I'm going to give my thoughts on this whole Oda killing off characters now, some people can choose not to accept all they want but I do believe that Oda is now truly killing off characters at least minor side characters. I think the whole if there is no body then that character is not dead is an excuse at this point imo, Oda is obviously not going to kill off any major players or even kill off a bunch of characters in a single arc but I think he has no problem killing off at least one, two, or even three minor side characters now, and it's not like their deaths were for no reason. With the exception of Vergo and Monet, Pedro, Pound, and Yasu's death were all sacrifices and their deaths had a meaning.
Pedro's death helped the Sunny along with Brook and Chopper get out of Perospero's candy, and once they were free from the candy the SHs then managed to quickly escape from WCI before they could either be shot down by the Tarte Ships or get killed by Big Mom. Pound sacrificed himself by helping his daughter Chiffon, grandson Pez along with Capone, Sanji, Pudding, and the others to safely escape the seas of Cacao Island by attacking Oven. Oven who was trying to sink Bege's ship then turned his attention on Pound and killed him and even though Pound died at least he saved his daughter, grandson, and a many other people, and heck if you think about it he also indirectly saved Totto Land as well. Yasu's death pretty much reset the whole plan with the alliance, putting all the blame on himself, giving Orochi's subordinates a reason to doubt him, and even made a new location meeting. These deaths weren't for nothing and all of them ended up doing a purpose, I think we these deaths Oda is showing us that the New World truly is dangerous.
I think some people still use the whole Pell and Pagaya being alive as an excuse for characters like Monet, Vego, Pedro, and Pound being alive. Remember that their "deaths" happened many years ago and maybe back then Oda didn't feel comfortable killing off characters but now I think he's a bit more comfortable on killing characters now but only minor side characters, and also don't forget that both Pell and Pagaya were both revealed to be alive during the end of their arcs. The same thing can't be said with Monet, Vergo, Pedro, and Pound, if they were truly alive then I think Oda would show them being alive by the end of their arcs but he didn't. There were plenty of time to show both Monet and Vergo being alive and even have them be part of Dressrosa but that didn't happen and now we are at Wano, also as for the whole bunch of people that were petrified by Caesar being alive at the end of Punk Hazard remember again they were shown to be alive at the end of the arc and Oda probably didn't feel right to have a mass murder and also have a party at the same time.
I don't get why Oda needs to show a body, showing body parts all around and a guy with his head lopped off is too dark and One Piece isn't seinen. Getting shot multiple times can be a bit dark for One Piece but it's not as bad and gruesome as compared to dying from an explosion or getting decapitated, also I believe that not showing the body is probably Oda's way of giving us the readers our own conclusion on whether they died or not. Did they survive or did they die? That's all up to you as the reader.
When it comes to Pedro and Pound the reason why I truly believe they are dead is for one starter their sacrifices showed us that a Yonko's territory is very dangerous and that escaping from one is not going to be easy, and that sometimes people are going to lose their lives during that process. Pedro pretty much has a dynamite strapped on his body, I'm not too sure how anyone could survive that and Perospero getting badly injured and losing an arm because of that explosion imo proves that Pedro died from that explosion because I don't know how anyone could survive being blown to bits. The only reason why Perospero survived is because he quickly used a candy armor at the last moment to help him survive the explosion and even though he survived the blast still broke the armor and badly injured Perospero and caused him to lose an arm, if that blast did that to Perospero then imagine what Pedro is like who had the dynamite strapped on his body. Pedro knew he wasn't going to survive the mission to WCI, this was his swan song and if he had to plan on dying to help the SHs escape in order for them to bring about the Dawn of the World then that was something he was going to do.
As for Pound we pretty much see Oven about to decapitate Pound with his naginata and even though we don't see it, we do however see a slice sound effect. Imo if Pound wasn't decapitated then I believe there would be no slice sound effect, and even if he did somehow survive remember that Cacao Island was now full of BMP so that would mean he would probably get captured and then quickly get killed on the spot. They have no reason to keep capture and keep him alive, being a father to Chiffon and Lola doesn't mean anything to them and we've seen from characters like Linlin, Cracker, Brûlée, and Oven that Pound along with the other fathers and step fathers are nothing but outsiders who have no purpose to the Charlotte Family and BMP which is why they have no problem killing them especially if they cause any problems as we've seen when Linlin ordered Cracker to kill Pound and then later on having Oven finally kill him.
Imo I think Pez's reaction is why I truly believe Pound is dead, when Pez saw his grandfather he was all happy this was because even though they never met before it was almost like Pez knew that Pound was his grandfather. But when Oven came behind Pound and was about to fatally strike him that's when Pez started to cry, and it's not like Pez saw Oven kill Pound seeing how the ship was far away at that point but I believe that Pez somehow knew that his grandfather unfortunately got killed and I think Oda was using Pez's cry as a way to tell us that Pound unfortunately died and even Chiffon had a sudden reaction after Oven decapitated Pound.
Also I don't get why people are forcing the whole idea that Pound needs to believe to see his daughters, some people should know that not everyone is going to get a happy ending and Pound just so happens to be one of them. Even though Pound never met Chiffon face to face, he at least managed to see her along with his grandson. Pound's death is supposed to be very sad and maybe even symbolic, an outcast man who was never allowed to see his daughters ever since they were born, that same father would always think about them and even though he never directly met them he at least ended up seeing one of them and as a father he even saved one of their lives while sacrificing his own.
"When does a man die? Is it when he's shot in the heart with a pistol? No. When he's stricken with a deadly disease? No. When he eats a soup made from a deadly mushroom? No. It's when he is forgotten."
That quote from Hiriluk imo really fits Pound's death, Pound was a character that not everybody remembers and most people even forgets who he was. Just to make it clear I'm talking about the characters in the story not us as the readers, to the BMP and the Charlotte Family he was nothing more than a forgettable outsider. The citizens of Totto Land don't even remember him with the exception of a very few, so far even Luffy and Nami seem to have forgotten about him. It's almost like Pound was always forgotten and remember a man dies when he is forgotten, and I do believe that's the case for Pound.
Even though I believe Yasu died, I'll wait for the upcoming chapters and even the end of the arc just to really make sure that he is truly dead. Either way I'm fine if some people still refuse to believe that these characters died, but for me and some other people we choose to believe that they are dead. These are just my thoughts and opinions on this whole Oda killing off characters now, I'm not too sure if Oda will ever confirm if they are alive or not in the future but for now I believe he's giving us the readers to come up with our own conclusion.