u/Comprehensive_Cup497

Most people have Serena as the Women GOAT but I think Steffi has a bigger claim especially as a Singles-Players.

In terms of Slams yes Serena had the edge with 1 more Slam but Steffi retired at 30 while Serena did at 40 which makes Steffi the more dominant player at her peak since Serena needed 10 more years to catch up to her. And it's not like Serena had some crazy competition, her biggest rivals were the likes of Venus and Sharapova who wouldn't really do much vs Steffi.

However, I think the extra slams doesn't compensate the massive gap in actual career titles, Serena won 72 Trophies while Steffi won 107 Trophies, I think a career with 107 Trophies with 22 Slams is better than 72 Trophies with 23 Slams

Now, there are other areas where Steffi has the lead such as her having the Golden Slam which is arguably the greatest achivement in tennis History, winning the Calendar Slam is already hard but winning the Olympics is arguably the best achivement in tennis history and this would include the Big 3 as well.

Steffi also has other things above Serena such as a greater win ratio in both slams and overall career, overall career is 88% vs 85% and in Slams is 89% vs 86%. On top of this, he has more worlds as world number 1 as 377 which is second only to Djokovic in tennis history and over 50 more weeks than Serena and Steffi finished world number 1 8 times while Serena did 5 times

So, while Serena has one extra Slams I think Steffi edges it out with 30 more trophies, a much more dominant peak, the golden slam, higher win ratio and more world number 1 weeks

So just to compare

Slams: Serena

Titles: Steffi

Win Ratio: Steffi

Year Ending World Number 1: Steffi

World Number 1 Weeks: Steffi

Calendar Slam: Steffi

Golden Slam: Steffi

Serena Won 23 Grand Slams which he did playing against the likes of Henin, Venus, Sharapova or Azarenka. And these players while good aren't anywhere near the level of Serena, basically she never truly had someone on her level that could take slams away from her which to me affects how I see her slam tally compared to the likes of Novak, Roger or Rafa

Roger, Rafa and Novak won 20/22/24 Slams despite competing with each other which means that without themselves they would've won way more than they did very likely win 25 to 35 Grand Slams

Just to put you an example of how much much the big 3 stopped each other

-Nadal stopped Federer from Winning Roland Garros 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011, Wimbledon 2008 and Australian Open 2009/2014. He also stopped Djokovic in Roland Garros 2012, 2013,2014, 2020, 2022 and US Open 2010/2011

-Djokovic stopped Federer from winning Australian Open 2008, 2011, Wimbledon 2014, 2015, 2019 and US Open 2015. And he stopped Nadal from winning Roland Garros 2021, Wimbledon 2011/2018 and Us Open 2011

-Federer stopped Nadal from winning Wimbledon 2006, 2007 and Australian Open 2017. And he stopped Djokovic from winning US Open 2007, US Open 2008, Wimbledon 2012 and Roland Garros 2011.

Take 2 of the Big 3 members from Tennis and the likes of Nadal/Djokovic/Federer would have won 28/35 Slams while Serena finished with 23 while playing against the likes of Henin, Venus or Sharapova

The way I understood Mihawk's statement when someone has Conqueror's Haki their presence is so powerful that weak-minded people can't remain standing in his presence. Basically, it's an extent on someone's inner self and pople with weak spirits simply can't handle it.

And if this is correct then when someone using Conqueror's Haki they are attacking the spirits of others, weak-willed people get knocked out because their spirits are weak. However, what about those who are strong enough to resist it? Well in this case when someone uses Conqueror's Haki attacks in them then their spirit itself is targeted, they might not be knocked out by the sheer presence of Conqueror but they can still get their spirit damaged and broken

This explains why Conqueror's Haki is so strong, it's not a physical attack but a more of an spiritual attack. For example, when Shanks attacked Kid with Divine Departure he didn't damaged Kid's physical body but his spirit, he overwhelmed Kid's spirit to the point where he was knocked out

This explains why Shank's Haki paralyzed Aramaki, he was strong enough to resist his Haki but his spirit was still getting attacked right there and since Shanks has a much stronger spirit he was able to overwhelm him

If Conqueror's Haki is tied about having an strong sense of self and absoute resolve then I think it would make sense for AKainu to have it and to Kuzan/Kizaru to not have it, I will try to explain why each character's personality would fit to have it or not have it

Let's first start with the most obvious one which is Kizaru, he is someone who has never proven to have a defined sense of self, we saw this in Egghead where he was mentally conflicted in whether he should fully erradicate Strawhats and Vegapunk or ally with Vegapunk and betray the WG. Now, since Kizaru doesn't really have an strong sense of self then he can't fully commit to either option. Kizaru also has never shown to have absolute resolve to do things, it's always about doing his job but his resolve is never that strong

Now, let's go Kuzan who many think should have CoC if Akainu has it but I personally think that based in his personality he shouldn't as he seems someone who hasn't truly found who he actually is and his resolve has shown to be wavering, we see this against Garp where Garp specifically told him that those who doubt are weak which was to me a foreshadowing of Kuzan not having Conqueror's Haki. Also consider that Kuzan only fought Akainu because he didn't want Akainu to become Fleet Admiral, not because he actually has a desire to lead the Navy.

