Powers & Abilities Straw Hats Crew Strength feel underwhelming

[Darkoplax]

So Wanted to talk about this for a while but with Oda saying that One Piece is ending in 5~ years in our time which would be very soon in OP time (like few months or a year at best) , I can't help but feel the StrawHats' level of strength is really underwhelming and we would need another Timeskip to bridge the gap. I want to also say I'm open to hear anyone opinion if anyone thinks the SH are stronger than what it feels (at least for me).


So to explain myself more , I took the top 8 fighters from every prominent crew/orgs in the New World (again some you could debate but it's close enough) and here's how it ended up :

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So to start i added Yamato to the SH cause needed 8 fighters to round it out and she's the most likely to join , if you want to replace her with Carrot it's sill not a big difference.

That being said the SH don't feel like they can matchup at all especially when you talk about the bottom 3 (Franky/Brook/Usopp) who don't have Armement Haki and overall it feels really far that Luffy and the SH are on that top tier level overall as crew like if we go case by case :

1. is Luffy really at the level of Sakazuki/Shanks/BigMom/Kaido/Blackbeard ? don't think there's a single guy that could make that argument as Luffy just came off from struggling against a 1st commander and while power ups are always a thing and we could get Gear 5 that's the only hope i have rn
2. Zoro, for him he has a lot of merits and a lot of ppl can argue that he's much stronger than what he has shown so far and could surprise people but to go as far as say that he will fight on par or beat the 1st commanders when Luffy just struggled against one literally means that Zoro was stronger than Luffy when they came out of the TS which just feels wrong and he hasn't been through any fight progression like Luffy except his fight vs Killer (which i really appreciate)
3. Sanji, again a character that struggled a lot since TS and hadn't gone through any progression like Luffy and he has in multiple times had his durability and speed put in question ... While I personally believe that the Monster Trio dynamic will not break and he has to be comparable to Luffy and Zoro but I struggle to see that and while he had good moments in Wano and had a power up in the Red Suit I still don't see him being Commander level
4. Jinbe/Yamato are the 2 latest to join and are pretty much wildcards some ppl even say they could be stronger than Zoro/Sanji or just Sanji but I really disagree with that and i think the Monster Trio dynamic is going to be intact ... That being said they are the shining light in this discussion cause they are not weak enough and they have the potentiel to be among the top right now and fight whoever is 4th/5th in other crews really comfortably
5. The weakest trio not sure if Oda is intending to add even more characters to the SH to move down Franky/Brook/Usopp , for example ppl (mainly Morj) believe Smoker would join the SH and he would be above this trio, but other than that this trio clearly feel less stronger than what other crews has to offer and the only one that showed real progression is Usopp with unlocking Observation Haki ... But unlike the others it feels that they can bridge the gap much easier/faster by just getting Haki and training with it

Pound for pound and overall , the SH rn feel way too weak to be even in that discussion of top tier (something BB understood and took a short cut by upgrading through getting level 6 impel down captains), which could lead into discussions like Zoro/Sanji not ready for King/Queen , Luffy can't beat BM/Kaido etc ... I really hope the SH unlock Haki and powerups soon to justify saying the series is ending soon and them being the crew of a Pirate King

Also last note on the side while making this list , it was so clear to me that the Marine as an organization are stronger than any Yonko crew rn which's pretty interesting remembering Marineford (maybe we underestimated how strong the WBP are cause their showings happened before TS)

 

[KiriNigiri]

You’re comparing the Strawhats, who are still growing, to the 5 greatest superpowers in the world.

Try comparing the Strawhats to any other group and you’d see how exceptional they are relative to others.

Don’t forget that the SH have a fleet of 5000 strong at their disposal, with notable Pirate rookies among them.

 

[MugiwaraMaster]

Don’t forget that a majority of them need to learn more Haki if they’ll ever climb to the top!

 

[BakiDou]

You act like Luffy and co. will keep their current level of power till the end of one piece, most mugiwaras will grow this ark, and they will have hard fights. They are already strong anyway.

 

[stealthblack]

they sure feel compared roger pirates. but same goes for BB pirates outside of the captain.


but they will grow in 2-3 arcs more then 23 years of the manga from now on

 

[TheAncientCenturion]

I’m of the same mind. It would be nice if they weren’t fodder in the New World going on a decade of us being there or in their fifth arc.

 

[Gauntlet]

I think it'd be more fair to compare them to crew's like Law's and Kidd's, both of whom have trash ass crew's that won't even beat a YC3 without the captain's help. If anything the Straw Hats are too exceptional for a crew that started just over 2 years ago.

 

[Darkoplax]

You’re comparing the Strawhats, who are still growing, to the 5 greatest superpowers in the world.

Try comparing the Strawhats to any other group and you’d see how exceptional they are relative to others.

Don’t forget that the SH have a fleet of 5000 strong at their disposal, with notable Pirate rookies among them.

Feel like the SH are over that point to be compared with the Supernova they are clear cut above all of them and with the context that we are in the Four Yonko Saga (and Luffy is literally called the 5th Emperor) and matchups like Zoro/Sanji vs King/Queen and whatever else like Usopp/Nami vs Ulti/P1 are discussed weekly ...

the power of the crew feels much weaker than it should be to the crews they are facing rn aka 1 one of the 5

You act like Luffy and co. will keep their current level of power till the end of one piece, most mugiwaras will grow this ark, and they will have hard fights. They are already strong anyway.

atm ppl are matching them up to that level AND we're taking fights with 2 of these crews at the same time and most importantly as i stated earlier Oda said series is 5~ years (which's very short amount of time in OP obviously) so unless there's a timeskip the gap feels way too big



I'm just hoping Brook/Franky/Usopp get full Haki by the end of this arc or it's gonna be kinda sad

 

[Midnight Delight]

The biggest problem is that Oda shot himself in the foot by relying on Powerups when it comes to Luffy becoming stronger instead of letting him become stronger on his own

This wasn't an issue in Enies Lobby because the rest of the Strawhats also got powerups, it started becoming an Issue when Luffy from Dressrossa onwards kept on getting powerups while the rest of the Strawhats did not.

