I feel like the timing was off for Cole.

In his Simba days, he would have folded up the competition in any beef. It wouldn’t matter who Cole was up against in 2014 FHD era. He had that swagger, the arrogance, the cock. This is the dude that intentionally went album for album against Yeezus and outsold dude.

But as he got older, his self-reflection and the energy around him made him averse to negative energy. Cole knew the beef was manufactured. The meat was processed. All to drive engagement and sales by the other side. After peer pressure from fans and friends, he sparred a bit, realized it wasn’t himself and bowed out gracefully.

But this also hurt The Fall-Off. The lack of music videos, the lack of hype even though it was supposed to be his magnum opus. I wish he really put the effort into the business side half as much as the effort in the crafting of the album. Cole’s dedication to the craft also hurt his beat selection, the wider appeal as he focused on the details too much. Focusing on the trees rather than the whole forest.

Physically taping the album is another example; a detail that 99% of the audience would not know or appreciate but he took months to execute it. I feel like that effort could have been better spent on visuals or the roll-out.

Cole is too good to not market it and hit a wider demographic. He’s too humble for his own good

Will this be the power-up that Zoro uses to beat Mihawk for WSS?

I don’t see how Zoro can match Mihawk without significant power-ups.

He has weaker Haki, swordsmanship and always fights the 2nd strongest guy on the opponent side.

Zoro has to create his own black-blade and open his closed eye to somehow power-up to beat Mihawk. Maybe another time-skip as well.

I feel like what’s missing from Koby is a killer mentality, like the great Kobe Bryant if you know ball.

Koby has the talent and work ethic to be an Admiral already, but he’s just too nice.

I feel like Koby with Mamba Mentality could extreme-diff Akainu.

Thoughts?

(Full disclosure, I’m a WSS enthusiast and believe Mihawk should be stronger than Shanks)

It seems narratively that Shanks should be stronger than Mihawk, as he’s most similar to Roger. He is Roger’s protege, knows about One Piece, protagonist’s savior and role model.

Shanks is the chosen one of the middle generation, and probably is the closest one to One Piece currently.

Case #1: Mihawk is stronger

Yet Shanks and Mihawk are known as rivals, and bounty man explicitly stares Mihawk’s “swordsmanship” is greater than that of Shanks.

If swordsmanship wasn’t the main way of fighting for Shanks, it would be odd to bring this up.

It would be like mentioning Sanji has better kicking skills than Luffy. It’s true, but why mention it when Luffy’s main way of fighting is not kicking?

That’s why I believe that Shanks is a swordsman. And by the WSS title, and bounty man’s statement, and Zoro’s dream to become WSS via beating Mihawk, Mihawk is stronger than Shanks. Otherwise, Zoro’s dream looks silly; he should be chasing Shanks.

Another minor argument is that Mihawk is prideful of his strength; would he really refuse a fight with Shanks if he truly thought Shanks is strong as before after losing his arm?

Would Mihawk refuse a fight with Shanks if Shanks were stronger than him? Why is he no longer interested in fighting Shanks, a long-time rival? Mihawk clearly believes he’s now stronger than Shanks, and hence finds the fight uninteresting.

Case #2: Shanks is stronger

However, if Mihawk were stronger than Shanks, why not just say Mihawk is stronger in general?

Obviously, due to hype and mystery behind the characters, Oda would never give a clear winner like that so he decides to throw in the bait word “swordsmanship”.

Is swordsmanship not inclusive of haki? After all, Roger, Xebec, Whitebeard, Big Mom, etc use swords (WB uses a supreme-grade sword even though it doesn’t look it). None of them were ever called or labeled swordsmen.

So it’s unfair to categorize Shanks as a swordsman which is a key ingredient for Mihawk being stronger.

Also, everything we know about Shanks other than a fish eating his arm and getting scarred by BB are crazy feats. Clashing with WB and knocking his pirates out with CoC, one-tapping Kidd, capturing Loki, etc.

We’ve seen Vista stall Mihawk, Jozu block his attack, and Mihawk abandoning Marineford once Shanks showed up.

