in Luffy's fight against the marines
That sounds ridiculous to me. I think it is garbage tier story telling if the gap between Zoro and Luffy is same as an emperor and first mate.
Not only does that diminish all the crazy feats Oda has given Zoro, it also diminishes all the time Oda has spent portraying Zoro as an absolute exceptional subordinate who should be a captain had it not been for Luffy. Hell Zoro was shown to be even stronger than Luffy in Thriller Bark and fought equally with Luffy in Whiskey Peak.
It not only makes Zoro look like shit, it also makes Luffy look like shit because Luffy is supposed to be that dude who has magnetic charisma, who is supposed to attract people who that goes beyond normalcy. It was especially emphasized in MF through Mihawk when Luffys scariest ability is his ability to attract strong people.
So if anytime in the series if Zoro his strongest crew mate is any less than a high diff for him, it makes Luffy look pathetic in my opinion because at that point he becomes just a regular captain. And at that moment series falls flat, the moment gap between Luffy and Zoro is same as Yonko and his/her first mate, the moment One Piece looses its specialty.
Anyways I do think Luffy can currently extreme diff Zoro.
Luffy and Zoro both should be admiral level in war with Marines although Luffy should be slightly stronger than Akainu and Zoro slightly stronger than Kizaru
Shanks is Low top tier.
Zoro reaches Shanks level in the fight against blackbeard
Why is Shanks a low top tier lol?
Dude walks into Marine ford cool as a cucumber and casually stops Akainu's blood lusted charge, challenges every body at Marine Ford and it results in Marines agreeing to his demands, dude has the smallest crew and fleet yet is supposed to compete with Kaido who is supposedly high top tier.
I think even Oden is a mid top tier let alone Shanks being a low top tier.
You were talking people putting their power level head canons over plot? It makes negative sense for someone who is supposed to be final dude Blackbeard defeats before he reaches the level where he is a final antagonist.
The final war. Also, I don't think EoS Zoro will be a whole level above Mihawk. he will be slightly stronger.
I think EoS Zoro > Roger. There isn't enough mental gymnastics to convince me Gol D Roger is not a swordsman lmao when he was performing pound ho.
He was skilled enough swordsman to fight WB's gura fruit.