Okay, here's something to keep in mind. Oda has said before that:
"I've always pictured what the final chapter of ‘ONE PIECE’ would be like, though from time to time, the situation surrounding it changes. It will still be over whenever the One Piece is found in the series, haha. Anyway, this next arc is the final one. "-Over 100 Miracle Talk Interview.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/...Dh-4Xe0riNQZOvhOoDa2b2_euttfOzz6PMAe76MHg/pub
reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/w6cxg8/oda_just_confirmed_story_ends_when_one_piece_is/
(Mind you that's also the same interview that said Oda was aiming to end One Piece in 3 years...back in 2022. But...let's just ignore that for now.)
So, it seems like, in Oda's mind, Laugh Tale (or wherever the One Piece actually is) will be the final arc. The Final War most likely will come before Laugh Tale, not after it.
I know a lot of people want the Final War to be the consequence for the World discovering the World Government's lies. Everyone learning the truth and teaming up to overthrow them. But, that's probably not what the Final War will be.
Chances are, the Final War will more likely be about the World Government trying to keep everyone away from Laugh Tale. The WG trying to make sure no one uncovers whatever huge secret is on this island. Everyone trying to reach Laugh Tale at the same time, and the WG trying to wage a war against everyone on multiple fronts at the same time. Or something along those lines. Something else could happen, but chances are the Final War will not be the final arc, like some people expect. Given what few hints Oda has given us, at least.
As for the Final War arc being next? Well...I think there's actually a pretty good argument that we're already IN the "Final War Arc" right now. At least the opening salvos of it. On this particular battlefield.
The Revolutionaries are already laying siege to Mariejois. Blackbeard has his own plans, whatever they turn out to be. Cross Guild is on the move. Shanks is already trying to claim Laugh Tale for himself. Garling has already secured himself a station of immense power. There's already battles happening all over the World. This IS the Final War (...maybe...*shrugs*)
It's just that I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of it is going to end up getting off-screened. Or we'll learn about things that happened in flashbacks later. Probably in a abbreviated manner. Because that's just how Oda rolls, sometimes. It happened with the Akainu/Aokiji fight. It happened with the end of the Blackbeard/Ace fight. It happened with Blackbeard vs the Revolutionary Army. I just have a hunch that we probably won't see a good portion of the Final War. We'll just see the consequences.
So, if we're already in the Final War, like I suspect. What IS the next arc?
Well, there's a lot of ways Oda could actually go with this.
We need to meet The Man Marked By Flames. Somehow and somewhere. I feel like you could have him show up just about anyplace, though. So, chances are The Man Marked By Flames will be combined with another location.
Whatever island we go to next, it's probably going to be the island that Law was originally headed to, before he got into a fight with Blackbeard. The Strawhats seem to be going to every island that their Wano allies were headed to. But, again...we don't actually know what island Law was headed to. He was ambushed at Winner/Wiener Island, but I don't think anyone ever said that was his final destination. That might have just been on the way. Either way, I could see us...passing by Wiener Island. I don't know if we'll end up stopping there or not. I'm not sure what we'd DO there. Unless Wiener Island is somehow the MOST IMPORTANT PLACE EVER! But, I doubt it.
There is Sphinx, the place where Ace and Whitebeard and buried. It would be nice for Luffy to get a chapter or two to visit Ace's grave. Right before we head off to the quest to get to Laugh Tale. But, again, I feel like you could just say Sphinx is a smaller part of a larger, more important island.
Lodestar seems like the most likely place we'll go next, in my opinion. We know...something important is there. It's where Roger originally learned that the Road Poneglyphs existed. I'm not sure what'd we do there, since we already have most of the important Poneglyphs. But, I COULD see Lodestar being revealed to be the island where Sphinx is located, and the island Law was originally going to visit. And we could meet The Man Marked By Flames sailing around this island, too. Checking off a bunch of boxes all at the same time. Oda doesn't usually combine that many plot points in a single island. But, given his health, I could see him being tempted to combine a bunch of ideas into a single place where we can get a bunch of stuff done.
So, I feel like Lodestar makes the most sense as the next arc. But, there are a few other options worth talking about.
A lot of people think we could go to New Marineford to break Weevil and maybe some others out of jail. Personally, I think that's unlikely. That feels like something Cross Guild might bumble their way into. Gaining a few new members, like Weevil (and maybe even Arlong? Arlong's one of the only major villains we haven't gotten a update on in years.). I could see us learning about Cross Guild "leading a massive prison break" from a newspaper after Elbaph is done or something.
Hachinosu is another possibility. And I personally think it's the second-most likely possibility after Lodestar. It seems likely that the last history-revealing Rio Poneglyph that Robin would need for her collection is likely on Hachinosu. And chances are, we need to save Pudding from Blackbeard (though, she might need to stay with him until Laugh Tale for Blackbeard to have a chance to find the island). And MAYBE follow up with what happened with Moria and Perona. And Garp (though, Luffy would probably be tempted to let the old man have his fun.) The Strawhats versus a entire island of evil pirates would make for a pretty fun arc. The only problem with Hachinosu is...I'm not sure where it's located. I don't know if it's around Wano like the other islands. It feels like it should be closer to the Fishman Island side of the World. I guess if it used to be a prison colony, it WOULD make sense to be almost as far from Mariejois as possible, though. So, maybe it makes sense for Hachinosu to be closer to the Reverse Mountain side of the World than I originally thought? Hachinosu would make for a pretty decent Impel Down parallel, too. Just sayin'.
