It has become clear that the old gen was tossed in the trashcan during the God Valley flashback so we can focus on more important things. The new gens — Luffy, Blackbeard, Loki, Shirahoshi, Vivi — are all connected to the Void Century and/ or the ancient gods/ weapons in some way. And the mid gens — Shanks, Mihawk, Dragon and Akainu — are all going to be central figures in the upcoming global conflict that we still know next to nothing about.
We were all under the impression that the mid gens walked in the shadow of the old legends (e.g. Shanks can't be above Roger, Akainu can't be above Garp, so on and so forth) because everything revolved around the Pirate King status, but now we know that its importance is relative and Roger was just a stepping stone, and the power levels have changed, leaving the old gen as a whole in the dust.
It's possible that not only will the new gen become stronger in the near future, but the mid gen will be revealed to have always been stronger or to have had more “potential”. Shanks descends from the first 20 families, the same as Imu, and he is the Child of Destiny. Mihawk is stronger than Shanks, has a Black Blade (which connects him to Ryuma), and might be related to the Nerona family. Dragon might have an ancient god fruit. Akainu might become the strongest Marine in history and lead the Navy to secede from the WG.
The old gen was only relevant for hyping up the Marineford and the Yonko sagas. They are by no means connected to the endgame, unlike the mid and new gens. They are actually silver medalists.
We were all under the impression that the mid gens walked in the shadow of the old legends (e.g. Shanks can't be above Roger, Akainu can't be above Garp, so on and so forth) because everything revolved around the Pirate King status, but now we know that its importance is relative and Roger was just a stepping stone, and the power levels have changed, leaving the old gen as a whole in the dust.
It's possible that not only will the new gen become stronger in the near future, but the mid gen will be revealed to have always been stronger or to have had more “potential”. Shanks descends from the first 20 families, the same as Imu, and he is the Child of Destiny. Mihawk is stronger than Shanks, has a Black Blade (which connects him to Ryuma), and might be related to the Nerona family. Dragon might have an ancient god fruit. Akainu might become the strongest Marine in history and lead the Navy to secede from the WG.
The old gen was only relevant for hyping up the Marineford and the Yonko sagas. They are by no means connected to the endgame, unlike the mid and new gens. They are actually silver medalists.
