One Piece Power Level Discussion Thread

[goldb]

Ground Rules for the Power Level Discussion Thread
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As always, please follow the guidelines set by the Forum Rules that apply across the board.

It's important that discussions from a current chapter are spoiler tagged until 24h have passed from an english release.

• For the sake of constructive discussion, where and when possible please quote/ source any information you provide. Particularly when it comes to conversations carried over from other threads.
• Avoid passive agressive posts, sly remarks or baiting/trolling. You can certainly have fun or disagree without it being at someone's expense.
• Only use anime examples that are canon and as means to provide clarity to pages in the manga. Any other anime material is otherwise non-canon and should only be referenced if it can be proved that the mangaka had approved it.
• We will strive to avoid repetitive discussions and any extensive battle topics will be guided to the Davy Back fight to existing threads or new ones can be made there.

As of now these topics are shelved due to repetitiveness or until the manga can present us with material to further discussions:

1. Shanks v Mihawk
2. Hand to hand fighters > Swordsmen
3. Zoro > Luffy
4. Zoro v Sanji
5. Is Smoker a top 30 character?
6. Mihawk's rank within the story
7. Law having CoC currently.
8. Katakuri > Kaido/Luffy/Etc.

If you wish to continue any of these discussion and remove it from the list, you will need to provide manga material as proof. If there's also anything you think we've covered numerous times, let me know and I'll update the list.

This is the only warning there'll be regarding these ground rules, anything no adhering will be removed. So please just check your posts before posting them.

 

[Shasha23]

Er no, not all of the members are fighters. Zoro, Luffy, and Sanji are. Reread the manga, we see those three go to the front line all the time whereas the others usually cower or let the Monster Trio handle it. There's no order to it, he's a cook and a fighter. Prove me otherwise.

And Oda has actually backed up calling them Monster Trio. Again, reread the manga. It's not just ZOro and Luffy fighting all the time, Sanji's included in the mix as well. It's actually a waste of time debating with you when you refute what the manga has shown. And how the hell are Usopp and Nami fighters?

Now I know you don't have shit to argue with when you have to resort to calling others Sanji fanboys or claiming Sanji love. It's called being objective. Try it.

HUH I give up on you, you clearly refuse to accept logic and what the manga has been saying all this time.
Zoro and Luffy are there as just fighters and the rest of the crew are there to fulfil a role on the ship but they can also fight how hard is that to understand really!
You keep saying Luffy, Zoro and Sanji are fighter but neglect the rest of the crew, every member of the crew can fight but fighting is something they are good at unlike Luffy and Zoro who are there just to fight.........do you get it now?
How hard is this to understand for you????
Oda has never called them monster trio it was just Nami referring to them that way because of their monstrous strength.

If you keep going on like this and refusing to see plain and simple facts I give up all hope on you cause clearly your failing at understanding the story

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 21, 2018, Original Post Date: Feb 21, 2018 ---

Yes it is debateable but jimbei has shown better feats and proven to be above sanji. I need facts and evidence to prove that sanji is stronger than jimbei

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 21, 2018, Original Post Date: Feb 20, 2018 ---

Every1 in the crew is a fighter I don’t get ur point if they can fight especially if they able to handle their own in 1v1

Did I say they can't fight?
They can all fight but fighting is something they are good at they are not on the ship because they are fighters only Zoro is, they are there because they have a specific role on the ship.
If you read what I said you would understand this, every member can fight but only Luffy and Zoro are there as fighters, they are not there for a specific reason other than fighting

 

[M3J]

Yes it is debateable but jimbei has shown better feats and proven to be above sanji. I need facts and evidence to prove that sanji is stronger than jimbei

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 21, 2018, Original Post Date: Feb 20, 2018 ---

Every1 in the crew is a fighter I don’t get ur point if they can fight especially if they able to handle their own in 1v1

That's because he's a fishman with a different fighting style. It's also about matchups, and Jinbei would have the advantage as he can use his surroundings as a weapon and affect his opponents due to water in their body. But when has he shown that? You made the claim, you back it up.

