Kidany: Thank your for your input. You DO have some good points there. I honestly didn't expect all of the NW to be overpowered pirates who can rip the SH apart anytime.
But if you look how the story is going, the SH keep meeting stronger and stronger enemies and are having more of a "tough" time beating them fully if at all fully. Recently Luffy had to rely on Gears and Shadows to finish the job. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE THE GEARS and I would definitely love to see them develop but with such a strong ability comes a consequence of health and longevity.
I DO NOT see the SH encountering alot (if any) weaker opponents than what we have seen. IMO, Oda has set the bar when it comes to how good Luffys opponents are and after every major battle it raises up to a standard that would dissapoint many if the next big enemy was weaker than the last, it's just not fun to watch.
Now what I mean by weaker doesn't only mean brute strength, it could also mean strategic strength, mental strength and other strengths of true battle.
I just can't shake what Aokiji said when he first encountered the SH, about the levels of your DF power and how to master it and I see something like this coming to Luffy.
Zoro and Sanji, as normal humans, have shown countless of times how strong they are and how they can deal with alot of situations and for that they get respect and little worries about there longevity in the battlefield. I am just really curious how the enemys and battles will go here on out in the story and I can't help but see some sort of advancement in the SH, just like when Luffy first revealed Gear, that was an epic jump in his power and I feel that something similar is going to happen.
We have no choice but to leave it in Odas hands but I am curious to the dreams and hopes of OP lovers as far as what will cause this boost or an ease in the mind as they head toward the NW and God knows what!