Strength debates light a fire in the fandom, having an official word of God would snuffle conversations and debates, which is problematic when affecting popular characters, hence you’ll see situations were Sanji is comparable to Zoro, Zoro to Luffy etc, it’s cannon fodder for the fans of a respective character, though, since we’re at the end of the Manga, Oda is slowly wrapping things up regarding the standing of those three.
Oda is bad at fights, but he actually gives importance to power scaling, and uses it as a narrative device, in this arc, for example, Kaidou fought quite a gauntlet before being defeated, the bombs were the things that defeated Big Mom, King had to fight Marco alongside Queen, and even after that, couldn’t get the job done, and Marco still had enough strength to block an attack from Kaidou without repercussions, which automatically translates to Blackbeard hype later on, Jinbe is clearly stronger than the other Strawhats, so he had WsW get some help, Franky had actually a great showing in the New World, and gets off scot free against the Tobi Roppo, Hawkins couldn’t even be a TR like Drake, so the instant his gimmick is figured out, he’s done, Nami and Usopp are weak, so he bullshits Big Mom into the mix etc. Still, who’s to say who’s the strongest TR? (my money would be on Ulti) we don’t have definitive proof, so, while a SH beats a TR easily that doesn’t automatically make them stronger, except Jinbei, because the CP0 had to hype him up, and he was an ex Warlord and all. Same thing regarding the YC, Oda made sure to tell that, even though The Sulong form was inaccessible, Jack was greatly damaged before the off screen fight, a kind of a saving throw for Jack’s fans, if they exist. King and Queen fought Marco before, and Queen even lasered himself, Sanji, after getting his exoskeleton power up, tanks and crushes a sword without any problems, you cannot tell me that Oda didn’t know that Sanji fans would use this to pester Zoro fans, but again, Sanji and Zoro have a very huge fanbase, and the rivalry helps the sales, or how about Zoro learning to cut fire and rooftop from the other side?(Btw what a stupid and nonsensical ability, it’s even funny because Oda introduces “gods” that control fire, at a time where the element of fire, performance wise is in shambles like ice in Bleach, ok, whatever, everyone controls fire at this point).
If you, however, give undeniable proof that a character is better than another, discussion dies, for example, nobody seriously believes that Luffy and Kid are on par with each other as of the latest chapter, and this indirectly damages Kid’s role in the story and his fanbase, as early on he was hyped to be a powerful opponent for Luffy in the race of claiming the title of Pirate King, Kid is a microcosm of what would happen if a Databook containing detailed informations about characters strength would happen. IIRC, there was one in early One Piece, and had Zoro being comparable to Luffy in strength, fresh off Whiskey Peak, so yeah, Oda made that as a calculated move, Zoro fans are more interested in measuring up to Luffy, than Sanji, so Zoro and Luffy fans would see things through, and show the opposition who’s right… investing more time and money in the manga.
That is not to say the system is without flaws, though, the titles, for example, are poorly thought out in the grand scheme of OP’s worldbuilding.
Like, if I am the World Greatest Swordsman, shouldn’t I be treating it as a temporary title and pursue World Strongest Man, be it for ambition, or just to prove that my philosophy regarding swordsmanship being above everything else in this world? Why does the title World Strongest Creature exists, if Whitebeard has both Strongest Man and Strongest Pirate? It pushes people in creating headcanons like “Sickbeard”, even though Big Mom, the character with the greatest spy network in One Piece, so should at the very minimum, know that Whitebeard ain’t doing that great, puts Whitebeard on a standing above Kaidou and Shanks, when talking about the giants alliance, Kaidou himself holds Whitebeard in great reverence (strength wise, not morality wise) and if Kaidou is the WSC, shouldn’t he be treated with more respect? Like, Oden was treated like a toddler in that casual clash Roger and Whitebeard had, yet a few chapters later, he’s able to greatly damage Kaidou, and the hag had to cheat the match, leaving the result up in the air, and if that ain’t enough, Kaidou laments the next 20 years about Oden’s strength, when in the grand scheme of things, there are characters that would make him look like a joke, and he too should, if we trust the WSC portrayal. These titles feel gimmicky and not well thought out, as if the characters aren’t allowed to interact with each other until Luffy enters the scene, Mihawk attacked Whitebeard, and got cockblocked by Jozu, ok fine, but why aren’t you trying again? He wanted to measure the distance between Whitebeard and himself, so what answer would he find with Jozu? and we still don’t know who even canonizes these titles in the world, is it the rulers at the Reverie? Is it a pirate only thing and the Yonkous have a say? Is it Morgans and his questionable writing of Jud, I mean Luffy top 5 after WCI? The titles generate hype, but are very lazily applied in the world.
