Monkey D. Luffy is supposed to be in a three-way rivalry with Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law, but it comes off more lopsided than it’s supposed to.
The following contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter 1076, “Old Friends,” by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul, and Vanessa Satone, available in English from Viz Media.
Whenever One Piece juxtaposes Monkey D. Luffy, Eustass Kid, and Trafalgar Law against each other, they’re framed as equals. Whether they’re seeing who can carry the most stones, destroy a ship first, or go the longest without dodging a fireball, they’re always shown performing similarly. They even all had the same bounty coming out of Wano. Though none of these feats necessarily directly correspond to strength, they are how the narrative establishes that the three are meant to be seen as equally matched.
The problem, however, is that it’s difficult to imagine these three being as alike as Eiichiro Oda would have readers believe. For all of the times they’ve been presented as equals, the parts they’ve played thus far have told a much different story. Their roles in One Piece’s overarching narrative have made the purported balance between them come off as more lopsided than what may have been intended.
How Strong Are Luffy, Kid, and Law Compared to One Another?
At first, there at least seemed to be some uncertainty as to whether any one of these three had a distinct advantage. While Luffy was able to damage Kaidō using his superior mastery of Haki, Kid and Law were able to damage Big Mom thanks to their Devil Fruit Awakenings; they had a power not yet available to Luffy and vice versa. Since they all had these very different techniques and used them to achieve similar results, there was still some ambiguity as to how they would fare against one another.
However, Luffy put himself at least one league above his rivals with his newest power-up, Gear Five. With both superior Haki control and a Devil Fruit Awakening, he gave himself a definitive advantage against Kid and Law. If Kid and Law want to rival Luffy now, they’ll at least have to train some more with their Haki.
There’s also something to be said about how Luffy was able to finish off Kaidō by himself. No matter how much the others may have helped wear down the King of the Beasts, Luffy was the only one strong enough to deliver a knockout blow. In comparison, Kid and Law had to work together to win against Big Mom via ring out. Disregarding any extenuating circumstances, one win comes off as significantly more impressive than the other.
This difference in how these three handle the Emperors is a big reason why few people believe Kid and Law can win against Shanks and Blackbeard, respectively. At best, they’re expected to put up a good fight but ultimately lose. That said, this is also how well Luffy would be expected to fare against these Emperors if he faced them now. This sort of means he’s still comparable to Kid and Law, but not really.
What Else do Kid and Law Need to Improve Upon?
Law might be the closest to coming off as an ideal rival to Luffy. Thanks to his heavy involvement in the Punk Hazard and Dressrosa Arcs, he’s received a significant fanbase that respects him as the key member of the Worst Generation that he is; his popularity is such that he received all sorts of exclusive merchandise, and became a central character in two One Piece films. Compared to this, Kid’s roles throughout One Piece’s narrative thus far have been relatively minor. Between Luffy’s strength and Law’s popularity, Kid comes off as the weak link within their rival trio.
It’s also difficult to say that Kid or Law has the crew to rival Luffy’s. The Straw Hat Pirates can each be imagined fighting the top members of even an Emperor-level pirate crew in one-on-one matches. However, it’s hard to say the same for most of the Kid Pirates or the Heart Pirates. Even if Kid and Law are as strong as Luffy, that won’t mean much if they don’t also have good shipmates to back them up.
This could all change by the time Luffy, Kid, and Law all meet up again. It might even change by the time the result of Kid and Law’s fights with Shanks and Blackbeard are shown. Kid and Law should focus on getting better at Haki and becoming more active in the narrative (Kid especially), and they’d be set. These rivals would become that much more believable as competitors in the race for the One Piece.
