Although the Luffy vs Katakuri fight is still ongoing, Oda gave a lot of focus to this fight, so it’s pretty evident Luffy is ultimately going to defeat Katakuri and escape the Mirror World. But I’m more interested in discussing the parallels in Luffy vs Katakuri fight with Luffy vs Cracker fight… and also point out some contradictions in the manga.
In both fights, Luffy without Gear 4 is getting beaten in a one-sided manner by both Sweet Commanders, and Luffy himself recognized his opponents are strong and must be surpassed. In Cracker’s case, it’s overcoming strong Armament Haki. In Katakuri’s case, it’s overcoming strong Observation Haki.
But despite the specific claims stated by fodder that Katakuri is the strongest of Sweet Commanders and has the highest bounty, I actually think evidence points out to the opposite… and that Cracker could in fact be stronger than Katakuri. To explain why, take a look at what happened in both fights.
In Luffy vs Cracker, Luffy was getting badly outmatched in G2 and G3 by Cracker in Biscuit Soldier form. Only when Luffy used G4 did he destroy the Biscuit Soldier and force Cracker to reveal his true identity. Even so, Cracker was able to injure G4 Luffy by directly slamming his CoA sword into CoA G4 arm and forced Luffy to pull his arm back. Cracker then produced an army of Biscuit Soldiers to stalemate G4 Luffy and even directly block attacks like Kong Organ. With Luffy’s stamina running out, he had to run away.
But here, Luffy got the help from Nami, as Nami could simply pour rain into the Biscuit Soldiers to soften them up enough for Luffy to eat and replenish his energy. Nami also took control of the Homies in Seducing Woods and used them to block Cracker’s path.
Ultimately, Cracker was outnumbered by a replenishing Luffy (who was also improving his CoA as he later tanked Hakified Honey Pretzel), Nami, and Homies and ultimately lost.
In Luffy vs Katakuri, the situation is pretty much similar but under opposite circumstances. Here, Luffy was also outmatched in G2 and G3 by Katakuri using the mochi versions of Luffy’s attacks. Luffy was struggling to understand why his attacks kept missing but he soon found out that it’s due to Katakuri’s future seeing CoO ability. Luffy then used G4 and injured Katakuri quite handily, but Katakuri used an advanced Awakening technique called Peerless Donuts: Strength Mochi to injure G4 Luffy. Luffy then retreated by using Brulee, and thought about ways to improve his CoO to match that of Katakuri’s.
When Luffy vs Katakuri fight resumed, Luffy focused entirely on dodging Katakuri’s attacks and improving his own CoO. Katakuri realized that Luffy’s CoO is quickly becoming as good as his and tried to end the fight.
Unfortunately, Katakuri’s attacks kept missing even though Luffy wasn’t even using G4 and was simply dodging. Meanwhile, Flambe and a pack of fodder were playing a supportive role as they kept trying to shoot Luffy, but Luffy was too fast and continued to dodge their shots. Sadly, just when Luffy was about to get up from Katakuri’s attack, Flambe and the fodder shot Luffy’s leg, and Luffy got hit by Katakuri’s Mochi Pounding spear attack (even though the same attack failed to land previously).
Here, Luffy is completely outnumbered by Katakuri, Flambe, fodder, other siblings etc. But despite this, Luffy continued to prolong the fight for several hours and was able to dodge Katakuri’s spear and awakening attacks, while dramatically strengthening his CoO (and also his CoA).
The main point is this: in Luffy vs Cracker, Cracker was outnumbered by Luffy, Nami and Homies and still prolonged the fight to 11 hours before losing. In Luffy vs Katakuri, Luffy is outnumbered by Katakuri, Flambe, additional siblings and fodder, and still prolonged the fight to at least 8 hours by himself without anyone supporting him.
So, the situational factors involved actually show Katakuri might be weaker than Cracker, because Katakuri has support in his side but will still lose, while Cracker was completely outnumbered but still fought for hours. This directly contradicts the manga statement that Katakuri is the strongest of the Sweet Commanders, and further illustrates why Cracker is an underrated Sweet Commander.
What are your thoughts?
*Theory by AppleCider
