Things to keep in mind:
Here are my predictions:
And keep in mind I'm scaling with the assumption that rankings go like this; Pirate King > Yonkou >= Fleet Admiral > Admiral > Yonkou commander > Vice Admiral
Luffy - Starting with the least contentious.
- The crew is destined to be the greatest crew of all time
- The current generation is almost guaranteed to surpass the previous generation (Roger)
- Luffy formed a small crew that he claimed would be even greater than Shanks' so it's a must for everyone to be strong (Going off of the Bounty reveal chapter we know Shanks has no weak links in his crew as well)
- Currently only three or if you count Jinbe, four of the Strawhats can deal with a logia devil-fruit user (This means Loguetown Smoker would likely be able to wipe more than half the crew)
- Almost every somewhat formidable enemy in the New World can use haki of some kind. (If everyone on Amazon Lily can use haki, it is no stretch for the weaker SHs to be able to master at least one if not both basic forms of haki)
- Roger's crew had 3 confirmed Conqueror's haki users (Roger, Rayleigh, Oden) and plus potentially a fourth although it's unclear if Shanks developed it after Roger's pirates disbanded or not
- The SHs have to surpass Yonkou top tiers and compete with the Navy top tiers
Here are my predictions:
And keep in mind I'm scaling with the assumption that rankings go like this; Pirate King > Yonkou >= Fleet Admiral > Admiral > Yonkou commander > Vice Admiral
Luffy - Starting with the least contentious.
He may/may not become the strongest character to ever live by EoS, but he will definitely be the strongest PIRATE to ever live. I think we can all agree he will master all three forms of haki (if further mastery of Conquerors is possible), and awaken his devil-fruit by EoS. He will probably achieve a level of mastery over something that no other top tiers have before or he will otherwise have some kind of 'x-factor'.
Zoro - Probably the next easiest. Will obviously become the strongest swordsman which means being stronger than Mihawk. Mihawk's strength is somewhat unclear but most consider Mihawk >= Admiral at minimum and at peak Mihawk <= Yonkou. Considering Zoro is generally portrayed as being almost on par with Luffy and he's aiming to be STRONGER than Mihawk, I think Zoro has to be Yonkou level by EoS. As far as I'm concerned, Zoro is a guarantee for Conquerors Haki, and will have at least mastered an advanced form of armament haki (if there are multiple forms) as well.
Sanji - Get's harder now.IMO Sanji will be admiral level. Honestly I'm not basing this off of much aside from two reasons: 1) Sanji should be weaker than Zoro based on their goals and how the story has played out so far but should still be close enough in strength that the monster trio dynamic still exists, and 2) He needs to be at least that strong for the Strawhats to be able to compete with the Navy. He will have mastered an advanced form of haki and it could really go either way, but I'll go out on a limb and say Advanced Observation haki to contrast Zoro lol.
Jinbe - Big question mark???Honestly I personally doubt Jinbe will be any stronger than what he is right now by end of series and may even be weaker. I think he will return to Wano heavily nerfed in some way from the conflict with Big Mom. Maybe he will come to Wano weakened and slowly return to his previous power by EoS. Jinbe joining this late in the story I see him more as the wise, straight-man to support the SHs, who will probably mentor and maybe even teach haki to some members?... I could be sleeping on him but for multiple reasons I just see him growing the least in the crew.
Franky - No haki.As one of the current mid-tiers of the crew he has to be able to surpass characters like Oven, Perospero, Daifuku, Page One, Snack etc so I think we all agree Franky will have to be Yonkou commander level. I think Franky is probably the only Strawhat that can get away with not having any haki and I don't think it suits his character/fighting style to use haki. Franky relies on technology to fight, and I think to become stronger he will do that through improved technology instead of haki. I think he will fight with Seastone to compete with Logia and DF users and it may even be his next powerup considering Wano is the Seastone hotspot.
Brook - Both haki.As another mid-tier among the SHs the same thing goes as it does with Franky. He obviously has to be at a minimum Yonkou commander level and strong enough to compete with aforementioned characters. He fights up close and personal, his DF isn't particularly hax in fights so I think he will have need to have both basic observation and armament haki and the rest of his strength will come from improving his DF.
Robin - Both haki... Probably?Once again another mid-tier, will need to be able to compete with/surpass guys I mentioned with Franky so yeah, obviously without question commander level. It's hard to tell really how far she can take her DF but currently it seems that in the New World she has little destructive power/finishing power. Haki and the overall jump in power scaling made her abilities sort of hard to see winning in a lot of fights. It's hard to say because Robin has always fought with strategy using her DF creatively to win rather than raw power. Which is why it feels weird to think of her fighting with Armament haki. Observation haki I find less weird to imagine but nevertheless she really needs both as far as I can tell to stand a chance against the type of enemies she will need to face before EoS.
Chopper - Armament at least. I find the weak-trio the hardest to scale/predict. Personally, I don't think the weak-trio will really exist EoS. It seems too predictable that every character remains at the same ranking in strength for the entirety of the series and I think assuming that these three will remain the weakest is forcing past trends. I think the lines between the current mid-tiers and low-tiers in the SH crew will become blurred by end of series. Honestly, I think it's pretty clear all SH's will be Yonkou commander level at this point, it's just a question of where in that spectrum will they lie. Chopper personally I see him improving his devil fruit and awakening it more-so than building haki. Observation haki doesn't really seem fitting for a monster like Chopper, and I think being able to maintain Monster point indefinitely with armament haki would already make him devastating.
Nami - Weakest in the crew. Observation haki.I'm pretty confident in saying that Nami will end up the weakest in the crew. She will still be commander level but I really doubt she will surpass the Yonkou mid-tiers like Oven, Daifuku and so on. I think observation haki will be necessary to at least keep her out of harms way so she can deal damage since she is pretty much a glass-cannon, plus it suits her character and could potentially have some non-combat benefits like helping her ability to navigate and make maps by being more aware of her surroundings.
Usopp - LMAO Hear me out... All three types of haki.I know it might sound stupid as fkkk right now, but I think Usopp is the biggest wild card. IMO Usopp will bare minimum be the strongest between him, Chopper and Nami. And at maximum I feel he could end up the fourth strongest on the crew WITH conquerors haki to boot. I think he could end up reaching high Yonkou commander level, like Cracker and at the same time I also think he could remain in the bottom three of the crew HOWEVER, the bottom denominator for me is that he will still get conqueror's haki. I know it sounds outlandish, but let's look at the facts:
- Conqueror's haki criteria is still unclear, there multiple translations for it such as 'King', 'Warring King', 'Overlord', and of course, 'Conqueror'.
- All we know really according to Hancock is that it is possessed by those destined/predisposed to stand above others
- Usopp albeit unintentionally, has stood above the Tontattas as a leader, and later in a similar situation as God Usopp.
- Aside from Zoro and maybe Jinbe, there are no other candidates
- Usopp's dream is to be a brave warrior of the sea, so unless we are being cheap about the criteria he needs to fulfill this dream, he's going to have to no longer be a weakling
- Usopp's father is a legendary pirate
- Usopp was the fourth SH to discover haki
- Usopp's lies come true and he has lied (indirectly) about having conqueror's haki
- Usopp is far more than a comic relief character if we learnt anything from Water 7
- Roger had multiple conqueror's haki users
