They are the strongest. Powerful and strongest are used interchangeably quite often. Plus we already know for a fact that two of the emperors at the time were indeed the strongest beings alive. The rest is just deductive reasoning.
The translation about political influence and stuff was done by a certain Mihawk/Zoro fanboy with a known bias against Shanks
The translation about political influence and stuff was done by a certain Mihawk/Zoro fanboy with a known bias against Shanks
