Apologies, I took some time to think about Zoro/Sanji/King/Queen.
Sanji's not gonna cut flames, but I do think (the Sanji who kicked Queen out of the country) he has capabilities put him up there with the guys on the roof.
Sure, I'd agree that he can keep up overall.
Like I said, I have current Sanji ~ pre advanced conqueror's Zoro (i.e rooftop Zoro) overall.
But just on pure attack power alone? I don't think Sanji can replicate what Zoro did in the rooftop. Have attack power high enough comparable to those which make Kaido dodge, cut his scales etc? That's a hard claim to make.
At least as fighters, I'll concede there's a gap between King and Queen that is noticeable in fighting. But I can't write Sanji off because his opponent wasn't like King. Sanji practically owned Queen in a short time once his body was right. Zoro needed to tame Enma to beat King, figure out his secret, then overpower King. It wasn't as emphatic as Sanji's win.
Yeah, I'd agree that Sanji basically mid diff'd Queen after his germa biology awakened.
Him falling injured and exhausted was probably a result of the damage and effort he put before Germa biology got triggered.
Current Sanji, starting from full power/health, mid diff's Queen.
Still, I don't see why this isn't something which can't be replicated by rooftop Zoro.
Sanji was smacking around Queen even BEFORE his Germa bio awakened. The biggest issue Sanji had prior, was that Queen was simply too tanky for Sanji to do anything. Only after Germa awakening, did Sanji have the attack power to deal meaningful damage to Queen.
This wouldn't be an issue that rooftop Zoro would face. The dude was striking hard enough to damage Kaido and make him dodge. And Kaido is far more tanky than Queen.
I think Sanji can figure out the body secret. He has speed and endurance to not be taken out by the time he figures it out. Whether he has the attack power to defeat King is the only question here. He doesn't need to have a single attack on the scale of Zoro's ACoC techs, but Sanji could probably whip something up in the ballpark imo - and maybe that's enough. It's a bit of a punt, but I'd back Sanji to beat King.
For the sake of the argument, let's consider that Sanji knows King's powers from the very beginning of the fight.
Now what?
King's default mode is his defense mode to begin with (whenever we saw him prior to Zoro's fight, he always had the fire burning behind him).
What if King decides to stay in defense mode forever and fight Sanji?
King's defense mode had attack power, CQC/speed and physical strength on the ballpark as Zoro himself (around same level in base, somewhat above Zoro's in hybrid/zoan mode).
King's defense >> Zoro's attack power (rooftop) > current Sanji's attack power
(considering Zoro couldn't even scratch King prior to advanced conqueror's haki)
Sanji will basically be facing someone who's stats scale comparable to pre advanced conqueror's Zoro, but pretty much invulnerable to whatever Sanji can pull off.
To make matters worse, King can even explode himself upon contact with zero repercussions, and pull out magma esque attacks in his defense mode.
How would Sanji get past King if he stays in his defense mode?
Knowledge of how King's body works wouldn't have helped Zoro much, if he didn't get advanced conqueror's to begin with. In fact, I wonder what was even the point of that knowledge, when in the end Zoro didn't apparently need it at all, except for landing a couple of hits.
The last magma dragon attack King used, was in his defense mode. No advanced conqueror's = Zoro's final attack does Zero damage to King.
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If King fights in character, and sometimes tweaks to land attacks easier, then I can see Sanji dealing some damage. In which case, King beats Sanji with the same difficuly that he was beating pre advanced conqueror's Zoro - a mid diff.
