User blog comment:AYET/Luffy alone or combined effort/@comment-24769684-20150515120029

It's always been a combined effort. Luffy would have never gotten this far if Law hadn't "pre-cooked" Doflamingo per se. It was only by working together that the two managed to injure Doflamingo, and Law was only able to roast Doffy's organs because Luffy helped him.

The fact is, it's the fucking New World. Doflamingo is a Shichibukai, for crying out loud. And unlike Crocodile and Moriah, the two major Shichibukai antagonists of Paradise, Doflamingo's fatal flaw increases his battle capability. It has long been known that he is one of the toughest people in One Piece, and he is clearly showing it.

I should also point out that the two-year timeskip is not a cure-all. Firstly, all the fights would be boring if that happened. Luffy's fights in Fishman Island and Punk Hazard were both exceptionally easy, bleeding to death notwithstanding. If this had continued, the threat of the New World would have significantly decreased. We knew that Luffy was going up a whole new level before Dressrosa, especially given Doflamingo's and his minions' displays of power in PH.

And the fact is, Doflamingo's power is nothing compared to Kaido and the other Yonko. Luffy has a LONG way to go if he wants to become the Pirate King, which is why he will slowly but surely become stronger. He didn't become stronger on Rusukaina in a few days, it took two years for him to develop his level of skill. And the amount of power you can gain in two years is still finite. So the boost Luffy received after these two years is not going to cover him completely in the New World. He just has to keep pressing on.

And as with any manga/anime, the fans are going to complain regardless of what happens. If Leo Bazooka had defeated Doffy for real, they would be complaining that Doflamingo and his abilities were a disappointment. But since he's not down, people are instead turning to Luffy being weak instead. There's always something in manga that people expect too much of, and this is a moment where heads are going to butt no matter what.

So to answer your question, it's always been a combined effort. And I don't think it suffered because of that.