Warning! Contains spoilers for One Piece Episode #1066!The pirates Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law are both some of the strongest characters in One Piece's manga, but the anime surprisingly made them even stronger. This is somewhat surprising given that in the anime's current arc of Wano, the characters are all already so strong that it doesn't seem like they would need this sort of upgrade. But ironically it is precisely because of the average strength of these characters that Kid and Law had to become more powerful in the anime.

In episode #1066, Kid and Law continue their brutal fight with Big Mom. For the most part, this fight plays out almost exactly like in the manga chapter #1039. However, in order to fill its run time, the anime lengthens many of the sequences that show Kid and Law getting hit, really hammering home how devastating Big Mom's attacks are. In one particularly notable instance, an attack from Misery that took a in the manga was elongated into a pummeling sequence of blows that hammered Kid into the ground. Despite all of this increased damage that they have taken however, they are still able to take Big Mom down with a devastating set of their own attacks, showing that both Law and Kid are much more durable in the anime than the manga.

One Piece's Anime Make Kid & Law More Durable Than in the Manga

This, of course, isn’t the first instance of One Piece’s anime making its characters more impressive. In Wano alone the anime has elevated many of the fights from the manga to new heights. The Zoro vs King fight in One Piece episode #1062 is probably the best example of this, with the visual spectacle of the animation raising the already high bar that the manga set for that fight. Beyond specific examples, Toei Studios has lent a Dragon Ball-like quality to the fights in this arc in general, with many of the characters using Haki resembling the much more bombastic fights in that series.

Ultimately these changes in the fights and upgrades to the characters are just more reminders that the anime and manga are fundamentally different. They may be telling the same overarching story, but when it comes down to the details they will inevitably differ. This is because they are fundamentally different media with different constraints. The anime needs to fill a set amount of running time, which often causes it to extend parts of the manga. In addition, it also often needs to make things more clear than the manga, such as when it changed Sanji’s important One Piece battle with Queen. However, these changes aren’t necessarily all good or all bad.

One Piece Strengthening Law and Kid Makes Their Fight Better

While some manga fans may complain about the anime making Kid and Law seem stronger, it ultimately does make their fight against Big Mom even more epic of an achievement. And given the manga’s treatment of Kid after Wano ends, seeing him get an improved moment in the anime likely makes many fans of the character very happy. Overall, the One Piece anime making Kid and Law stronger for their fight against Big Mom is a great change and one that makes the outcome of the fight even better.

One Piece is available to stream on Crunchyroll.