Rayleigh and Mihawk represent the characters who technically command Yonko power without having the crew or desire to reach such a title. Mihawk was a former rival of Shanks and went on to be the world’s greatest swordsman, a title which held for what looks to be well over a decade. During the battle at Marineford Mihawk displayed feats of swordsmanship that are still unrivaled, and even then looked effortless.
Rayleigh is able to challenge Kizaru and leave unscathed, while also avoiding direct retaliation from the World Government — who probably feel like confronting such a powerful “relic” of the Golden Age of Piracy probably would be a tremendous waste of resources. Not to mention displayed insane stamina by swimming in a storm and through the sea king infested Calm Belt to reach Amazon Lily.
That said, based on their respective feats I think they can easily confront a Yonkou face to face without issue, and would only lose due to some unmentioned handicap or plot inconvenience.
Mihawk is still a little up in the air, because he placed himself behind Whitebeard in power while conversing at Marineford. So it might be that Shanks surpasses him clean in everything besides swordsmanship, based on Shanks standing on equal footing with WB.
Rayleigh is a tricky one to place. If Whitebeard and Roger were rivals in their primes, then it figures that were in the same ballpark for power. So Rayleigh’s position relative to Roger back then puts him in the ballpark of the Yonko subcommanders. Granted he might be stronger now, but he also might not be. Rayleigh challenged Kizaru, but to some extent so did Marco.
I mean in terms of hierarchy being the late “world’s strongest man” is inherently superior to the “strongest swordsman”. I do feel Shanks is superior in some way to Mihawk, most notably in haki mastery (I get a “one with the force” vibe from him), but I thinks these factors are not enough to create a significant power difference. Unlike DBZ, where power levels were a main factor in strength, having better stats in One Piece doesn’t equate to an auto-victory, so long as both combatants are in a similar league.
Although Rayleigh was a first mate, his strength still has to be proportional to his crew’s— which we know was exceptionally strong (sans Buggy☺) to make it to Raftel after a 3 year campaign of unrivaled dominance. I also believe the “Dark King” moniker might have a literal meaning in terms of his past. So a first mate like Rayleigh might be on par with the highest level captains in the New World by virtue of Roger’s legacy. Bear in mind Roger tied with a Prime Whitebeard, and I’m sure Rayleigh wasn’t at that level back then.
This is also comparable to how there’s been a few times pre-timeskip where Zoro’s enemies are surprised that he’s not the captain simply by how strong and imposing he is. A “ronin” Zoro could’ve easily made a name for himself and was one of the few non-captains to be donned a “Supernova”.
And unlike Marco, Rayleigh not only clashed with Kizaru, but was able to halt his advance and challenge him directly. Marco only clashed briefly before being repelled. Rayleigh wasn’t even showing any real spirit in his attacks, just buying time for the Strawhats.
There’s also this wild card that we don’t know about for Roger’s real powers. Did he have a devil fruit? How was his Haki etc. There’s so much we don’t know about Roger, there are possibilities that he might not be as “strong” as Rayleigh but maybe has a big edge because of whatever devil fruit he possesses.
Even without getting the details, Roger had to have been amongst the strongest on the planet just to have survived, given the caliber of the people he went up against.
To accomplish what he needed to do Gol D Roger had to be the strongest. Luffy sees strength as the Pirate King as being able to have complete freedom, which is a sentiment I think Roger likely shared.
Let’s look a list of Roger’s capabilities and feats:
-Was able to etch a response into the indestructible poneglyph in Skypeia, despite not knowing the ancient language due to hearing the voices of all things.
-Tied with prime Whitebeard, a pirate with the strongest paramecia ability that is literally capable of destroying the entire planet.
-In his 3 year campaign to conquer the grand line he never lost a fight.
-Was so strong he actually volunteered to be executed on his own volition after making it to Raftel for the sake of his crew.
-Got the hero of the Marines and his sworn enemy Garp to raise his kid. :-p
…Oh and he accomplished all this while suffering from a terminal illness that had no cure.
He pretty much had all his stats buffed to hell. I’m sure like Luffy he had his character flaws that were padded by his more “competent” crew (Rayleigh seems like he was the brains of the day-to-day operations judging by his intellect) but when it came to a throwdown it seems like Roger was a step above everyone minus Whitebeard and Garp.
Name one planet that White Beard or any previous owner of the quake quake fruit destroyed. I’ll wait. Until you come up with an example, I’ll consider it hyperbole.
When you say name the planet that was destroyed, it makes no sense. As far as One Piece goes, there aren’t any talks about any other planets so your argument is moot. This isn’t Dragon Ball. For example, we know that our nukes can destroy Earth. But don’t go and saying name a planet we destroyed lol.
Pretty sure Gura Gura no Mi and Yami Yami no Mi can remold the whole One Piece world if they wanted to.
Having the ability to cause earthquakes means you can easily destroy islands or major landmasses. So even if there is no noted example of a planet being destroyed, the implications of it being possible are there.
No it doesn’t. Until you show me a planet destroyed by that devil fruit then all that comment is, is hyperbole and fanwankering that can’t tell the difference between hyperbole and actual facts.
Edited in. If White beard can’t even destroy some thick metal walls, how the hell can he ever destroy a planet?
