Kid will come back having gone through the same growth that Luffy went through in Wano
Summary
All of the reasons that people are saying that the lost to Shanks is taking Kid out of the race are the same losses that Luffy has taken over the course of the series. The loss of their ship and the crew being eradicated only made the Straw Hats stronger, and I think the wording being the exact same from the Narrator should not be ignored or taken as a sign that Kid is out of the race. It’s simply far too on the nose to be used as a throwaway line of Kid’s defeat. I believe the Underworld works out of Elbaf, and this sets Kid up through his Underworld connections to build a new ship of Adam wood just like the Straw Hats. Shanks leaving Elbaf also clears a path for Kid to still be the main villain of Elbaf. The Kid Pirates will come back stronger.
Comparisons to Luffy’s losses
Kid just got one shotted in a fashion I have rarely seen in any series. If Kid is your favorite character, I honestly feel bad. I wouldn’t describe myself as a Kid fan, but this is still a character that I believe serves a larger purpose in the story than getting turned into scrap metal by Shanks. I just don’t think Oda would have this character moved along throughout the story for 15 years just to make Shanks look good. Shanks doesn’t need that to look good, they literally made a whole movie for this dude lol.
I think what we’re seeing for Kid is a series of defeats very similar to Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates that will make him actually strong enough to be a rival to Luffy. Obviously he’s going to lose in the end, Luffy is going to be Pirate King. But I just couldn’t disagree more with the people saying Oda is just cutting the fat to get to the finish line as fast as possible. I have more faith in his ability as an author than that, and I don’t think disliking a character means that their narrative purpose has been served whenever they’re done helping Luffy look good.
Like I referred to in the title, I think Luffy and Kid’s greatest defeats are mirroring each other until they eventually square off.
Loss of their beloved ship
I see a bunch of people saying Kid has to be out of the race for the One Piece, just look at their ship. How can they possibly get to the finish line first? Well, let’s ask Luffy the same thing. Did Luffy’s journey end when the Going Merry passed away? Nope. They rebuilt and kept going, with the Merry carrying them as long as she could.
Losing a ship does not mean the end of the journey.
Kid’s ship, the Victoria Punk, is named after his old friend and childhood crush who died when he was young. People think that because this is something Oda elaborated on in the SBS it’s proof that he doesn’t care about the character and is just trying to get it out of the way and move on. I disagree. I think he’s building up the emotional connection that almost surely exists in them naming the ship after her. And while it’s surely a tough loss, Luffy’s crew is proof that you can absolutely rebuild. Loss of a ship is not the end of the journey.
I’ll even take it a step further; I wouldn’t be surprised if the Klaubterman for the Victoria Punk in some way has Victoria’s spirit.
People say Kid has to be doomed because he sunk in the water with no ship or back up around to help them. But is this not exactly what happened to the Straw Hats at Enies Lobby? How were the Straw Hats supposed to escape from Enies Lobby? Well… by the end, they weren’t. They were doomed, but Merry used the last bit of her spirit to save them with a little help from Iceburg. I don’t think it would be a huge leap for the Victoria Punk to save the Kid Pirates and get them to safety.
We’ve seen ships do crazier things.
Death of a childhood friend
Victoria Shiruton Doruyanaika was Kid and Killer’s childhood friend who was killed by a rival gang in their home country. As stated by Oda in the SBS:
Q: Is there a reason why Kid and Killer became pirates? And what’s the story behind Heat and Wire joining them?
Oda: Of course there’s a story. These four were born on a certain island in South Blue, Kid and Killer knew each other since they were kids. The country they live in is not allied with the WG, and a gang ruled the country as if they’re royalties. There’re 4 districts on the island, each of them have their own outlaw group, and the 4 leaders are Kid, Killer, Heat and Wire. There were conflicts every single day.
One day, Kid’s close friend was killed by the gang, her name was “Victoria S Doruyanaika”(Kid and Killer’s crush revealed in previous sbs). Kid, in his rage, united the four group and took down the mightiest force in the country, the gang.
“I don’t want to stay in a closed world like this!” And like that he took his friends and form a pirate crew with them, naming their ship “Victoria Punk”.
I don’t have to tell you about Luffy’s childhood friends dying. Frankly, take your pick. Either Sabo being “killed” when he set sail from Foosha Village or Ace dying in Luffy’s arms.
What I found pretty interesting though is that the mindset of why Kid decided to set sail is very similar to Sabo, just living the opposite life.
I’m sure there are stories like this across a bunch of pirates in the story, I just think there’s a pretty clear parallel in why Luffy and Kid both set sail. And it was largely inspired by the death of a childhood friend.
Getting absolutely dunked on by a Yonkou
Kid got absolutely destroyed by Shanks. But I don’t see how it’s any different than Luffy getting one shotted by Kaido. If anybody is in line for Haki blooming, it’s Kid with the amount of shit he gets himself in.
It’s a tough blow, but it can just as easily be a learning experience like Luffy’s first loss (and second… and third… and fourth…) was to Kaido.
Eradicated
Some people are saying that this has to take Kid out of the race because the Narrator came through and said that the crew was eradicated. There are even people using that as an argument to say he’s dead (seriously what series are you guys reading who believe this). If the narrator coming in and saying that a crew is eradicated is proof that they are dead or out of the running for One Piece, somebody should really tell Luffy and the crew that they’ve been dead for the last two years.
The Straw Hats were eradicated on Sabaody Archipelago, and it wasn’t until the following chapters when we learned what that meant. They took the ultimate loss.
There is no chance that a call back this direct is not on purpose.
