That's the problem though. A lot of people think it is a power-level statement, the same way people think bounties are accurate representations of power-level even though we have manga panels of One Piece characters (like Aokiji) clarifying that they aren't
It is a powerlevel statement, not just the most accurate one
It’s a general ballpark for Oda strength-wise unless you’re Buggy
He won’t be handing out 3 bill to Kid and Law if he thinks they don’t deserve it. They beat BM, a fresh top tier, and it’s not like Luffy didn’t get help for Kaido either
That’s how big of a feat that is for Oda, besides we never got to see them fight commanders, only the big dogs. It’s pure headcanon to think they’d struggle that much individually against commanders