I really can't digest the Koby hype Oda tries to push down on us, he is just too mediocre everytime on screen, if he was a VA already I would had given his a chance.
All that Hero parallel should had been given to Smoker.
Smoker and Fujitora should had been the charge of the new Marines
Why not? He's growing in strength, power and influence at a ridiculous speed in his own right. Ranks correlate more with experience than capability within the Marines (with the exception of promotion from Vice Admiral to Admiral). He can be heroic without being impressive
But that's besides the point - we don't know what he's truly capable of. What we do know is he is capable of using Rokushiki and Haki. This puts him at a decent standing in terms of power. Given Coby's punching missiles and torpedos dead-on without any damage, he's clearly at minimum capable of taking on guys like Franky or that ballpark of power and that was at the time of the Reverie - given his growth rate isn't too dissimilar from Luffy's I would not be surprised if he somehow got stronger while in captivity.
Smoker's also a hero of the Marines. He's credited with taking down Crocodile.
"Should had"? as if past tense? It hasn't happened yet but it's very clear Oda's gunning for Smoker, Tashigi, Coby, Helmeppo and Issho being influential in changing the Marines for the better.