It's funny how people try to convey the idea that a melee weapon is as powerful as a ranged weapon, but in 90% of scenarios this isn't true... The double gun will always have the advantage.
The sword's best attack is the dash; it usually surprises and breaks the sense of space between enemies. However, it can be canceled by any damage received within an absurd time limit, and even if the dash is performed, if it misses the target, you will be paralyzed... And the alternative its just to run after the enemy spamming hits.
There is no equivalence between these combat styles, a swordsman can beat a double gunner, but the tendency is that in a fight between two players with the same level of experience, the double gunner will win, because the battle depends solely on long-range combat, if both sides don't miss a single move, the battle is still determined by the double gunner's. Given the necessary proportions, in real life, someone with a knife a few meters away only reaches the shooter if that shooter misses. The person with the knife can maximize the probability of the shooter missing, but in the end, the advantage and the decisive factor always lie with the one who can win from a distance.
This is just to say that these combats are not balanced or equivalent in any way... now, the problem with this is that it turns Sea of Thieves into something it shouldn't be, a competitive FPS where part of the community is excessively consuming this PVP aspect walking alongside in a shared world with casual players who will never and don't want to reach this level of combat, and they will inevitably be victims of this, not to mention that combat with firearms in any FPS requires a higher level of reflexes, motor coordination... things that in a competitive game are inevitable to require for a good performance, but in a game like SOT that uses a casual proposal it could be reduced by having the sword as mandatory (personally I would prefer more melee weapons to be added.)