The biggest issue with this is either the Strawhats lag behind Luffy, or they manage to keep up with him without needing Powerups which would devalue the need of those Powerups in the first place

It's not a wonder Crocus from OL/AP hated the idea of G4 so much

 

[BakiDou]

Feel like the SH are over that point to be compared with the Supernova they are clear cut above all of them and with the context that we are in the Four Yonko Saga and matchups like Zoro/Sanji vs King/Queen and whatever else like Usopp/Nami vs Ulti/P1 are discussed weekly ...

the power of the crew feels much weaker than it should be to the crews they are facing rn aka 1 one of the 5





atm ppl are matching them up to that level AND we're taking fights with 2 of these crews at the same time and most importantly as i stated earlier Oda said series is 5~ years (which's very short amount of time in OP obviously) so unless there's a timeskip the gap feels way too big



I'm just hoping Brook/Franky/Usopp get full Haki by the end of this arc or it's gonna be kinda sad

Yeah luffy and co fights solo agains 2 yonko crews, it is not like they have a ton of help, + 5 more supernovas& some of their crews to help them.
Luffys crew is fine, right now, it is close to a yonko crew(in term of power), there are no crews stronger than luffys crew right now, if we exclude the yonkos.

 

[RayanOO]

I think it'd be more fair to compare them to crew's like Law's and Kidd's, both of whom have trash ass crew's that won't even beat a YC3 without the captain's help. If anything the Straw Hats are too exceptional for a crew that started just over 2 years ago.

Agree, after this arc the SH won't be weak at all. If the other SN don't have future new nakamas, the post Wano SH can beat 2/3 SN crew combined.

Luffy and co are already far too strong for early 20s guys, who has only 3 years pirate career

 

[KiriNigiri]

the power of the crew feels much weaker than it should be to the crews they are facing rn aka 1 one of the 5

Consider the Yonko made it as far as they did due in part to their territories, and Luffy is gathering allies and territories, I’d say they are doing pretty well on the power struggle.

Feel like the SH are over that point to be compared with the Supernova they are clear cut above all of them and with the context that we are in the Four Yonko Saga and matchups like Zoro/Sanji vs King/Queen and whatever else like Usopp/Nami vs Ulti/P1 are discussed weekly ...

It’s still important to remember how far up the latter they are. What the Strawhats have accomplished is mind boggling. I think just disregarding how more powerful they are compared to other rookie crews is narrow minded. The fact we’re only left with comparing the crew to the top 1%, or even less, of pirate crews is no small feat

Keep in mind that they are still growing, and even in this raid, they haven’t come close to showing all they’ve prepared for the war.

 

[Warchief Sanji D Goat]

*Cough cough at Law's and Kid's crew*

OT: Let's take Sanji for example, he went from barely damaging Blueno and then two shots Jabra later on. Same thing will happen with every other Strawhats here. They will grow even more throughout the arc and they will be very strong later on.

 

[Darkoplax]

Yeah luffy and co fights solo agains 2 yonko crews, it is not like they have a ton of help, + 5 more supernovas& some of their crews to help them.
Luffys crew is fine, right now, it is close to a yonko crew(in term of power), there are no crews stronger than luffys crew right now, if we exclude the yonkos.

I'm fine with that , like yea without any hesitation (if we count the marines as a crew) the StrawHats are potentially the 6th strongest power in the world right now and they are far ahead the other Supernovas but at the same time feel far weaker than the Yonko's


it's ok if u assume that in this arc the other supernovas will be helping the SH in tag team matchups to beat Kaido/King/Queen etc but many ppl don't believe that and in general ppl think Zoro and Sanji for examples will get 1v1s against commanders cause it's about time that they do to keep up with Luffy


it's an interesting topic that wanted to discuss to see if ppl feel the same or if SH are gonna need to progress way more (at the top for Luffy/Zoro/Sanji and at the bottom for Franky/Brook/Usopp)

 

[BakiDou]

I'm fine with that , like yea without any hesitation (if we count the marines as a crew) the StrawHats are potentially the 6th strongest power in the world right now and they are far ahead the other Supernovas but at the same time feel far weaker than the Yonko's


it's ok if u assume that in this arc the other supernovas will be helping the SH in tag team matchups to beat Kaido/King/Queen etc but many ppl don't believe that and in general ppl think Zoro and Sanji for examples will get 1v1s against commanders cause it's about time that they do to keep up with Luffy


it's an interesting topic that wanted to discuss to see if ppl feel the same or if SH are gonna need to progress way more (at the top for Luffy/Zoro/Sanji and at the bottom for Franky/Brook/Usopp)

The allstars will probably fall in a tag team effort, zoro with choppor, robin and the rest who are trapped in the second floor vs queen, and jimbe, sanji, kid etc vs king. After that everyone will go fight Kaido, and they will lose, until something unexpected happen(oda said that this wont be the tipical ark, where luffy solos the big bad boy, so most likely someone strong enough will come to help the good guys).
After this ark Luffy and co will be strong enough to deal with another yonko crew, on their own(not winning 100%, but surviving a fight with them, and fleeing with no casualities, if they cant win yet).