I mean, Kaido can die for all I care, but the narrative behind his character has been obvious for years, it keeps being stressed over and over and some people still believe the only way to get rid of him is to kill him because "he isn't leaving Wano".
It's just exhausting. These guys know nothing about characters, whoever believes Kaido has to die to take him out of the picture is foolish. As you well said, Kaido has been focusing on Luffy's will since they first met and the latter is about to prove himself as the legit Joy Boy. Oda is already turning him into a buddy more than a villain ("Hahaha, this is fun!" "Yeah, I agree!"; "I'm drinking, do you want some?"; etc.) and he even said to Luffy he "couldn't be Joy Boy EITHER"; quite relevant considering that Kaido is far from joy but currently depressed and bored with the world (yeah, I wonder if Luffy will change it...?).
Again, people can believe whatever they want, but never ignore these themes. If Oda comes and say that Kaido thought of himself as Joy Boy yet clashed with the reality of his utter irrelevance in the big scheme of things, which totally fits his obsession with dying a glorious death as either revenge on fate or "consolation prize", I will totally buy it because, as of now, the narrative behind his characters totally points to it.