You can laugh all you want.. you know damn well that statement is in the manga lol. Right in the chapter where Zoro unlocks CoC coating. With WSS being the title which requires a Kingly ambition.
CoC is genetics one part, and not so much on the other. What genetics did Rayleigh or Zoro have?
An inferior Swordsman to Mihawk already did that. And Mihawk duelled the second coming of that person, in duels so legendary that Whitebeard took notice of it when they were literally teens lmao.
Yea yea all this damage control aint saving the simple fact that upon seeing Shanks CoC appear from 1000 miles away, Greenbull lost his shit... all the while admitting he wouldnt ever approach Wano had Kaidou been alive.
In fact starting from his reaction to Yamato's CoC, Shanks' CoC... he merely served to hype Conquerors Haki lol.
Yeah yea "feats" are now whats important... when Oda compares Mihawk to Shanks as a rival while Greenbull is used as a hypetool. When Akainu's equal Kuzan is getting his face shoved in by a retirement age CoC user.
But Admirals are gifted the benefit of the doubt simply because theyre "Top tiers" amirite?