A very controversial character with little actual fans
@Topi Jerami. A character who is mostly downplayed by Admiral fans and anti Zoro fans. Even some Zoro fans dont really like Shiryu or defend him. The Admiral fans insecurity comes from Shiryu supposedly being the No.2 of BBPs and being stronger than Aokiji and delivering the real blow to Garp in the Beehive fight which turned the battle.
Placing Shiryu as No.2 in that colorspread is weird. Firstly there is no special connection between BB and Shiryu like a captain/partner/first-mate/right hand. Burgess, Augur, Lafitte and Doc Q were the ones who were with BB from the start it seems (were they ex WB pirates too or from allied crew?) and Burgess seems closest to BB and Burgess is also the captain of the first ship. Then we also havent seen Shiryu taking command like a No.2. In fact, we havent seen Shiryu going on any missions like Lafitte, Van Augur or Aokiji. Even the defense of Beehive was mainly on Aokiji as central figure (his history with Garp was probably the main reason) but the point still stands that Shiryu hasnt shown the No.2 thing in terms of leadership either. Lastly, from what has been shown and portrayed so far it would be wrong to put Shiryu above Aokiji in terms of combat strength, I just dont see Shiryu as a FA Akainu equal.
So Shiryu hasnt shown the relationship, the leadership or the combat strength (so far) to put him as the No.2 of the BBPs in the colorspread.
Coming to the next point though, everybody agrees that BB is what Rocks would be sort in current time (different characters with different routes but still). There are similarities, with the Xebec thing, conquering the world, putting together a crew of cruel pirates/criminals with big egos. Rocks No.2 was obviously WB the WSM (idk if he was WSM already or got it later), can we actually see BB (who is set to surpass Rocks) have a No.2 Shiryu who will surpass WB? Pretty crazy to think right now.
Comparing crew numbers (core members) and we have SHPs at 10, RHPs at 10, Rocks at 10 (notable ones shown or mentioned in GV) but BBPs have 11. Big chance of Aokiji defecting if you ask me.
