Quote Originally Posted by Assertn
Ace was considered respectably strong before he got his power, and did Blackbeard scar Shanks before he got his power?

Of course there are some exceptions. They even went out of their way to point out that Ace was a great fighter before getting a devil's fruit and had Blackbeard's marksman comment on his actual fighting ability. Still, I would feel confident saying that 80-85% of fruit users would be henchmen level at best without their powers.