User blog comment:Kaido King of the Beasts/Chapter 884: Sing or Swim/@comment-31429799-20171102184721/@comment-24850639-20171102195138

You make a good point about the logia properties, so for now I'm going to have to assume that him being able to actually turn his body into the substance is related to his awakening. We still haven't gotten a full explanation of awakening yet either, other than them being able to transform things into their substance. Currently our only known basis for comparison is Doflamingo, who himself was never considered a "special" paramecia. So it's related to awakening, or whatever is so "special" about his particular fruit.

Now as far as Luffy winning, you should remember that Lucci and Doflamingo held advantages over base Luffy in strength as well. It's how they stack up to Luffy's gears that really make the difference. Gear 4 attacks still seem to send Katakuri flying, so he isn't tanking those hits any better than Doffy or Cracker. In this case in particular, speed is hard to call when Katakuri knows exactly what Luffy will do next, so it's very easy for him to appear faster than Luffy whether he actually is or not. You're right though, his combat acumen and haki are definitely superior as well. Luffy winning his fights when he's in these situations always ends up being a matter of how innovative he can be with his own abilities and surroundings. I.e. using punches bouncing off walls to bypass Enel's observation haki, using the armament haki of Cracker's biscuit soldiers against him to knock him out cold, using his own blood as a means to bypass Crocodile's logia defenses, etc. With G4 running out, and Katakuri proving that he can still match him combat-wise in this mode, it will be up to Luffy to use his opponent's own advantages against him. Its why we love watching Luffy fight.