except that after the time skip, luffy has beaten all his opponents, and smoker has been getting fodderized.
I think you have a weird way of defining fodderized. Since I remember the word fodderized was meant when someone was defeated without any effort.
Just goes to show the Smoker hate now is completely stupid. People ignore Smoker's feats in Punk Hazard.
- Dominated Law in physical strength
- Was able to fight Law when Law had his room on
- Showed Haki feats and could injure Vergo in a physical contest
- Tanked a full Haki hit from Vergo without any internal damage while Sanji was damaged by a non Haki kick
- Luffy had to run so fast fire caught behind him to keep up with Smoker in speed
But no most people now don't even try to interpret manga anymore and so automatically if one character loses it means there weak (even if that character lost on purpose)...Smoker is still IMO anyway stronger than Zoro (only just mind you) and it would take Luffy High - Extreme difficulty to beat him.
Anyway I suspect Smoker will do a Garp and continue to be a Vice Admiral since becoming an Admiral would restrict his freedom to chase Luffy, As much as I hate Coby, Coby will be a future Admiral and will one day be the Fleet Admiral. While Smoker will only ever have his own justice in mind and chase Luffy.
Also anyone who believes Smoker will join the revolutionary army are blind, Smoker is marine through and through he cares about his subordinates and the civilians of the world he will continue to protect them as a marine no matter what.