Idk if you started the manga recently but there was a time during the MF war that people like you thought that Coby would give Luffy a fight and you know what happened.
It was exactly the same shit with Hancock. All 10 people in the world that like Coby kept spamming that he'll beat her and you know what happened.
Where were you? I was in One Piece circles at the time and I don't remember anyone thinking Koby would give Luffy a hard fight at all. There are always exceptions, but it sounds like you're making things up.
We still don't know how strong Koby is. He hasn't fought anyone. He did fight Luffy Pre-TS though, so people had a general idea of where he ranked relative to Luffy.
Yeah a guy who fought with Warlords even if he lost has worst portrayal than a guy who literally runs for 2 chapters with a metal ball and gives up when fodders are about to shoot him. Oh sorry i forgot he cought an arrow and stopped a torpedo.
Smoker didn't just lose. He was stomped by Doflamingo and mid diffed by Law. To be fair, I expect that the same or worse would have happened to Koby if he'd fought either of them at the time, but Koby's 18. Smoker's 36 and has been at it for what... 20 years already?
Smoker fans bashing Koby for fulfilling the role Oda had always intended for him is so strange to me. Koby became an apprentice for Garp before Smoker was a character in the manga. This was always coming. If anything, Smoker fans should be upset at Law.
At least half of the reason people bash Smoker now and think he's weak are related to Law. First there was Law low diffing Smoker. Then there was that moment when Smoker was at Law's mercy. He tried being defiant when Law said that Smoker would live or die on his whim. When Tashigi starts begging to be freed, Smoker chews her out. Law then calls Smoker a dumbass and says Tashigi is smarter than him and starts giving him orders like Smoker is his cabin boy.
Then Smoker fights Vergo. This is a fight that I personally think he should have won out right. A bit of redemption for Smoker. Instead, Oda has Vergo kick his ass. Some people like to pretend that Smoker let Vergo win to get Law's heart back to repay him (After Law basically treated and talked to him like he was trash), but that's omegacope. If Smoker was stronger than Vergo, he could have just beaten him out right and taken Law's heart back. The truth is that he was to weak to do it. Vergo goes on to beat the tar out of Smoker and break his main weapon. Then Law fights him and Vergo goes all out. Something that he didn't do against Smoker. Vergo has full armament haki on his body. Law gets a cool moment where he easily cuts full CoA Vergo, the lab and a mountain in half, but it makes Smoker look incredibly weak in comparison.
To sum things up, Smoker is a meme in One Piece circles, because Oda made him look weak and stupid to make Law look smart and powerful. Koby had nothing to do with it.
To be clear, Kid is probably way stronger than Koby still and Aokiji would no diff him (if someone in this thread was suggesting that they'd fight). My guess is that he's on the level of the Mid Trio right now. Maybe a little higher, but well below Jinbei or Sanji.
