I speak about the crew and the captain is included for sure. But it doesn’t give a clue about his individual strength, for this it gives other hints.
I only quote Tenryuken because it’s Luffys declaration and he are right in this point. If he haven’t wrote this I would have missed this point.
Zoro will be an invincible swordsman and for me it included all kinds of enemies. So I believe Luffy and Zoro will be in the end even. For me Luffy will be in the end the strongest men like your hints shows, but only in muscle power. It gives more than strengths it is not only black and white like some people think. It gives the way of fighting. One boxer can make a stronger hit than a karateka. I see this for a long time in TV called “Galileo”. For me it is clear the karateka will beat the boxer although he is about 30% weaker than him.
I hope you understand my way of thinking, if not I do my best to show it to you.
i agree with you on your points on how it will end
yet people tend to take it as a fan boy ideal