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Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law have a major role in One Piece as prominent members of the Eleven Supernovas. During the Wano Arc, Law and Kid achieved the Awakening of their respective Devil Fruit abilities and teamed up to fight Big Mom.
Exploiting their numerical superiority, Law and Kid injured Big Mom and pushed her into the void, which resulted in her defeat. However, in the subsequent battles, the two Supernovas stood no chance against Shanks and, respectively, Blackbeard, who slaughtered them rather easily.
This proved that Law and Kid's triumph over Big Mom did not make them strong enough to fight top-tier characters in a 1v1 battle. Although mighty, Big Mom is clumsy. Moreover, the 2v1 set-up of the battle allowed Law and Kid to seem much stronger than they are.
Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1081 and reflects the author's personal views.
Law and Kid managed to beat Big Mom in 2v1, but that's not enough to make them top-tier characters in One Piece
Kid was annihilated by Shanks, while Law lost badly against Blackbeard
Among the Eleven Supernovas of the Worst Generation, only five never considered submitting to the Emperors but fought them relentlessly. These individuals stand out as the major members of One Piece's new generation of rising pirates.
These rookies, namely Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro from the Straw Hat Pirates, Eustass Kid and Killer from the Kid Pirates, and Trafalgar Law from the Heart Pirates, far exceed the others.
Upon the disbandment of the Wano Alliance, the Straw Hat Pirates, Heart Pirates, and Kid Pirates parted ways. Briefly after, Law and his men were attacked by Blackbeard, while Kid and his crew decided to challenge "Red Hair" Shanks.
For every One Piece fan, the result of those battles seemed rather obvious from the start. As expected, Law and Kid ended up suffering brutal defeats at the hands of Blackbeard and, respectively, Shanks.
Kid tried to use Damned Punk, his strongest attack, to destroy the Red Hair Pirates fleet, which consisted of individuals much weaker than the proper members of the crew. However, Shanks, using his Advanced Observation Haki, foresaw Kid's intent.
Moving at immense speed, Shanks quickly jumped on Kid's ship. Before Kid could even perform the technique he was preparing, Shanks struck him with Divine Departure, a devastating Haki-enhanced slash.
The attack cut through Kid's Railgun, which he created to perform Damned Punk, and caused him to immediately lose consciousness, together with Killer. Over the course of a few seconds, Shanks single-handedly annihilated the Kid Pirates with just one blow.
Confronted by Marshall D. Teach "Blackbeard" and some members of his crew, the Heart Pirates stood no chance. Careless as usual, Blackbeard was surprised at the beginning of the fight and was struck by Law's Shock Wille.
Despite the technique being the second-strongest attack in Law's entire repertoire, Blackbeard endured the hit as if it was nothing. The following scene depicted Blackbeard confidently smiling, while Law had a very worried face.
This was an evident foreshadowing of the one-sided outcome of the battle. A few chapters later, One Piece author Eiichiro Oda showed Blackbeard laughing and standing triumphantly over Law's injured body, hinting at the overwhelming defeat that the latter suffered.
While Blackbeard was pondering whether or not he should take Law's Devil Fruit powers for himself or just sell them, Bepo, who was lying on the ground, got up and used his Sulong form to grab Law's body and escape.
The fight against Big Mom made Kid and Law look stronger than they are
Recent One Piece chapters made it clear that Kid and Law still have ways to go. The two Supernovas were significantly overrated as a result of their victory over Big Mom, which, rather than individual merit, is the result of a shared effort.
Their numerical superiority. made them look much stronger than they are. The crushing defeats that Shanks and Blackbeard inflicted on them revealed the true extent of their individual strength.
Exploiting their advantage in numbers, one of them could hit Big Mom from behind while she was focused on the other. The 2v1 set-up of the battle allowed the two Supernovas to perform feats that they would never have been able to replicate if they had to fight Big Mom 1v1.
Granted, Kid and Law were able to withstand and, at times, overpower direct attacks from Big Mom, even after she used her Devil Fruit abilities to empower herself. They held their own, but the deciding factor was their advantage in numbers.
Taken individually, Kid and Law couldn't do much against Big Mom. Fighting her in 2v1, they helped each other attack Big Mom from her blindsides, delivering powerful blows that they wouldn't have been able to land otherwise.
Still, despite the numerical superiority, Kid and Law weren't able to make Big Mom lose consciousness. She suffered severe damage from their consecutive attacks but endured all of them. She lost the battle because their strikes caused her to fall into the void.
Considering that they wouldn't have even been able to land those attacks if they weren't advantaged by the 2v1 set-up, Kid and Law need to be scaled down. They are powerful characters, but they are clearly not strong enough to hold their own in a 1v1 battle against a top-tier character, much less to win.
Law and Kid never stood a chance to seriously challenge Luffy
Kid and Law have always been very competitive with Luffy, but the latter outclasses them by any standard, making their rivalry unbalanced. All three were awarded the same bounty, but more than strength, bounties equate to the threat the outlaw poses to the World Government.
