Woah really? Because Enies Lobby felt like the least use of 'brute strength' overpowering considering all the powerups etc.
I think a lot of it goes back to:
1. This is a short arc.
2. Our crew just got a SHITLOAD of new power-ups that despite their use at EL, Oda has barely scratched the surface with them.
Think about Foxy. Granted it was even shorter than this but the 'fights' were relatively fun and concise. It moved along and gave us a nice breather before the MEGA-ARC W7/PT/EL.
As this is serving a similar purpose it's no surprise Oda is saving their big guns for the next round. He COULD have Nami whip out the Perfect Clima Tact and start doing new stuff, but….then when we get to a big fight of her's, what's he got? We could have Sanji showing us more Diable Jambe goodness, but then by the time we get to his next fight it's already gotten kind of old.
Oda's being safe and using different avenues. Which...I understand.
Me? Personally I was VERY happy regarding the character 'development' in that chapter for Sanji. Sure, we didn't learn about his wounded inner child, but we did find out that he always wanted a certain DF. This does a few very cool things.
1. It was funny to see his banter. I don't remember Sanji having a comical fight.
2. Besides Sanji wanting All Blue, which has nothing to do with him 'growing as a person' unlike the others, we got to know something he actually wanted.
3. The whole 'WHUT iF S4NJ1 8 A Dev1L5 Fruit!!!??1111?' crap can come to an end because we know his feelings on it.