User blog comment:Ricizubi/Luffy's Evolution and why becoming pirate king is going to be quite a storytelling challenge/@comment-24850639-20180425150311/@comment-24850639-20180427145011

Oh it's definitely a possibility, I'm not doubting that. Oda has made it very clear that he will take our theories and use them as toilet paper whenever he damn well pleases lol. I think I'm just so set in my way of thinking about it because he has made Luffy's end game blatantly obvious from Day 1. We've never NOT known that Luffy wants to be the Pirate King. However the circumstances and necessities for him actually achieving this goal is what Oda is using Luffy's journey for. Along this journey, he has reaffirmed Luffy's determination at very key points. Not only does Luffy want to be Pirate King, but Luffy wants to reach this goal HIS WAY. Losing a crewmate (Nami, Robin, Sanji) was not acceptable under any circumstances. He wants this journey to be an adventure with the people he loves, and he's realized over this course of this journey that this means he needs to be strong enough to protect them. He's dealt equally with opponents that tell him he has no idea what he's getting himself into (Crocodile, Moriah, Caesar) and opponents that have physically forced humility into him (Smoker, Kuzan, Katakiri). His determination has perservered through all of it not just for the sake of his dream, but also for the sake of his crew, and the latter is what really has me sold. Due to Luffy's actions his crew has targets on their backs, and he has to be able to protect the crew from the most prominent of these threats, the Yonko. It's too late in the story to say "Geez, maybe I shouldn't have gotten my family and friends targeted by pissing off literally 2 of the 4 most individually powerful pirates in the world.....", so Luffy has to become strong enough to protect his crew from them.

My question to you would be, whats the alternative then? I already find it meta-breaking that there are SEVERAL characters who have power levels that would qualify them as a "final boss". Yeah Blackbeard has 2 Devil Fruits, but Big Mom has been controlling what are basically 2 devil fruit powers for longer than we even know who Blackbeard was. Kaido just straight up doesn't lose in a one-on-one fight. Despite that, Shanks still somehow managed to convince him otherwise against going after Whitebeard, knowing how much the guy loves battle. Akainu displayed a still unprecedented resistance to Busoshoku Haki as a logia user, battled Kuzan for 10 days and emerged victorious as fleet admiral. One Piece has been shaping up to end in a way VERY MUCH unlike Bleach and Dragonball for quite some time. I can't say the same about Naruto because I'm seeing this all ending with a big climactic world war. But in either case, I'm expecting it to still be debatable if Luffy is ACTUALLY the strongest character in the world. By the end of the series I still expect there to be a case for certain people being able to give him a run for his money in a one-on-one fight. Roger wasn't DEFINITIVELY stronger than Garp or Edward Newgate.