No she wasn’t. Her wanting Nami and usopp to beg for mercy and admit Kaido’s supremacy isn’t the same as messing around
I am very specifically talking about stuff like Page One saving Ulti from Usopp's plant, with him saying that she could get free herself.
Kaido was telling Luffy and all the supernovas to stand down and admit his supremacy. Was that him also messing around?
When did this happen exactly?
Like, I don't specifically remember that ever happening on the rooftop. It did happen for Hawkins, Apoo, Killer and Kids group, and for that group, yeah, he was messing around. He wasn't trying to kill them, and they couldn't hurt him.
it’s not like any of these guys purposefully hold back when smacking these guys around just because they want the people they are smacking to beg for mercy
I think that its sort of made clear that Ulti could have at least killed Nami a bit sooner if she wanted(or wasn't such a doofus).
Other than that initial confrontation(where Page One saved her) she was pretty serious, but I wouldn't say she was exactly needing to go all out against them at that point(she was a lot stronger than them).