After a round of lighthearted banter, Hawk-Eye regained his stern expression and turned to Gern.
His tone grew more formal as he delivered his final assessment of Issho's strength.
"Setting aside the purity of his swordsmanship, if we judge his overall combat strength alone, hmm... he does just barely qualify as General-Class."
After all, this was merely an assessment meant to offer corrections, not a fight to the death. Hawk-Eye could hardly force Issho to reveal every last trump card.
But judging by his demonstrated mastery of the Press-Press Fruit and his solid strength as a Great Swordsman, his raw power was already sufficient to serve as a Marine Admiral.
He could pull down meteors for fun, after all. Who knew whether he could drag down a planet and cause a mass extinction!
Of course, compared to Gern and the other veterans among the Four Admirals, his overall strength fell short of the best but surpassed those below them...
Gern naturally understood Issho's-Fujitora's-capabilities even better, along with the ideals of justice he held in his heart.
But right now, something mattered more to him than confirming Issho's strength.
He needed to "manipulate" Issho into willingly staying as an "Admiral who actually worked"!
He had no choice. Reality demanded it!
Kuzan had left over a clash of ideals to pursue his own path.
As for Kizaru? Heh, he was a veteran slacker who would never stand if he could lie down. Hoping he would volunteer for work was less realistic than hoping the Celestial Dragons would grow a conscience.
Sakazuki did get things done, even if his methods were extreme, but Gern had already "exiled" him to oversee G-2.
He was responsible for intimidating and eliminating pirates in the first half of the Grand Line. They could hardly count on him