Honestly, I don't buy those 'Muh, I feel someone powerful' statements anymore. Luffy, zoro, sanji felt caribou, a hakilet fodder, and described him as 'wild beast'. Wb felt Oden, someone significantly inferior to him, and described him as 'something incredible'.
Luffy described Hyouzou as 'pretty strong', yet zoro almost fell asleep while destroying his testo filled ass
Just oda's way to keep the tension before someone gets swiped the floors with.