Since Kaku, S-Hawk, and Zoro keep coming up, I want to go over my thoughts on their scaling justifications in the sandbox in depth now that I have full access to scans and my PC again
S-Hawk:
He's currently being given a justification for "clashing" with Zoro. First of all, the version of Zoro being referred to is the one using two swords coated in CoA, which, to my knowledge, scales above the level that S-Hawk is currently placed at. However, the issue with using these two interactions as scaling justifications is that they weren't genuine clashes, Zoro was blocking S-Hawk's strikes, which were aimed at the Satellites. In both instances, Zoro successfully blocked the attacks and was shown smiling, while S-Hawk appeared to show fear. Zoro even commented on his fear during the first "clash," and in the second, S-Hawk ran from Zoro shortly after the encounter. In my opinion, it doesn't make sense to continue using this as a justification for his AP.
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Scans)
The other issue is that, as far as I can tell, there isn’t a valid reason for him to scale to Small Planet level (753.448 exatons) with his Devil Fruit. The second justification doesn’t hold up, as both Zoro and Luffy dodged to protect Lucci and Kaku, who were powerless. In fact, they did the exact same thing earlier when S-Hawk used his regular swordsmanship, which is considered weaker than his Devil Fruit-enhanced attacks in the sandbox.
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Scans)
Kaku:
First, I want to address Kaku's Rokushiki techniques. As the justifications are currently presented, they place undue emphasis on certain techniques as being Kaku's strongest. This is what KT was pointing out in his previous post. White Thunder is absolutely not one of Kaku's most powerful Rokushiki techniques. Rather, the two techniques he used against S-Hawk are the same ones he used at the very start of his fight against Zoro in the pre-timeskip, and those were handled with relative ease compared to the techniques he used later in the fight. Slaughter is simply him spamming regular Tempest Kicks with both legs, and White Thunder is just a regular Tempest Kick executed with both legs simultaneously. The only Tempest Kick that is explicitly stated to be superior to the others is Sky Slicer, which builds up momentum before launching a dual-legged Tempest Kick. Kaku himself describes this technique as his strongest. Given this, it doesn't make sense to rate White Thunder above his base level.
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Scans)
Now, regarding the actual feats Kaku performed against S-Hawk: with his Tempest Kick Slaughter, the justification claims he "pressured" S-Hawk and forced him to defend himself. I disagree with this, as S-Hawk was not actually forced to defend—at the time, he still had his flame on and was more than capable of tanking the attack directly. It's simply in his nature, due to having Mihawk’s bloodline element, to instinctively defend against any attack with his blade. I also disagree with the assertion that S-Hawk was "pressured" From what I can see in the scan, S-Hawk was easily able to deflect every Tempest Kick sent his way. This justification would be more appropriate as a feat for S-Hawk rather than Kaku.
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Scans)
For White Thunder, the justification states that it "matched Zoro's Purgatory Onigiri." This would imply that it not only scales directly to Zoro's CoA rating but even higher, as Purgatory Onigiri is a technique that scales above Zoro's base physicals. This assumes that the two attacks actually matchedd with equal force. However, that assumption is contradicted by Kaku's direct feats against Zoro. The first interaction, which I’ve already covered in previous posts, shows Zoro destroying Kaku’s Sky Slicer using just one sword, without the aid of CoA or any named techniques. As I previously mentioned, Sky Slicer is explicitly stated to be Kaku’s strongest Tempest Kick, placing it above White Thunder.
The second relevant feat occurs during Kaku’s fight with Zoro in his Awakened form, where he not only used Rokushiki techniques like Nose Pistol and Kiliman-Gyro, but also enhanced their power further with CoA and his Awakened state (which, as we know, scales above his Hybrid form, which itself scales above his base form; the one used when performing White Thunder). This is relevant because in the pre-timeskip fight, Hybrid Kaku’s Nose Pistol gave Zoro more trouble than White Thunder did, even forcing Zoro to use stat-amping techniques to overcome it. Meanwhile, Kiliman-Gyro is an improved version of his Extreme Nose Pistol Giraffe Blast, which in turn is an enhanced version of Nose Pistol.
All of this is significant because Zoro, using CoA, was able to overpower Awakened Kaku’s CoA-coated Kiliman-Gyro without resorting to any named techniques. Given these feats, it doesn’t make sense to claim that White Thunder is on par with Zoro’s CoA-enhanced Purgatory Onigiri, as the justification suggests.
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Scans)
Their justifications would look like the following with these feats removed, although I'll wait for further comments on how they could be better revised into the profiles: