I've been wanting to make this thread for a while, but I've been mainly waiting for the right moment to post it. Wano is a huge arc, so I figure I can put this out there now and build on it in the future if anything else supports it in the future. Anyway, I do believe we are being set up for something major happening by the end of this act, likely within the next 10-20 chapters (my guess is literally chapter 999). And in that sense, I do think the alliance will "lose" and the arc will shift to something more chaotic/stressful for Act 4. Below are my points.
1. Kabuki 5-Act Structure
- Let me admit first by stating that I am by no means an expert on Kabuki or the history of Kabuki. I merely googled the structure and got results.
- Generally the structure of Kabuki that seems to be the common consensus is like so pulled from this website:
- This is NOT guaranteed obviously, but its poised to be the idea that Oda will use act 3 to continue to drive the plot in such a fashion that leads us to the major battles in Act 4. I think we can all agree that Act 4 will be the major battles.
- Oda seems to be following this as Act 2 involved plenty of smaller skirmishes (Luffy and allies vs. Udon/Big Mom, Queen vs. BM, Sanji vs. Page 1, Sanji vs. Drake, Zoro vs. Killer, Zoro vs. Denjiro, Kaido vs BM)
- As the center point of my argument, I do believe that this is the track Oda is following. We probably still have another 10-20 chapters for Act 3 at this rate, but we can surely expect the battles to ramp up in Act 4 (maybe after Chapter 1000)
- Additionally, so far with every Act, there has been a timeskip. If the major battles are held off to Act 4, there is a possible chance another timeskip occurs.
2. Hawkins' Statement
- In Chapter 913, Hawkins tells Luffy that he only has a 19% chance to survive the month.
- This was a peculiar statement at the time, but it came more evidently clear that Wano's timeframe was going to last much longer than the literal day it took Dressrosa to be resolved or 2 days Luffy and crew were at WCI.
- Kin'emon mentions they will strike Kaido 2 weeks since Luffy arrival, at Onigashima. We are at this point currently.
- On top of this, it still serves as an ominous reminder that if Luffy "wins" right now at Onigashima, then why would Oda make Hawkins say he has a small chance of survival a month out instead of 2 weeks?
- In the end, I think it proves that there will be more going on in Wano beyond the raid, and we will find out soon....
3. Zoro's Sandai Kitetsu
- Also in Chapter 913. Zoro's peaked curiosity about Nidai is something that was touched upon until it was recovered and returned to Tengu.
- Yes, at the moment, Enma completely overshadows Nidai, but it still begs the question of why it was introduced and if Sandai is a worthy sword to still be carrying around.
- Will Zoro obtain this sword from Tengu somehow? There is a possibility he loses it during his final battle and only obtains it at the end of the arc, but could he lose it beforehand and obtain it during Act 4? This leads to my next point.
4. Tengu, Tama and Hiyori
- All 3 still have roles to play this arc. All 3 are technically not at Onigashima and currently do not have a reason to go there. Hiyori told the alliance that she would wait until they won. Tengu never joined in on battles and Tama was left behind with him.
- Tama still needs to find out about Luffy's connection to Ace. My guess is this will happen at a massively dramatic moment in the arc. Tama's ability also needs to be further explored, and may actually serve a purpose against the smile armies Kaido has.
- Tengu was randomly introduced to be an avid Kokeshi doll collector. This made zero sense until chapter 934:
- Firstly, now we know there is a Poneglyph guarded heavily in Orochi's castle. This will have to be addressed eventually.
- Secondly, the room was filled with Kokeshi dolls. The only other time this was mentioned was with Tengu.
- Who is Tenguyama? He still wears a mask and even kept Oden's swords close until his children were able to inherit them. We did not see him during the flashback either, which is very peculiar.
5. Oda's traditions
- Typically (pretty much every arc involving), Oda involves the population of a country/island into the main conflict, in that the populace is placed through the hardships of their country changing with them.
- With Arlong, its citizens watched as Luffy and crew fought and saved their town. They waited for their fates to be decided
- With Drum, the citizens actively took part in rebelling against Wapol.