Kid is down, but he’s not out
Kid is in about as bad a spot as we’ve seen a character, but I don’t see how this eliminates him in the story. All of the reasons that people are saying this eliminates Kid from being a factor in the story are things that we’ve seen happen to the Straw Hats. Like people who are saying that he’s out because he no longer has a ship, if that was the case Luffy’s journey would have ended ages ago. I would argue that the Adam Tree is from Elbaf to begin with, being near Elbaf would put him right in position to get a ship upgrade. I think we have pretty solid information suggesting that the Underworld operation going on throughout the One Piece world traces to Elbaf (for example, Mother Carmel’s operation).
The Underworld headquarters is ran out of Elbaf
Like I pointed out, I think we can tie a large portion of the Underworld market in One Piece to Elbaf and I think that will be the main portion of conflict in that arc when we finally get there. Where else would be better to run a secretive operation outside of the eyes of the Marines than a secluded society filled with monsters that nobody wants to mess with? Just look at what Cipher Pol said to Mother Carmel after Big Mom killed Jorul
They never thought she would leave Elbaf.
Why would they think that this character who has been working for the Underworld for decades wouldn’t leave Elbaf… unless Elbaf is the home of the Underworld? It puts the market for her activities right next to her. Not to mention Franky engaging in Underworld activities before he became a Straw Hat. This was how he was able to buy Adam wood with the money he stole from the Straw Hats before becoming their friend.
To this day we still have so much mystery surrounding the Underworld operations that Doflamingo was so tied up in.
And while Kid isn’t a Broker, we did learn in Punk Hazard that he was connected with the Underworld and aware of the going ons. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is how he knows who the man with the burn scar is to begin with.
Kid has some knowledge of the Underworld that we still need to learn as an audience and as the Straw Hat crew.
Why did Oda make Kid a Conqueror?
This is a question that I’ve asked in pretty much every discussion of Kid since it was revealed that Kid and Shanks were on Elbaf together. One Piece is a story written by an author, and that author makes decisions for what will close out certain narratives. That’s how storytelling works. So the question I ask people who think that Kid will serve no more importance; Why did Oda make Kid a Conqueror?
The group of known Conquerors in One Piece is incredibly short.
People have suggested that Kid has Conqueror’s Haki because it would boost his resume and make Shanks look good. And I truly do not understand this argument at all. If that was truly Kid’s role in the story, he doesn’t need Conqueror’s Haki in order to serve that purpose. If Law went to Elbaf instead of Kid and got one shotted by Shanks, I doubt anybody would be sitting here saying “yeah that’s cool, but Law isn’t a Conqueror so it’s not that impressive.” Because that would be silly. Oda could have made Kid as good with his Devil Fruit as Law is and it still would have shown just how strong Shanks is whether he was a Conqueror or not.
Kid did not even use Conqueror’s in the fight with Big Mom. Excluding the anime, all we have is Kaido telling us that Kid is a Conqueror and nothing else. So again, why did Oda add this at all? This isn’t like Armament Haki where everybody and their mother has it at this point, this is a very exclusive group of characters. And being Conquerors serves a very in your face narrative purpose for almost all of these characters, with the rest still having future roles to play in the story.
- Shanks – Doesn’t need to be explained
- Luffy – Really doesn’t need to be explained
- Rayleigh – Right hand of the Pirate King, the Dark King himself, and Luffy’s mentor on his path to being the Pirate King
- Hancock – Oda could have easily had Hancock be captured and turned into a slave again, but that hasn’t happened as far as the story stands now. I don’t know what her role will be now that she’s left Amazon Lily looking for Luffy, but her strong will power was shown when she faced Blackbeard with no fear
- Doflamingo – A man who desires to tear down the entire Holy Land with knowledge of the National Treasure and controlled the entire Underworld of the One Piece world
- Don Chinjao – A gatekeeper of the old age of One Piece as a combatant of Garp, and Luffy’s baptism into combat on the highest level in the New World
- Big Mom – a Yonkou, self explanatory
- Katakuri – The gatekeeper between Luffy and breaking the billion berry benchmark, and the person who gave Luffy the respect of eventually being able to beat a Yonkou (will you come back and defeat Big Mom)
- Sengoku – Fleet Admiral and an Admiral during the days of Roger and Whitebeard
- Kaido – a Yonkou, self explanatory
- Zoro – desires to be the greatest swordsman
- Yamato – future role still pretty up in the air post Wano, but is the child of one of the greatest Conquerors and desires to be Oden. Also the guardian of Wano next to Momonosuke (who will probably also have Conquerors by the end of the story, but that’s speculation)
- Whitebeard – 2nd to the throne
- Ace – Ace died before ever truly reaching his potential, but his lived with the desires to make Whitebeard the King of the Pirates and is the son of the Pirate King
- Oden – Shogun of Wano and the central point of the entire saga of arcs that put us in Wano to begin with
- Gol D. Roger – King of the Pirates
Conquerors are all important characters. This is not a power that Oda just hands out. Until we can answer the question of why Kid is a Conqueror, his narrative is not complete. Don’t take my word for it; take Kid’s (and Oda’s).
If I die now, what was the point of my whole pirating career?
Conclusion
I think we’re seeing the path clear for Kid to be the antagonist of Elbaf, even with as shaky as it looks for now. We can pretty confidently say Shanks is not going to be on Elbaf, that possibility was erased last chapter. Blackbeard probably has to get ready for war with Garp. Big Mom is definitely still a possibility, but she has much bigger issues to actually gather her crew first and get to Elbaf (including rescuing Pudding). I think Kid will come back having gone through the same growth that Luffy went through in the Udon mines and by the time Luffy gets to Elbaf, Kid will actually be strong enough to be his rival.
Kid has not served his entire narrative purpose. And because of that, I’m keeping my Kid stocks. I would advise you all to not sell just yet.
*Theory by HokageEzio
