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One Piece fans always wondered how Ryokugyu could beat King and Queen so effortlessly. Granted, as an Admiral-level fighter who owns the powers of the Logia-type Woods-Woods Fruit, Ryokugyu is far from being a weak opponent. If anything, he is a true monster.
Still, it seemed absurd for them to be defeated with such ease. Queen was the toughest enemy Sanji ever fought. King, who Kaido personally chose to be his right-hand man, was able to go blow for blow against Zoro, only losing when the Straw Hat crew's second-in-command unleashed the true power of his Conqueror's Haki.
With his Lunarian powers, King could withstand attacks strong enough to injure even Kaido. Thus, it hardly made sense for him to be annihilated like that. In fact, King and Queen were nerfed during the battle. One Piece episode 1080 showed the extent of their condition, making it clear that the two were significantly weakened.
Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga.
King and Queen were heavily nerfed against Green Bull, and One Piece episode 1080 finally confirms it
Ryokugyu showed off against two already weakened opponents
One Piece episode 1080, titled A Celebration Banquet! The New Emperors of the Sea! showed Ryokugyu's arrival in Udon's prisoner mine. Here, he defeated all the Beasts Pirates goons who tried to stop him, leaving them impaled on the sharpened tree branches, which he created with his Woods-Woods Fruit.
He then faced King and Queen, whom he overwhelmed pretty easily. He impaled Queen within a few instants, draining all the liquids from his body. After a brief confrontation, Ryokugyu also captured King, whom he left restrained in wood vines.
Undoubtedly, Ryogyoku showed crushing superiority over King and Queen, as he annihilated both the second and the third strongest members of the Beasts Pirates in a very short time, and without even needing to put much commitment into the battle.
However, it also appeared pretty clear that King and Queen were significantly weakened before fighting Ryokugyu, as they were yet to recover from the injuries they had received at the hands of Zoro and Sanji, respectively.
King was especially nerfed, given that the previous battle with Zoro left him with a grievous wound to the chest, with one of his limbs torn off, and his sword broken in half. Queen also sustained heavy injuries against Sanji.
How would a Ryokugyu vs a healthy King and Queen battle play out?
In the manga, it was stated that Luffy, Zoro, and all the other members of the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance were still weakened from the fights they engaged in, to the point where they needed some more rest before being able to perform at their best again.
Needless to say, if the winners were still fatigued and impaired even days after the Onigashima Raid, it only follows that the losers, who received serious injuries, were weakened to an even greater extent.
One Piece episode 1080 made it clear that King and Queen were in such a bad condition that they could barely fight, let alone perform at their usual level. They were covered in bandages, emphasizing that they were still notably injured.
Queen could barely employ his Zoan Fruit powers, which he was forced to deactivate after just a few seconds. Using a single laser depleted all his energy, and he couldn't deploy his special Germa abilities. With regard to King, he was so nerfed to such an extent that he lacked the strength to use his Zoan Devil Fruit even for a second.
A testament to King's abnormally impaired condition, he never used his Lunarian flames during the fight, which are the source of his exceptional prowess. It's not like King switched them on and off, as he does when he wants to alternate between his boosted durability mode and his boosted speed mode.
King just didn't have enough energy to use his Lunarian powers at all. He did not use his magma-like fire dragons, flaming punches and kicks, enhanced durability, or amped speed. King's Lunarian flames could have been very helpful against Ryokugyu's Woods-Woods Fruit, as, in One Piece, magma is even stronger than fire.
The Admiral's Devil Fruit easily neutralized Momonosuke's Bolo Breath flames, but, as already addressed, King's Lunarian flames, being akin to magma, are on a whole different level compared to normal fire. Furthermore, he couldn't use his sword, which Zoro destroyed.
Using a technique called King of Hell Three Sword Serpent: Dragon Damnation, a slash empowered with Advanced Conqueror's Haki and Advanced Armament Haki simultaneously, Zoro overwhelmed King's flames. He then cut through his Lunarian-enhanced body and his Armament Haki-coated sword.
By the looks of it, King never recovered from the brutal beating Zoro inflicted on him in One Piece. Queen, who had been struck by Sanji's Ifrit Jambe, seemed to be in a slightly better condition, but he was also far from being at his best.
King and Queen's terrible conditions were rather self-explanatory, but, to avoid any misunderstanding, the fact that they were greatly nerfed was also noticed by Ryokugyu, who emphasized the same several times, as he said:
"Whoa, you're pretty beat up already!"
Ryokugyu also noted:
"I think your injured body is reaching its limit!"
The Beasts Pirates also textually addressed that the Admiral was an opponent that King and Queen couldn't defeat due to being weakened as they said:
"He is not an easy foe to beat if you are injured!"
Admittedly, the King and Queen that Ryokugyu annihilated were not even remotely comparable to their full-power selves, sparking a debate about how the fight would have ended had they been healthy.
Ryokugyu crushed both of them easily, and without exerting himself at all. Thus, he would likely beat them even if they were able to use their real capabilities. However, the battle would be much more difficult and challenging for him.
A healthy King's speed, mobility, long-range attacks, and exceptional resilience would be difficult for Ryokugyu to deal with, even more so as, in addition to the Lunarian powers of Kaido's strongest subordinate, he would have to pay attention to Queen, the third strongest member of Kaido's group.
Queen rarely uses Haki, which means that Ryokugyu, who is a Logia user, could relatively ignore his techniques. However, they could still distract him, and in the meantime, King could unleash his Extra Large Imperial Flames, a giant dragon-shaped mass of magma-like Lunarian flames.
As a Navy Admiral, Ryokugyu would probably be able to push through King's attack with a move of his own. Still, it's pretty clear that the effort he would put into the battle would be on a whole different level if King and Queen, instead of being heavily nerfed, were operating at their peak.
Considering King's role as Kaido's right-hand man and strongest subordinate, as well as his title as the last survivor of the Lunarians, One Piece fans were shocked to see him being easily annihilated by Ryokugyu.
A testament to their might, King's Lunarian powers remained highly prominent even after his defeat in the manga, as it was revealed that the World Government used his DNA to empower the Seraphim cyborgs, granting them extraordinary resilience to damage.
Witnessing the Seraphim's exceptional durability, Luffy, now a Yonko-level fighter, likened their toughness to that of Kaido, which is telling of how highly effective Lunarian abilities are, even against top-tier-level individuals.
A fighter capable of withstanding attacks strong enough to notably injure Kaido's body, couldn't lose so easily against Ryokugyu. The same Zoro who was already strong enough to wound Kaido and perform well against him and Big Mom, needed a notable effort to beat King.
To defeat him, Zoro had to unleash the advanced version of the Color of Conqueror, the strongest kind of Haki, while Luffy was having a lot of trouble against a mere child version of the Lunarian survivor.
Also taking into account the hype granted to his abilities by the fact that his DNA was the source of the Seraphim's powers, King's one-sided defeat at the hands of Ryokugyu seemed inexplicable. Especially as he wasn't fighting the Admiral by himself, but also had the help of a powerful Yonko Commander-level individual, his crewmate Queen.
However, the recent One Piece episode made it clear that the two were in such an impaired condition that their crushing loss against Ryokugyu was nothing to be ashamed of, also considering the latter's might as a Navy Admiral.
Be sure to keep up with One Piece's manga, anime, and live-action as 2023 progresses.
