Honestly this arc is fascinating, because in terms of structure its really unlike anything Oda has done before in terms of what he's doing with the Gorosei. If we "assume" the arc is like past ones, then we would "assume" the Gorosei lose here but there are so many things working against that:
- The extreme lack of involvement or backstory of 4 of 5 Gorosei the last 50 chapters. Only Saturn and Kizaru were focal points prior to this.
- Touching on their backstory, is clearly tied to Imu, who is not here, who is also inherently tied to the Void Century, a mystery we shouldn't know until One Piece is found
- The fact that the Mother Flame factory is still a plot point, which means someone needs or should deliver it to Imu for his weapon (endgame relevancy)
And more
The designs seem freaky/goofy but I really think they are in line with what we might be able to consider endgame or near endgame threats just based on how quickly Nasujuro is dispatching like 20+ pacifista in seconds.
I am just super curious on how all of this is playing out between now and Elbaf because of it. Oda had Zoro score a W (i assume he's down?) against Lucci of all people, which already was pretty unorthodox in terms of what he normally does with old villains.
And then theres Kizaru lol, whom I think is more relevant to this arc than people give him credit for but I digress until we get more chapters
