Grandine review makes a case for Luffy not being top of the verse in strength at series end.
His main point is that Luffy's dream is to be "the freest man" who Luffy thinks is pirate king. And so Grandine has made a point to show that you can be free without being the strongest in the verse.
For example Luffy along with all of Dressrosa achieved freedom from Doffy without any single person being stronger than Doffy. In fact it was written into the themes of the story. Riku Dold is called a bad king by Doffy because his country was weak. Then the story says Doffy is wrong. Riku Dold was a good king because his country was free, DESPITE BEING WEAK.
It's literally written into the story that you can be Free while not being the strongest. At least in Dressrosa's case.
You can extrapolate this to WCI and Wano where Luffy is freer than Katakuri who is bound to his lies of being perfect and yet Katakuri is stronger than Luffy. So how come Katakuri's strength didn't give him Luffy's freedom? Then in Wano, the supremely powerful Oden, failed to give his country freedom despite almost assuredly being the strongest person in the country, even stronger than his enemies. And now Kaido is even stronger than before, and Kaido teamed up with Big mom, and then he has 30000 men, but Luffy will win. Luffy will win and attain freedom, while being weaker than Kaido.
So back to the question, Can luffy become pirate king without being top 1 in the verse?
A lot of people complain that Luffy no longer has clean wins and is no longer definitively proven to be stronger than the people he beats but you have to ask yourself, is that maybe not the Point? Is it possible that that's the point?
Like with Dressrosa, it was actually the point that strength doesn't just create freedom. So is Oda intentionally making Luffy's wins vague?
Let's try another argument.
Luffy has himself said that he needs strength to protect his loved ones. Both in Ennies Lobby and Marineford. So doesn't that mean he wants to be top 1 since that's the 100% guarantee of protecting said loved ones?
Well then how come Thriller bark exists? Thriller bark was about the value of crew mates. Moriah was obsessed with undead crew mates because he feels having living crew mates is a waste of time since they are weaker than you and ultimately can die faster than you. Moriah's philosophy is you shouldn't sail around with people weaker than that can die and leave you feeling regret over bringing along weaker people to dangerous places.
Luffy of course sees his crew as vital since they posses skills he doesn't have so it's fine if they are weaker than him as long as he can just protect them. But then Kuma showed up. And it got reversed. The crew protected luffy. And luffy DOES NOT KNOW TO THIS DAY.
Literally one arc, after luffy declares to Blueno that he's striving to get strong to protect his crew, he immediately fails at this when Kuma arrives and it's entirely reversed, the crew saves him. Not only do they carry as much resolve and will to protect him as much as he wants to protect them, one of them even manages to prove he can take the entire PHYSICAL burden of Luffy as well. And to this day, Luffy has no idea that this happened.
So this goes to show that at some point, luffy just has to trust that his crew is strong enough to handle itself. Like for instance Luffy can say he wants to be top 1 as you'd say Luffy was Top 1 in thriller bark after beating Moriah but then the world can throw a curveball like Kuma at you where Luffy being top 1 never mattered. Luffy was knocked out and his crew had to save him.
Once again we are back to a situation where seemingly, Luffy's goal to be stronger to protect his crew doesn't necessarily mean he has to be the strongest, he just has to be strong enough that the trust he puts in the strength of his crew can balance out the rest.
Luffy just had to be strong enough to beat Katakuri (not that he was stronger than Katakuri, he just had to be strong enough to win under the very unique conditions of the fight) and then trust his crew's strength to somehow evade Big mom and her entire fleet on their own. And it worked out. Luffy was just strong enough to win, and the trust in his crew's strength was enough for them to actually make it out.
In conclusion, as it stands, you can make arguments for Luffy being top 1 in the verse such as Roger parallels or Battle Shonen mechanics but they can also be argued against. What I think is very hard to argue against is themes. Like the themes of Dressrosa and Thriller bark and others that very easily put into question this notion that Luffy's dreams or goals or entire story progression is leading up to him being Top. 1 in the verse.
To answer the titular question, Luffy can be pirate king without being top 1, IF ODA WANTS THAT.
So you wonder whether that's appropiate? Is it appropiate for the story and character progression for this to be the outcome? Is it appropriate for Luffy's dreams of being the freest man to be Free despite not being the physical dominator of the verse? Is it appropriate for Luffy's goal to protect his crew that he makes sure he's the apex of all fighting power and trust in his crew's own strength comes second to him ascending to god tier?
