User blog comment:Fliu/Chapter 976: Welcome to the Party, Jinbe/@comment-28995593-20200407090238/@comment-108.83.222.210-20200407184833

Since I have nothing to add regarding the first two points I will address the last one. The Yonko much like the world government rely partly on their reputations to keep them unchallenged. If people assume that they will lose before the battle begins then they will not challenge someone. It is how many who are considered powerful both in fiction and in reality remain in power. Every pirate that joins them bolsters the image that they must be powerful for a recognized powerhouse to join them. Each powerful pirate such as the rookies whom they defeat demonstrates how they are different from the hundreds of other pirates who sail upon the seas. This has the side effect that the Yonko have gone apparently gone without a challenge to their power aside from each other and the world government itself. They have forgotten that they too must face the possibility that some new rookie could one day challenge them. Look at how Crocodile and Lucci for example believed in their invincibility and they were hardly the strongest individuals in their respective sides of the law. Strong, but not the strongest. This is the reason for why they Yonko are facing such difficulty since they are not used to people being foolish enough to challenge them and being persistent and strong enough to cause them real trouble. The reason for the hype around them is the same reason for the hype around the warlords when they were introduced. Both groups were presented as pirates that you do not challenge unless you have a death wish or are lacking in intelligence and sense. Admittedly, part of this could also be the fanbase of this anime. I have seen people hyped about the warlords, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, the Yonko, the Samurai, the Admirals, and others. Sometimes the hype can be artificially created as well.

As for why the world government doesn't just wipe out the Yonko, consider this please. The Yonko are not easy opponents requiring a considerable amount of resources to face just one by the government based on their battle with Whitebeard. The government at that point knew what they were dealing with well ahead of time and were able to face them in a battlefield and place of their choosing where they could prepare for battle and create countermeasures. That was only one Yonko mind you. If they were to sail with the intent of taking down one Yonko then the others might very well decide to go the battlefield with the intent of taking down the winner of that clash the moment it was over. Thus the government would not need to face one Yonko and their crew, but all of them as well as anyone else who decides to get involved. Such a situation is likely not one that the world government would come out of very well even if they did win. Both the world government and the Yonko (at least Big Mom and Kaido) seem to be building up their forces until they are absolutely certain that they can win the battles facing them and establish their absolute superiority over their opponents. The problem being that waiting for a point at which they are certain that they can win brings with it the risk that such a time will never come and cause them to miss opportunities that could benefit them just because there is ever a slim chance that things might not work out for them. The loss of reputation, the loss of appearing infallible and invincible are things that plague both the world government and the Yonko because they are reliant upon these things to ensure their image and their continued powerbase. That is why someone like Luffy who is willing to risk everything, is willing to take these chances for reasons that both groups cannot comprehend is able to stymie them so much.