 

[LaGOAT]

That's because he's a fishman with a different fighting style. It's also about matchups, and Jinbei would have the advantage as he can use his surroundings as a weapon and affect his opponents due to water in their body. But when has he shown that? You made the claim, you back it up.

What? Doesn’t matter if he was Fishman that irrelevant when sanji can oneshot Arlong at this point. Ur not making sense u just mention his sister me of his feats but ur claiming that he hasn’t shown it? Actually u believe sanji>Jimbei u have to show the prove since I ask u to give me evidence it’s on u. Or me

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 21, 2018, Original Post Date: Feb 21, 2018 ---

HUH I give up on you, you clearly refuse to accept logic and what the manga has been saying all this time.
Zoro and Luffy are there as just fighters and the rest of the crew are there to fulfil a role on the ship but they can also fight how hard is that to understand really!
You keep saying Luffy, Zoro and Sanji are fighter but neglect the rest of the crew, every member of the crew can fight but fighting is something they are good at unlike Luffy and Zoro who are there just to fight.........do you get it now?
How hard is this to understand for you????
Oda has never called them monster trio it was just Nami referring to them that way because of their monstrous strength.

If you keep going on like this and refusing to see plain and simple facts I give up all hope on you cause clearly your failing at understanding the story

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 21, 2018, Original Post Date: Feb 21, 2018 ---

Did I say they can't fight?
They can all fight but fighting is something they are good at they are not on the ship because they are fighters only Zoro is, they are there because they have a specific role on the ship.
If you read what I said you would understand this, every member can fight but only Luffy and Zoro are there as fighters, they are not there for a specific reason other than fighting

Ok? Each of the crew have a specific role but again there are also fighter so sanji is a cook and also a fighter they can be both

 

[M3J]

You're the one who said Jinbei > Sanji though, and thus you'd have to provide proof.

It does matter if Jinbei is a fishman. One Piece isn't Dragon Ball Z where power levels are all that matters, you have to take matchups into consideration. Luffy could be stronger than Jinbei but still have more trouble against Moria and his zombies just because Jinbei can use throw salt water at the zombies.

Whose sister?

And while I don't really have proof, I guess you probably do. Sanji and Luffy together stopped Big Mom's attack but didn't hurt her while Jinbei used water shot to get Big Mom off the ship. I forgot if o how he stopped Big Mom's sword and don't know if Sanji can do that.

 

[LaGOAT]

You're the one who said Jinbei > Sanji though, and thus you'd have to provide proof.

It does matter if Jinbei is a fishman. One Piece isn't Dragon Ball Z where power levels are all that matters, you have to take matchups into consideration. Luffy could be stronger than Jinbei but still have more trouble against Moria and his zombies just because Jinbei can use throw salt water at the zombies.

Whose sister?

And while I don't really have proof, I guess you probably do. Sanji and Luffy together stopped Big Mom's attack but didn't hurt her while Jinbei used water shot to get Big Mom off the ship. I forgot if o how he stopped Big Mom's sword and don't know if Sanji can do that.

No i don’t becuase u disagree since u disagree I ask u to prove it. it not the other way around. Yes matchup does matter sometimes but not in sanji vs jimbei case jimbei is plain stronger than sanji that’s like saying since Arlong is a Fishman he can also solo sanji becuase he has an advantage.well ur example is a good one because jimbei was way above prets luffy at the time current luffy would oneshot/low diff Moria from the get go.

 

[M3J]

I never said being a fishman gives Jinbei/Arlong the win. Point is that Jinbei would have an advantage over the likes of Arlong and Sanji, and most other opponents, just because he can use water and turn his surroundings into weapons. Arlong can't do that, and given Sanji's feats now, Sanji would beat Arlong rather decisively.

