Unless Brook can communicate that with others, moot point right now. It's not an excuse when Luffy doesn't know.
And yet, Luffy hasn't eaten anything yet. And I thought that was meat that allowed Luffy to recover quickly. If he's captured, he'd have to find a way to get food, which likely wouldn't be easy. He won't win this arc if he's the way he is, power-wise or health-wise.
So far, Gear 4 has done nothing against Cracker himself, and the clones were challenging Luffy as it was. We don't know if he is fragile (likely is), or if he just doesn't like pain.
Because Big Mom doesn't know what happened to Cracker or why he's so late? They have confidence in Cracker, as your image shows, but her asking can just as easily mean she thinks Luffy was stronger than they thought, just not strong enough.
Ergo, weaker than Crocodile. WHitebeard wouldn't lose to Crocodile because he was one of the strongest men when alive and knew haki. Luffy did not, and despite using water to help him, he still nearly got owned by Crocodile. Luffy would win because again, it was only Crocodile that hinted at the challenge Luffy would face, while nothing implied Crocodile's subordinates (bar Mr. 2) could beat Luffy easily. There's a difference between going up against a shichibukai, where Luffy up that point wasn't challenged, and going up against a Yonkou, against whose subordinate Luffy can't even do anything to without resorting to his strongest technique.
That is not a literal fact. He's never won against an admiral or Magellan. Before you say "main antagonist of arc!!" they count because they were antagonists, especially Aokiji even though he let Robin and Luffy go, albeit frozen.
How many arc has had Luffy be overwhelmed by a subordinate? Hell, Hodi got owned by Zoro, he had no chance against Luffy. When Luffy was in trouble, like against Arlong or Buggy, it wasn't because he was overpowered, but because he incapacitated, like sticking his feet too deep in the ground or getting tossed in a cage with no way out. The only reason why Caesar took out LUffy was because of his devil fruit, otherwise Luffy would have beaten him otherwise.
If Luffy can't beat Cracker or has severe difficulty beating Cracker, and Big Mom is stronger, then Luffy has no chance against her unless he somehow magically gets stronger or has help fighting Big Mom, more than he did against Doflamingo. When Luffy got owned by Lucci, we had every indication that it wouldn't be a roflstomp, and then Nami confirmed it when she said Luffy and Zoro's weakness was that they were unsure. Against Crocodile, Luffy hinted his victory when he realized water could affect sand. And so far in the arc, only Doflamingo gave Luffy any sort of challenge, whereas most others were defeated eventually.
It is not a self-conflicting statement. Cracker doesn't have to be defeated for Luffy to save Sanji, all it takes is for Luffy to be alive and be able to recover, if not somehow be saved. He's not alone either, he has Nami, Brook, and Pedro.
I think Cracker might defeat Luffy, but I'm hoping Luffy beats Cracker.
He doesn't win all the time. Just try rereading the manga, Luffy loses quite a few times. If Luffy won all the time, he'd be a pirate king by now. Seems like you do not know what facts are.
Yes he does, but nothing states he has to do it in one arc, or as soon as possible. As you said, every arcs have ended with Luffy winning. Why can't Luffy lose this arc, have some mini-arcs, and then beat Big Mom at the end of the same arc? This has happened in many arcs, even.
Yes, and that's because Luffy's good at talking and being likable, as well as the kind of person he is. He could be weak as hell, and Shanks and Rayleigh would still have faith in him because he reminds them of Roger... in fact, he reminds many characters of Roger.
It means Jinbei has faith in Luffy, not that Luffy is able to beat everyone right off the bat. Irrelevant point. I have faith in Luffy too, just not blind faith that I think he'll beat a captain when he was getting owned without Gear 4.