So, yeah, I think the smart money's on Lodestar. But, if you want to hedge your bets, you can cover the spread with Hachinosu. I wouldn't blame you.
But, one last thing to keep in mind. Oda DOES seem to be trying to escalate things in every arc in this Final Saga. In Egghead, the Strawhat's faced off against ALL of the Gorosei, after years of them not even having names. In Elbaph, they're facing off against most of the Knights of God and Imu themselves (though indirectly). So, whoever the Strawhats are going to fight next, it's probably going to have to be someone who's even more impressive than Imu's "shadow".
So, who's going to be the villain of the next arc? Well...there aren't a lot of options left. If it's not Imu's true form, anyway. We have Koby, Aokiji, Buggy, Akainu, Dragon, Shanks, Garling, Shamrock, and Blackbeard as options, in my opinion. All the people from The Twelve spread in Chapter 1121. Koby did say he was going to try and stop Luffy...but Koby is not arc-antagonist material, in my opinion. Dragon and Akainu are probably too busy with the Siege on Mariejois. Maybe even Shamrock, too. Buggy probably has to make it to the endgame so he probably won't be next.
So, I think the most likely antagonist for the next arc will be...Shanks AND Blackbeard. I think next up, we could get the long-hyped Shanks versus Blackbeard fight. With maybe the Strawhats caught in the middle. Garling and Shamrock could even show up, giving us a little family reunion. Chances are, whatever island they're on is going to get destroyed during the fight. And if the whole "Demon King" thing is going to be a plot point, we could see something happen here. The fight between Shanks and Blackbeard could give birth to a new Demon King, like Tot Musica. Something Imu's possibly been trying to prevent for hundreds of years. I think that could be a possible escalation of things from Elbaph. A new Demon King being born and wrecking havoc on everything.
If you want to know more about my thoughts about how Demon Kings could work, look over at my two posts over here:
https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...ncident-was-a-singularity.73794/#post-6378324
So, final bet time.
I'm betting that in the next arc, we're going to Lodestar. We'll visit Ace's grave, we learn a little more lore about the Void Century, and run into The Man Marked By Flames.
Koby shows up to arrest Luffy at Ace's grave. Maybe Koby even got backup from Smoker. They fight. But...
TMMBF will also draw the attention of Shanks and Blackbeard, who both need the final Road Poneglyph that's in his possession. This will spark a massive fight between the two of them, paralleling Luffy and Koby's fight that is happening at the same time.
Meanwhile, the Strawhats have their destined fights with Blackbeard's crew. Koby and Luffy's fight continues, but they both try to interrupt these fights and get in the middle in key moments, giving the Strawhats a little bit of a edge.
Garling and Shamrock both show up to try and stop the fight, and in order to capture Shanks. The Strawhats now end up fighting Shamrock and Garling AND Blackbeard's crew at the same time. Koby and Luffy's fight is STILL going on, only now they're also fighting all these other guys, too.
In the middle of all this, we're going to get flashbacks for Shanks and Blackbeard. Possibly at the same time? Possibly paralleling each other? Basically just filling in some gaps in both of their backstories.
Eventually, a new Demon King is born from all these fights, who attacks EVERYONE. It's raid boss time. Luffy tries to stop the new Demon King with Gear 5, but mostly fails. Resulting in the destruction of Lodestar, setting up what the stakes actually are in the future. This is basically going to be a version of God Valley where everything went even worse. (Yes, Ace's grave gets destroyed, just adding insult to injury.)
Blackbeard either takes control of the new Demon King, or is possessed by the new Demon King. Blackbeard now has a power similar to Imu's. Setting up the next bracket in the tournament. Blackbeard versus Imu is coming. And it's going to be a massive Kaiju fight between two Demon Kings for control of the planet.
Shanks loses the fight with Blackbeard. Resulting in either his death, or losing his other arm, or getting captured by Garling and Shamrock. Or some combination of all of these. Maybe getting another Abyss Mark to regenerate from near death.
But, the Strawhats manage to get away, and maybe even save Pudding from Blackbeard's clutches in the process. Possibly aided in their escape by TMMBF.
...And once they're onboard The Man Marked By Flame's ship, we learn his identity. He's actually...the klaubatermann of the Oro Jackson. Everyone's been chasing after Roger's old ghost ship this entire time. But, that's a theory for another day.
Sound good? Sounds good to me. I'm probably completely wrong about all this. But, I think it'd make for a interesting arc.
Oh, and if you've skipped this mighty wall of text, I'm saying that we're already in the Final War. The Final War started on Elbaph already. Maybe even on Egghead. The Final Saga IS the Final War.
