope that Rebecca is redeemed before this is all over but this fight was always about Kyros vs Diamante.
Speaking of Diamante, the fact that he is a matador is so perfect for his character, depending on your views of bullfighting. For the people that somehow like it, Diamante is the hero facing the most dangerous. However, for the vast majority, he is a man who takes on people who are clearly hurt and at a disadvantage and uses anything to lower his opponent's guard so he can deal mortal damage, such as his DF powers to essentially disarm his opponent or telling REbecca that he killed her mother and taking her out of the fight. But the number one thing about matadors is that eventually you will come across a bull you think is wounded and you end up being gored, which is what exactly happened with Kyros, who used his rage at Diamante and wanting to protect his daughter against the monster who ruined all their lives to finally take him out (if Diamante has truly been defeated).
I also subscribe to what Nex and other have stated in that once this entire arc is over give it a couple months and then read it again, because you may have missed things that you didn't see first glance. A perfect example of this is the Legend of Korra in how people felt Korra's and Asami's relationship was shoehorned in but on multiple viewing you clearly see that their relationship evolved over time.
TL:DR It was always about Kyros beating Diamante and hopefully Rebecca is not 100% forgotten about when this is all over.