Shachi or penguin would be no 2 if the spread was about organization skills or who's the vice captain of the org. But it's about strength so Bepo is there.
>I selected the #2s as I saw fit
This is his response while the fan asks if Bepo is stronger...
If it was about strength, he would just confirm what the fan asks.
>Usually, Shachi and Penguin are more
dependable
>they are no match for Sulong Bepo in combat
>They
acknowledge that
It means Bepo is ultimately more
dependable, because he is significantly stronger.
It means Bepo made it into the #2s spread because he is more dependable.
Just like Shiryu is more dependable than Kuzan because he can critically injure Garp while Kuzan cant.
The captains are usually the most dependable members of their crews but they are automatically disqualified from this spread because they are disqualified as #2s and this is not because of strength.
Oda wanted a spread of biggest names of those organizations that are not the captains and while strength is partically the reason why they are the 2nd biggest names, the spread is not about 2nd strongest people of those organizations.
For example, when you talk about Cross Guild, Buggy is the biggest name there, despite not being the strongest.