- With Alabasta, a large portion of the country actively fought against the King's army based on a lie. Through this, Vivi essentially told the entire country to stop fighting
- With Skypia, the entire country was jeopardized due to Enel's powers. They all witnessed Luffy's victory.
- With Water 7, while Luffy and crew beat CP9 at Enies Lobby, Water 7's citizens supported Luffy and crew after they realized they didn't try to kill Iceberg
- With Dressrosa, the entire country was put under a life/death situation with Birdcage
- With WCI, much of the country felt the wrath of BM's hunger pangs.
- This is so far not the case with Wano. The majority of the country knows little of the conflict occurring, save for those part of the alliance. It would be very uncharacteristic of Oda to not involved mainland Wano as part of the conflicts.
6. The Theory
- I personally think Act 3 will end with some form of dramatic change to the plot or tragedy.
- This will include Kaido's goals or change to how dire the situation will eventually become in Wano. I believe this will involve multiple parts of Wano. Its possible all 6 regions of Wano hold the "key" to something related to the island and Luffy and his alliance will try and stop them.
- If you look, much of the background scenery in Wano looks like perfect places for major battles: The cold tundras of Ringo. The beautiful Sakura Trees of Hakumai. The wastelands of Kuri, Udon and Kibi. The main capital looks like it may be the centerpiece of a major battle.
- I believe this will cause a timeskip and segue the arc back to Mainland Wano, fulfilling Hawkins' prophecy of Luffy having a lower chance to survive.
- This will also give a plot reason to involve Wano's citizens around the country.
Tldr: Act 3 will cause a major shift in the Wano plot and force the entire battles back to mainland Wano, where another timeskip will occur and many of the battles will happen around mainland Wano until it cumulates to the Capital, where much of Wano's citizens will be involved by that point.
Edit: Here's another quick point.
7. BMP
- The group was again knocked off the waterfall, indicating they may not make the initial battles on time.
- A big point was made in 981 that BM did not know about the Waterfall Entrance
- Meaning, she is surely going to tell them to use this entrance in the future.
- If the battles take pace on Mainland Wano, then the BMP arriving at Hakumai without their ship via the secret entrance is a perfect, surefire way to have them get to the main battles quickly.
1. Kabuki 5-Act Structure
- Let me admit first by stating that I am by no means an expert on Kabuki or the history of Kabuki. I merely googled the structure and got results.
- Generally the structure of Kabuki that seems to be the common consensus is like so pulled from this website:
- Jo | First Act
- A slow opening which introduces the characters and the story.
- Ha | Second, Third and Fourth Act
- It is the combination of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th act.
- The second and fourth act consists of battles.
- The Ha speeds up the action leading to a reat dramatic moment or tragedy in the third act.
- Kyu | Final Act or Fifth Act
- This act wraps up the story in a quick and satisfying conclusion.
- This is NOT guaranteed obviously, but its poised to be the idea that Oda will use act 3 to continue to drive the plot in such a fashion that leads us to the major battles in Act 4. I think we can all agree that Act 4 will be the major battles.
- Oda seems to be following this as Act 2 involved plenty of smaller skirmishes (Luffy and allies vs. Udon/Big Mom, Queen vs. BM, Sanji vs. Page 1, Sanji vs. Drake, Zoro vs. Killer, Zoro vs. Denjiro, Kaido vs BM)
- As the center point of my argument, I do believe that this is the track Oda is following. We probably still have another 10-20 chapters for Act 3 at this rate, but we can surely expect the battles to ramp up in Act 4 (maybe after Chapter 1000)
- Additionally, so far with every Act, there has been a timeskip. If the major battles are held off to Act 4, there is a possible chance another timeskip occurs.
2. Hawkins' Statement
- In Chapter 913, Hawkins tells Luffy that he only has a 19% chance to survive the month.
- This was a peculiar statement at the time, but it came more evidently clear that Wano's timeframe was going to last much longer than the literal day it took Dressrosa to be resolved or 2 days Luffy and crew were at WCI.
- Kin'emon mentions they will strike Kaido 2 weeks since Luffy arrival, at Onigashima. We are at this point currently.
- On top of this, it still serves as an ominous reminder that if Luffy "wins" right now at Onigashima, then why would Oda make Hawkins say he has a small chance of survival a month out instead of 2 weeks?
