One Piece

Usopp's the weakest, according to Word of God. Nami's the close second-weakest.

I'm suddenly thinking of Arlong, locked away in a dark cell somewhere, opening up a newspaper and freaking out over the fact that his former slave now has a bounty over three times his old one.

Here's something I've been thinking about: Arlong vs Kalifa (both as strong as they were in their respective arcs), AKA how bad is the Power Creep?

Hmm... I'd say Arlong would defeat Kalifa without her fruit, but she'd win if she used her powers effectively.

Rokushiki, though. Luffy might have had trouble with her before Gear 2nd, much as he did with Blueno.

I dunno, Luffy was keeping up with Leopard-Human form Lucci without Gear 2nd by the end of their fight.

No he wasn't. He was even with Lucci's human form before using Geard 2nd, and only started to use it when Lucci when into his hybrid form.

Kalifa I'd say would win; her shit showing against Nami aside, she does seem way more skilled than him.

By the end of the fight he was (although that could just be chalked up to Lucci getting tired and losing strength), remember the Punch Parry with a Gum Gum Gatling vs a ton of Finger Pistols? Luffy wasn't using Gear 2nd for that.

Anyway, normal Luffy being on par with human Lucci would still put him way above Kalifa in terms of "base attributes" like strength and speed. Luffy had improved since Arlong, but I don't think he had improved that much.

edited 14th Oct '15 8:13:16 AM by Cozzer

And he went back to Gear 2nd almost immediately because Luffy knows he stood no chance of beating Lucci without it.

Well, like it was said; devil fruits don't get stronger, the user just learns new tricks with them. That said, Luffy would definitely beat Kalifa, even as far back as East Blue. If she can't keep up with Sanji, she sure as hell couldn't keep up with Luffy(or Zoro for that matter).

edited 14th Oct '15 8:20:53 AM by BlackYakuzu94

Remember that the Sanji she couldn't keep up with is leagues ahead of the Sanji in the Arlong Arc.

Honestly if the government was smart, they'd give Nami a way bigger bounty. She may not be that dangerous on her own, but if she's taken out the entire crew would literally be lost.

That's not how bounties work.

I don't see that as particularly smart. Giving her a bounty at all does the same thing. They should save the higher ones for the actual threats. Her even being 66 million is silly. And we don't even need to talk about Robin's first bounty.

edited 14th Oct '15 8:56:09 AM by LSBK

She is the biggest threat of the entire crew because without her, the Straw Hat crew wouldn't go anywhere or be able to cause any trouble.

She's an indirect threat. You could make the same argument about Franky, Chopper, and maybe Sanji.

It makes sense to prioritize those who can cause harm themselves while still going after the others.

edited 14th Oct '15 9:10:10 AM by LSBK

Well, Robin's initial bounty was more about her threat level than her power level. The only known living person who can read poneglyphs was, in the government's eyes, as dangerous as a rampaging powerful pirate.

A Genre Savvy villain would kill Nami and wait for the rest of the crew to sink and drown.

Giving her a bounty high enough to make Luffy-tier hunters (who could kill her in one hit) go after her would be the fastest way to get rid of the entire crew.

edited 14th Oct '15 9:15:48 AM by Everzwijn

Your "just" implies ease there.

If people are going after Luffy chances are they're going after the entire crew by default. You also seem to be implying killing Nami would be easy as if she's ever in a situation where she's not surrounded by much stronger people.

Your implying simplicity where it doesn't actually exist.

This is moot though because it's not like the government doesn't already acknowledge her as someone they want dead.

edited 30th Jul '17 10:36:16 PM by LSBK

Straw Hats aren't the only pirates in the world. By the same logic, a more or less competent navigator of any crew is a danger. Should all of them receive high bounty? It would be very wasteful of the Goverment to give away so much money while there are more dangerous threats.

In theory, if a pirate crew's navigator was taken out, the captain could just recruit a new one. Same goes for any other not-strictly-combatant position on the crew.

The only surefire way to bting down a dangerous pirate crew is to take out the captain and his chain of command. That's why captains and first mates have higher bounties than the rest of the crew.

Also, Khalifa can absolutely one-shot Arlong, with or without her devil fruit. She's faster, more mobile outside the water (and possibly ties in the water, if she can use Geppou underwater like Sanji), has better ranged attacks, has better defenses, and is generally more skilled. The only thing Arlong has over her is brute strength.

If that person is the only competent navigator in the crew and they're in a sea as treacherous as the New World, yes it would make sense to give them a high bounty.

But bounties are meaningless anyway. Considering we haven't seen a single bounty hunter above mook level. It doesn't look like there's anyone who could realistically claim ANY of these bounties.

In theory, but Nami is something special. I don't believe we've seen any other navigator in the series with her unique talents. Her ability to read the weather like a book is the most valuable thing about her and it makes navigating the Grand Line and the New World go from 'ridiculously difficult and hazardous' to 'hard but doable'.

We haven't seen a lot of navigators period. That's no reason to assume Nami is the best or that there aren't any other great ones out there. It makes no sense. She can absolutely be replaced, obviously not the emotional attachment, but there are indeed many who could fill her role as navigator.

edited 30th Jul '17 10:37:07 PM by LSBK