User blog comment:AYET/Luffy alone or combined effort/@comment-10543621-20150517071143/@comment-24769684-20150517114140

It's also important to remember Hody and Caesar. If Luffy had faced them at pre-timeskip strength, things would have gone very differently. Hody would have been exceedingly difficult, while Caesar would probably be nigh impossible due to Luffy's previous inability to hit Logias. The time skip did have an effect. But it can only go so far.