Oda played the direction thing well. Going to them only makes sense now, but he used a cliffhanger to make the last minute change of plans interesting.
Aside from Momo being less suicidal than the Scabbards, more important to the future, and more vulnerable, the Yamato mystery will pique his interest.
There was an article I saw online talking about how progressive Yamato is as a "trans" character... please, wait until we see Sanji's reaction lol. If Yamato identifies as a man and Sanji accepts it (after initially lusting at first sight, guaranteed), I'll be extremely impressed, but even more surprised. I don't really see Oda doing that.
