User blog comment:Kaido King of the Beasts/Chapter 837: Cracking Cracker/@comment-25926617-20160825155806/@comment-24850639-20160825212043

- Always assume Luffy gets stronger between fights, even if no training or preparation of any kind is shown. I know there's no real logic to it, but its always a fair assumption to make with the Straw Hats in this series. If "having trouble" is simply defined as taking some hits and/or certain attacks not working, then Luffy is going to "have trouble" with everyone he fights. This series would get boring real fast if Luffy just outright dominated all his opponents, and didn't take some bumps here and there to make things interesting. You gotta remember that one of Luffy's biggest draws as a fighter is his adaptability, and there's usually a bit of trial and error on his part to figure out his opponents.

- Also, the circumstances of the Doffy fight were a little different. Neither of them were exactly at 100%, and Doffy was able to constantly give himself makeshift first aid. Not to mention Doffy was the head honcho Luffy fought for all the marbles, while currently Cracker is just a subordinate in the way of much bigger plans. There's all kinds of crazy things still on the horizon in this storyline, I can't imagine we're gonna waste much more of it stuck in this forest. Cracker was the guy put in charge of keeping them there, so he HAS to go down.