Okay, you wanna bet this? If Sanji has better PL feats than Robin this arc, you will wear a Sanji avatar for a month.
If you win, I'll wear any avatar of your choosing for a year.
There's no way Sanji will drop below 3rd/4th, he's a primary and essential fighter.
Actually Sanji should have been weaker then Robin up till the Diable Jambe power-up.
There is absolutely no reason to believe that this version of Sanji could have one-shot Pell, which is what Robin did. Pell should absolutely be stronger than most of Sanji's previous foes (the East Blue ones) and comparable to the rest (which is basically just Mr. 2), and Sanji didn't one-shot any of them.
Robin also just outclassed Sanji in the following Skypea Arc, where she kicks ass and Sanji doesn't.
I don't really want to engage in this discussion here, I think we have this discussion ongoing for a very long time now and it never changes. But I think the static "trio" concept is just wrong.
Robin being stronger than Sanji is also quite important for the setup of of the Water 7 arc. The entire mystery plot with her going rogue, wouldn't have worked. Kuzan's dialogue raising the suspicion about her would have fallen off had she not been a powerhouse (by the standards of that time) on her own.
It is not without reason that she is the only Strawhat not to get a power-up during Enies Lobby. With the Water 7 plot and her backstory resolved, Oda is essentially fixing the hierarchy up by also significantly promoting Sanji throughout the entire Water 7 Saga and a total of three full fights (Jerry, Wanze, Jabra).
However imho Oda then goes on to make it pretty clear how large the difference between Zoro and Sanji is via Zoro's insane feat against Kuma during Thriller Bark, something so absurd that it should have been clear for every reader that Sanji could have never pulled this off.
I consider myself not biased towards any character, if anything I would consider myself a Luffy fan as that is how the story works.
So for me the rankings of the Strawhat Pirates up to Jinbe joining are:
Up till the end of Alabasta:
1. Luffy
2. Zoro
The gap between Luffy and Zoro is rather large at the beginning of the series, but Zoro catches up with new swords and an ever increasing amount of blood loss tolerance (as featured in the Red Databook). By the time of Whiskey Peak I would consider them to be almost equal and this does not change much
3. Sanji
The gap between Zoro and Sanji is significant from the start. Sanji beats Arlong's strongest officer underwater yet Arlong has only eyes for Zoro, who is already a bleeding wreck at that time. Bentham just can't compare to Daz Bones, the Alabasta fights clearly place Zoro ahead of Sanji and the recent Vivre Card databook's Baroque Works bounties reinforces just how far, with Bones being worth twice as much as Bentham, and on par with the Zero pair's bounties.
4. Chopper
Chopper at that time is significantly stronger then Usopp and Nami but honestly the gap to Sanji is not that large, both are physical fighters with a quite comparable amount of physical strenght. That is not to downplay Sanji but rather it is Chopper that gets a lot of fighting action early on.
5. Usopp
6. Nami
It should be worth mentioning that the cyclone attack makes Nami a temporary #3 as it is actually quite radical and stronger then anything that Sanji has at that time, but it was a one-time use only and didn't seem to have been repaired by the time of the then following Skypea Arc so it is not that important.
7. Vivi
Yeah just to be accurate
From Skypea till the start of Water 7
1. Luffy
2. Zoro
Luffy, Zoro and Viper are portrayed as somewhat comparable during Skypea Arc.
3. Robin
I explained above why I think that way. The gap between Robin and Luffy/Zoro is not as large as Sanji's gap is to them.
4. Sanji
The gap to Robin is significant. Not hurting women aside, Sanji really does not have feats on par with Robin at that time. The Devil Fruit is a huge factor here, as Devil Fruits provide significant power at that time, much more than later on where alternative powers get introduced to compete with them.
5. Chopper
After Skypea, Chopper starters falling off, seemingly lacking the confidence to keep up. Understandable considering his young age.
6. Usopp
7. Nami
Not much development from those two.
Water 7 till start of timeskip:
1. Luffy
With the Gear techniques Luffy pulls ahead of Zoro, as they are just a straight forward upgrade in terms of speed and power.
2. Zoro
Out of all the power-ups presented, Asura seems like straight up the weakest, it is not even clear what it actually does. Due to that the difference between him and Luffy increases.
3. Sanji
Sanji gets a massive power-up here, even bigger then Luffy's. This puts him well above Robin. However as I said earlier, Thriller Bark puts Zoro far ahead of Sanji.
4. Chopper (Monster Point)
Unable to keep up, Chopper had to resort to this during the Enies Lobby raid. Very strong, but because we have similar characters to this (Minotaurus etc.), I can safely place him below Sanji.
5. Franky/Robin
Franky gets introduced as very strong, winning his fights confidently. It's actually very hard to compare him and Robin because this is the time where Robin essentially loses her role as a fighter, being the only one who doesn't power-up during Enies Lobby. By the time of Thriller Bark she is kind of support only.
6. Brook
Brook is kinda weak before the timeskip. Somehow just too frail, he doesn't achieve much. The gap between him and Franky/Robin is huge but the gap between him and Nami is not.
7. Nami
The Enies Lobby climate tact is a significant power-up, finally defining her fighting style. The gap between her and those below is huge. Nami defeated her CP9 opponent with moderate difficulty, whereas neither Usopp and Chopper couldn't do so, at least not without serious sacrifice (Chopper).
8. Chopper
At this point in time Chopper stops keeping up and has to resort to Monster Point. I think Thriller Bark is the first arc where Chopper starts strongly identifying with Usopp and Nami.
9. Usopp
Just can't pull it together. Despite a power-up, he doesn't defeat anyone during Enies Lobby and even becomes a burden to Zoro. Lacks so much confidence that only he could defeat Perona
