Acknowledging the progression of the story, I believe the point of this arc is to cement Luffy as an Emperor caliber threat in bounty, force, and name.
Since the backdrop plot of this arc mimics the atrocities of O'hara, the characters involved and storyline attached should reflect or parallel the occurences at O'hara.
- Nico Oliva & Clover / Stella
- Scholars / Vegapunks
- Aokiji / Aokiji
- Akainu / Kizaru
- Cipher Pol / Saturn
- Buster Call VA's / 100 Battle Ships
The difference here being the Strawhats
While I don't think a full fledged battle will break out, I do believe the Navy will be at a standstill and defeated like a chess move.
The players involved hopefully will be
- Dragon - Early on we got some flashbacks of him and VP and their ties have to go back decades, they should be friends
- Aokiji - He's not in the Navy anymore, he doesn't have to participate in another genocide
- Emperor Luffy - Stopping Kizaru dead in his tracks and blocking from the murdering of VP
- To get a bounty raise of 4B like a legitimate Emperor (the arc started w/ Lucci doubting Luffys emperor-ascension
- Starkly contrast his gen of pirates defeats (Law to BB ; Kid to Shanks)
- Grand Fleet - The incident that was mentioned at the tail end of Dressrosa and to show an Emperor has a backing of a noteworthy fleet
This should be enough for the Stella and the VPs minus York to board the ship and make a transitory getaway to the next island.
The big move to shake the world should be the defeat of an Admiral and Gorosei, the knowledge that this is an assault by the D Clan against Celestial + Navy in Monkey D. Dragon & Monkey D. Luffy, and the exposed risk Vegapunks brain technology plays with the massive Punk Records leaks.
I hope we get something substantially better tho than what is possible in the culmination of the above.
Also adding some more thoughts, every arc/saga begins with a crying character who seeks refuge in Luffy and a leader as the powerhouse. Someone starts a fight and Luffy finishes it.
- Rebecca/Law for Dressrosa - Corazon as the tragic flashback character
- Momo/Law for the Wano Saga - Oden as the tragic flashback character
- For now its Bonney/Dragon? for the Endgame Story - Kuma as the tragic flashback character