He's been cleared the Admiral/Yonko convos since chapter 432. As an entity he's above the cop-robber games of Marines/Pirates.
How he scales against Imu is the only question at this point, for me. Though, idrc about powerscaling agendas, just speaking narrative stuff.
There's a possibility he's stronger than Imu, but not stronger than w.e the entity is that possesses Imu. Could easily see it where Dragon is the one who pushes that entity to come out in full power (the giant figure we see in the mural), which then requires Luffy being the main one to beat it.