Depends on that as well as Luffy would have problems with Moria if he came prepared with his zombies. Plus, one of the reasons why Luffy had trouble with Moria on Thriller Bark was because of how sneaky Moria was, which is a good counter to Luffy's simplicity and naive ways. I'm not sure how much better he'd do with Color of Observation though.

 

[LaGOAT]

I never said being a fishman gives Jinbei/Arlong the win. Point is that Jinbei would have an advantage over the likes of Arlong and Sanji, and most other opponents, just because he can use water and turn his surroundings into weapons. Arlong can't do that, and given Sanji's feats now, Sanji would beat Arlong rather decisively.

Depends on that as well as Luffy would have problems with Moria if he came prepared with his zombies. Plus, one of the reasons why Luffy had trouble with Moria on Thriller Bark was because of how sneaky Moria was, which is a good counter to Luffy's simplicity and naive ways. I'm not sure how much better he'd do with Color of Observation though.

And I’m saying having that advantage doesn’t mean that much some1 like luffy and zoroncan deal with it. jimbei at best is a luffy-zoro level or maybe slightly higher that would do little damage to a top tier character. Now sanji feats currently isn’t enough to put jimbei down as jimbei pre ts feats and his current feats are better than what sanji has shown so far.

Pre ts luffy has trouble simply becuase luffy was as strong as jimbei was since luffy has reach that lvl now he perform the same feat jimbei did back in Moria by oneshotting him

 

[M3J]

How can Luffy and Zoro deal with it if they can get hurt by water shot or Jinbei using the water in their bodies to hurt them? j

Jinbei never one-shot Moria, and Mihawk tells us this as well. Moria most likely won't be one-shot by Luffy, especially after all we've seen. It also doesn't change the fact that Jinbei would fare better if Moria came prepared with zombies or used zombies.

 

[LaGOAT]

How can Luffy and Zoro deal with it if they can get hurt by water shot or Jinbei using the water in their bodies to hurt them? j

Jinbei never one-shot Moria, and Mihawk tells us this as well. Moria most likely won't be one-shot by Luffy, especially after all we've seen. It also doesn't change the fact that Jinbei would fare better if Moria came prepared with zombies or used zombies.

Getting hurt by it doesn’t mean jack when they can tank his attacks they can deal with it it wouldnt prevent them from fighting jimbei ur making sound like they can’t do nothing about it. I don’t recall Mihawk saying anything about show me a panel in the manga saying that. Jimbei KO Moria http://www.mangareader.net/one-piece/559/9 and that was it from him. Current Luffy would do the same simple as that. Luffy blitz moria from the get go

 

[M3J]

i still believe Sanji is gonna get a power-up of some sorts by the end of this arc.
There clearly was a build-up for this:
He had his leg cracked in a fight with Vergo, and had to flee from him. He fought Doflamingo and was overpowered by him with ease. He couldn't do shit against Bege and his crew. At the same time we are shown the perks of Germa 66 gene-modified internal exoskeletons - I just can't see this as a coincidence.

It was said that this arc would be all about Sanji, and indeed we had to see his story, learned truth about his family and where he came from, he even got to cook the wedding cake that is allegedly gonna render Big Mom immobile, but in terms of the fights, this arc was mostly about Luffy and Katakuri, Brook got a chance to shine and showcase his fighting skills against Big Mom (at least in the anime), while Sanji still remains a low-class fighter. Somehow it just doesn't feel right.

Maybe something like a kiss from Pudding will finally trigger his progression as a character

When did Sanji flee from Vergo because of this? Sanji didn't flee because he was losing, he and Vergo fled because of the gas and because they had other things to do that were more important than the fight. And to be fair, Sanji had no knowledge of Doflamingo's abilities, and Doflamingo bound his hands and made him unable to move. And we were told Sanji went with Bege because of Big Mom threatening the people he cared about, otherwise he'd have likely fought Bege and others. This is pretty obvious when despite detecting a powerful presence outside that could have helped, Sanji still didn't go outside with Nami and the others.

