High difficulty? The dude didn't even need to go into the full body haki mode to defeat him, even adding that Smoker had no chance to begin with. The difficulty was similar to the one with Sanji, although in the Sanji-Vergo one it was a short skirmich and none really went all out, which was the only differenceVergo was above Smoker no doubt personally I think it was more of a high diff fight Sanji vs Vergo was mid diff but I think you're looking at ranks as to much of a gauge for strength. Vergo was above Smoker, Law and Sanji physically and funnily enough both Sanji and Smoker are physical fighters Vergo was also shown to be superior to Law in aspects as well Law was fortunate Vergo was overconfident that's all.
And no, Law was blatantly stronger than Vergo. Physical power isn't everything and because Law isn't a physical fighter doesn't make him weaker than more physical powerhouses. Law has other tricks that make him stronger and he proved his superiority over Vergo the moment he got his heart back
Nothing to suggest he had knowledge? Not sure if serious. Dude, Smoker was transferred in the G5 since 2years prior. They know each other to the point Vergo was even saying that Smoker should know he is the superior haki user or that Smoker was fighting differently than usual. And because Smoker didn't fight to win doesn't prove much considering that nothing could have stopped him to retrieve Law's heart over Vergo's body. He changed his strategy simply because he knew he couldn't win to begin withThere's nothing to suggest Smoker had prior knowledge to Vergo's abilities there's no proof for you to back that up at all not to mention Smoker's objective wasn't to win and doing so but himself at an advantage from the get go. Vergo used Haki and his signature weapon to put down Smoker who wasn't fighting to win while Vergo easily overpowered Sanji without Haki and without his bamboo stick.
Sanji's meal was supposed to bring them back at full power and even if you don't believe he was right, i don't think he was completely wrong to the point Smoker was helpless. Smoker was even the one who attacked Doflamingo first and honestly minor injuries don't mean much at this point especially when you see what Law is capable of(in a far wose shape). You didn't hear me giving the excuse that Sanji got a beat down by Violet prior to his confrontation with Doflamingo. If i were to create an excuse, i'd give that one as well. I didn't however because it's close to meaningless. Sure he didn't have his jutte however, but it's not like his jutte alone made the man. Smoker is a brawler first with the jutte being a secondarily weapon in his fighting styleIn regards to Doflamingo it isn't really a fair situation...Smoker who was without his main weapon and also was injured from the Haki hits he took from Vergo hits that cracked Sanji's bones not to mention Doflamingo was angry and serious against Smoker he wasn't playing around like he did with Sanji.
I think the fact that their subordinates are capable to hold their own against high tiers like Chinjao(who in a weaker form gave Luffy a mid difficulty fight) is already telling enough concerning the level of the seats. It's not just rank-wise. Their power was clearly scopped to be on a general level with Vergo. The rank was just to parallel it with the fact that while seats have similar rank with Vergo, Smoker has a rank underneath Vergo.Again rank doesn't mean everything feats and portrayal suggest Vergo was far greater than current Pica who without his huge golem hasn't shown anything impressive. Vergo was beat by Law who is stronger than Zoro so portrayal wise wouldn't that prove Vergo's superiority by your logic? Also there's no proof Luffy is going to beat Doflamingo on his own so far Law has had to help him land a hit on Doflamingo.
And yes Law did beat Vergo, but it doesn't prove anything with Zoro considering he didn't beat Vergo with that much difficulty. So even if Zoro were weaker than Law, it doesn't prove Zoro couldn't beat Vergo as well. Also, i personally don't think Zoro's portrayal is that far below Law's to begin with unlike Vergo. And no, Luffy will beat Doflamingo. Those who really think otherwise should begin to stop arguing or reading another manga. One Piece writing has always been similar. What makes you think it will change during this arc? Especially when the admiral who never loses his bets decided to bet on Luffy? Seriously i don't understand people who still want to argue otherwise at this point. Law is done for at this point(without an arm, blood loss, inability to fight). Doflamingo is still relatively fresh, albeit likely weakened. Luffy is alone there however as a natural enemy. Who do you think will defeat him?
So no, i disagree. Luffy will be shown to be stronger than Law when he will defeat Doflamingo, an opponent Law couldn't push very far. As it stands, Law's portrayal puts him above the seats(in the mid-high difficulty range) while being weaker than Doflamingo(in the mid range), puting him around Zoro's range portrayal-wise. Luffy who will defeat Doflamingo(likely weakened) will put him above their range portrayal-wise
You know who else are rivals? Tashigi and Zoro. Would you say Tashigi is close to Zoro's level? So it doesn't mean anythingReality is Smoker is Luffy's rival not Zoro's not Sanji's but Luffy's story wise and character wise it makes more sense for Smoker to be on a similar level to Luffy otherwise what has Oda been building up for the last 10 years.
Why not? Why do you think that because they are rivals, it would mean they would be equals at every point in the manga? In DBZ, Vegeta was stronger than Goku since he was born until his introduction. In Namek, Goku became blatantly stronger than Vegeta. In the Cybord saga, Vegeta became slightly stronger and after that, Goku's superiority became clearer and clearer. The rivarly doesn't mean they will be equals in every saga. The time when you'll realise this and understand the current portrayal, maybe then you'll see the lightSo what it really comes down to is you either believe that Oda has been wasting the last 10 years building the rivalry between Smoker and Luffy and has thrown it away to the point Luffy can mid diff Smoker.
So yes i believe at this point Smoker isn't Luffy level, Smoker isn't Law level, Smoker isn't Vergo level, Smoker isn't Zoro level. He may be Sanji level. It's the facts that are presented currently