I Don't think he should be even in talks with being a yonko. I mean he could give a admiral like kizaru and fujitora a mid difficult fight, but at the end of the day I still say that kizaru and fujitora is going to win, but luffy can tango with them.

An admiral should still be above him.

It was fake news by Morgans who embellished the report and made it seem like the BM pirates were defeated by Luffy and co hence the dramatic and exaggerated bounty increase.

So no, he isn't qualified to be a Yonko even when taking into account he has a Grand Fleet and the most subordinates of anyone other than the Yonkos themselves.

Yonko level, Admiral level, & Shichibukai level is far too vague. God Tier, High Tier, Mid Tier and Low Tier works better. You can even have sub categories in each tier Low High Tier, High Mid tier. I consider Luffy a high tier and could compete with a Admiral. Not exactly win tho but isn't out classed.

If we consider White Beard Admiral could stomp Akainu then that means Luffy isn't there yet. Then there is also the fact that Katakuri is kept on a tight leash by Big Mom and he barely lost to Luffy. Oda is at least consistent with the Captain & First Mate dynamic so Big Mom should be significantly more powerful than Katakuri.

Not so much power-wise, but his influence is getting there imo

Yea not yet. Big Mom was gonna mop him and the Straw Hats up with no difficulty. Katakuri also gave him a beating and only really lost because he stabbed himself.

However he's certainly climbing up

But then again Luffy only got stabbed because Kata's sister cheated.

But yeah, agree with everything else you said.

True but he didn't exactly have a handle on the fight beforehand really.

Cheating in one piece. Ha! Oda has made it clear that Luffy has no objections to having help against opponents he can't defeat.

Doffy, & Cracker come to mind.