u/Ok_Street3641

This has been powerscaling with insane Imu downplayers, hope you enjoyed 👍

(This is genuinely how some mfs be moving, Ray can OBVIOUSLY one shot that thing, but he feels he has no need to do so, so he doesn’t. Stop cherry picking, just read the damn story)

Dragon

I will preface this by saying I am making this post to distract myself at work. Therefore I will not be taking the time to provide you all with the exact words from the leakers.

But we hear from one of them that one of the biggest things the Tenryubito are afraid of with the rain is just *feeling* it.

Why are they afraid of feeling the rain? Have they never felt the rain? No most likely not, they live above the clouds.

So, why are they scared of something they’ve never felt? Because if they’re torn from their lofty perches, if they’re to be pulled to the world below… they will feel it.

Now tell me, who has made it their life’s goal to remove these people from their lofty perches? What letter is supposed to bring a storm?

I rest my case.

Obviously I can’t sit here and spin some bullshit about how Crocodile’s AP Speed Endurance Stamina or even Haki puts him above King. It’s been decades since we’ve truly seen him in combat that’s not him wiping the floor with fodders.

We just saw King fight extensively, reaping the benefits of how combat and specifically Haki has changed since Crocodile was last relevant to the story.

So I’d like to present an alternative narrative, that this man consistently throughout the entire manga has been touted as a someone close to Mihawk in strength. The World’s Strongest Swordsman, wielder of the strongest blade in the world, and Zoro’s end goal.

My goal here is not to say Crocodile = Mihawk but to say that they’re consistently showcased to be relative, and that Crocodile is portrayed like a top tier, far closer to someone like Mihawk than he is the likes of King. Regardless of what point in the series he’s had to be used, Oda has always thought of him in high regards.

We start out with the simple fact that Crocodile was presented to us as a Warlord 2-3 years into the story, when at the time Oda was unsure of how long the series was going to go and planned upon 5 years.

Meaning that Mihawk’s eventual defeat to Zoro would be much sooner after Crocodile’s defeat to Luffy, Luffy and Zoro wouldn’t grow as much in power between, which in turn would mean Crocodile and Mihawk as Warlords were already planned to be close in strength in the beginning.

Something that Oda continues to support as he moves past the early stages of the mange.

We next move to MarineFord, a rather confusing arc for powerscaling. Characters have ulterior motives, combat in general just isn’t portrayed like it is in the current day, haki is in its infancy, the future is unsure. So Crocodile’s combat prowess isn’t overwhelming, but two very important things happen for his portrayal which is important.

Number one, we see that both of these men immediately attack the “Strongest Man in the World” as soon as they lay eyes upon him.

Number two, Crocodile is offered a chance to team up with Doflamingo and he declines. Saying Doffy shouldn’t pretend they’re equal. Keep in mind this is Doflamingo who is comfortably YC3, Crocodile scoffs at the idea of them being equal. Which is quite poignant when you consider who he’d eventually align with.

Above all, especially the nitpicks of his combat ability on Marineford, what the author thinks of him trumps all. Instead of fading into the background and showing weakness like Moria, he’s portrayed how he thinks of himself, someone who can challenge the strongest. Someone who will only work with the strongest, someone who still strives to be one of the strongest. Which is consistent with what he said to Luffy when the series was in its(relative) infancy back in Alabasta, that he’s always training his devil fruit powers.

The most important development for Crocodile is undoubtedly his 1.9B Berry bounty, his overall perception from the World Government, and the formation of Cross Guild upon convincing *DRACULE MIHAWK* to work alongside him.

There are two sides we can focus on with his recruiting of Mihawk, one more important than the other. The lesser of the two being that Crocodile is once again holding himself in high high regards. Only thinking that he should work with the strongest of the strong… and he calls up the fucking World’s Strongest Swordsman.

The obviously important side of it is… the dude said yes 😭 again *DRACULE MIHAWK* WSS picks up the phone and it’s *Crocodile* on the line. Saying the two should team up and work on equal footing, that them working alongside eachother would be advantageous… and Mihawk agrees with that.

More important than all of that in universe stuff, the author thinks it makes sense for Mihawk and Crocodile to work together. For them to see eachother as equal partners, Mihawk never once claiming he runs this or is superior to Crocodile. Not once does he even talk down to him.

Mihawk clearly respects him, and so does the World Government, or more likely they fear him.. They also refer to Crocodile and Mihawk as threats on the same level and say Buggy has earned the title of Yonko for commanding these two men.

They don’t go out of their way to exclaim “wow even Mihawk!” or anything of the sort, they view it as almost equally terrifying that Crocodile has joined Buggy as Mihawk. “He commands so much respect that even Crocodile rushed to his aid”.

Yes Mihawk’s bounty is higher, he is Mihawk, he is the WSS, he is stronger than Shanks. How many people can they say that for when giving a bounty? Not many.

So for Crocodile to be discussed like he’s a threat relative to Mihawk then jump all the way up to basically a 2 billion berry bounty based on his intellect AND power… it means something.

So how does all that yap prove Crocodile is stronger than King? You’ll just have to trust he’s relative to Mihawk, and Mihawk is much further along for Zoro than King.

All panels discussed in depth are in the post. Goodbye 👋

“I’ve always knew Dragon was strong I just hated on him for fun”

21 Brainless 💔