Akainu on the other side has a clear sense of self which is tied to absolute justice, it might be a warped justice but he still knows who he is exactly, there is no conflict about who he is or doubts. He also has proven to have strong resolve, in Marineford he had full resolve to eliminate Luffy because to him all Pirates are evil and should be eliminated and there is no middle-ground here, this is the mindset of a Conqueror, they have an absolute mindset about something and Akainu has it

To prove this let's look at the battle between Lucci and Luffy in Ennies Lobby because it shows how big is the gap between a base Zoan user and their Hybrid form

In Base Form Lucci was around base Luffy level ,perhaps a little stronger but they were similar in power level. However thanks to Gear 2 Luffy he was able to blitz Base Lucci easily which forced Lucci to use his Hybrid form where him and Luffy were around equal in power. Like, the gap in durability is quite massive considering that Hybrid Lucci was able to endure a massive Gear 3 attack and there is also an overwhelming gap in speed where Lucci is able to perfectly keep up with Gear 2 speed.

So based on feats Hybrid Lucci would problaby Low-diff his normal version, he gained much better Ap, strength, speed and durability where his base form would just get stomped.

Now, considering that Loki has the legendary Nidhogg DF then the stat amps that he would get in Hybrid form should be just as big as the ones Lucci got in Ennies Lobby meaning he should be able of beating his base form Low-mid diff meaning he is at least 1 tier up but could honestly be 2 tiers up

This makes perfect sense when we consider that Hybrid Loki in Elbaph Flashback literally stomped Hk Harald while previously he was way weaker. so Hybrid Loki being able to stomp his base form makes complete sense

Hybrid Loki> Base Loki Low-Mid Diff

So far we have 2 God Fruit in OP which are the Devil DF and the Nika DF, only 2 Gods in the story. However, with that exception the Nidhogg DF is easily the best DF

To begin with, the Nidhogg gives you a tremendous amount of AP/DC and it also has many different usages. You can transform into the gigantic dragon and throw massive lighting attacks and spam them, the level of DC with those attacks is second only to the Gura DF. You can also use it in base form stacking your attacks with it, summoning from the sky or just throwing like a beam with inmense speed and power like Loki did last chapter.

Now, there are other elements but I think Loki is the most versatile in OP. Magma has a lot of AP but lacks DC and speed. Light has speed but lacks AP/DC, Ice has hax but has almost no AP/DC/Speed advantages. But Loki's lighting grants massive AP/DC/Speed attacks

However, lighting isn't the only major property of the Nidhogg DF, another major property is the ability to turn into a gigantic dragon and while this form might be a liability vs small targets against big crowds and giant enemies is a tremendous advantage. for example against characters who don't have great speed this form is perfect, characters like DR Rocks or HK harald who often showed no great speed and relied more on brute force Nidhogg would completely overpower them. This fruits would also be useful against character in their monster forms like the 5 Elders or Kaidou where they would get physically overpower by it. Another advantage of the giant Dragon form is durability as Dragons are generally known for their inmense durability

And since it's a mythological zoan it gives you a Hybrid form where your stat get a massive boost, Loki with it went from being weaker in base to stomping HK Harald in Hybrid, the physical boost is absolutely ridiculous and logically you would also get a massive durability boost as well on top all of this. And logically an awakening would make you even stronger, it wouldn't just more abilities but just being way stronger in general.

So considering that the Nidhogg DF has arguably the most useful element in OP offering AP/DC/Speed attacks while also offering massive size in Dragon form and a Hybrid form with massively improved stats as well as an awakening then I think it's fair to say it's the best DF fruit in the series besides the God ones.

Just to compare to other top tier Devil Fruits

Nidhogg DF: Overpowered AP/DC attacks with a lot of different usages, massive size and a massive stat boost

Dragon DF: Offer a massive stat boost but doesn't offer much AP/DC and fire isn't as versatile as lighting

Magma DF: Overpowered AP but not many usages and no stat boost

Light DF: Very versatile but with no Ap/DC and no stat boost

Ice DF: Give you a lot of hax/AOE but it doesn't offer much AP/DC and no stat boost

Darkness: It seems limited, it can only negate DF which only works if the opponent has trash Haki

Soul: It has a lot of versatility but it lacks in AP/DC

Gura: Offers the best DC but Ap is low and doesn't offer much versaility and no stat boost

Based on feats Loki is easily an Emperor level character even in base

1. Lighting is extremely versaitle, Loki can use to coat Ragnir in it, he can release lighting beams with insane speed that can blitz even Imu and he can release from the sky. This gives Loki easily Emperor level AP/DC/AOE in base form
2. He has top tier Conqueror's Haki considering he was able to permanently kill a Holy Knight, this means his Conqueror's Haki is insanely strong and easily Emperor level
3. He has top tier durability/endurance, an injured Loki has been stabbed multiple times and he is still fighting, these aren't normal attacks but attacks from magical swords from the strongest guy in the verse, only people with Yonko level durability/endurance would have that
4. He has ancient giant strength, we have seen that giants have among the highest physical strength in the verse with Harjudin who isn't as strong as Loki being able to send Imu flying with pure raw strenght and he isn't even an ancient giant
5. He has Ice powers which nothing can break meaning he in theory has the hax to one shot even Yonko level characters
6. He has one of the strongest weapons in the verse, far stronger than weapons from Yonko tiers like WB, Kaido or Big Mom.

Now, someone might argue he doesn't have the best speed but that doesn't mean he can't be Yonko Level, several Yonko tier like Whitebeard, Harald or Big Mom don't have the best speed and they are still Yonko level characters even without great speed

Personally I think base Loki is beating top tier like Rocks, Harald, Big Mom or Kaidou but would lose to characters like Shanks, Roger, Prime WB, HK Harald and G5 Luffy because of bad match-up