User blog comment:AYET/The worth of the Shichibukai to the Marines/@comment-3425840-20130530013138

Interesting blog as always Ayet-san.

Well first of, all little tad bits:

I think Lucci was NOT the single strongest opponent Luffy faced yet (and yes that is disregarding all the characters that beat Luffy single handedly). In my humble opinion it was Enel. Luffy only won because of his immunity however against a third party Enel is far superior to Lucci. Anyways that is not the main goal of the blog so if your opinion differs we can discuss else where :)

Now for the poll, is it about right now, pre time skip or end series?

I would say now, Akainu gets 0.5-1.0 point.

Pre time skip, Akainu 2/3 points.

End series, Black Beard 0.5-1.0 points or equal, (depends on how and in what order Oda brings them into the story, it could also remain as now that is Akainu 0.5-1.0). Note!! In my scale Akainu and Aokiji battle was like 0.125-0.25 to Akainu, hell it could have been equal, meaning that Akainu was just the situational winner.

Now for the main theme:

In my understanding, the Marines could take an Yonko down alone (although it would have been tough); they had the Shichibukai assembled to make the process less harsh and also as back up. Why do I think this way? Well the thing is, until Blackbeard stuck his dirty nose, Neither Garp nor Sengoku fought seriously, given that Garp had emotional issues at the point it is a bit complicated but if we focus on only a hypothetical battle between the Marines vs a random Yonko at that time frame then it would have been like this --->

There would be no Crocodile, Daz Bones, Ivankov, Inazuma, Jinbe or Luffy to help the Whitebeard pirates. Garp and Sengoku would fighting seriously. Ace would be free and fighting for Whitebeard. And there would be no Mihawk, Doflamingo, Hancock, Kuma or Moriah around to aid the Marines.

The crucial fact here is, even though it looks quite a formidable weakening, if we take a closer look then it should be clear that it is a farce. How? Well Neither Mihawk nor Doflamingo fought seriously. The basically trolled or tasted opponents. Hancock acted as a double edged sword. Kuma used his paw powers only once (against Oars Jr) and the rest of the times acted just like a regular pacifista (which are quite abundant in the Marines arsenal). Moriah also did not do much, rather he got beaten quite badly and he is not that strong to begin with.

While on the other hand Crocodile, Jinbe, Ivankow (he seems Shichibukai level) fought rather seriously and Luffy went all out. So it could be said that the efforts on both sides were close to equal. The marines still had a rather one sided victory. Not even a single high ranking guy died (except maybe some giant VA). From this result it could be assumed that even pre time skip, the Marine's full effort could have taken down one Yonko albeit with lots of difficulty.

Next up, Wildcard: Yes indeed, look at Hancock or Jinbe. Hell even Mihawk also left after Shanks arrived meaning he is just as chaotic. The others also does not seem any better. However they are quite valuable nonetheless, both because of the quarantine procedure (to make them stop from acting against WG all the time) as well as their battle might. I think they would be kept in the position even if the Marines become much stronger because it is just not worth it to get rid of them all of a sudden. I think the only time they could be revoked as a whole is when and if the WG can totally subdue all the Yonko as then a balance of power won't be needed.

Finally: Marines being stronger than before, I kind of find it hard to believe. The statistics shows that the Marines gave up three Admiral level fighters after the war. How in the blue hell can Akainu just get replacement for them? I mean if three people that strong and loyal to the WG just pops up. where were they during the war? One is understandable, Fujitora (even though we don't know if he is on par with the original Admirals) might have been in some special place for some special reason at that time but two more? That would be just strange.

I think what Jinbe meant was that the regular Marine soldiers are more disciplined (read ruthless) now and they are probably increasing their ranks. I don't see any VA from the war to be as powerful as one of the three original Admirals any time in the series (for the exception of Garp in his prime).

I am sorry for this longer than blog comment. Just wanted to share my thoughts.