I'm just saying, say if Luffy can't beat Lucci and NEEDS the help of everyone just to slow him down enough in order to escape. Kinda like his inability to beat Smoker.
It would be very lame for all this build-up to end with Luffy having to run alway.
Look, the problem is not the fact, it is how the story is built. When we see Luffy losing to Aokiji or Zoro losing to Mihawk, or when we see Luffy running from Smoker, there was no build up that led us to think that they were going to win or that they needed to win. In the particular cases of Aokiji and Mihawk actually, the story is built around their defeat. We do not feel disappointed when Aokiji or Mihawk wins, but people will certainly be disappointed if Luffy or Zoro lose in their final showdown.
So, if Luffy loses now, it will be very anti-climatic. That's my opinion.
EDIT: And about the story, I cannot download the images here in my work, so I can't comment it yet. I've read the translation, though, and I am pleased that Usopp at least did not run alway. This 'defeat' (the battle is not over yet) is indeed still part of his development, and left me intrigued about what will happen to Usopp next, but I am still a little disappointed because of Sanji's appearance. I mean, this battle will gonna rock, it is just not what I wanted to see the most. And, if Sanji does not fight Jabura in the end, then it will be the turn of Sanji fans to complain.