Luffy VS Kaido: Battle Between Freedom and War

He was looking for a place to die.

He challenged the Navy and the Four Emperors single-handedly and was captured eighteen times; sentenced to death forty times. When he was hanged, the chain broke. When he was sent to a guillotine, the blade shattered. When sentenced to impalement, the spear crumbled. Consequently, he sank nine giant prison ships. No one could kill him.

Even himself.

The man looking for a place to die – Kaido, King of the Beasts.

When it comes to exciting anime battles, few do it as well as ‘One Piece.’ Watching a bad guy get absolutely wrecked by a rubber man is all the more satisfying when you spend several real-world years with said bad guy. Even more so when he’s the vilest, most despicable, most unbeatable bastard you have ever seen.

There have been many, many battles Luffy has punched his way through over the years, each one deserving an article all their own. Arlong. Crocodile. Enel. Rob Lucci. Doflamingo. Katakuri.

You’ve read the title, you know where I’m going with this.

Kaido stands head and shoulders above the rest as Luffy’s most dominant adversary to date. Captain of the Animal Kingdom Pirates, he is described as the most powerful being in the world, be it on land, sea, or sky. Being one of the Four Emperors of the Sea, he stands directly in our favorite straw hat’s path to becoming Pirate King.

His battle with Luffy is one of the longest and most important fights in the whole series. Everything changes with this fight. The characters, the world, even the tone. This clash between pirates marks a turning point for all of ‘One Piece.’

And it all began years before the fight itself.

The Setup

The winds of change were blowing long before our favorite pirates docked upon the land of Wano. It began on Punk Hazard, with the historic meeting of the Straw Hats with the samurai Kin’emon, his charge Momonosuke, and their soon-to-be pirate ally: Trafalgar D. Water Law. Their shared objective: to overthrow Kaido, an Emperor of the Sea. Thus, the alliance began.

From there, the adventures to reach the Emperor were long and hard. Heavy emphasis on the long part. Luffy and the gang fought through Kaido’s criminal empire all the way from the very bottom. From Caesar’s lab on Punk Hazard to Doflamingo’s kingdom of nightmares on Dressrosa, they stripped the Emperor of his power. After a pit stop to Zou to add the Minks to their alliance, Luffy and half the crew made a quick pitstop to Whole Cake Island to save Sanji.

Further pissing off another Emperor, Big Mom, but I’m sure that won’t come back to bite them.

At long last, the Straw Hats convened upon the shores of Wano, and the real work finally begins. Luffy and the rest of the alliance have to prepare for the battle ahead, gathering their allies and their resources. All right beneath the Emperor’s nose.

Shortly after his arrival, Luffy comes face-to-face with Kaido for the first time. Luffy being Luffy, he discards the plan and attacks the Emperor with all he’s got straight away. Every technique and transformation, all thrown at the dragon with all of his might.

Only to be knocked out by a single blow. Even after all that preparation, Luffy is still no match for Kaido. If that doesn’t set the stakes, I don’t know what will.

Luckily, Luffy gets sent to jail, where he meets a convenient mentor to teach him a convenient power-up to prepare for the rematch.

The Fighters

Monkey D. Luffy is a character that needs little introduction. At his core, he’s goofy care-free pirate who loves to laugh and eat meat with his friends. Hurt someone he cares about, however, and Straw Hat Luffy will make it clear why his name is feared by the World Government. He is an unstoppable warrior of liberation; where he goes, tyranny falls, the oppressed are freed, and joy reigns supreme.

Luffy carries the burden for dozens of his friends going into this fight. There’s his promise to Tama, a little girl who starves beneath Kaido’s reign. There’s his vow to the Kozuki samurai, who fall trying to avenge their lord Oden. There’s his partnership with Momonosuke, who wants to free the land his father died to protect. Finally, he carries the inherited will of his brother, Ace, who long ago tried to bring Kaido down. Luffy isn’t just fighting to overcome an obstacle in his path to become King of the Pirates; he is fighting with all the hopes and dreams of Wano on his back.

Kaido, on the other hand, is an immovable object. He believes in one thing above all others: strength. Dog eat dog. Survival of the fittest. His goal is to start a war greater and more terrible than any other before it, a war that would destroy this boring little world.

Kaido cares nothing for the weak. This much is clear in his rule over Wano. He leaves the people he oppresses to starve, allows his lesser crew members to torment the innocent to their delight, and feeds the populace poisonous fruit that leaves them forever smiling and laughing, unable even to shed tears for their own suffering. As far as Kaido is concerned, if the people aren’t strong enough to fight back, they deserve to suffer and die.

Whereas Luffy loves life, Kaido is fascinated by death. He believes that a man’s life, his legend, is only complete upon reaching the end. This is why he remains fixated on Kozuki Oden even twenty years after killing him; Oden was the only one to severely wound Kaido, and his death cemented the samurai as a legend.

In a way, Kaido is almost a tragic character. From what little we learn of his backstory, we can glean that once upon a time, Kaido was very much like Luffy. He loved to drink, fight, and even liberated the oppressed, as we see with his first-mate, King. In fact, in his youth, Kaido wanted to become Joy Boy, a mysterious figure of legend said to bring freedom and light to the world. But over the years, the road Kaido walked led him far, far away from that goal. He lost his joy, gradually becoming a blood thirsty monster.

