Issue is that
距離 ("distance") is indeterminate, there is no specification for
what distance he is referring to. Even if it is referring to some sort of non-physical distance, nothing narrows it down to it being specifically about power difference. It's clear Oda was being deliberately ambiguous with Mihawk saying
本当の距離 (“the true distance”).
It could be referring to the power difference between Whitebeard and "us", but nothing rules out it also referring to the actual distance between Whitebeard and the Navy/Warlords not being what it seems due to Whitebeard's defenders.
It isn't a power comparison between the two "World's Strongest", Whitebeard and Mihawk, because Mihawk says "that man and us", so it is between Whitebeard and "us", not Whitebeard and Mihawk.
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Oda also has these dots around the word "本当" which is for emphasis of a word, like bold or italics.
When translated it would be like
"the
true distance between ourselves and that man, who seems so close…"
This just makes it more ambiguous, but there is a clear juxtaposition between Whitebeard seeming (physically) close but perhaps not actually being as close as he seems.