- In the end, I think it proves that there will be more going on in Wano beyond the raid, and we will find out soon....
3. Zoro's Sandai Kitetsu
- Also in Chapter 913. Zoro's peaked curiosity about Nidai is something that was touched upon until it was recovered and returned to Tengu.
- Yes, at the moment, Enma completely overshadows Nidai, but it still begs the question of why it was introduced and if Sandai is a worthy sword to still be carrying around.
- Will Zoro obtain this sword from Tengu somehow? There is a possibility he loses it during his final battle and only obtains it at the end of the arc, but could he lose it beforehand and obtain it during Act 4? This leads to my next point.
4. Tengu, Tama and Hiyori
- All 3 still have roles to play this arc. All 3 are technically not at Onigashima and currently do not have a reason to go there. Hiyori told the alliance that she would wait until they won. Tengu never joined in on battles and Tama was left behind with him.
- Tama still needs to find out about Luffy's connection to Ace. My guess is this will happen at a massively dramatic moment in the arc. Tama's ability also needs to be further explored, and may actually serve a purpose against the smile armies Kaido has.
- Tengu was randomly introduced to be an avid Kokeshi doll collector. This made zero sense until chapter 934:
- Firstly, now we know there is a Poneglyph guarded heavily in Orochi's castle. This will have to be addressed eventually.
- Secondly, the room was filled with Kokeshi dolls. The only other time this was mentioned was with Tengu.
- Who is Tenguyama? He still wears a mask and even kept Oden's swords close until his children were able to inherit them. We did not see him during the flashback either, which is very peculiar.
5. Oda's traditions
- Typically (pretty much every arc involving), Oda involves the population of a country/island into the main conflict, in that the populace is placed through the hardships of their country changing with them.
- With Arlong, its citizens watched as Luffy and crew fought and saved their town. They waited for their fates to be decided
- With Drum, the citizens actively took part in rebelling against Wapol.
- With Alabasta, a large portion of the country actively fought against the King's army based on a lie. Through this, Vivi essentially told the entire country to stop fighting
- With Skypia, the entire country was jeopardized due to Enel's powers. They all witnessed Luffy's victory.
- With Water 7, while Luffy and crew beat CP9 at Enies Lobby, Water 7's citizens supported Luffy and crew after they realized they didn't try to kill Iceberg
- With Dressrosa, the entire country was put under a life/death situation with Birdcage
- With WCI, much of the country felt the wrath of BM's hunger pangs.
- This is so far not the case with Wano. The majority of the country knows little of the conflict occurring, save for those part of the alliance. It would be very uncharacteristic of Oda to not involved mainland Wano as part of the conflicts.
6. The Theory
- I personally think Act 3 will end with some form of dramatic change to the plot or tragedy.
- This will include Kaido's goals or change to how dire the situation will eventually become in Wano. I believe this will involve multiple parts of Wano. Its possible all 6 regions of Wano hold the "key" to something related to the island and Luffy and his alliance will try and stop them.
- If you look, much of the background scenery in Wano looks like perfect places for major battles: The cold tundras of Ringo. The beautiful Sakura Trees of Hakumai. The wastelands of Kuri, Udon and Kibi. The main capital looks like it may be the centerpiece of a major battle.
- I believe this will cause a timeskip and segue the arc back to Mainland Wano, fulfilling Hawkins' prophecy of Luffy having a lower chance to survive.
- This will also give a plot reason to involve Wano's citizens around the country.
Tldr: Act 3 will cause a major shift in the Wano plot and force the entire battles back to mainland Wano, where another timeskip will occur and many of the battles will happen around mainland Wano until it cumulates to the Capital, where much of Wano's citizens will be involved by that point.
Edit: Here's another quick point.
7. BMP
- The group was again knocked off the waterfall, indicating they may not make the initial battles on time.
- A big point was made in 981 that BM did not know about the Waterfall Entrance
- Meaning, she is surely going to tell them to use this entrance in the future.
- If the battles take pace on Mainland Wano, then the BMP arriving at Hakumai without their ship via the secret entrance is a perfect, surefire way to have them get to the main battles quickly.
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