Dark King is his epithet. Brook is Soul King, Hancock us Empress... that has nothing to do with PL.
Rayleigh is known as Roger RH. That's Rayleigh hype and portrayal. If he wasnt ex Roger VC, he wouldn't gain that much importance and hype.
I will take WB statement over yours
WB saying it is bad by SEEING Oden tells me Oden isnt way far from him whether WB midd or high diff doesnt matter much here.
You also forgot Rayleigh was sailing for years...
Oden sailed 2 years or so with WB, then left and went to Roger for a year... the last 4 years if his life was spent in wano.
Th people remembers him as commanded of WB and as someone who sailed with Roger. Coz that's what he was ! Somehow you expect Oden to be known what? VC?RH? He cant be at all since he joined WB or Roger when they already established their crews...
Almost everyone outside wano, dont even know he is dead or scarred Kaido!
WB himself hyped a weaker Oden than the one Kaido fought.
I rather take his words than yours
1. Brook's "soul king" is an epithet he got when he wasn't being a pirate, that was his name when he was doing concerts.
2. Hancock is known as the Pirate Empress, because she's the current Empress of Amazon Lilly.
Rayleigh is known as Roger's Right Hand, yes. Is that all of Rayleigh's hype and portrayal? No.
- Considered to be of the same threat level as the strongest of the Emperors, by Garp The Hero
- Fought Kizaru on par after not having picked up the sword in years
If Whitebeard mid-diffs Oden, that means there's a huge gap between them. If Whitebeard, high-diffs Oden, that means there's a decent gap between them. So what do you mean it doesn't matter here? Loll.
- No people don't remember he sailed with Roger. Only veteran marines like Sengoku, who kept great Intel, knew he accompanied the Pirate King on his last voyage to Raftel.
Strawhats knew Rayleigh by name.
Same strawhats had no idea about Oden & relation to Roger.
Sakazuki, the current Fleet Admiral, only knew Oden as being one of the division commanders of Whitebeard's crew:
It was Sengoku, a veteran marine, who kept great intel, who let him know that Oden accompanied Roger to the final voyage:
The guy who Roger called his "partner" vs a mere division commander. Do tell me how you logically find them to be even comparable. If Oden was some great super duper top tier that could challenge the big dogs of that era, he wouldn't just be known as a mere division commander on Whitebeard's ship.. Especially if he was on par with Rayleigh.
Oden isn't even in the same atmosphere as Rayleigh, let alone the same level.