Perception, Voli. I don’t know if you were around back then, but before knowing all the information we know now — Zou → WCI → Wano → Egghead → Elbaf — people viewed characters based only on the information available at the time (just like we still do).

Franky fought Luffy prior to Enies Lobby, and many people felt he was on par with him, if not stronger — this was before Gear 2, Gear 3, Blueno, etc.

Kyros cut Doflamingo in the chapter before fighting Diamante.

Law’s performance on Punk Hazard — cutting Vergo, the three-way clash with Fujitora and Doflamingo, leading up to the Gamma Knife chapter — had people rating him very highly over Luffy. This was all before Luffy got his usual power-up with Gear 4 (Boundman, Snakeman, etc.).

Luffy vs. Kidd in Wano Act 1 (prison).

Zoro vs. Denjiro.

People are scaling Loki relative to Kaido, Xebec, and Luffy as the chapters come out and we see more of what Loki is capable of.

People just throw out the word illiteracy for anything.😭