Not really, let me greak it down for you.
Lucci was made to bleed and forced into hybrid by base luffy( who mind you was already working on/had an idea of g2-3) and didnt one shot him at all, simply threw him away with luffy being fine and dandy stuck between buildings.
Kaido while inebriated took on luffy who this time went all out( as opposed to the lucci case) and took no damage while not guarding with haki, then procceeded to very casually SPEED BLITZ and ONESHOT luffy.Esablishing a very very clear difference in physical attributes alone, the lucci case doesnt even compare.
What happens now if kaido decides to block/move/dodge/attack while luffy is attacking him? What happens if he gets the least bit serious.
What luffy learned now is the ability to damage him, he himself said that his training in prison was to get stronger if only for a little bit. He isnt magically as physically strong as him or as fast or as durable. Itd be like a raid boss battle, there is a reason law is there for room and shambles the people fighting kaido and luffy learned fs, to dodge him while whittling him down.
Kaido will start taking out the people against him little by little until its just luffy/kidd and him imo, as i do not believe kidd( a conqueror and someone headstrong like luffy) will go down before luffy does, this arc is crucial to establish the new gen(sns+ luffy) as the new major players in the new world. And i firmly believe that kidd who was portrayed equally with luffy in prison will continue to be done justice.
Blackbeard currently is weaker than kaido by his own admission or alteast we can infer that(calling him a dreaded monster), he will get stronger himself same as luffy.
I want luffy/kidd/law/zoro to come out of this arc at the lvl of old rayleigh. Then have luffy have a fight against an admiral or something next arc, win and solidify himself as a legit top tier. Then have his fight against bb who should be a bit above yonko/admiral by then.
Thats how i see it and thats how it would make sense.
Not randomly getting asspull powerups out of the nether and soloing kaido. It would also help keep powercreep in check by the way and not turn this show into dbz, something the author has done well so far as he respected the poweer ceiling yonko/admiral and decided to scrap his idea that yami teach would be as strong as 3 admirals combined.
So your perspective is about power gap. I'll try to comment about it.
Lucci wasnt forced to go hybrid by base Luffy. Base Lucci literally steamrolled through any tricks Luffy used. Lucci said in chapter 348 "its a pity but ill show something interesting" and go leopard. Luffy punch him to bleed, yes the little bleeding. Luffy's G3 elephant gun make Kaidou go white-eyed.
Kaidou using a named attack wasnt very casual, he was showing some degree of seriousness. And Luffy's known powerup is exactly what he needs to magically bypass Kaidou's physical durability. It allows Luffy to hurt Kaidou just like water allows Luffy to hurt Crocodile.
And about Kaidou's speed and durability, i agree about you. The gap is bigger than Lucci vs Lucci. But that's why Luffy must win this. Its for all the stakes. Luffy has to do it in order to be worthy for PK title contender. Lucci has this reputation that made Kuma surprise about his defeat "Who would've thought that Rob Lucci would be defeated?" And Crocodile and also recently Katakuri also had that untouchable unbeatable vibe to them in the respective arcs. So this is the real WSC, the real hurdle of life and death for Luffy.
My point being, powerlevel-wise Luffy must achieve the impossible, and if he gains this much shown powerup to the point that Yanato (first-hand witness to Kaidou's power) acknowledged Luffy as really strong even without being serious, even without showing his known powerups, Luffy 1vs1 Kaidou is not impossible anymore for me. And the more important thing about my view, is that Luffy is not worthy to become PK if he can't ever manage to become Kaidou's equal in this arc, the arc where Oda place Kaidou as Luffy's obstacle.
If Zoro has Mihawk the WSS as his defining moment.
in order to redeem the past writing, Kaidou the WSC should be one of Luffy's defining moments. Afterall Mihawk said being PK is harder than WSS, and Luffy also said if Luffy couldnt manage to beat each Admiral or even Yonkou standing in his way, he can never be pirate King. This is the standard Luffy set for himself. If the powergap is huge then its the MCs job to close it by any means necessary.
No, Luffy wouldnt become powercreep even if he is able to beat Kaidou 1vs1 in final rounds. Its not all rounds. Most likely Oda would weaken Kaidou first like with GK to Doflamingo. But that kind of powerlevel (if Luffy 1v1 Kaidou in final round) is still comparable to admirals or Yonkous, so the Fifth Yonkou becomes legit real, and BB and Imu give the next level for Luffy. Thats proper pacing and power progression for me, instead of Luffy having to 100v1 Kaidou in this arc and after this he like have to solo BM and Kizaru and Weevil and BB and Kong and Imu one after another. That would be the ultimate of asspulls.
That is my view about how Luffy's powerlevel gap.
If you want to discuss about the worstgen's moments to shine, then BM-BM Pirates-King-Queen-Jack Tobi Roppo etc can be Kidd-Law-etc moments too, there are so many strong enemies for the alliance to shine, it doesnt have to be Kaidou especially final round.