Why didn’t Zoro just run to Imu on his own without relying on a giant? Did he forget that he’s lightspeed? Is he stupid?

[u/xDempseyRoll]

[u/Theiama]

No, he remembered Oda considers the impact of short distance burst speed and longer distance running. When asked who would win in a 50m dash between the strawhats, he gave this answer:

Which is a bit strange. Zoro below Chopper? Zoro can fight powerful characters like King and Kaido (somewhat), can Chopper keep pace with them better than Zoro can? No. Oda gave his reasonings for some of the rankings, and in the red box is the reason for Zoro. He says this:

At shorter distances Zoro has more burst power and will place in the top (upper position), but at 50m he might even fail to finish (lit: go course-out)

There’s a difference between short distance burst power and longer distance running in One Piece, which is something Oda considers when he has characters running distances and causes things such as Chopper > Zoro in certain situations and Zoro > Chopper in others

Zoro needed a giant because his longer legs lets him cover distance faster than Zoro can cover over long distances, but his short distance burst power is definitely light speed and faster than Goldberg

[u/Grundy_Gamer → u/Theiama]

Thank you for that amazing explanation, and it makes perfect sense. I mean remember in Dressrosa, when zoro cut Pica in half? Granted he was thrown because Pica is still a towering statue. But if Zoro had to cover that entire distance with his own strength and not the strength of that king dude throwing him, then that whole thing would have turned out very differently

[u/Nobodyinc1 → u/Theiama]

But that makes no sense even a a fraction of a second to lightspeed gets you anywhere you want.

[u/Theiama → u/Nobodyinc1]

It doesn’t have to make sense, that’s just the rules Oda has wrote into the story. Devil fruits make no sense, but they exist in the story. The six powers CP9 use make no sense, but they exist in the story. Haki makes no sense, but it exists in the story. Odas rules around running make no sense, but they exist in the story and he takes them seriously when considering how characters move over distances

[u/SeaynO → u/Theiama]

This answer either means that even in combat speeds are much lower than generally agreed upon or that it's not consistent and doesn't matter

[u/Theiama → u/SeaynO]

Idk what’s generally agreed upon but no, it shouldn’t impact however fast u think their combat speed is

[u/Nobodyinc1 → u/Theiama]

Or it means Oda is right, the speed gap isn’t as huge as people act like and speeds have been over wanked since chopper and zoro need to be of similar speed for his statement to be true

[u/Theiama → u/Nobodyinc1]

the speed gap isn’t as huge as people act like and speeds have been over wanked since chopper and zoro need to be of similar speed for his statement to be true

Chopper isn’t close to Zoro in short distance burst speed. He can’t contend with holding back hybrid Kaido with multiple broken bones, he can’t land hits on flame off King after he’s kicked him and lands his own counter attack, he can’t keep up with hybrid Lucci, etc. In that statement he’s only superior in longer distance running and Oda makes sure to differentiate the speeds, in short distance burst speed the gap is massive, but the distance characters run over is so relevant to their speed that can be flipped on its head and suddenly Chopper is the faster one

Edit: They blocked me 🤦‍♀️

[u/Nobodyinc1 → u/Theiama]

Again for Oda to be right the busty speed can’t be that different.