Zoro
The 2 major instances of Zoro being nerfed going into a major fight is against the arlong and thriller bark pirates
Against the arlong pirates he fought hatchan while Sanji fought kuroobi. It being one of the rare instances where Zoro fights the weaker opponent. Kuroobi being made as Arlong’s right hand man and having a higher bounty than Hatchan
This coincidentally being after his battle with Mihawk that left him in extremely bad
Thriller bark is arguably another instance of Sanji fighting the no. 2 due to Zoro being significantly nerfed. This case Sanji fighting Absalom who’s the commander of the zombie soldiers + generals of the basically Moria’s right hand man. With Ryuma just being another zombie general
Tho just like with the previous example thriller bark is another example of Zoro going into a battle significantly nerfed. This time not because of damage but him lacking one of his swords
Sanji
When Oda decides to nerf Sanji before a fight it’s usually done through having him get beat up by women. The 2 major instances being during enies lobby and wano
Before Sanji’s fight with Jabra the 3rd strongest of the group but relative to the 2nd strongest aka Kaku Oda went out of his way to have Sanji get beat up beforehand by
Before Sanji’s fight with queen the 3rd strongest of the group but relative to the 2nd strongest aka King Oda went out of his way to have Sanji get beat up beforehand by Black Maria
All that to say while Zoro being stronger than Sanji is a given Oda doesn’t seem to mind having Sanji step up to fight the stronger opponent when Zoro’s weakened
He also doesn’t seem to mind weakening Sanji a bit before his major fights against opponents comparable tho albeit weaker than Zoro’s
The only instance of them both being relatively at full power and health before a major battle was all the way back in alabasta against Mr. 1 and 2
That duo sharing more or less the same type of rivalry they and all their major opponents do. In this case Zoro needing to power up in order to get through Dax’s iron defense. Sanji just needing to outsmart Bentham to beat him
The 2 major instances of Zoro being nerfed going into a major fight is against the arlong and thriller bark pirates
Against the arlong pirates he fought hatchan while Sanji fought kuroobi. It being one of the rare instances where Zoro fights the weaker opponent. Kuroobi being made as Arlong’s right hand man and having a higher bounty than Hatchan
This coincidentally being after his battle with Mihawk that left him in extremely bad
Thriller bark is arguably another instance of Sanji fighting the no. 2 due to Zoro being significantly nerfed. This case Sanji fighting Absalom who’s the commander of the zombie soldiers + generals of the basically Moria’s right hand man. With Ryuma just being another zombie general
Tho just like with the previous example thriller bark is another example of Zoro going into a battle significantly nerfed. This time not because of damage but him lacking one of his swords
Sanji
When Oda decides to nerf Sanji before a fight it’s usually done through having him get beat up by women. The 2 major instances being during enies lobby and wano
Before Sanji’s fight with Jabra the 3rd strongest of the group but relative to the 2nd strongest aka Kaku Oda went out of his way to have Sanji get beat up beforehand by
Before Sanji’s fight with queen the 3rd strongest of the group but relative to the 2nd strongest aka King Oda went out of his way to have Sanji get beat up beforehand by Black Maria
All that to say while Zoro being stronger than Sanji is a given Oda doesn’t seem to mind having Sanji step up to fight the stronger opponent when Zoro’s weakened
He also doesn’t seem to mind weakening Sanji a bit before his major fights against opponents comparable tho albeit weaker than Zoro’s
The only instance of them both being relatively at full power and health before a major battle was all the way back in alabasta against Mr. 1 and 2
That duo sharing more or less the same type of rivalry they and all their major opponents do. In this case Zoro needing to power up in order to get through Dax’s iron defense. Sanji just needing to outsmart Bentham to beat him
