Luffy, Shanks and Kaido: trying to solve this weird rps (and why Oldbeard is the gun)
So recently I've been trying to fix my yonko tier and I've found that there are plenty of statements and portrayal for each. But sometimes they contradict each other. Here will be my attempt to solve them.
Value of character statements
First of all I will preface this by saying that unless directly contradicted or doubted, character statements should be taken at face value. Characters convey author messages unless doubt is placed upon them.
Like when looking at a character statement you should look at "what is the narrative value of this? Why would the author write this?" and if the statements happens to be wrong without being directly contradicted, then what would even be the reason for this statement? That's why it doesnt make sense to ask reliability for a statement unless such doubt is placed by the story itself.
Proof for Kaido>Shanks
Simple enough. All these statements portray Kaido as the strongest pirate after Oldbeard's death. We have 3 character statements and a chapter title. Pretty simple
Proof for Shanks>Kaido (?)
Shanks' haki was described as monstrous by Jinbe and incredible by Yamato. Two characters who have seen/felt Kaido and Luffy full powered haki. Meaning to call someone's haki incredible and monstrous after knowing the full extent of those 2 Yonko implies Shanks' haki is superior.
The giants chose to compare Shanks' haki to Joyboy, not Luffy's, despite witnessing Luffy's power on Egghead. This implies via chekov's gun that the reason Shanks was brought up was to tell the readers Luffy's not at Shanks' level yet.
There is also the fact that - Shanks is the only Yonko without a devil fruit and yet is in the same realm of power as the other Yonko, implying his haki must be greater to compensate for the buffs granted by the Quake and Fish fruits.
All things considered it makes sense for Shanks to have superior Haki to Kaido. We pair this with
So from this it seems like Shanks>Kaido since Kaido seems to imply that having greater Haki means being stronger. So we start with this contradiction. Great. I guess tbh this statement can be interpreted in other ways than sheer power and the Kaido>Shanks stuff is more consistent by sheer quantity of statements (and a better quality overall)
Luffy>Kaido
Again, pretty simple
Joyboy is the man who was fated to defeat Kaido. Luffy defeated him. It doesnt make any sense to say that Luffy would lose a 1vs1 rematch. It doesnt make any sense and is trying to contradict an overwhelming narratve regarding Joyboy and Luffy. Kaido was narratively a stepping ston for Luffy to become a Yonko. So he is now stronger than him. The entire Joyboy narrative Kaido was talking about falls if Joyboy wasnt able to beat him alone.
Shanks>Luffy
This one is a bit harder but still easy based on narrative
Luffy's goal is to become a great pirate like Shanks and when he does, he will give him back the hat. Luffy and Shanks didnt meet at Wano, implying Luffy is not yet at his level. Great pirate has obviously a power connotation, as Shanks still wasnt searching for the OP in chapter 1.
We pair this with the same Haki reasoning we used for Shanks>Kaido and it's clear.
Oldbeard top 1
Just dropping this in. Old whitebeard has many statements both from characters, narrator and outside sources that say that he is the strongest man. Before the heart attack at marineford of course but up until that point (including when he met Shanks) he was above Kaido, Mihawk and Shanks.
Conclusions
With that said we come with a weird Kaido>Shanks>Luffy>Kaido with Shanks having some arguments to beat Kaido too and Oldbeard beating all due to being above Shanks and Kaido before his death, with the 2 not having any sign of growth in the timeskip.
So who would I place highest in tier list? Imo Shanks due to having arguments to be above Kaido too, along with Shanks physically not being able to be below Luffy due to straw hat narrative.
So in my tier list I'd rank Oldbeard>Shanks>Luffy>Kaido.