I wouldn't call anything beyond the matchups we already have as actual fights.
What I was getting at with Chopper or Usopp regarding the numbers are more "events". Think Usopp sniping Sugar or Spandam. Those aren't actual battles, just events that occur and justify Usopp's achievements in the arc. Technically Chopper has had his moment in this regard (he cured the virus and stalled Queen), but of course I'd love to see him actually do something new. Same with Usopp.
And the same goes for the BMP. If they show up, I dont actually expect full on battles, just exposition scenes over the course of 10-15 chapters while Big Mom and Kaido are taken out.
I wanted 1v1's for everyone, but its just not how Oda operates. He's never actually operated this way in fact. Alabasta is the only arc where every crew member got a fight in the series. It's never been too different from that. All you can hope for is that every gets good, impressive growth scenes. That's all I want for Usopp/Chopper. I'm confident we'll see them do more this arc. Same with the rest of the crew. I don't think Oda is going to have drone around fighting fodder only. The Numbers are clearly still still factor and CP-0 and BMP are still potential factors, however that works.
Long post ahead. I know it’s easy to criticize the story in hindsight, but I think the matchups would have been much better if they worked like this:
Kaido still fights the Scabbards and low diffs them. Roof Piece still happens exactly as it did (except do a better job at conveying how much damage Kaido is taking). Kaido fights Luffy, Momo, Yamato, and Marco (who still does what he did previously in the story). Big Mom fights Kid, Law, Killer, Drake, Apoo, and Hawkins. Killer vs Hawkins and Drake vs Apoo can still happen, with them teaming up eventually, but I don’t care too much whether they do or don’t happen.
Zoro vs King for obvious reasons
Sanji vs Queen for obvious reasons
Jinbe vs Smoothie. This would be a great fight for Jinbe since both of them use water to fuel their attacks. I would have Jinbe, after learning that Luffy lost and got thrown off of Onigashima, jump into the ocean and save Luffy. When he brings Luffy to the coast, they meet the Heart Pirates, Shinobu, Momo, and Tenguyama, who take care of Luffy. The BMPs finally reach Wano at that moment, and Jinbe has to fight Smoothie in order to protect his captain. They fight on the coast, which lets both of them easily access water.
As for Compote, Daifuku, and the other BMP ministers fight the Heart Pirates. Have Bepo, Sachu, and Penguin stay in the submarine, with the rest of the crew, so that they can take part in this fight. Obviously I would prefer seeing these fights fleshed out, but I would understand if they were mostly off screened for the sake of time. However, at least show us what Compote’s power is lol.
Inu vs Jack. Sulong Inu outclasses Jack, but Jack actually has an Awakening form, which he transforms into and gains a slight edge over Inu. Jack wins, but is very wounded, and like he says in this chapter, one good hit is enough to knock him out, leading to…
Usopp vs Jack. With Jack at like 10% HP, Usopp won’t actually have to reach YC3 level to win this fight, or even be particularly close for that matter. He would only need to be around Vet level. The battle starts off at a distance, with Usopp trying to keep his distance from Jack while bombarding Jack with his attacks and traps, which do very little damage, but still some damage nonetheless. When Jack gets into close range, Usopp starts to get in serious trouble, until he unlocks CoA and can finally do somewhat decent damage. Since Usopp’s CoC has been heavily teased, I would have him finish off Jack with a powerful ACoC-imbued pellet. Similar to how Luffy subconsciously started using CoC in the final saga of Pre-TS, Usopp subconsciously uses ACoC in this moment.
Franky vs Sasaki. Don’t need to explain why this matchup makes sense, but I would try to flesh it out a bit more, and make Franky unlock at least CoA in order to win.
Robin vs Black Maria. Also don’t need to explain this one. However, what I would do in order to add a bit more characterization to Maria is have her ambush Robin at the room with the Road Poneglyph, which Robin finds, and have Maria plan to capture Robin and betray Kaido by sailing away with Robin, who at that point would have read 3 out of the 4 Road Poneglyphs. Make Robin win by unlocking CoA and/or CoO (though I would still have her show off her Fishman Karate and Ryusoken skills). Also, show off Maria’s Beast form (which would look like Jurogumo) and make her Hybrid actually look decent.
Brook vs WsW. WsW actually has a sword this time. Jinbe vs WsW can still happen, in order to give the Nika exposition and stall Jinbe until he needs to save Luffy, but WsW has to get back up this time. It would probably be odd for Brook to beat someone stronger than Franky and Robin’s opponents, so WsW being weakened by Jinbe fix that small issue. Or Oda could, in this alternate scenario, could portray Sasaki and Maria as stronger than WsW.
Nami vs Ulti. Nami wins with Zeus, though the fight should be longer than it really was. No assistance from BM either. CoO would also be a good powerup for her, and I would actually like to see her obtain Prometheus at some point.
Chopper vs Page One. The Ice Oni plot can still happen, but only if it leads to Chopper using the Ice Oni virus as a power up, in which he injects himself with the virus to boost his strength and makes sure that he cures himself before the hour time limit. Chopper also unlocks CoA.
Neko vs Perospero. Pero actually fights intelligently and uses his powers to block out the moon, forcing Neko to exit Sulong and become very exhausted, allowing Pero to KO him or render him too weakened to fight. Leading to…
Carrot vs Perospero. She stops him from killing Neko, and then beats the weakened Perospero, getting her much deserved revenge.
I’m good with what happened to Ashura. He didn’t get a fight, but it was a cool moment.
Kinemon vs Kanjuro is actually a proper, fleshed out fight. Kinemon wins high/extreme diff. Kiku doesn’t fall for Kanjuro’s Oden trap.
Raizo vs Fukurokuju.
Denjiro hunts down Orochi, as he is likely currently doing in the story. He also meets Hiyori at some point, and the both of them finish off Orochi together.
Not too sure about Kiku, Izo, and Kawamatsu though. The Numbers are still available, so they could fight the 10 of them. The Yakuza could help out too. Though what I think I would do is have the Yakuza job to the Numbers in order to give them some hype, and then have the 3 Scabbards and Kid’s crew (minus Kid and Killer ofc) take on the 10 Numbers.
