ok, lets see the wolf guy and ecki,Having stronger enemies or being the first member of the Straw Hats doesn't mean anything.
ecki > jabura
Zoro wasn't seriously fighting with Ecki, still defeated him.
Sanji had a hard time with Jabura..
ok, lets see the wolf guy and ecki,Having stronger enemies or being the first member of the Straw Hats doesn't mean anything.
Zoro was never actually confirmed as the first mate.zoro without a doubt... there is a reason he is the first mate :|
I would say more like 60-40Yeah Zoro but if you have to distribute 100 points over the both of them it would be 51-49
Zoro is stronger
Sanji is smarter
zoro is more durable
Sanji is faster
both use different kind of fighting styles which make it hard to compare. Either way without one of them Luffy would've been dead by now.
That wasn't haki back then, it was killer intent. Zoro showed that a couple of times before.I would say more like 60-40
I would never consider Sanji to be a step away from being on par with Zoro.
At this current time Zoro seems not all that far of Luffy especially in punk hazard, he emulated Luffy's conquerers haki on a single target, literally scared her so much that she couldn't reform lol.
If we are going from the outcome of that fight Sanji beat his opponent a lot easier than Zoro beat his. Sanji was also injured from his loss to Kalifa while Zoro was in a better condition than Sanji. Sanji was winning from the start and Jyabra would have lost even without Sanji using Diable, can't say the same about Zoro winning his fight without Asura.ok, lets see the wolf guy and ecki,
ecki > jabura
Zoro wasn't seriously fighting with Ecki, still defeated him.
Sanji had a hard time with Jabura..
this. Franky might be a threat to Sanji.Zoro is definitely number two.
And to be honest, I'm starting to question if Sanji is still #3. Franky has been looking real impressive during this last arc. I think he might be making a serious push to overtake that 3rd spot in terms of strength.
Actually no, not really. He continuously indicated that Zoro is the number 2, but not that there is a large difference, but still enough to keep that spot.That wasn't haki back then, it was killer intent. Zoro showed that a couple of times before.
The other thing is that Oda has been dropping clues throughout the entire series that they are more or less equal.
Zoro was struggeling vs Kaku who only had 10 more duroki than Jyabura who was finished by Sanji easily after he already recieved a beating from Kalifa.
Sanji was there at the Kuma moment as well.
Sanji has been fighting the stronger enemies for the last 2 arcs. Wadatsumi and Vergo.
Defeating Monet was not such an epic feat since she already told Luffy she had no hope in beating him, she clearly wasn't one of the strongest fighters. If anything Monet was just an oppertunity for Zoro to showcase his control and haki.
What don't you get about 'more or less' while your conclusion of your rant is:'Oda made it so that the difference isn't very large'Actually no, not really. He continuously indicated that Zoro is the number 2, but not that there is a large difference, but still enough to keep that spot.
Sanji was there at the Kuma moment, however Zoro knocked him out and took the full brunt. There isn't a more symbolic way to make it obvious that Zoro is the number 2 of the crew.
Wadatsumi wasn't stronger, at least there is nothing that give that a sold basis. I mean Luffy pretty much beat Wadatsumi in one hit. I wouldn't call it a real 'beating' as Luffy just had to get passed him, but he didn't really had much issues with that. While Hyouzou, when Luffy hit him at the beginning of the arc, he blocked Luffy's attack. On top of that Hyouzou was the only one outside Hody Jones who went into that overpowered mode by eating those steroids. Wadatsumi was very huge and had a lot of brute strength, but overall he couldn't be really considered strong, not in the nature of Hody or Hyouzou, who had skills and techniques. Not to mention Sanji fought Wadatsumi with Jinbei. So it's pretty much invalid to say that Wadatsumi was the number 2 in the FI arc.
The Vergo battle is invalid likewise because in this arc the match up's were very unusual. Normally they are almost always perfect for the opponent they are fighting, but that wasn't really the case right now. For starters Sanji only had a brief skirmish with Virgo, it was not a 'final battle', you can't say he lost, but neither did he win. That was between Smoker, Law and Virgo. Neither was Zoro's fight normal as he fought together with Tashigi.
So neither of those battles work in favor of Sanji being equal to Zoro. Oda made it so that the difference isn't very large, but still that in the end Zoro is higher and the scene with Kuma more than anything else shows that that is the case. The fact that Sanji was there, but that Zoro knocked him out and took all the pain makes it pretty certain that Oda places Zoro a spot higher than Sanji.