This is a fine assessment except the situation didn't specifically demand FS, the situation simply demanded more power. Whatever form that power takes is up to Luffy - he could've gone G2 for more speed, G4 for more mobility, FS for pre-cog, ACoC for more strength, in the end he chose G5.
You're talking about this making little narrative sense but firstly this is One Piece, secondly this is Oda. It made little narrative sense for Luffy not to use FS on Apoo, or when he was struggling with Yamato, or when BM was able to run up on him - the list goes on indefinitely. It made little narrative sense for Zoro to not immediately use ACoC on Lucci instead of waiting forever then bodying him in 2 seconds - none of this has to make narrative sense, this isn't HxH and Oda is certainly not Togashi.
These SHs just go with the vibe and Luffy is the chief of that. Overanalyzing why he's not using it won't get you anywhere, simply put if Oda doesn't imply he's using it then it's safe to assume he's not unless he's already 100% serious going all-out - all it takes is one small comment and in the past, Oda usually has somebody make this comment so no reason to think he'd switch up now.
I mean we could be discussing all this and it turns out Luffy does indeed make that comment and is using FS etc... My overall point is not just about FS, but that Luffy has many, many powers that he's not always using. Even if Base Luffy was using FS, he'd only be Queen level without ACoC. Overreacting to Luffy getting hype-tooled makes no sense unless Luffy is actually using a decent amount of strength, not if he's just fucking around in base using 1% of his abilities.
-Zoro
did do that, with what looked exactly like him tapping into KoH state, the issue with Lucci then became landing an attack. Cling clangs don't count as tagging an opponent, my takeaway was Lucci didn't give Zoro an opening to land despite him tapping into his Wano PU. Then for whatever reason Sanji pissing him off got him to land.
-Apoo like i stated caught Luffy offguard with hax, it was not a prolonged situation. FS isn't active all the time.
It's not about knowing, we will never truly know outside of clear statements, it's about the most logical assumption for me. Under the right conditions, it makes no sense not to assume FS was used.
These conditions will be
1.Prolonged game of speed/tag
2.Not emotionally distraught
3.On panel showcase
I give way less weight to offpanel bs, if this is multiple pages on panel, I'm not going to just throw it away.
My takeaway is that if something can be explained, an ability's absence is fair to assume. In cases where there’s no flexibility, or wiggle room, the assumption should lean toward the ability being used. It’s not a confirmation, but I’ll always operate as if the given ability was part of the equation.
I can only hope we get a statement because Oda sure as shit sucks at visual indicators for FS, but both being absent won't lead me to conclude FS wasn't used if the conditions I laid out are met. If even one of them aren't then I won't assume FS was used.