From what's established about WB, him letting Kaido waltz onto his ship would have to result in Kaido's death. Therefore, logically playing out that situation, from what we know of Whitebeard and how he treats those close to him, going to such lengths as to battle the entire Navy in order to rescue one of his own, it would defy the established behaviour if WB just let Kaido go after beating him. Having excluded Linlin from the Yonko Kaido challenged, this would logically also exclude WB as well.
Now let me talk more about Kaido. Firstly, let me address something that's bothering me. And that's Kaido's supposed title. Nowhere in the canon material has Kaido been referred to as the actual WSC, there are always nuances being made to sway away from it.
Notice in the above panels how it's hearsay and a rumor, the same type of rumor like Luffy being a 25-foot-tall monster
Moreover, there are clues laid out that Kaido in fact might not be even human, and thus his supposed title should have no bearing on humans.
In addition, Kaido, in canon material, has only been referred to as the 'King of Beast', on multiple instances, whilst never referred to as the WSC
And no, that sbs did not confirm anything. Firstly, this is the official translation, not the OP wiki one. Even though they are similar, there are small nuances that make it different, such as 'even Kaido' not appearing. Moreover, Oda says world's strongest creature, not living being. In addition, he leaves no doubts to a mother actually being the WSC. He highlights it by saying she is stronger than Kaido, the supposed WSC, and she is thus the actual WSC. There's no room to debate about anything concerning the mother, as opposed to Kaido.
If someone wants to bring up that panel, I'll just stop them preemptively and inform them that it was a comment made by an editor and does not appear in the Viz.
Now, I'll present a direct comparison with both Mihawk and Whitebeard. I won't elaborate here, because I've written everything in the panels themselves.
Oda, on his own accord went out of his way to make a distinction.
Now let's talk more about betting on him in a 1 vs 1. Logically, as illustrated above, we have excluded two Yonko from that equation. All of the marine Admirals are fine, and there's no indication that neither of the three was defeated. I wouldn't be surprised if the rumour about Kaido started when he defeated Oden, without people knowing he used a cheap shot and underhanded tactics, as Oden was hailed as very strong, even had a bounty, and him taking over Wano, hailed as one of the strongest nations in the world, so much that the current FA of the Navy was more worried about the forces in Wano, rather than two of the Yonko when Kizaru offered himself to go there.
Kizaru was only stopped by Akainu due to the unknown military force in Wano. I stress again Wano, meaning Kizaru was gonna go to Wano, not somewhere along the way but Wano.
The rumour was made more believable when the people saw Kaido beating people like the SN, and adding them to their crew. The first time we see him engage a top tier it ends in a stalemate. Now, don't take me wrong, I am not saying Kaido isn't a top tier, he obviously is, but the more we see him, the more we look into the manga carefully, the more his hype suffers. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
