My guess is that Zoro is now hanging out with Crocodile and Ace in Impel Down. In which case, Thousand Sunny and her coating are going to take the crew to the largest underwater prison in the world, instead of Merman Island. I hope I'm wrong. I don't need to read another drawn out Rescuing Nakama arc.

When did they say Aokiji was the strongest Marine? I thought they said that was Rear Admiral Sengoku the Buddha, the only Marine to have fought Roger as equals. Anyway, the reason people put Aokiji on a pedestal is because he is an admiral. The way he spoke about Garp made it sound like he trained under Garp, like Luffy, Helmeppo, and Coby did. (In which case he knows all about Soru and the other CP9 techniques). Also, he engineered the entire CP9-Robin encounter after he left his fight with Luffy, super-spy style. (CP9 wouldn't have known about Robin unless Aokiji told them where the Strawhats were heading)

So he can fight with the best in the world, is smarter than most, and has government connections. What were you complaining about again?