it was stated essentially that marine hq = warlords = yonko (each being one of the 3 great powers), i think we can both agree at least that the warlords ended up being not even close to the other 2. Marine hq = all 4 yonko seems about right.
I’ll grant that it’s likely that Oda himself revised the power scale somewhere around Marineford. But he’s always left things ambiguous, and both the yonko and admirals were way out of Luffy’s reach and not active in the story before Marineford.
There is much more exposition and much stronger evidence about their power levels now, where the admirals and yonko have been mentioned together on several occasions. we’ve seen them on a relatively even plane, despite how much denial there is around it, both very obviously far stronger than even many yonko commanders or Shichibukai combined. Now we’re seeing how both Kizaru and Kaido stack up against Luffy with the same amount of power ups, and unsurprisingly they’re in the same general ballpark.
Fearing does not mean they can’t handle it. The world of one piece is rife with chaos. WB’s death lead to a significant amount. Bm and Kaido teaming up would be a large menace. Recall that Kizaru was willing to go deal with them by himself nevertheless.