Him getting Germa 66's exoskeletons would still be a pretty bad idea. Sanji doesn't need that sort of doohickey. Sanji hasn't really been a low-class fighter, but circumstances have forced him to not showcase his abilities, or he went up against the boss (Doflamingo). And, I don't understand what's wrong with Sanji not being able to do anything against Bege even if he wanted to, given Bege is on the same level as Luffy, and he had his crew with him against the lone Sanji.

Out of all the crew members, we've only seen Luffy go all out, and he was pretty underwhelming and overrated this arc. Zoro and Sanji never went all out. And I'm saying this objectively, or as objectively as possible.

 

[afromarco005]

When did Sanji flee from Vergo because of this? Sanji didn't flee because he was losing, he and Vergo fled because of the gas and because they had other things to do that were more important than the fight. And to be fair, Sanji had no knowledge of Doflamingo's abilities, and Doflamingo bound his hands and made him unable to move. And we were told Sanji went with Bege because of Big Mom threatening the people he cared about, otherwise he'd have likely fought Bege and others. This is pretty obvious when despite detecting a powerful presence outside that could have helped, Sanji still didn't go outside with Nami and the others.

Him getting Germa 66's exoskeletons would still be a pretty bad idea. Sanji doesn't need that sort of doohickey. Sanji hasn't really been a low-class fighter, but circumstances have forced him to not showcase his abilities, or he went up against the boss (Doflamingo). And, I don't understand what's wrong with Sanji not being able to do anything against Bege even if he wanted to, given Bege is on the same level as Luffy, and he had his crew with him against the lone Sanji.

Out of all the crew members, we've only seen Luffy go all out, and he was pretty underwhelming and overrated this arc. Zoro and Sanji never went all out. And I'm saying this objectively, or as objectively as possible.

How was luffy underwhelming when he has been fighting non stop since thes educing woods fought cracker a commander for many hours and won, fought the enraged army, barely rested then got in a fight with a yonkou first commander and keeps tanking his hits and getting back up again and again despite the damage thats some serious durability feat.
he also showed two new gear fourth forms and signs that he will sometime soon get to katakuris level of observation haki.

in my opinion luffy is by far the most impressive fighter among the trio in terms of progression and even among the supernova. he is far beyond everyone of his generation by now and he is on his way to kick kaidos ass at the end of wano

 

[M3J]

He couldn't beat Cracker without help and is having significant trouble against Katakuri, despite all the hype from members here. That's quite underwhelming, especially when people thought he could take on Big Mom. And Luffy did get some rest though, after beating the army while waiting for Sanji right before jumping out to interrupt Sanji's wedding. He looked pretty fresh to me.

Durability, sure, but he was still getting his ass handed to him for like, 95% of the fight.

 

[M3J]

Of course you are right that circumstances have not been kind to Sanji lately, but don't u think though that with the current development of events, sooner or later SH crew will have to take on bigger targets both in team fights and individually?
If Luffy strives to be on the Yonkou level (not to mention the Pirate king level), he will have to grow even further, and so should his crew.
Sanji struggled when he fought Vergo - a cracked bone is a cracked bone - if a fight continued further, i do believe he would have lost - Vergo didn't suffer any serious injuries, while Sanji had his main weapon damaged - and this injury has haunted him ever since, in a fight with Doffy, and in a fight with his father -- it just feels like he couldn't give his 100% because of this.

And if Sanji finally gets to have a good fight to showcase his abilities, maybe he could show us something new we didn't see yet, since there's no way for us to know whether character has a power-up or he has not, unless he gets to display it. If it doesn't come from the exoskeleton, maybe something to further increase his legs durability - bones get harder to break once they have fully healed.
Anyway, i don't wanna re-open the Sanji powerlevel discussion once again, i just hope he finally gets to shine

They do, but again, even Luffy's not faring any better this arc. He's having tremendous trouble with two commanders of a Yonkou, and despite Gear 4 and despite Sanji's help, Luffy didn't even put a scratch on Big Mom. the mistake readers are making is thinking he has to grow significantly in one arc when that'd probably take multiple arcs to do so.

