I gotta say, to assume Zoro is equal to or stronger than Luffy opens up so much false equivalency...
We can't just assume they are equal because there is not even hints that they are close to equal.
There is no evidence to support that claim.
You can't use pretimeskip feats now because just post time skip alone Luffy has grown exponentially by facing incredibly tough opponents pushing him to that next level over and over. Zoro hasn't been tested in new world like that.
You can't possibly believe their equal or Zoro is stronger. It's borderline ridiculous, and I'm not saying that to insult you I promise. There is just nothing to support that claim.
There have been hints upon hints that they could be equals, with the assumption/conclusion being that Luffy is superior solely based on him being the captain. As I said, the main difference is that Luffy's devil fruit gives him an advantage over opponents, like it did against Enel and Lucci.
He hasn't, but he's still breezed through his opponents. And even in a land full of samurai, he still managed to impress people by cutting a building with his knife.
Yeah, I can believe Luffy and Zoro are equal or close to it.
Zoro vs Luffy endurance wise is out the window since the last Arc when Luffy took a brutal beating from a Yonko Commander for HOURS. Until Zoro shows an equal feat we can't even argue this. Argue plot armor but it happened. That is now a measurable feat.
Nope, not out the window until Zoro actually shows his endurance. Otherwise it's just as much of an assumption as I'm making, and as you said, not worth arguing as there's nothing solid.
On an adjacent topic, yes a majority only need the Captain> Any Crew member to reason that Luffy > Zoro, but are they wrong?
What Yonko has a second in command that is stronger than them?
What One Piece organization has any member thats > the main boss.
We have 1 exception and that's Buggy, purely for comedic effect.
There is no First Mate that is stronger than their captain. Period. The only reason this is a conversation is because Zoro is a badass and has a ridiculously HUGE fan base (of which I am a member, but I don't let it interfere with the logistics of this discussion)
Unless pre time skip feats are included(which are no longer relevant) you have nothing to say Zoro >= Luffy. And even Pretime skip you couldn't argue Zoro>Luffy successfully outside of endurance levels and that was the only thing Zoro even came close to being > Luffy over.
You just can't
They can be wrong. Buggy is a great example of this. Most characters probably think Buggy's strong, but those who have actually fought with or against him know he's not that strong. Even Whitebeard and I think the Marines have said Buggy's useless, but his crew is dangerous, and that's all he needed to become a shichibukai. Comedic effect or not, it's still a fact that his new crew members from Impel Down are taken more seriously than he is.
I don't let my opinions interfere with most discussions either, like this. Luffy also has a HUGE fan base as well, and many of those silly fans thought he'd beat Big Mom or was strong enough to take her on. Even after he had difficulty beating Cracker, and it took Katakuri to prove that Luffy stood no chance.
Zoro came close to Luffy in terms of power as well, if not equal. The main way Oda established their differences in power was by having Luffy take on the boss, but Luffy generally had advantages thanks to his devil fruit. Zoro would not have survived dehydration or getting hit with Lucci's fingerpokes the way Luffy did.
As I've already said, you can rationalize it as much or however you want, but the fact remains Luffy was able to break DD's strings and Zoro didn't.
If that's so important, then why didn't Luffy try to break Doflamingo's strings so people could escape Bird Cage? The only strings Luffy broke were the ones Doflamingo used to restrain him, which seems to be weaker.
Then what happened? Luffy suffered throughout the tortures of Impel Down,drowned in poison that should have killed him THEN traveled to Marineford where he took damage from the likes of Mihawk, Smoker, Akainu, Kizaru, Sengoku, other big names and countless soldiers all while taking in false energy that didnt heal ANY of the damage he took.
All while using hormones/drugs that kept him going. Without that, he either wouldn't have made it out of Impel Down or would have stayed down after Kizaru kicked him towards Whitebeard. Not as impressive as him fighting Katakuri for hours as he did it without hormones or whatnot. A feat nonetheless though.
Saying zoro = or > Luffy especially post TS is completely baseless. There aren't any feats to even remotely back this up. Zoro simply doesn't have sufficient panels. But even if, zoro can't really be stronger than Luffy though. At most, he'd be close. I mean, that doesn't even sound right. Imagine Luffy off struggling and fighting the boss when Zoro can defeat said boss easier? If only for the mere fact that Luffy is the captain and MC, Oda won't make zoro stronger.
About Luffy being top 20, ranking isn't so clear cut in OP imo. But we have the yonko and admirals to consider already. Former admirals, some shichibukia (Mihawk for example) etc. But anyway, clearly Luffy is already strong enough to beat or give non-yonko/admiral level a run for their money. He's already top yonko commander level as it stands
Which boss could Zoro defeat that Luffy struggled against? Moria and Buggy are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head, unless you count Hodi and Caesar.
Yeah, but he did fall into a coma for days afterwards. It's definitely impressive though, and at least in P1 he had more endurance than Luffy. Still that was probably a case of pride that kept him standing at that moment. Willpower too. Regardless this doesn't mean he was stronger even then, just that he can sustain more damage.
He should be top 30. If it came right down to it, he could possibly be quite close to 20 too
Either way, he was still standing and talking until Sanji found him.
There can be only one favorite character and its Zolololo senpai.
