Okay, I don't usually post on forums but I guess I will defend this fight. I saw many people saying the "Katakuri should have won" and how they are very disappointed in the ending or even the fight itself is just boring.
How I look at it, this fight isn't just like the typical villain luffy meets, Katakuri was a villain who didn't look down or underestimated luffy(he even mentions it himself) whereas other villains tend to look down on him leading to them getting beaten up when luffy gets his... "power up". And here, even when luffy gets that power up, it didn't really turn the tides to his favor and he still gets beaten down.
Lemme just first say that I don't think this fight has really reached its conclusion. Oda obviously has more things planned for luffy and katakuri and like the Big Mom Pirates just in general. Just look at the sanji pudding situation. There are still things which hasn't really been wrapped up because this is just like a setting up for when big mom and the strawhats really makes their final confrontation. I'm sure Luffy and katakuri would meet again. I dont know if they will fight like they did in this arc but they surely will meet again.
Did luffy win? In my opinion, I don't really think he did. When katakuri was defeated his eyes didn't like roll back like the others when luffy beats them up. He simply falls back, and that's not him giving up. Through all that time he spent battling him, he grew to respect to him, heck he even fought him with his insecurity and embarassment visible(his mouth) which he even killed his own subordinates for accidentally seeing. To me the way he "let luffy win" is like him saying "Just go, I want to see the man you will become in the future." its as if he's letting him go and become stronger so that in the future they can fight on equal terms where then he could go all out and without any handicap. (Tbh, i also actually want something like this to happen... luffy gets defeated unconcious, but katakuri, with all faith and respect grabs him walks out the mirror and throws him to sanji... idk, something along those lines...hahaha)
Also why luffy didn't use G4 even if its obvious G2 and G3 are ineffective? Well first of all its not like its not taxing on him and he loses haki when it runs out. To those saying "Well, he can just run and evade him like he does when he's using it when G4 runs out" how the hell could he evade shit when he don't have CoO and don't even talk about running, Brulee, i dont think katakuri would fall for the same trick twice. Luffy would only use G4 when he know he can take the upper hand, just notice when he finally hit Katakuri he uses it, that's because he knew its a most efficient time to use it, he was able to land a number of hits on him. He may not be the smartest in the crew but he's smart battlewise. It even showed by the end of it that luffy really also respected katakuri when he covers his mouth with a hat while he's down.
This fight didn't really come down to me as just some random beatdown of villains (although there are alot of beatings in this fight), it showcased one of, well, I think is the best and most interesting villains in OP. Really hoping to see him again whenever there's another big mom arc or any future arc.
(I had to much time on my hands to write this essay). This fight is just one of my fave maybe even topping Lucci vs Luffy hahaha and well, just wanna share my opinions on it. Eh, who knows, maybe I'm just looking to deep on what the fight and I should just focus on their beating endurance, combat strategies and the good ol power ups. |