The Crocodile who got beaten and outclassed in CQC by pre-gears Luffy?
The Enel who, for all his firepower, couldn't even react to pre-gears Luffy many times despite insane CoO?
The Cp9 members who got beaten by EL SH crew fair and square?
Or the Oars that was so strong that TB Zoro and Sanji were deflecting his attacks- including stretching Bazooka?
Man, I understand the hype but all these characters did fuck all. They were portrayed as incredibly weak when Luffy went from not being able to defeat Pacifista preskip to one-shotting them with his weakest attack casually.
And then Luffy in G2/G3 had tough time with a fodder like old Cchinjao.
So, tl;dr yeah F6 destroy these fodders of villains in preskip
Let's start with something that you wont believe - Luffy and Zoro were far stronger in pre-TS than people realize.
They were made to look weak against a Pacifista, who is heavily modified and
tough, which doesnt apply to others.
If I had to guess where pre-TS Luffy and Zoro stand, I would say that Luffy is at the top of so-called veteran tier while Zoro is in YC tier.
Sounds crazy? I know but go with it, for now. That automatically raises the level of all the pre-TS people they fought, where it should be.
Crocodile wasnt outclassed, he killed Luffy 2 times, had his DF made useless because he could no longer turn into sand. Gomu no Storm is very powerful, gears or no gears. Of course, plot helped that Luffy wins but that is common for Luffy... That same Crocodile is showing his true performance in Marineford, looks much better because he isnt facing the MC against who he has to lose.
Enel's firepower was simply countered naturally, Luffy did nothing for it, he just happened to have the right DF. He could react to Luffy but he was stunned that his powers arent working and due to shock his Observation went poof... The golden arm is more powerful than G3 and it pressed Enel against the golden bell into a sandwich. Despite all of that, Enel was still on his legs and went to the moon.
Cp9 members are stronger than the current Toppi Robbo that we are seeing. Lucci for sure is stronger than WsW and I would definitely include post-DF Kaku as well. Both of them are in YC tier, WG's best assassins arent fodder, simple as that. Now it makes more sense that Luffy is among best Veterans and Zoro in the YC tier, after you realize that CP9 were also YCs...
Oars is still that strong, Zoro and Sanji cannot stop his attacks in their tracks now either, they can only deflect them, which is what they did in pre-TS too. Only Nightmare Luffy can stop attacks from Oars because NML is physically the strongest character by FAR.
Pacifista looked tough but Luffy and Zoro would have defeated it, each, eventually. Other characters dont have the same reinforcements as Pacifistas. Chinjao isnt fodder tho, he is a leader of Happo Navy for who prime Garp had to train to beat him and falls somewhere in high YC tier in his prime, low YC tier in his old age. His Dragon Drill still shines.
No, F6 get destroyed by those pre-TS villains, the strength relation between WsW and Lucci is confirmation for that, Lucci is the stronger of the two and he was defeated by G2 Luffy which means that WsW would have been defeated by G2 Luffy as well.
However, it is very bad to observe things based on Luffy, he is an anomaly. The plot turns heaven and earth so people lose against him.