However, his failure led him to a different conclusion. He himself could not be Joy Boy. Therefor, the one who would eventually defeat Kaido would be Joy Boy.

Funny thing is: he was right.

The Battle

I’ve seen some long anime fights in my time. This? This one might just take the cake!

The battle doesn’t begin as a one-on-one, but as a five-on-two. Luffy, Zoro, Law, Kid, and Killer, a whole half of the Worst Generation, confront both Kaido and Big Mom upon the roof of Kaido’s stronghold, Onigashima. It’s a marathon of tag-team combos and awesome displays of power from all seven fighters.

Zoro was the real MVP of this section. Dude blocked a devastating combo laser single-handedly, was the first to make Kaido dodge, and even made the unkillable monster bleed after a brief but badass one-on-one.

Awesome as that stuff all is, it isn’t what we’re here to talk about.

During the battle, Kaido uses his dragon powers to lift Onigashima from the sea. His intention: to drop it upon the land of Wano like a giant bomb. Think Ultron’s plan from ‘Age of Ultron‘, only with pirates, dragons, and samurai. What better way to raise the stakes than a ticking time bomb?

After several episodes of non-stop fighting, the pirates begin to disperse, and Luffy and Kaido are left alone on the roof. Armed with Ryuo, with the land of Wano on his back, Luffy squares off against the King of Beasts. Both fighters pull out all the stops, using every technique and transformation in their repertoire. Their clash is so intense it splits the heavens themselves. They go back and forth, exchanging blow after blow, until finally…

Luffy loses. Our beloved captain falls from the floating island, plunging into the sea. Kaido stands victorious yet again.

But there’s a key difference between these two captains. Kaido stands alone, a tyrant who rules by fear. Luffy, on the other hand, has made genuine friends and allies over the course of his journey. With their help, our favorite captain is rescued and brought back to health. With the help of a fully grown dragon Momonosuke, he flies back to Onigashima’s rooftop to face Kaido once again.

In their second round, the stakes of the battle grow even hotter. While Luffy and Kaido trade blows hard enough to make the island tremble, it’s up to an unprepared and terrified Momo to pull Onigashima aside and save Wano. Both the fight and the race are running out of time.

A change comes over Kaido as the battle continues. For the first time, he begins to laugh and smile. He and Luffy both grin like fools, enjoying themselves despite the overwhelming stakes of the situation. This is all Kaido wanted. The thrill of the fight. An opponent worthy of respect. A finale worthy of his legend. At long last, the Emperor feels joy as he never has since the death of Kozuki Oden.

Until the World Government sends an agent to sabotage the battle. Just as Orochi stole Oden from him, so too does CP0 take Luffy away. All Kaido has now is despair and the night.

Unbeknownst to him or the government, however, the sun was about to rise once again. Joy Boy, the sun god Nika, has awakened. His name: Monkey D. Luffy.

With the advent of Gear 5, the fight takes on a whole different tone. Before, it was dark, dramatic, and serious. Now, it’s… well, it’s a slapstick comedy. Luffy goes full Bugs Bunny on Kaido, and it’s equal parts awesome and hilarious. Yet the tension does not fade; Onigashima looms dangerously close over Wano, and Kaido is every bit as monstrous as ever.

But this fight’s been going on-and-off for about seventy episodes now. Not even Toei can drag it out any further. So, with one final push, Momonosuke moves Onigashima aside, and Luffy knocks Kaido from the sky once and for all.

The battle is finally over. Winner: Monkey D. Luffy.

The Style

Of course, a fight wouldn’t be worth watching if it wasn’t exciting to look at.

The entire Wano arc has some of the most insane animation quality in all of the ‘One Piece‘ anime’s history. Dozens of incredible talents, both in-house and freelance, put their pens to the show. With their abilities combined, we got some of the most truly spectacular anime action I have EVER seen!

Unfortunately, finding a reliable list of these animators online is much more difficult than it ought to be. Plenty of talents end up lost in translation among the credits. Still, I’ll try my best.

Episode 1071 is definitely the highlight of the fight for me. Luffy’s first bout in Gear 5 is nothing short of spectacular, perfectly capturing that classic Warner Bros. cartoon aesthetic into an anime format. And we had the ultimate dream team to bring it to life.

Director Tatsuya Nagamine. Animation directors Midori Matsuda and Keita Saito. Animators Jayudesu, Chris (YenBM), Takashi Kojima, Weiling Zhang, Fasto, Shotaru Ban, Masayuki Sato, Vincent Chansard, and Naotoshi Shida. These guys, along with the countless others who worked on Wano as a whole, made this fight a spectacle for the ages!

Conclusion

Luffy VS Kaido is one of the greatest anime fights I’ve ever seen. It’s a genuine monument, a spectacle of both incredible writing and animation. It is a masterpiece through and through.

Even if the pacing is… questionable. But it is what it is, I guess.

This marks a turning point for the entire narrative of ‘One Piece.’ Everything changes with this fight. Luffy now stands as an Emperor of the Sea. The World Government fears our favorite Straw Hat more than ever. Wano is free, and it’s people fed. And of course: it led the way to the events of Egghead Island.

Which I’ll (hopefully) get to talk about soon. That arc has been freaking crazy, dudes!