deep breath
Okay, let's start this with a preface. Because I know:
1. My haters (who think they're unknown or anonymous to me) love to read my posts and repost them elsewhere outside of context.
2. People will come to read this from somewhere completely unrelated with no idea who I am.
3. It's easy to read this as a fanboy's love letter to Kaido. I'm not crazy about Kaido to tell the truth. He looks cool. Has a cool ability. He's a backstabber, but…how many of those have we seen? This is merely the simplest of request for critics to reflect on their own interpretations of a character vs how the character has been presented.
So let's add some context.
・One Piece deserves critcism
・Oda deserves critcism (he welcomes it too)
・I'm one of the few people you'll meet online who can say they've actually critiqued Oda's work in person to his face because of the love I have for the series
・That criticism was heard and I dare say addressed
However, when Oda's work is criticized due entirely to misinterpretation and misrepresentation, I think it is absolutely fair to ask that such criticisms are evaluated for what they are.
In so few words, hell yeah you should be harsh on One Piece; just make sure you're being fair and considering every angle, not just how things appear to you or how you assume they are.
Criticism:
Kaido appears weak because he was damaged in a flashback.
Objective Validity Based on Manga Presentation:
Almost none.
Proposed Argument:
"Kaido was presented as unkillable."
Kaido was not in fact presented as 'unkillable'. He was presented as someone who has, despite many efforts, some including his own, has not been killed. Casual reading might lead one to believe Kaido has been actually called, in a factual and non-dramatic sense, 'unkillable' by not only a reliable, but an omniscient and infallible source within the flow of the story.
But let's devil's advocate that stance. Kaido has been called unkillable (in the past, present, and future) by an infallible omniscient source.
…..where does that suggest he cannot be damaged?
No really, in what realm is 'impervious/invincible to all damage' equate to 'unkillable'?
For all intents and purposes, Monty Python's Black Knight appears to be unkillable. And yet, he is hardly impervious to damage.
Some readers created an image of Kaido in their own mind of being unkillable and equated that with being impervious to damage. I suspect this image was propagated through theorists and such but it's a construct and representation of the character that simply does not exist.
So what does Kaido being wounded show us as readers? It reaffirms what we know for a fact (if we have not been ballooning the character in our heads) that Kaido is indeed mortal and that, yes, he can in fact most certainly be killed given an adversary who can better him in combat.
who can better him in combat
Not stronger than him.
Not tougher than him.
But someone who can defeat him in a given match using their unique skills.
That is to say, the entire point is to show us how close he came to being defeated and that it can happen.
Suspected Counterpoint:
"Yes! And that makes him weak!"
Weaker than what? It doesn't suggest anything about strength. That is of course, unless one's view of combat prowess has been warped by theories and biases.
Oden could very well have lost to Kaido is an arm wrestling contest, but he proved to be a better fighter.
This is important.
Luffy is not, cannot and WILL not, be stronger than Kaido in raw raw strength in this arc.
Kaido is the strongest creature. That is precisely what our omniscient infallible source has in fact said.
For Luffy to be stronger than Kaido would mean that Luffy is the strongest creature alive and then One Piece becomes a slog of watching Luffy smash through everything until Laugh Tale.
I don't mean there cannot be obstacles greater than Kaido due to science or ancient powers. I'm saying that if Luffy ever assumes the title of 'Strongest Creature' then the series is done.
What Luffy can and will be, is the better fighter. Perhaps more resilience. Perhaps more belief in his comrades. Perhaps better ambition (which would be awesome). Perhaps even able to take more punishment. But he will always be weaker than Kaido. Unless of course, he faces Kaido 1v1 on even healthy ground and bests him in a contest of pure strength. And that will not happen. The days of such victories are behind us except possibly final boss material.
Luffy isn't stronger than Doflamingo, that was a shared vicory. Luffy isn't even stronger than Katakuri (now) as they appear to be almost even when fighting with comparable CoO. But he will beat Kaido, by achieving in a field other than strength.
So nowhere does this mean Kaido is weak.
Take Home Message:
Kaido is not physically weak by any stretch of the imagination. If you don't like that he took damage, you may criticize his fighting prowess. His fighting prowess weakness against expert sword-wielders. A fighting prowess weakness to expert Haki manipulation. A fighting prowess weakness when dealing with trauma. But none of those are equivalent to lacking in physical strength, which is true to how Oda presented him.
If you don't like that he was wounded by Oden, good! Own it! That's a valid impression I respect even if I don't share it. But there's no way it made him physically 'weak', and certainly not by any fault of Oda's.
Personally (and this is subjective) if you feel he's a lesser villain for succumbing to Oden, I have to question what you might have missed regarding how Oda developed Oden to be a one-man pirate crew. The man is the rare case of a legend who's literally larger than his own legend. Oden's raw strength combined with his ambition and sword skills made him a deadly force to be reckoned with, and that's even with him being physically weaker than Kaido.
You may not 'like' Kaido because you think getting damaged makes one 'weak'. But if simply taking damage in a fight makes one 'weak', I'm pretty sure Mihawk would have just killed Zoro when they first met.
Croc or Enel would never.
