I’m not entirely sure Eustass Kid and Law will become Emperors, but in my opinions there’s a decent chance it will happen. A lot of people oppose it because they don’t have strong crews or large territory yet.
But I think there’s something a lot of people are overlooking. The strength of a crew and the amount of territory they have is directly tied to the strength of the captain. A major reason why the Yonko crews are as strong as they are is because the captains themselves are this strong. Weaker pirates flock to stronger captains for protection. In the New World, you either join the Emperors or you oppose them. How many pirates can oppose Kid or Law? Apart from Luffy+the remaining Yonkos and Mihawk, I don’t think there are any who can.
This is precisely why an Emperor designation makes sense. Yes, Kid and Law don’t have strong crews or territory at the moment, but post Wano there is nobody stopping them from doing this. And if you look at all of the major non-Yonko pirate crews, a big chunk of them have been crushed by or have submitted to the Emperors. Crocodile and Moria were crushed by Whitebeard and Kaido, Jinbe and Doflamingo allied with Whitebeard and Kaido, and Kuma was the World Government’s pet.
Kid and Law, along with Luffy, are part of the small few who have successfully fought the Emperors and won. Need I remind you, Luffy simply beating Commanders and wrecking Totto Land in Whole Cake Island was something that was unheard of for years. And Kid and Law defeated an actual Emperor.
Some might compare them to Mihawk, who is strong but isn’t an Emperor. I think the distinction between Kid/Law and Mihawk is that Mihawk doesn’t actually do much. He’s hardly a presence in the New World, he just stays in his castle and occasionally crushes scrubs like Krieg. But Mihawk isn’t actively aiming for the One Piece like Kid and Law are. Mihawk isn’t upsetting the balance of powers, like Kid and Law are.
Anyways, I’ll leave it with this. Kid and Law obviously aren’t on the same level as the old guard of Yonko, however they are far stronger than almost any other pirate in the New World. Eventually, the Kid Pirates and Heart Pirates will become emperor level crews, but that will mostly happen off-screen. For story purposes, it makes much more sense that they be declared Emperors now, than off-screen, as they’ve just made a monumental accomplishment.
*by Monkey D Theories
