@Akkiosoregan:
Actually croc was not a beast at all. In all three fights all croc did was throw his sand powers around and swing his hook, no punches no kicks. Luffy half dead at the end of the first fight almost broke croc's wrist. In the second fight he hit croc so hard he knocked him through a stone building. In the third fight Luffy was smashing rock with every other attack he threw and he punched croc through solid bedrock and the buildings on top of it. Luffy wins in physical strength hands down.
In toughness it's closer. First fight Luffy stabbed through the gut and croc takes no damage. Second fight croc takes two punches in the face, a pair of knees to the chin and a bazooka shot - Luffy gets dried out. Third fight Luffy gets poisoned while croc takes multiple punches and kicks and a rubber storm. Overall Luffy takes three extremely lethal attacks and keeps going while croc takes several punches and kicks. I think I'd say the person who survived three normally deadly injuries to come back and win was the tougher person.
The fact that croc was dropped by Luffy shows that he had more endurance simply because Luffy kept standing - Croc didn't.
In all three areas Luffy was superior the story itself proves it.
Did you look at the episodes carefully. Remember Crocodile was effortlessly fighting Luffy until the third match.
Croc vs. Luffy the first match: was not even a fight Crocodile dominated and could of easily killed Luffy. If Nico Robin did not save him the sereies would have been over.
Croc vs. Luffy second match: Crocodile was punched got up and laughed, Crocodile was hit with a Gomu Gomu no Pistol in the face then he laughed again. Then he got wet by Mizu Luffy and could not move Luffy delivered a powerd up Bazooka in close range to his guts and flew into a building (Destroyed the building) then Crocodile got up and started to laugh and told Nico Robin to get out of here because he has lost his patience… which also prooves that he was playing with Luffy the whole fight. then he drained Luffy and should have made sure he was dead.
In the third fight it is more hand to hand combat, Crocodile poisoned Luffy, but Luffy put in alot of Combos on Crocodile but Crocodile was still not phased he kept laughing and telling Luffy that he could not save Alalbasta then Crocodile still took Luffy's Storm attack. Not even Ener took that after a few combos and a Bazooka Ener was down for the count.
Luffy should have died by Crocodile the first two times they met, Crocodile underestimated Luffy three times, this is what kept Luffy alive. It was nothing Luffy did it was what CrocodileDID NOT DO. So yes Crocodile was the toughest bastard that the Mugiwara pirates have faced, that is the level of a Shichibukai.