It's Vista on that panel, it's just that i'm in a bad computer to show it now, but if you look closely you'd notice.*That was not Vista in the last panel lol...just some random fodder.
And what I meant wasn't that they deal him meaning defeat him, I mean they can casually show who is superior, like if they were fighting Vista would probably look like he's getting overwhelmed while Akainu puts hardly any effort.
I do like your swordsman vs swordsman point and that Mihawk was the Admiral for Vista. Never looked at it that way, but that also slightly hints Admirals > Mihawk.
Yes if they are going all out they will look better, but i was saying they won't if they go casually like Mihawk was doing, except few exceptions like primebeard or roger, at least imo
And no, that doesn't hint at anything in comparison between Mihawk and admirals considering that unlike them who were putting their lives on the line for the conflict, Mihawk wasn't. If anything, Mihawk wasn't even supposed to be this highlighted considering the little interest he had in that war. literally his only interests were WB and Luffy, the first to test himself, the second to test the potential