The Luffy-Kid Connection
With the recent chapter of One Piece being released, I thought I should talk more about Eustass Kid This isn’t an in-depth analysis of his character and motivations, but instead delves into how he parallels our main protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy.
From the very beginning, Kid is introduced as a dark reflection to Luffy, from having roughly the same bounty (Albeit a little higher) and having a Number 2 with a 9-digit bounty of his own. They even want the same thing, to be Pirate King. Hell, when they are first seen fighting together, they unveil the thematically same technique.
However, while Luffy and his crew have saved numerous nations from destruction and freed them from tyranny, Kid is infamous in-universe for wreaking havoc on the common folk. It could be easy to write this off as propaganda or exaggeration, but as we see in chapter 594, Kid has no problem with crucifying people he’s beaten. This is a level of viciousness we’ve only seen on the worst of enemies, and a sign that whatever’s said about Kid may not be entirely fabricated. And while Luffy has always been concern about non-coms getting caught in the crossfire, Kid makes it clear he doesn’t care who gets hurt outside of his crew.
Furthermore, there is the matter of humility. Luffy always had people question or mock his dream of being Pirate King, but he just shrugs them off, only throwing down with those who plan on trying to get his way of that. Kid, on the other hand, admits to killing people who laughed at him. Remember the time in Mock Town when neither Luffy or Zoro bothered to fight back against the Bellamy Pirates for mocking the concept of dreams? I sincerely doubt neither Kid or Killer would be so restrained.
When the story brings Kid back into the spotlight, we see he is trying to form an alliance among his fellow pirates…just like Luffy, at the time, went into an alliance with Law to take down one of the Four Emperors. And while Luffy made it clear at the time that he wanted to beat the Emperors except for Shanks (Or, more accurately, that Shanks not be the first), Kid’s prospective alliance was made for the explicit purpose of beating Shanks. And while Luffy’s alliance works out, Kid ends up betrayed and cheated by the pirates he tried to trust.
In Wano, where both men are beaten and captured by Kaido, Luffy and Kid end up in competition over who can do the most labor (And, I am deeply impressed that Kid can carry just as much as Luffy with one arm). But while Luffy helps Old Man Hyo and learns a new Haki technique, Kid walks out as soon as he can, and doesn’t.
And finally, we reach Elbaf, where Kid finds himself in a rematch with Shanks. A very short rematch, to be precise (I was rooting for Shanks, btw), but it’s here that we see two more old friends, Dorry and Broggy from Little Garden. The same technique that once cleared the path for the Straw Hats to sail on their way, it is used to sink Kid’s ship. And speaking of this fight, recollect back to Alabasta, when the Straw Hats saw the Barogue Works fleet but chose not to attack, not wanting to waist their time on small-fry. Kid, on the other hand, made the choice to attack the lesser pirates in Shanks’ fleet…which played a big part in why Shanks waisted no time stomping Kid.
In short, Kid’s role is in part how integral Luffy’s natural kindness and empathy is to his becoming Pirate King…by showing how screwed he’d be without it.