I think Blackbeard already hit up Whole Cake and stole Katakuri and Oven's shadows for them.
Katakuri is strong as hell, around Whitebeard's size, and uses a similar weapon.
Over has a Heat Fruit like Ace.
Ryuma's corpse was mummified, more or less, though.
Thats a really interesting, unique, smart and probable scenario imo. I like that a lot. Could explain why Oda is giving Katakuri and Oven the focus in this cover story and in Film Red too. This might be the last we see of them directly.
My friend is a huge Katakuri fan said he feels red/death flags from Katakuri with his last words to Luffy at the end of their fight, when he asked Luffy if he will come back to beat Big Mom.
Since Law and Kidd beat Big Mom instead and as far as we know killed her off too, although Film Red is making this even more fucking confusing too, fate has already been changed if Luffy was meant to beat Big Mom instead, even returning to WCI or beating her at Wano or Elbaf or w/e too.
I also felt when Luffy put his hat on Katakuri as he was lying down and unconscious, it felt like paying tribute to someone who died, maybe even in a gangsters/mafia type way, honouring their dead/fallen brothers. Thats the vibe I got from it anyway. It felt like in a way, "Katakuri died" that day, in a symbolic way ofc.
His facade did at least, the mighty titan who has never "fallen" or fell on his back, a similar sort of nod to how Whitebeard was this almighty titan who seemed unstoppable and never turned his back and ran from fights too, no scars on his back and such.
Zoro shares that shame mentality too ofc, a wound on a swordsmansback is a mark of shame or something as he said to Mihawk?