I don't believe Sanji would have lost, especially given he was moving around afterwards like he wasn't even in a fight. And this is after Sanji went down from Nami's punch due to the punishment his body took when Nami was in it. Sanji's main weapon may have been damaged, but it's not the first time it has happened, but he still continued to fight and usually won.

It doesn't look like he entered the fight against Doflamingo injured, and he was praised twice. Doflamingo actually had to tie him up/bound him to keep him from moving at all, and unlike Luffy and Gear 4, Sanji had no way to escape that on his own. I don't think we've seen him show much, if anything.

Fuck that, if people are gonna disrespect Sanji or anyone else with bad reasons/lack of proof, then I'm gonna reopen or open w/e I want!

 

[afromarco005]

They do, but again, even Luffy's not faring any better this arc. He's having tremendous trouble with two commanders of a Yonkou, and despite Gear 4 and despite Sanji's help, Luffy didn't even put a scratch on Big Mom. the mistake readers are making is thinking he has to grow significantly in one arc when that'd probably take multiple arcs to do so.

I don't believe Sanji would have lost, especially given he was moving around afterwards like he wasn't even in a fight. And this is after Sanji went down from Nami's punch due to the punishment his body took when Nami was in it. Sanji's main weapon may have been damaged, but it's not the first time it has happened, but he still continued to fight and usually won.

Proof or it never happened

 

[kcd]

The common interpretation is extreme muscle flexing... although I choose to believe
Luffy is using some form of awakening to create bouncing surfaces out of thin air.

It's the only thing that makes sense for me. But I know some believe it's sacrilegious to talk about power-ups
before Oda's proper introduction... no matters how many times it has happened before.

I doubt luffy's fruit is awakened, but, even if it is, I don't get how that enables him to create bouncing surfaces we can't see, unless it's invincible?
Really, if he was capable of such feat, we should be asking why he wasn't defending/blocking katakuri's attacks with it, all those hard mochi blows would've bounced off these surfaces, instead of his body. I highly doubt it has anything to do with awakening.

They do, but again, even Luffy's not faring any better this arc. He's having tremendous trouble with two commanders of a Yonkou, and despite Gear 4 and despite Sanji's help, Luffy didn't even put a scratch on Big Mom. the mistake readers are making is thinking he has to grow significantly in one arc when that'd probably take multiple arcs to do so.

I don't recall luffy ever using a KKG on Bigmom, so, as of now, there's no way to know or say (for sure) that luffy is incapable of hurting bigmom, since we've not seen how she'll take his strongest attack.
And, for sure Luffy has struggled, but, he had an opportunity to knock-out Katakuri earlier, he didn't take it, he (luffy) underestimated katakuri.

His opportunity came when katakuri wasn't composed, instead of using a KKG to end the fight, idk, send katakuri to oblivion or something, he decided to use a Kong gun which even doffy can tank.
He didn't get such opportunity against cracker, but here was katakuri, almost defenseless and there for the taking, and luffy had to show restraint.
I think his inexperience let him down.

 

[M3J]

I doubt luffy's fruit is awakened, but, even if it is, I don't get how that enables him to create bouncing surfaces we can't see, unless it's invincible?
Really, if he was capable of such feat, we should be asking why he wasn't defending/blocking katakuri's attacks with it, all those hard mochi blows would've bounced off these surfaces, instead of his body. I highly doubt it has anything to do with awakening.


I don't recall luffy ever using a KKG on Bigmom, so, as of now, there's no way to know or say (for sure) that luffy is incapable of hurting bigmom, since we've not seen how she'll take his strongest attack.
And, for sure Luffy has struggled, but, he had an opportunity to knock-out Katakuri earlier, he didn't take it, he (luffy) underestimated katakuri.

