that still ignore the 2 factors we know that are said to grow in a expectational pace: The seraphim
Well, I guess this one is technically true, but it´s going to be hard for me to believe that they´re really going to reach that strength in the Mangas story itself. And the idea that they´ll be serious antagonists is kind of meh, i mean they´re
Clones
Kids
Robots
Mindless
They aren´t really the type of villains Oda likes, I don´t think. Seems like a filler plot, where they might end up being adopted by the warlords, instead of some cell shit, but idk, you technically have a point I guess.
and the BBP. The seraphim are said to be not reaching the final form and gave the SH as much trouble as the gorosei as kids, and the BBP have growth rates like the Monster trio and seems to parallel them.
I´m a pretty big fan/defender of the BBP, and I do consider them currently stronger than the SHP, which a lot of people don´t, but these guys aren´t really top 10 of all time material. To match up Loki, you´ll probably need EOS Teach himself, they´re pretty similar in a lot of ways(multiple DFs, Dads were equals, one of the fruits Rocks wanted). I mean, we´re in full scale nepo piece, do you really think Rocks´s son is going to have a bunch of subordinates stronger then Haralds son, who also has an extremely strong case of surpassing him, or having already done so?
And oda is a author that is prone to rise stakes and power creep. If your argument is elbaf is the last island the SH visit, so Loki is the strongest ally character, ok. But this ignores also the fact the the arc following this would also go against traditional one piece arc structure than. Also oda lows to shitout powerful characters and villains we never heard of nowhere.
Sure, and in theory, Imu could not actually be the real villain of the government, and someone elses secret subordinate. Anything is possible in theory, but it doesn´t seem like the story is going that way. It seems like this arc is giving us the last of relevant characters who will appear
Rocks(flashback character, but has been hyped for half a decade as pretty much the strongest pirate in recent years)
Shamrock(Shanks´s brother, first technically seen like 6 years ago, hyped as stronger then Shanks 14 years ago)
Loki(legendary giant, the last new arc ally the SHP get, infamous with his own name having global noterity. Technically Elbaf has been hyped for 20 years, but we have our first specific hype for it and Loki from Big Mom, 6-7 years ago)
Gunko(Imu´s personal aide, dating back to 50ish years ago)
Sommers(beat Shakky, who scales above most women in the manga, and since most women are mothers, who are confirmed stronger then Kaido, is above Yonko level. Had legendary clashes with the pirate Kings crew)
Sure, Oda could intro more characters stronger than them, but it seems pretty unlikely at this point, since he already has way too many characters to really do justice. We could easily do 5-10 years off the current plotlines, do you think OP will go on for 20 more years so Oda can powercreep Loki as well? What would be the point?
(oh and, wrt Hk possibly being killed before, yeah but let´s be real, for powerscaling purposes, that doesn´t matter too much. Any ACOC user is killing the average knight, lol. What matters is Imu thinking no one could have killed Harald, implying this guy was legit in the top 1 conversation)