It's certainely a real flaw of his. In a manga that is about oceans, pirates and a naval force opposing the pirates it's quite a shame that there are so few sea battles. And when it happens it's a real mess like at the end of WCI arc and during last chapter with Luffy, Law, Kid, Zoro or any of the really strong Scabbards like Denjiro or Kawamatsu doing anything against the Beast Pirates ship with long range weapons despite having perfectly the means to do so.