@ysn:
Ivotas, in the end i fail to see what's your point in the whole discussion. You are clearly refusing to accept any arguments i put forward and in the same time to me it seems you are not contributing anything to the topic.
I know you don't know this, and so I feel it my duty to point it out, but the exact same thing can be said about you.
The last few pages of this thread bare a striking resemblance to a circle.
@ysn:
Yet in past arks he has outgrown this and showed us attacks WITHOUT swords
And Sanji has shown us attacks with weapons. Whats your point?
@ysn:
with DIFFERENT NUMBERS of swords
Sanji has used both 1 and 2 legs for his attacks. Unless you expect him to grow and use a third leg I fail to see what your point is here.
@ysn:
from a DISTANCE
Unless I'm mistaken (and I quite possibly am), he only showed this for the first time on the Rocket Man, meaning Sanji could quite easily be concealing a similiar attack and not had the need/oppurtunity to use it, or that he is about to learn Rankyaku from his coming fight. Simliar to how Luffy learned Soru.
If either case is true, then how does that make it any differant from Zoro's case?
Of course, all this is invalid if I'm wrong, and he unveiled it several hundred chapters ago
@ysn:
What has Sanji shown to match this?
The aforementioned, and quickly dismissed Concasse, since you ask.
A good move, but more than anything, a smart move. He revolved several hundred times in the air in the space of a few seconds to exponentially increase the power behind a single kick.
Not as huge a leap forward as cutting metal or air blades, but a damn good start by anyone's standards.
@ysn:
what hurdles has Sanji overcome?
He hasn't really, admittedly. But he's about to overcome a major mental block as far as I can see.
For the record, I think Sanji will fight Calipha, and will win by the following. She'll keep ragging on Robin, and how she deserves to die simply for existing etc. Sanji will decide that while she may be a woman, she ain't no lady and will start fighting her seriously, unveiling the ability to do Rankyaku or whatever afterwards.
Also, I think Sanji fought the stronger opponent in the Arlong Park arc, and Zoro the weirder. The Karate dude from that arc seemed to be a lot more powerful both physically, and authoritavely.
Might not mean much, but there is precedent from that alone for Sanji being as strong as, if not stronger than Zoro at one point in the manga.
Most of all, remember this is Shounen, and obeys simple Shonen laws. In this case, the strongest members can't have a big enough power differance that fans of the under dog(s) have to admit defeat. See Goku and Vegeta, Ichigo and Ishida, Naruto and Sasuka, and even Luffy and Zoro for precedent of this simple fact.
The fans of the under dog must always be able to argue that their fav is stronger, and be able to convince themselves at least, even if they can't convince anyone else. The power differance does have to be big enough to noticable though, to give rise to the rivalry.
Oh, and just so its said, please don't claim that you're not biased. Everyone is biased, in some way, about everything they know of. Its an undeniable, simple and above all human fact.
In my case, I'm biased in that I like everyone on the crew, and don't like to see anyone raised unjustly above the others, when they so plainly (to me at least) aren't in most cases that far from each other in strength.
As I see it, the power level would be:
Luffy –> Robin --> Zoro --> Sanji
and then a confused muddle afterwards. And a muddle that makes no differance to this argument, so one I won't go into.
I see very little in the way of differance between Zoro, and Sanji, but just enough of a one to be noticable in Zoro's favour.
And hell, Robins powers are so odd, she may just rank above Luffy.