As I understand it, the "Admiral Candidates" (Tokikake and Gion) were fan made VAs that Oda decided to make canon.
However, neither of them have ever been referred to as "Admiral Candidates" in the manga itself. The term "Admiral Candidates" or other references to the concept doesn't seem to have appeared anywhere in the manga.
That said, there does seem to be a Zodiac theme with the Admirals that has been continued with some of the VAs. Whether these Zodiac VAs are actually candidates for Admiral promotion is as far as I can tell, still up in the air.
Is the fandom getting ahead of itself here?
However, neither of them have ever been referred to as "Admiral Candidates" in the manga itself. The term "Admiral Candidates" or other references to the concept doesn't seem to have appeared anywhere in the manga.
That said, there does seem to be a Zodiac theme with the Admirals that has been continued with some of the VAs. Whether these Zodiac VAs are actually candidates for Admiral promotion is as far as I can tell, still up in the air.
Is the fandom getting ahead of itself here?