The story is proving otherwise
Luffy and Kaido already had split the sky, their haki were basically matching, but Luffy still lost miserably
You're comparing different eras with different standards, makes no sense, if you think Oda made Kaido say state because he actually thinks that Haki>Devil Fruits and not the opposite, then you're setting yourself for disappointment
The same guys who still think Yamato is stronger than Sanji because of CoC