We dont need to argue with oda.
Zoro has been releasing base coc since the king fight confirmed on elbaf.
If he did anything vs kaido it was that.
All kaido said was oh youre a conquorer too
Same vs gaban.
how did kaido know?
there was no indication of normal coc being used at all
all zoro did was attack. then kaido touched his wound and rhetorically asked if he used coc
It's pretty obvious he used acoc there
zoro only started using base coc once he let emma suck him. at which point he started using acoc too. There was no extended period where zoro used only coc. Literally the panel after zoro lets emma suck him, theres acoc black lightning.
Also, asura is clearly special. Asura has it's own aura that kaido noticed. That could very well be zoro using acoc.