I'm guessing you weren't reading it weekly back then.
In terms of strength? Remember the move they pulled on the giant fish? We didn't see another move like that until Mihawk, and there were Crocodile, Enel and Lucci inbetween. They were also implied to be both physically exhausted, wounded and have equipment that hadn't undergone any maintenance in literal centuries.
100 million was also more than Crocodile, despite being the main villain of the same whole saga.
So no, not "Pirate King level", but they were certainly hyped to be legends.