Ihave Ray just as strong as whitebeard and this was confirmed with his old self alone. Oda had two way to keep away a powerhouse create a sidequest and a clash whitebeard proved himself in a clash as for ray his absense itself mean oda was afraid of him stealing the show. also ray is kinda of a sussessful whitebeard. the later couldnt save his captain,saw his freinds and teamate fall in the dark path of pirate.couldnt save oden,ace, had to part way with stussy. Mainwhile ray saved anyone he wanted to save directly from the hand of admiral\yonko and god valley had severals top tier who wanted shakky yet ray won the davy path style fight without a scratch on him. Its like when ray want something its bound to sucess. if roger and oden asked him to help the wano drama and rouge drama wouldnt have happened.