I liked the post fight scene. The guy with Future Sight complimenting the guy who cant about how hes looking into the future. Katakuri falling on his back which signals he truly is defeated. And Luffy showing his respect. Its just such a shame that the fight didnt lead into that at all.
The arguments about Luffy winning due to durability/endurance are nothing more than a giant No Limits Fallacy. If Luffy took 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000 or w/e amount more hits, people would still defend it by saying "Luffy has stamina and endurance, therefore its okay" But clearly it isnt. Luffy being made out of Rubber does not justify having an endless amount of damage thrown on him and then being completely fine. Katakuri has taken less than 1/10 of the damage that Luffy has received. Katakuri has shown to be superior to Luffy in basically every single aspect of the fight. Yet he lost, because Oda cannot make a fight end logically to save his life.
If this was between individuals who had the same power roughly like Gear 2nd Luffy and Leopard Rob Lucci, then I wouldnt have a problem with this. Because it clearly was a back and forth that could go either way. But the gap here between Katakuri and Luffy was simply too big for this conclusion to the fight to make any sense. If Fairy Tail did this we would rightfully criticize it. If Natsu was getting his ass kicked 90% of the fight and then somehow starts defeating his opponent, we obviously would call it out. Yet because its One Piece this gets a pass.All Oda would have needed to do was simply have Katakuri stand over a defeated Luffy, but because he is honorable and respects him, throws him outta the Mirror World so Luffy can meet up with his crew and escape Big Mom. There. The hype of Katakuri remains intact, and the plot continues just like before. Then when Luffy faces his next foe in the next arc, he can say he got stronger from his loss or w/e and continue like normal. Everything resolved nicely.
I just like my fights to make sense. Its important. Its what keeps things believable and allows for tension to exist. When fights end in ridiculous ways where the MC clearly shouldnt have won, the tension decreases.
Heck, not to mention the whole flashback with Rayleigh talking about how Haki gets stronger in the middle of a life threatening fight is just basically Odas way of pulling powerups out of nowhere during a fight as the plot demands it. But notice how it will only affect the good guys and not the bad guys. So clearly this universal rule of Haki isnt so. Heck, I dont even recall Fairy Tail trying to give that type of explanation as to why somebody who gets his ass kicked 90% of the time ends up winning in the end. Even Mashima wouldnt blatantly tell us that, because obviously that would make us criticize it as a way to pull plot powerups out of a hat. (Of course Mashima did a bunch of other terrible things)