Yes Shiryu is portrayed higher than Burgess. Also the fact that Zoro and him will likely fight. and the fact that Oda put him in that cover.
^You're openly using circular reasoning here.
If the point in discussion is what may be the meaning of being chosen to be in that cover, then you can't use the fact he was in the cover as an evidence to say that Shiryuu is portrayed as higher than Burgess. Ffs
Shiryuu has never been portrayed as stronger than Burgess. Burgess is the captain of the first ship, not Shiryuu.
The possibility of Zoro and Shiryuu fighting can actually be used as an explanation why Shiryuu was chosen to be in that cover to begin with, if Oda was already planning to put Zoro there in order to line him up with most of his possible future opponents.
Also, I can argue that if Shiryuu is really going to be Zoro's opponent, then that's all the more reason to think Burgess is stronger, supposing that Burgess will be Sanji's opponent, considering how Sanji is usually the one who fights against the stronger opponent when both actually get a full 1 vs 1 fight in the arc (just Onigashima was the exception, in which Sanji fought the one who was about 5% weaker than the other opponent).
Marco was said to be WB former right hand
Marco led he WBP pirate against BB
Marco was the one Shanks asked to be in his crew etc etc etc
Marco > Jozu
Being the right hand man =/= Necessarily being stronger
Being the right hand man =/= Necessarily being the only right hand man
Kaidou has three right hand men, for example.
Just what Oda said in his answer in the SBS is already a clear proof that one can have more than one right hand man/No.2
Yeah but the first is direct consequence from the second
Penguin and Sachi are more reliable usually. But they all agree that Bepo is the strongest in Sulong. And magically Bepo ends up in the cover = it's strength related.
The person who asked the question thought that one question was directly related to the other, but then Oda quickly clarified the misconception that the person was having.
Bepo appearing on the cover and him being the strongest are two different matters.
"Magically ends up in the cover"??
You can't be serious...
The other two characters are completely irrelevant, and no one even remembers their faces, let alone their names, whereas Bepo clearly has a bit of popularity, and is always remembered as the funny white bear in Law's crew.
Even if Sulong didn't exist, it's abundantly obvious that among those three Bepo would always be chosen to be the one portrayed as the No.2 in Law's crew, regardless of strength.
And keep in mind that nothing that Oda wrote there even remotely confirmed that Bepo is actually stronger than Jean Bart, who seemed to be portrayed as stronger than Bepo in Sabaody. Bepo was confirmed to be the strongest among the No.2s in the crew, and not necessarily the second strongest in the whole crew.
And for Bepo we know that strength was the important factor.
No, that wasn't an important factor; Oda was just answering the second question.
Bepo is a popular charismatic character, while the other two are irrelevant; This is the important factor.
Lets not begin here. There are 1000 ways Oda could have been clearer or Oda could have just said something else. But it's not Oda way
That's your interpretation of it, and I disagree.
To me it's evident that what's really happening here is that you're trying to twist Oda's words giving them more meaning than they actually have just in order to adapt them according to the meanings that you want them to have.
As a reader, I perceive that the much more honest attitude is to comprehend the text according to what it objectively means;
If Oda didn't clarify why he chose Zoro, besides just confirming that he's not the vice captain, then the reason is not clarified.
If Oda only referred to Bepo while answering a question that was precisely about Bepo, then that part of the text really only concerned Bepo.
"- he picked up those number 2 "
Yes
"- among those number 2 some are vice captain/right hand and some are not : like Bepo and Zoro "
Correct
"- Bepo was picked up because he was the strongest of the bunch"
No, here is where you fail, because those two irrelevant characters would never have any place being portrayed as relevant characters along with Marco, Zoro, Shiryuu, etc., regardless of strength. They don't even show their eyes.
If there's someone who could somehow compete with Bepo in Law's crew it's Jean Bart, who was even the captain of his own crew, and was monstrously strong.
But Oda thought that Bepo would look better in that cover, due to his more charismatic appearance, and Oda preferred not even to confirm whether or not Bepo is actually stronger than Jean Bart, since the person was conveniently just asking about Penguin and Sachi.