Feat-wise, it’s not even close. Shanks clears Mihawk.

Case #3: Oda is a bad writer full of inconsistencies (they are equal)

This is the most likely outcome. Shanks and Mihawk are equal in the same way Roger and WB are equal.

One was the Pirate King, the other World’s Strongest Man. They fought multiple times, for days at a time, and never beat the other.

This is due to Oda not wanting to lessen his characters’ stature.

Oda thinks that it’s the best for all top-tiers to be as close as possible so that we don’t have a scenario where one character could get mocked for their weakness.

We see this with Roger vs WB and Garp. We see this with Xebec vs Harald and Roger. We see this with Big Mom vs Kaido. We see this with Luffy vs Kizaru. Unclear who’s stronger even after the fight.

Oda’s best idea of portrayal is “they fought x days and weren’t able to beat the other”. Only case where there was a winner was Akainu after 10 days.

Ace and Jinbei fought for days, Shanks and Mihawk had “legendary duels” according to WB, Roger and WB had fights for days, etc

Oda’s lack of creativity and indecisiveness to show relative strengths of characters other than them being equal is what caused this whole mess.

Oda would rather be ambiguous and let us argue for x days rather than give a clear cut answer or fight that shows that.

Conclusion

We don’t have an answer to Mihawk vs Shanks because they’re equal in Oda’s eyes. Until Oda makes up his mind, both sides are bound to argue for x days and think they’re the ones who are right.

Thank you, Oda

People talk about PK level. But PK level = Yonko level.

Whitebeard is a Yonko, hence Yonko-level. Also known as the World’s Strongest Man. Roger never beat Whitebeard; hence Yonko-level.

Pirate King is not a combat feat; if it were, Roger wouldn’t need to beg Whitebeard to bring Oden (take Oden by force against Whitebeard) and he wouldn’t need to sneak around Big Mom for her poneglyph. They’re pirates for God’s sake.

Has there been any powerful pirate that Roger actually beat? If not, he’s truly Equal Man despite being the Pirate King

What is this PK-level that people throw around and what is the gap between Yonko-level?

PK-level = Yonko level. It includes WB, Roger, Garp, Shanks, Mihawk, Kaido, Loki, Luffy and Big Mom.

Admirals could be considered at this level.

Only ones who could be above Yonko-level are Imu, Joyboy, Harald, and Xebec.

I have Mihawk >= Shanks by the smallest of margins, given his title and leeching Shanks' feats.

For those who have Shanks > Mihawk, is it by a significant margin.

To me, anyone who can beat Shanks can beat Mihawk, and anyone who loses to Shanks loses to Mihawk.

In other words, there's no One Piece character whose strength is between Shanks and Mihawk.

That’s why everything feels like a retcon.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there are 5 more Gods we haven’t heard of yet that are introduced 2 chapters before seeing a DF based on said god

Dragon with Zaza fruit, BB with his 3rd DF based on Dika, the God of BBC (the network)

I honestly don't want Goofy to win; Luffy won our hearts Pre-TS with his personality, determination, and aura. Goofy, on the other hand, is possessed by the Nika DF, laughs while people around him are dying, and more importantly, has NO AURA.

I want BB to win because he is always scheming, researching history, winning off-screen fights, and is aiming for Za Warudo like his father, Xebec.

You might think he's an ugly dude, but he has more aura than Goofy at this point. I think Goofy has already used up his life source through all the Gear power-ups, so he can kinda die off near the end of the series, just before claiming One Piece before being off-screened by BB, the True Pirate King.

I was expecting it to be one of my most played albums ever. Haven’t listened to it since a couple months ago and it just hit me that I had played 2014 FHD and 4YEO without thinking but not TFO.

Are you guys still playing it and is it sticking for you? I really thought TFO was going to be THAT album for me, but it hasn’t been

Steve just called LeBron the greatest athlete in history then said even LeBron doesn’t have the emotional impact on the game as Michael does.

Why doesn’t he have the same level of praise for Steph?