^Honestly, I would've considered JG fodder if he were taken out by a random NW pirate who wasn't any of the named captains or one of the WB division commanders, but I guess that's just me being biased.....
Speaking of VAs, while I know we were told that all of the current ones are Haki users, I don't think that actually means that possessing the ability to use it is actually a
requirement. I mean, so far none of the 3 pre-skip admirals (who were all VAs once upon a time) revealed any Haki mastery, did they? I think just having a ton of battle experience alone would be good enough to make it to the upper marine ranks (let's put aside the fact that the admirals are all Logias for now, shall we?). If this is the case, then guys like Smoker may not need to awaken their "ambition" in order to achieve a greater status.....