Personally, I feel like "big, flashy finish" kind of implies that the fight with Imu won't be terribly long. One way or another. There's a chance Imu's only here for one chapter. It's more likely to be a little longer than that, but I'm not expecting a 20 chapter fight to break out, here. I don't think Imu showing up is the halfway point of this arc, like some people do.
And Oda's so focused on everything else that's happening AFTER Elbaph. I feel like that's what he's interested in drawing right now. So, I think Elbaph definitely ends this year, at least. How much is left is up for debate, because it does feel like we should still get a few chapter's worth of epilogue for this arc. But, I think Elbaph ends sooner rather than later. Of course, I've been consistently wrong about that for the entire Elbaph arc, so I really don't have a leg to stand on, trying to guess how long arcs will be.
The next island is probably Lodestar? If only because we might as well make a visit before the end of the series.
As for the character meetings...well, at this point that could be talking about Imu and anybody else, if Imu's going to be a more active player moving forward. Although, I would still like to check back in with Bartolomeo and Law and even Kidd. And it'd be nice to see where Vivi ended up.
I feel like Elbaph ends this year. But, I suppose at this point, it'd be the middle of the year at earliest. We could potentially go until near the end of the year. But, I think things are going to start moving faster, the closer we get to the final arc.
