Kaido admitting he'd have been overwhelmed by Wano's forces 5years ago actually goes against the narrative he grew stronger. He was referring to military might
And if 5years ago Kaido was only trying to avoid getting overwhelmed in military, yet 5years later, Oden could individually match if not dominate him, giving him a permanent scar and Kaido needing a distraction from Grandma using Momonosuke's appearance to disturb Oden, to win, it just further shows that 5years prior, Kaido had no chance to win with Hyogoro/Wano's military force
And we know the current scabbards were mentioned to have grown stronger, so just imagine if Oden and the scabbards actually trained during those 5years instead of dancing
It'd have been a massacre in Wano's favor
I'm starting to wonder tho if this Oden didn't have pirate king potential lol