Except he didn’t.
This is false, given that every enemy Luffy has fought in each arc has been stronger than every enemy Zoro has fough, by a margin that has increased each arc throughout the entire story. The gap has only gotten wider. Hell, in the middle of the series, we were actually given a number for it.
The captains are and always have been vastly superior to their subordinates. This has been demonstrated multiple times, and was even talked about in a roundabout way on Thriller Bark. They’re on an entirely different plane than their subordinates are. This is why we’re about to get a recovered Zoro against King while Luffy is going to face Kaido. They’re not remotely in the same league.
This is false, given that every enemy Luffy has fought in each arc has been stronger than every enemy Zoro has fough, by a margin that has increased each arc throughout the entire story. The gap has only gotten wider. Hell, in the middle of the series, we were actually given a number for it.
The captains are and always have been vastly superior to their subordinates. This has been demonstrated multiple times, and was even talked about in a roundabout way on Thriller Bark. They’re on an entirely different plane than their subordinates are. This is why we’re about to get a recovered Zoro against King while Luffy is going to face Kaido. They’re not remotely in the same league.
The captain even going out of his way to ask the ''subordinate'' to come with him (Croco and Mr1 is an example).
The ''subordinate'' in most cases accepts to join because of comon interests and not because of a ''show of power''.
Zoro keeps fighting after he beats the ''subordinate'' wheras Luffy is KO after the captain.
Many times the ''subordinate'' was called partner by the captain.
And you can find many other manga facts that always point to Luffy and Zoro being on par.
It's up to you if you want to disregard them but that won't help your story understanding and will frustrate you in many instances in the future.