His opportunity came when katakuri wasn't composed, instead of using a KKG to end the fight, idk, send katakuri to oblivion or something, he decided to use a Kong gun which even doffy can tank.
He didn't get such opportunity against cracker, but here was katakuri, almost defenseless and there for the taking, and luffy had to show restraint.
I think his inexperience let him down.

If a regular Gear 4 attack didn't work on BIg Mom so far, I doubt King Kong Gun will be enough to beat her. Maybe three or four hits, if Luffy's lucky, but her defense seems to be too solid.
If it was after he returned to the Mirror World, then he probably didn't want to do it until he gained the ability to see a bit into the future, though I don't remember Katakuri losing his composure in the second round. Also possible that Luffy didn't want to waste too much energy or haki just in case King Kong Gun didn't work either. If it did hit and didn't beat Katakuri though, then that'd be all we need to determine King Kong Gun won't be enough to take down someone whose defense has been hyped.

 

[kcd]

If a regular Gear 4 attack didn't work on BIg Mom so far, I doubt King Kong Gun will be enough to beat her. Maybe three or four hits, if Luffy's lucky, but her defense seems to be too solid.
If it was after he returned to the Mirror World, then he probably didn't want to do it until he gained the ability to see a bit into the future, though I don't remember Katakuri losing his composure in the second round. Also possible that Luffy didn't want to waste too much energy or haki just in case King Kong Gun didn't work either. If it did hit and didn't beat Katakuri though, then that'd be all we need to determine King Kong Gun won't be enough to take down someone whose defense has been hyped.

True, it was really surprising bigmom didn't budge or move an inch, her defense is solid as you said, I'm not even sure 4 KKG would be enough to beat or render her unconscious, but, I'm fairly certain it'll definitely displace or push her back a bit, perhaps give her slight headache.
I see luffy overpowering her if she doesn't use or defend with haki.

Yea, katakuri lost composure right after luffy interrupted his doughnut break, that created the window for luffy to connect three Kong gun hits.

 

[M3J]

Could be, but it's kinda hard to believe Luffy has anything in his arsenal right now or the strength to beat Big Mom. I think that much became obvious when Luffy took too long to fight Cracker and was able to do last as long as he did thanks to Nami. But then again, if he mixes strategy against BIg Mom like he did against Cracker, it could be possible if he's at 100%. She didn't use haki when she was attacked by Sanji and Luffy, and she still wasn't fazed, at all. But then again, maybe King Kong Gun would have an effect on a haki-less Big Mom.

And was that when or before Luffy figured out his weakness? If it was before or during, and he wasn't 100% sure, then it makes sense. At least, if King Kong Gun takes more out of him than any other G4 attacks.

 

[kcd]

Could be, but it's kinda hard to believe Luffy has anything in his arsenal right now or the strength to beat Big Mom. I think that much became obvious when Luffy took too long to fight Cracker and was able to do last as long as he did thanks to Nami. But then again, if he mixes strategy against BIg Mom like he did against Cracker, it could be possible if he's at 100%. She didn't use haki when she was attacked by Sanji and Luffy, and she still wasn't fazed, at all. But then again, maybe King Kong Gun would have an effect on a haki-less Big Mom.

And was that when or before Luffy figured out his weakness? If it was before or during, and he wasn't 100% sure, then it makes sense. At least, if King Kong Gun takes more out of him than any other G4 attacks.

Yea, even in the cracker's fight, I think inexperience and the inability to quickly change attack-form is what prolonged that fight.
Luffy is a genius when it comes to fighting (and developing techniques), but, simple and basic things I expect him to do, he doesn't.

For example, gear fourth snake man (the culverine attack) is so fast that even with coO, one would have difficulties evading due to increased speed and less reaction time (especially when he does that thing that makes his hand bend), this became apparent as we saw how it fared against katakuri. So, if hitting cracker was the problem all along, why not change to the fastest gear4 form and be done with it, two or three hits would've gotten the job done (against cracker) in under two hours.
Personally, with the current update on his (luffy) capabilities, i feel he shouldn't have struggled against cracker (for reasons very obvious), and his fight against katakuri should've been fairly even from that point onwards, when he realised how Katakuri's powers worked.

