Who knows at this point, but certainly the Fire Festival won't be the end of it all. He's still gotta get the forces of the dudes in your avi & signature involved, otherwise his reveal as leader of the SWORD would be meaningless.
My guess he'll buy some more time with this before the clash with the Emperors starts. But that also then just brings the question exactly what is he ending this chapter on before dropping the big news regarding Sabo/Vivi/Hancock/etc?
With that in mind though, taking the Tobi roppo out earlier should be fine if the Numbers are what were referred to here, with the "many infamous pirates":
Having young bucks clash to then get them set up against the ROCKS alliance would be solid. Even more solid would be if Big Mom pirates receive reinforcements as well, which would then give plenty of people for the alliance (and w.e the marine interference will be) to take on.