How is that irrelevant when the statement if taken at face value covers Law , Kidd and co?
If that is the case then you'd have to put Sanji above Marco also and other new gen above previous gen. But that's not how it works. New gen don't get put above old gen because of one statement.
My only issue is reliance on such hype statements as powerscaling when feats and portrayal don't follow.
Jinbei's best feats are against Big Mom and Akainu....not any Yc3
Because Marco does not care about them, it´s really not that hard to understand.
Marco is in Wa No for two reasons
1) All the Wa No, Oden and minks backstory
2) Support Ace´s brother, Luffy and his crew, and make sure they rise to the occasion.
Law and Kid do not factor in either, even if their goal aligns.
He says it to King and Queen, the commanders of Beast Pirates.
Their counterparts from the new generation is overtaking the old generation in the respective equivalent.
When Luffy said to Crocodile "i will surpass you" it also did not mean he is surpassing every Shichibukai.
The rising stars, equivalent of commanders in the Strawhats, are overtaking the all stars of Beast Pirates.
The argument of new and old obviously relies on the context of who is implied in the statement.
Apoo is also part of the new generation, he ain´t overtaking nobody.
And both are defensive feats, which admittedly does not get enough recognition around here.
But his decisive feat, something that played out to the end and not only one scene or two, was matching Ace for 5 days.
And that Ace was a pirate for approx 3 years already.