And don´t forget that all that theory (v˛, wing loading and that stuff) is just valid for a rigid body, which an aircraft is not. The same applies to wing loading, it is not the overall wing loading but it also depends on where you do have the mass. High weight due to full wing tanks and low weight due to most of the mass being the payload in the fuselage makes quite a difference. Soft structure allows for "evading" the vertical airspeed hence reducing the effective AoA hence "smoothing out" the gust. That might be the perfect reason why the 787 can fly faster through the same gust, just because the soft wing will dampen it a little more amd hence reduce the peak load on the structure (and the passenger).