Tbh I had hoped it would be the last living western dragon, we had clones of western dragons at Punk Hazard that Vegapunk did but Oda never said anything more about it. Western Dragons have been known to hoard and guard treasure in caves and such, we saw it with the Hobbit with Smaug ofc. And since Elbaf will be all about Western Fantasy and Fairy Tales, (Finally Gildarts will appear in One Piece lmao), it should have western dragons there too. We've had eastern dragons in Wano now ofc. My headcanon was that the egg hatched and became a dragon which Scopper is looking after in Elbaf or somewhere else like Lodestar at least. Dragon eggs tend to be scaly and look different though? Spotted eggs tend to be used for dinosaurs/jurassic stuff or birds I believe? Well birds are their descendants anyway ofc lol.
Aside from that idk, we still got that mysterious man who met Scopper and seemed to be from Wano. Burned Mark Man? That one silhouette on who will get the One Piece from that double spread recently? Or and the man waiting for the SHs on Elbafs shore? We also had a man who looked like what Scopper would look like now reacting to Whitebeard at Marineford from somewhere in the world, the manga and anime put emphasis on him as if he were important and Oda gave him such a detailed design. Why would he do that for such a random, irrelevant character?
But yeah as you said, probably scrapped ideas, a graveyard for many ideas Oda has buried like the 20 scrapped film plots for Film Red which would have been AMAZING and some of them we've wanted in the main story for YEARs now, over a decade even at minimum! Same with Zoro and Ryuumas grave, Zoros family and 2nd/more backstory etc.
Oda admitted he changes the story when people guess what hes planning, when theories get too close to home too, which doesnt help. His egomania and desperation to be number 1, the never ending enigma, the unsolvable mystery, the permanently unpredictable, always one step ahead of you genius is intoxicating and insufferable.
A Dragon Egg would definitely fit and be interesting too, especially in an arc that's about fairy tales. As you mentioned, we have already seen a few in the Story. I am certain, we even had a Filler in the Anime that involved Dragons very early on. Something about eternal life, I forgot the whole premise of that. (anyway, it was just filler)
I am with you on that part, that if this egg didn't hatch before Roger's execution, he most definitely entrusted it to someone close. Scopper Gaban wouldn't be too far-fetched, but Then there are people who believe they left this egg somewhere on their Journey along the way to hatch safely, Laugh tale?
Loadtstar is also still a mystery to me, and something that is still bugging me to this day is when Roger mentioned that nobody ever reached it except for them, how come? It's the final Island you can reach following the Log Pose.
What makes this place so unreachable? Is it just that Pirate Groups decimate each other so much that nobody, ever comes close to it, or is there "something" that makes it "impossible".
As for the silhouetted Person waiting on the shores, well some people want him to be Scopper + the man marked by flames + the Guy that was sitting with Crocus in the Cover Story all at once. It would certainly make things easier to have so many differently depicted people being the same Person, but I can also see them being unrelated. After all we havn't seen any signs of that pitch black Ship yet, that this man marked by flames is supposed to sail on. Only his "alleged" Powers to create whirlpools could fit into the recent events, and be responsible for the disappereance of the Sunny.
But, speaking of Scopper, and the man you mentioned that we saw after the Marine ford War who looked suspiciously "important" I immediately knew who you meant haha, the guy that was used in a thumbnail at least once from many YouTubers. This guy.
He definitely could fit being an Ex Roger Pirate age-wise. That tattoo on his head is definitely sticking out.
But, now that you brought this Guy into my memories again, I just realized he could definitely be the Guy on Crocus Cover Story and the Man waiting on the shores of Elbaf, if it's a Wig he is wearing with that hat on top of it.
I made that Post a few weeks ago where a Japanese YouTuber was pointing out that in Chapter 929 in the Room with Franky and Minamoto who is currently missing in Yamato's Cover Story, there was that exact looking hat thingy with that exact looking hair attached to it hanging on the wall to their right (and it was also blonde in the colored Version). Could this Person be it? Is he trying to cover up his Tattoo with it, hm.
(Link to that colored Panel of mentioned wano hat+blonde wig)
https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...tory-the-mysterious-person.59758/post-5615780
Honestly all this Scopper, man marked by flames, and the man waiting on elbaf + the Cover Story talk, confuses me only more lol.
I would like it better, if Scopper is just waiting on Loadstar Island or something, being unrelated to this burn scar man. This tattoo head guy might also never be mentioned again.
Yeah, Oda should have never made it public that he would change stuff when someone guesses something right about the One Piece. That most likely how we have gotten, so many scrapped Ideas to begin with, but who knows for sure. Looking at that positively, it leaves more Material for spin-offs later on.
Oh, I forgot to mention that Shiki is also a possible candidate for this Cover Story Guy / the man waiting on the shore of Elbaf, while at the same time both of them could be different people. We are just going with that same looking hat, and the hair for now. But that seems to be a very common thing from Wano. (All just speculation)
Isn't it fucking convenient we never saw Bartos barrier vs the Rat and his crew? Can't let his precious rat look bad vs a barrier like he did to Oden!
It is definitely odd why Oda decided not to show us Bartos barrier against Shanks. Given how, even Oden couldn't breach through it. I mean, maybe it did happen and was just off screened, by leaving it ambiguous one could think Shanks was just too quick for Barto to react. But then again, why not just draw that in a small Panel.