User blog comment:Ghmorello/Chapter 893 - Never Interrupt A Manly Fight!/@comment-24850639-20180202183006

The characaterization of Katakuri this chapter was certainly refreshing. No one likes a 1-dimensional villian, and I'm glad that Oda has shown us so much more of him than his strength & badassery. After the description that Brulee gave of him (never having lost or even been laid down) it makes perfect sense for him to have a level of pride where he wants his wins in battle to be 100% to his credit. Outside interference would be to spit on his pride, so I'm actually pretty surprised that Flampe wouldn't understand this. However, having that sense of pride doesn't always necessarily mean that you'll have a matching sense of honor, so this shot him up pretty far on my list of favorite villains. We of course don't know who all Katakuri has fought in the past, but I would imagine that Big Mom didn't start off as a Yonko, and we of course know that she was a prominent pirate during Roger's era. So Katakuri has seen it all and has every reason to be jaded when it comes to combat, but he never once took Luffy any less seriously as a threat. He's certainly been gratuitous with the shit-talking, but the fact that he sees Luffy as someone who can become a threat to Big Mom should tell you enough, given what we know of his experience.

Despite this realization however, he is still 100% determined to win this fight fair and square, to the point that he'd even injure himself to somewhat level the playing the field. In addition to that, he refuses to stand for his opponent being ridiculed, so much so that he gladly reveals a flaw about himself that he's kept a secret most of his life. Seeing him so casually toss aside this "perfect" persona that his younger siblings have developed of him due to respect for his opponent just makes him that much more likeable as a villain in my books. On top of that, he even put the big brother pants on and refused to hurt his dear little sister, despite her spitting in his face, disowning him, and calling him a monster. He'd already shown off his chops as a big brother on several occassions before this, but this was probably the most extreme example of the love he has for his little siblings to date.

On another note, I truly enjoyed the panel of Luffy dodging the blow dart, though it makes me question just how good Sanji's Kenbunshoku haki really is. Oda used the same drawing style as when Sanji dodged the Kata's jellybean, where he drew sort of an afterimage effect to show the speed at which the projectile was evaded. I've been itching to see Sanji's haki in a combat setting since he perceived that sniper bullet in Dressrosa from several hundred feet away, so this fight is now reminding of my burning desire to see a Sanji fight before we call it a wrap on this arc.