His main point is that Luffy's dream is to be "the freest man" who Luffy thinks is pirate king. And so Grandine has made a point to show that you can be free without being the strongest in the verse.
For example Luffy along with all of Dressrosa achieved freedom from Doffy without any single person being stronger than Doffy. In fact it was written into the themes of the story. Riku Dold is called a bad king by Doffy because his country was weak. Then the story says Doffy is wrong. Riku Dold was a good king because his country was free, DESPITE BEING WEAK.
It's literally written into the story that you can be Free while not being the strongest. At least in Dressrosa's case.
You can extrapolate this to WCI and Wano where Luffy is freer than Katakuri who is bound to his lies of being perfect and yet Katakuri is stronger than Luffy. So how come Katakuri's strength didn't give him Luffy's freedom? Then in Wano, the supremely powerful Oden, failed to give his country freedom despite almost assuredly being the strongest person in the country, even stronger than his enemies. And now Kaido is even stronger than before, and Kaido teamed up with Big mom, and then he has 30000 men, but Luffy will win. Luffy will win and attain freedom, while being weaker than Kaido.
So back to the question, Can luffy become pirate king without being top 1 in the verse?
A lot of people complain that Luffy no longer has clean wins and is no longer definitively proven to be stronger than the people he beats but you have to ask yourself, is that maybe not the Point? Is it possible that that's the point?
Like with Dressrosa, it was actually the point that strength doesn't just create freedom. So is Oda intentionally making Luffy's wins vague?
Let's try another argument.
Luffy has himself said that he needs strength to protect his loved ones. Both in Ennies Lobby and Marineford. So doesn't that mean he wants to be top 1 since that's the 100% guarantee of protecting said loved ones?
Well then how come Thriller bark exists? Thriller bark was about the value of crew mates. Moriah was obsessed with undead crew mates because he feels having living crew mates is a waste of time since they are weaker than you and ultimately can die faster than you. Moriah's philosophy is you shouldn't sail around with people weaker than that can die and leave you feeling regret over bringing along weaker people to dangerous places.
Luffy of course sees his crew as vital since they posses skills he doesn't have so it's fine if they are weaker than him as long as he can just protect them. But then Kuma showed up. And it got reversed. The crew protected luffy. And luffy DOES NOT KNOW TO THIS DAY.
Literally one arc, after luffy declares to Blueno that he's striving to get strong to protect his crew, he immediately fails at this when Kuma arrives and it's entirely reversed, the crew saves him. Not only do they carry as much resolve and will to protect him as much as he wants to protect them, one of them even manages to prove he can take the entire PHYSICAL burden of Luffy as well. And to this day, Luffy has no idea that this happened.
So this goes to show that at some point, luffy just has to trust that his crew is strong enough to handle itself. Like for instance Luffy can say he wants to be top 1 as you'd say Luffy was Top 1 in thriller bark after beating Moriah but then the world can throw a curveball like Kuma at you where Luffy being top 1 never mattered. Luffy was knocked out and his crew had to save him.
Once again we are back to a situation where seemingly, Luffy's goal to be stronger to protect his crew doesn't necessarily mean he has to be the strongest, he just has to be strong enough that the trust he puts in the strength of his crew can balance out the rest.
Luffy just had to be strong enough to beat Katakuri (not that he was stronger than Katakuri, he just had to be strong enough to win under the very unique conditions of the fight) and then trust his crew's strength to somehow evade Big mom and her entire fleet on their own. And it worked out. Luffy was just strong enough to win, and the trust in his crew's strength was enough for them to actually make it out.
In conclusion, as it stands, you can make arguments for Luffy being top 1 in the verse such as Roger parallels or Battle Shonen mechanics but they can also be argued against. What I think is very hard to argue against is themes. Like the themes of Dressrosa and Thriller bark and others that very easily put into question this notion that Luffy's dreams or goals or entire story progression is leading up to him being Top. 1 in the verse.
To answer the titular question, Luffy can be pirate king without being top 1, IF ODA WANTS THAT.
So you wonder whether that's appropiate? Is it appropiate for the story and character progression for this to be the outcome? Is it appropriate for Luffy's dreams of being the freest man to be Free despite not being the physical dominator of the verse? Is it appropriate for Luffy's goal to protect his crew that he makes sure he's the apex of all fighting power and trust in his crew's own strength comes second to him ascending to god tier?
