@SakazOuki
I've never seen this thread or I was just away at the time.
I have a pretty good and non-toxic counterargument for the fact that Zoro might not seem impressive to people especially since he trained all these years and wasn't as far above the rest as he could.
You don't meet teachers such as Rayleigh or Mihawk in every place of East Blue. Up until some point in the story we didn't knew Haki would exist. So until Haki reveal and more so until Wano, we had no idea that Koshiro should've told/taught Zoro more.
Zoro not learning Haki basics under Koshiro is actually a stupid plot hole but this plot hole was revealed only during Wano.
Another example would be Katakuri, a dude who trained his entire life, lost to the first promising rookie who challenged him because Katakuri never left WCI to adventure and fight powerful foes. That's why Commanders cap at some level and never advance forward.
I would also explain it like this:
Zoro never went thru actual training, he was fighting fodders who were more than likely weaker than him, he never challenged stronger opponents because simply there was none in East Blue.
Let's imagine 2 versions of Zoro. ( Since let's be honest Zoro is talented and hard-working ).
Zoro starts the same way.
Zoro starts as a kid but in the Marines academy.
Which Zoro will be stronger? The one who trained for let's say 10 years by fighting fodders and training with no one?
or Zoro who was properly trained in the academy and given proper instructions and tutorage overall for said 10 years?
Of course, the Marine Zoro would be stronger.
tl;dr Zoro wasted almost his entire life and the time skip is proper proof of it. He became a beast under Mihawk's tutorage in a span of 2 freaking years.