@TLC:
Just because Zoro didn't bleed a billion buckets like usual against Pica doesn't mean he didn't have a hard fight or his opponent wasn't a worthy adversary. It was a different kind of fight to the usual slash and damage each other as much as you can fight. It was more about wits and tactics and first one to outsmart his opponent and land a blow wins. Zoro was still tired as fuck by the end of it, he expended a lot of energy and had to go to some lengths to beat him. Damage does not equal difficulty of fight. Pica was simply a different kind of opponent than the usual direct combat fighters Zoro faced, more reliant on evasion than his usual opponents. His main body being beaten as soon as he was exposed just goes to show how reliant he is on his fruit (with that said, he still showed a degree of strength and endurance than most in his base form, just not enough for Zoro).
I see where people are coming from with the Pica fight, honestly, as I think in a partially similar way. Like, Zoro got out unscathed from his fight with Ryuma, which was also quite fast, but the feeling is different. Ryuma went at it blow for blow with Zoro till the last aerial face off, where Zoro won. Pica, on the other hand, got outclassed in the strength department fairly early, and Zoro proclamed his superiority right there. Afterwards, Pica resorted to hit'n'run and losing Zoro, which means he's smarter than he looks and Zoro admited he fell for it, and needed help to bring Pica down. BUT, what I mean is, the feeling you get from this fight is that Pica realized Zoro was stronger than him and changed strategies, avoiding a direct confrontation. This is not the best way to give the reader the impression that this high executive officer is the real deal.
That being said, I enjoyed Pica vs. Zoro for the creativity of the DF usage and the coreography we got from it, and the chapter were Zoro defeats Pica is, hands down, the single most impressive post timeskip action piece, specially art wise. The double spread where Pica is cut in half is breathtaking, among the nicest things Oda's ever drawn. So no, I won't be the one to talk shit about that fight. But still, as things are, and as strategically and smartly as Pica tried to tackle his fight with Zoro, in the end it was just a matter of, as soon as I see you, you're mincemeat.
Finally, a similar fight was against Mr.1, in that till Zoro got the hang out of cutting steel, he couldn't deal any damage. The difference was that, meanwhile, Daz got in a gazillion, super painful hits, while Zoro not cutting Pica earlier didn't provide him with any damage or injury.
@TLC:
I thought they were easily on the level of BW and CP9. Their disjointed fightsand that they fought a lot of non Strawhat combatants might not give that impression but in terms of creativity and how much trouble they gave their opponents? Easily.
I wouldn't say on the same level as these two groups. They manages to be a match even for Zoro and Sanji, both times. The thing with the Dofla family is that they are probably more than a match for 6/9 Strawhat members. . .but combining Zoro, Sanji and Luffy would probably seriously decimate 70% of the family on their own. With BW and CP9, that wasn't the case, as just one of their upper members was enough to keep each of the monster trio at bay.
This makes me think though that there's a huge fucking gap between the MT and the rest. I mean, probably Monet, a non-seated officer, was enough te destroy all the non-CoA useing SH's, that is to say, all of them besides Luffy, Zoro, Sanji.
@Jazo:
Really, as kouch_lee pointed out, the officers aren't weak. Previously, it has only been strawhat members, who have been fighting. But this time, we have allies who are outclassed only by Luffy, Zoro and probably Sanji. Doffy being equally as strong as Law and Luffy combined, in addition to the stronger than usual allies, results in the officers looking sort of weak, while they aren't. Doffy's crew easily outmatches Luffy's.
As I said before, they have tons of tricky fellows (Giolla, Pica, Sugar), and they have a bigger crew, and we've seen that the non-MT strawhats had a hard time during their encounters with the non-seated officers. . .but as soon as Luffy, Zoro and Sanji enter the fray, they could possibly do a number on even the strongest family officers.