My point is that even in a death match, it's possible for a scenario where both fighters get wounded to a point where neither can fight anymore, or both die. Just because it's considered a death match does not mean one person will die while the other lives.
True, Kuzan would get burned. But the Fire fruit is not a hard counter to the ice fruit, unlike the rubber is to the lightning fruit.
It does not contradict what the manga says as they leave the exact details of the battle unknown. They were evenly matched at the start, but eventually Sakazuki won. There is a lot of time in the middle where we do not know what happened. So I can guess what happened then without contradicting the manga.
Even if Kaido is not the strongest, somebody else must be. That's just how logic works, someone has to be the strongest.
And yes, Kaido is a good candidate to be the strongest, 7 losses is not very much at all for a long career of a pirate as reckless as Kaido. And it's even more impressive that he only has 7 losses and 18 captures when you realize that he attacks other yonko crews and the navy alone.
Regardless of if he is the strongest or not, he has a good track record.
You get annoyed at me for making assumptions, but then you make your own assumptions about WB and Roger? We can''t know if they ever got captured or not, but they most probably did not travel alone like Kaido does. And technically Roger was captured because he turned himself in.
Look, I enjoyed your initial post, and I can appreciate the time and work you put in. But we can't seem to agree on certain things, and it doesn't look like we will. Now I enjoy a good debate as much as the next guy, but it's just not going anywhere. It was fun while it lasted, but now I gotta go.
Adios!