Power Balance
Let me start by explaining the power balance in the One Piece World. So there’s the mighty World Government with the most territories of the world and then there are mighty pirates like Whitebeard, Shanks, Big Mom, Kaido who have came to be known as “Emperors”.
None of these forces wages complete war against each other as each of them will take massive casualties and consequences to bring down. This’s why the World Government doesn’t just send Admirals to invade Yonko territories. And Yonkos do not invade each other as well. Because even if you can win the battle , the consequences will be massive and you leave your back open for the other forces to obliterate you as you and your forces are too exhausted after taking down a massive force.
Why did Whitebeard not avenge Oden
This seems to go over many fans’ heads but if Whitebeard were to wage an all out war against Kaido only for some petty revenge for someone who’s already dead, casualties will be maximum and he’ll be basically putting all of his sons’ lives and territories on the line just for extracting revenge.
Even if he could defeat Kaido, the purpose of this all out war would be meaningless in comparison to the amount of damage and casualties he would take. There’s a reason Kaido has the title of “World’s Strongest Creature”. Whitebeard clearly seems to acknowledge him saying “You think you can vanquish the man Kozuki Oden could not?”
Revenge
Never in this series has Whitebeard ever thought of waging wars or even sending his sons to take revenge against someone he considers a threat. When Teach killed Thatch, Whitebeard’s first response was to stop Ace from going behind him for revenge. You think he would refrain from sending even one of his son for taking revenge against someone like Teach, but wage an all-out war against a Yonko for the same reason?
Why did Whitebeard go for Ace
Now here comes Whitebeard’s actual greatness. He would not want to suffer casualties and consequences for taking revenge for any of his crewmate’s death. However, if he has even a tad bit of chance that he can save his son from dying (Ace), he would put every single ounce of power he has and wager it all to protect his life. Just like he did on Marineford. If he had known about Oden’s execution before, no matter the consequences, he would’ve shred every single thing he has for protecting him. Unfortunately, news doesn’t travel outside Wano, so he came to know about it much later.
Why Whitebeard doesn’t go liberate Wano
You need to understand. Whitebeard isn’t the World Government. He is just a pirate who is strong enough to protect some territories under his control. He’s not responsible for any country’s demise or conquest. So many countries across the world are getting massacred. He can’t do anything about it. He has absolutely no connections to Wano. He isn’t going to fight for every crewmate’s homelands now, as once again that would put his entire crew at the risk of taking massive casualties for the sake of nothing. Most he can do is scare some small pirates away from places like Fishman Island through his name alone. But no way is he going to take on a full fledged Yonko crew just because they captured his friend’s homeland. He is barely able to protect his own homeland by saving money himself.
Fans need to start thinking of these characters as actual people with their own fears, problems and decisions instead of mindless muscleheads who’d fight anyone in their way to prove their dick size.
*by GUTS_SAMA
