Whoa, wait a minute. I think you're mixing up something rn.
As I said, I don't plan to debate about Zoro vs Kidd/Kidd vs Law or anything like that. I simply tried to explain his importance as a rival which Law clearly gave up since Dressrosa.
And no, bounties are not always portrayal. Sanji's bounty is bigger than Zoro's, yet Zoro is significantly stronger than him.
The fact that Luffy, despite his high bounty, wasn't even viewed as a big threat for Blackbeard should tell you how he viewed Luffy, even with the fake news. "It is still too soon for you, Mugiwara!".
Of course this will change after Wano but you cannot tell me that their bounty gap clearly portrayed the difference of their individual power.
I'm not claiming that the one with the higher bounty is also the stronger one, my bad if that came off that way.
- Queen has a higher bounty than Kata, but Katakuri whoops his ass imo.
I do believe that Oda puts character's bounties in a bracket to show how some characters are relative to each other.
- Capone/Hawkins/Apoo/Drake having similar bounties
- Commanders being above 800m and around 1B
- Yonkou between 4-5B
Etc
I think its striking when Oda gives Luffy a more than 3× higher bounty than Kid, also, putting Blackbeard much, much lower than the other Yonko.
Furthermore i think that BB telling Luffy it's too early doesn't necessarily mean there's no rivalry, but that Luffy is closing in, still a good bit below, but also a decent bit above his former peers, the supernova.
If that makes sense?