It is absolutely not big hype for WB. He is staying true to his morals as a character. It wouldn't be good for him to betray Xebec I agree, cause that isn't WB but lmao at "big hype"
Big hype for the man called World's Strongest isn't running errands for another man while the narrator essentially calls it Xebec, Roger, and Garp's era.
Even having this discussion is a disservice to what WB stood for during MF. This is a textbook loss of aura. No one will be able to look at WB the same ever again. We went from him being a clear cut big dawg to celebrating him being a good first mate lmfao.
If you narrow it down to 3 non demon characters WB does not make the cut on this island. For any Yonkou that would be ok, for the WSM even at old age that is a fall from grace.
Standing side by side with Rocks to fight Imu, against overwhelming odds, isn't hype......get out of here lmao.
Whitebeard wasn't mentioned as a major player, because he was a part of Rocks. Underlings by default get this treatment, because when you talk about factions, by default you get the representative representing the factions (duh).
In raw strength, WB was up there with Roger. Roger was asking for WB in Shakky's bar, and we saw the Roger/WB clash last chapter (narrator intention being obvious).
It's same as Luffy, Law, Kid as the representatives of the alliance that took down Kaido/BM alliance. No mention of Zoro. One can make the argument that Law is comparable to Zoro, but lol at Kid being up there. Yet, it was Luffy, Law, Kid who were the representatives, because they are the leaders of the factions that faced Kaido.
Why would WB be a big dawg again in this flashback? Does he have a crew? Is he a representative of a faction?
Or is he just some super strong dude and RHM of Rocks? We all knew what Whitebeard's role was going to be in the flashback. He was obviously going to take a backseat when compared to Roger and especially Rocks.
Again, as Loda says, it is a matter of reading comprehension.
The only real loss of aura is simping over Shakky. Nothing else truly mattered IMO, aside from agenda nonsense. Especially from a pure strength PoV, Whitebeard doesn't have any negative feats or portrayal.