@TLC:
I disagree. I think it makes sense if you consider Doflamingo's dialogue immediately before. Basically he said your ability won't work on him because your Haki is too weak. Vergo thinking that decided to just rush at Law not even thinking of evading because he didn't see the point because he thought his slash would do nothing. And he turned out to be wrong. If he had treated Law as an equal instead of a bitch he was going to wail on, the fight could have turned out different. But that was the point right? That the old generation needs to start treating the new generation seriously or they're gonna get their asses kicked.
It definitely worked on a symbolic and narrative level, but it always felt rushed to me. I know it also shattered the trope of "villain powers up –> hero needs to turn the tables again" by instead making Law instakill him and ignoring said powered up. . .but Oda did that simultaneously with Luffy one-shoting Caesar even after he fused with Shinokuni so, maybe we didn't need to see that twice in a row?
And, again, would it have killed Vergo to, at least, try and deflect Law's slash like Smoker had been doing (quite efficiently, I must add) during his fight? All he did was paint a giant bullseye on his (very manly) torso and say "please, cut me right about here. That'd be nice, yeah".
I don't know, what you said makes plenty of sense, but. . .I can't help but feel underwhelmed by that resolution to their decade long conflict. Specially considering how Vergo was legitimately intimidating up till that point for all the right reasons and yet that single slash left me such a bitter aftertaste. It'll always be the fight where "Law effortlessly manhandled Vergo with a single slash. Not even his strongest, secret attack that can take your heart out; a single slash", and not "the fight where Vergo could've won if he didn't get careless cause he was a legitimate beast and was sure to give Law tons of trouble had he taken him seriously". Doesn't bode well with me.
(That being said, the way Dofla dealt with Law like he was a small, meaningless mosquito seems to point towards Vergo probably being capable of a bit more than letting himself be cut in half in 1 second, cause I can't see Pica or Trébol being manhandled that easily by the doctor).
@Daz:
I laughed so hard at that scene. Going back to what we discussed last week, Fujitoras actions and motivations are still "unclear" at best, but the Fujitora shown here? Bumbling, careless, Oh Noes I'm Not Used To This Whole Marine Thing Yet You Guys Fujitora? He's much more entertaining than ""Profound", serious and inscrutable" Fujitora.
Clumsy Fuji is definitely fun. "Oh, btw. . .beware of the meteor I just threw". "Oh, thank you for telling us. . .after it freaking squashed our whole squadron!!".
I also fondly remember when he threw a meteorite at the Sunny and Law deflected it back to them and he said, while nonchalantly eating pasta "ooops, seems Law was down there. That was pretty careless of me. Well, everyone, off to Dressrosa".
But still. . .You KNOW we're bound to go back to the deep, cryptic and vague Fujitora sometime in the near future, and we'll have that discussion again.
Party pooping. I know.
I couldn't agree more. The whiplash of Smoker losing to Vergo was staggering; it went from Smoker landing a clean emotion-filled punch on Vergos face while yelling "Don't you fucking DARE HURT MY MEN YOU DISGRACE OF A MARINE!", with some sweetass fight choreography, to another snippet of Smoker pounding in Vergos face during a montage, to…Smoker gets downed in a single hit, as he basically lets Vergo strike him. Whuh? Where did this come from?
I could've worked if we saw clear signs that Smoker was slowly getting outclassed by Vergo, or that his hits weren't having an effect on Vergo's superior CoA defense, and he decided the best course of action was, considering he would not be able to best Vergo any time soon and the fight would drag too much, to take away Law's handicap and let him win instead with the overpowered shit he can pull out of his ass, and that he previously suffered himself.
Problem is. . .this is all a scenario I'm imagining right now. We had no indication that was the case, considering what we actually saw of that fight pointed to Smoker having the upper hand, not the opposite, and, as you said, he was dead-set on making Vergo pay for nearly killing the entire G-5 force. That just doesn't add up with Smoker suddenly forgetting about decking Vergo in the shnutz and actually being all "I'll sacrifice my own body so Law can fight instead of me cause Vergo is too tough for me".