Seems plot favoured the BMP as well, lol.

And was that when or before Luffy figured out his weakness? If it was before or during, and he wasn't 100% sure, then it makes sense. At least, if King Kong Gun takes more out of him than any other G4 attacks.

True,
but the way I see it, he figured his attack would connect, that's why he went g4 to do damage.
Yea, I get why you say he might not be 100% sure, but I'm thinking it was a rare opportunity, if he had gone all-in at that point, it would've ended really quickly. I imagine someone like Akainu would make good use of such rare opening.

It's like being locked in a cage with a tiger, I would definitely be using all my strength to hit it, especially if I get a jump on it (holding some sort of weapon).

 

[M3J]

Getting hurt by it doesn’t mean jack when they can tank his attacks they can deal with it it wouldnt prevent them from fighting jimbei ur making sound like they can’t do nothing about it. I don’t recall Mihawk saying anything about show me a panel in the manga saying that. Jimbei KO Moria http://www.mangareader.net/one-piece/559/9 and that was it from him. Current Luffy would do the same simple as that. Luffy blitz moria from the get go

And what makes you think they can tank his attacks or tank it for long? I'm saying there's a chance they'd have trouble.

Jinbei did not KO Moria. Another panel. End of war, and Moria's still conscious and not badly damaged. Mihawk saying Moria was alive when he last saw him, which was before Doflamingo was ordered to kill Moria.

Current Luffy would have to go Gear 4 and use King Kong Gun to one-hit Moria, which might not work.

Yea, even in the cracker's fight, I think inexperience and the inability to quickly change attack-form is what prolonged that fight.
Luffy is a genius when it comes to fighting (and developing techniques), but, simple and basic things I expect him to do, he doesn't.

For example, gear fourth snake man (the culverine attack) is so fast that even with coO, one would have difficulties evading due to increased speed and less reaction time (especially when he does that thing that makes his hand bend), this became apparent as we saw how it fared against katakuri. So, if hitting cracker was the problem all along, why not change to the fastest gear4 form and be done with it, two or three hits would've gotten the job done (against cracker) in under two hours.
Personally, with the current update on his (luffy) capabilities, i feel he shouldn't have struggled against cracker (for reasons very obvious), and his fight against katakuri should've been fairly even from that point onwards, when he realised how Katakuri's powers worked.

Seems plot favoured the BMP as well, lol.

Probably Luffy not making do with his speed was what prolonged the fight? From what I remember, Luffy never bothered to use his speed against Cracker.
To be fair, Luffy doesn't like simple and basic, he loves it the hard way and usually prefers to do whatever comes to his head probably because of his credo. Though, I guess in the end he did carry out a simple plan and won.

Were there drawbacks or prep time? I know he said he couldn't use the Bounceman without something happening. But either way, even if he and Katakuri had a mostly even fight, it still would have shown how weak Luffy really is.

More like Luffy, given despite being beaten to a pulp, he's still getting up and fighting Katakuri, and he's likely going to walk away with a new ability.

True,
but the way I see it, he figured his attack would connect, that's why he went g4 to do damage.
Yea, I get why you say he might not be 100% sure, but I'm thinking it was a rare opportunity, if he had gone all-in at that point, it would've ended really quickly. I imagine someone like Akainu would make good use of such rare opening.

It's like being locked in a cage with a tiger, I would definitely be using all my strength to hit it, especially if I get a jump on it (holding some sort of weapon).

That's debatable, given Katakuri seems to be good at tanking blows, and he's made of mochi as well. Akainu likely would have no drawbacks and if he got hurt in return, he can withstand it. Even Whitebeard's attacks didn't keep him down for long, and he probably took the most damage after Whitebeard and Luffy and was still fighting.

But what if you only had a gun with two bullets? Wouldn't you want to make sure you get a sure hit?