So far Oda only gave the title of "great pirate" to yonkos. So interesting that he decided to give it to Roger at this point when Whitebeard was only referenced as "captain of the Whitebeard pirates"
That means that Roger had the edge as a pirate over Whitebeard at this point(probably due to God Valley event), but i'm loving the implication behind this since it goes in hand with my assumption that Whitebeard caught up to Roger after battles with him earning his scars
It's also interesting to see Oda drawing the rivalry between both crews with the Whitebeard pirates news overshadowing Roger pirates news to the point of them being jealous of it
And now, Roger is aiming at meeting the "samurai" Oden, which could potentially lead to the start of the battle rivalry between Roger and Whitebeard
Please Oda don't off-panel it
Also loved the development Oda is doing with Oden's adventure that is also in a way showing the Whitebeard pirates adventure comparatively to Roger's, at a period he had no illness
By the way, Oden was in awe of Whitebeard's power
On the other hand, Whitebeard wanted to show his "brother" the greatest adventure he had ever seen, likely leading to the first meeting between Oden and Rayleigh. Always wondered who was fighting Rayleigh when Whitebeard was fighting Roger, so with Oden's involvement, it makes more sense