But he has a point.. Why not the Admiral candidates why thhese new unknown bozos
And who the hell knows how strong the old VA's were..
Imo this is because there are 2 major wars with Marines coming and Oda had to separate the idea of VAs from the Zodiacs.
You have this one with Kizaru and basic VAs.
Then you have Akainu with his new military, i.e. 2 Recruited/Conscripted Admirals and 7 Zodiac VAs minus Kizaru and Aokiji.
Basically how this is an assault of 10 Marine Members, the war with Akainu will primarily focus on 10 major Marines (i.e. Zodiac) as well (with other VAs being small focal points).