It also doesn't make much sense for them to share the same bounty. Before the Wano Arc, Luffy's reward was three times higher than Kid and Law's. In Wano, his performance was absolutely superior. Logically, his bounty should have earned a much greater increase than theirs.
Strength-wise, Luffy outclasses Kid and Law to the point where he equates them summed together. He plainly overpowered Kaido in a 1v1 battle. Kid and Law, despite being in 2v1, barely defeated Big Mom, a foe weaker than Kaido.
Luffy's right-hand man, Zoro, is more than a match for Kid and Law themselves. When they fought simultaneously, Zoro notably outperformed them. Later, Kid and Law achieved the Awakening of their Devil Fruits, while he unlocked the Advanced Conqueror's Haki, which is a superior ability in One Piece.
Luffy's other major subordinates, namely Sanji and Jinbe, are stronger than Killer and Bepo, Kid and Law's right-hand men. Undoubtedly, Luffy leads a far stronger crew than his alleged rivals for the One Piece.
Moreover, Luffy unlocked both the fearsome Advanced Conqueror's Haki and the Awakening of Nika-Nika Fruit. Unsurprisingly, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates was declared a Yonko, while Kid and Law weren't.
However, aiming to hide Luffy's accomplishments in the eyes of the public, the World Government divided the combined amount of bounty of Kaido and Big Mom (roughly nine billion) between the three captains of the crew who formed the alliance.
This caused Luffy, Kid, and Law to be awarded the same three billion bounty, regardless of their individual power and accomplishments. Kid and Law's onesided annihilation at the hands of Shanks and Blackbeard emphasized that they never stood a chance to compete with Luffy.
Eustass Kid's main weaknesses
Throughout the series, Kid has never shown any remarkable skill with Haki. This is a serious shortcoming, given how important this power is in One Piece.
Despite being born as a Supreme King, Kid can't coat his attacks with Conqueror's Haki, unlike his fellow Supernovas Luffy and Zoro. He also never displayed any notable feats with Color of Armament or Color of Observation.
Another circumstance that significantly hinders Kid's effectiveness in battle is that to perform Damned Punk, his strongest attack, he needs to create a Railgun and charge it for at least ten seconds.
During the battle with Big Mom, Kid charged the attack by taking advantage of the latter being focused on Law, but in a normal 1v1 fight, it would be difficult for him to perform such an operation. No ally will be there to distract his opponent.
Kid's fight against Shanks emphasized how hard it would be for Kid to perform Damned Punk against a powerful One Piece character. Shanks attacked Kid before he could finish charging the attack.
Trafalgar Law's main weaknesses
The abilities of the Ope-Ope Fruit make Law an extremely dangerous fighter, worthy of being called the "Surgeon of Death." Being a knowledgeable medician, as well as a very tactical fighter, Law can use this ability to its full potential.
The Ope-Ope allows Law to bypass the physical defenses of most One Piece characters. However, fighters who possess a particularly developed Armament Haki, or are able to use the all-powerful Advanced Conqueror's Haki, can protect themselves from Law's attacks.
By focusing on the gestures Law needs to perform to use his techniques, characters with knowledge of the Ope-Ope powers, especially if skilled users of Observation Haki, can foresee his moves.
Team fights allow Law to truly shine, making him seem stronger than he is. Most of Law's best feats have indeed been achieved in team fights rather than in individual battles, in which he is not even remotely as effective.
With his target distracted by others, Law can use his Devil Fruit powers to take him off guard. In an individual duel against a mighty opponent, it won't be as easy. A testament to this, Law brutally lost his fights against Doflamingo and Blackbeard, the only powerful foes he fought 1v1.
Allowing him to instantly swap himself and his surroundings, Shambles is one of Law's most effective techniques. It enables him to become rather unpredictable. However, he can only use Shambles within the area where he spreads Room in.
Law's Awakened attacks, Shock Wille and Puncture Wille, require him to focus Room into the sword. Without a Room spread around, he can't use Shambles, thus losing his unpredictability.
As such, to use his Awakening techniques, Law needs to approach his opponent directly, which may be very risky for him.
Summing up: How strong are Law and Kid?
The brutal annihilation that Kid and Law suffered against Shanks and Blackbeard is nothing to be ashamed of. Rather than the two Supernovas being weak, the two Emperors are just exceedingly strong.
Still, such one-sided defeats proved that Kid and Law are not even remotely powerful enough to fight individual battles against One Piece's top-tier characters. They still have a way to go before approaching that level.
They should improve their Haki, which at the moment significantly pales in comparison to that of their fellow Supernovas Luffy and Zoro, let alone characters of the caliber of "Red Hair" Shanks.
Kid and Law are very competitive toward Luffy, but that doesn't make them comparable to him. Two contenders for the same goal can still have different strengths, and this is clearly the case with Luffy and his alleged rivals.
For the time being, Law and Kid's placement in the power rankings of the series seems to be a bit above that of Marco, King, and Katakuri. However, it is significantly below the level of Sabo, Yamato, Zoro, Shiryu, and Benn Beckman, as well as the aged incarnations of Rayleigh and Sengoku.
