Recent threads and developments got me thinking: Cook is likely the only major SH character with no clear endgame villain(s).
Luffy got Akainu and maybe even Imu.
Zoro got Fujitora and then Mihawk in the epilogue.
It's been speculated for Cook to face either Kizaru or Ryokugyu, which may happen given a dozen more power ups, but I kinda doubt the SHs will take down virtually all Admirals when even PK crew like Roger's did not. There is also 3 of the other RT5 to consider, since I highly doubt they will let the SHs hog all the glory considering even now they are trying to take down a Yonko, so why not also the Admirals? In addition, the SNs have to repay Kizaru's favor from back in Sabaody.
So, let's go back to Cook. An aspect his fans liked about him was the espionage elements he performed pre-TS. The Onigashima Raid did a good job restoring a decent chunk of his credibility and reintroducing the secret agency elemeny to hid journey might be in the cards now. Interestingly, Cook is also the first SH to defeat a Cipher Pol member (Wanze from CP7).
It's been highly predicted that he will recuperate after fainting in 1035 just in time to clean up the mess he made by announcing Robin's whereabouts against Maria by making sure Robin escapes CP0 (in a weird way also redeeming himself after failing to do so in the train back against CP9). While it is unlikely for a tired Cook to beat even one CP0 member, what matters here is he allows Robin to escape. I don't doubt that this will earn him the enmity of CP0 as a whole and maybe even earn him a spot in CP0's most wanted list. We don't know who the strongest CP0 member is, but obviously he will hear about this, too. Remember that CP0 made a Lonko crew ran away and the last two times pre-TS we saw Lonko crews ran away were against the Admirals. This means there is no way the strongest CP0 member is not a top tier, at least. If Cook indeed stays out of the Admirals' fight, I think no less than CP0's strongest would suffice.
And Cook once boasted that he will cause so much trouble for the WGs/Marines and causing the CP0 to fail from getting Robin is certainly a fulfillment of the promise. We know CP0 directly reports to the Gorosei (as film Gold shows, they are not exactly friendly with the Marines) and, who knows, they might have to report to the Gorosei that Black Leg caused Robin to escape, which also put Cook at Gorosei's direct crosshairs and maybe even earn a fight against one of them thanks to literally snatching away their victory at last second. I don't buy the Gorosei being that good of fighters, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt in this case.
TL;DR Is Oda setting up Cook's final villain by having CP0 appear in Wano?
Luffy got Akainu and maybe even Imu.
Zoro got Fujitora and then Mihawk in the epilogue.
It's been speculated for Cook to face either Kizaru or Ryokugyu, which may happen given a dozen more power ups, but I kinda doubt the SHs will take down virtually all Admirals when even PK crew like Roger's did not. There is also 3 of the other RT5 to consider, since I highly doubt they will let the SHs hog all the glory considering even now they are trying to take down a Yonko, so why not also the Admirals? In addition, the SNs have to repay Kizaru's favor from back in Sabaody.
So, let's go back to Cook. An aspect his fans liked about him was the espionage elements he performed pre-TS. The Onigashima Raid did a good job restoring a decent chunk of his credibility and reintroducing the secret agency elemeny to hid journey might be in the cards now. Interestingly, Cook is also the first SH to defeat a Cipher Pol member (Wanze from CP7).
It's been highly predicted that he will recuperate after fainting in 1035 just in time to clean up the mess he made by announcing Robin's whereabouts against Maria by making sure Robin escapes CP0 (in a weird way also redeeming himself after failing to do so in the train back against CP9). While it is unlikely for a tired Cook to beat even one CP0 member, what matters here is he allows Robin to escape. I don't doubt that this will earn him the enmity of CP0 as a whole and maybe even earn him a spot in CP0's most wanted list. We don't know who the strongest CP0 member is, but obviously he will hear about this, too. Remember that CP0 made a Lonko crew ran away and the last two times pre-TS we saw Lonko crews ran away were against the Admirals. This means there is no way the strongest CP0 member is not a top tier, at least. If Cook indeed stays out of the Admirals' fight, I think no less than CP0's strongest would suffice.
And Cook once boasted that he will cause so much trouble for the WGs/Marines and causing the CP0 to fail from getting Robin is certainly a fulfillment of the promise. We know CP0 directly reports to the Gorosei (as film Gold shows, they are not exactly friendly with the Marines) and, who knows, they might have to report to the Gorosei that Black Leg caused Robin to escape, which also put Cook at Gorosei's direct crosshairs and maybe even earn a fight against one of them thanks to literally snatching away their victory at last second. I don't buy the Gorosei being that good of fighters, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt in this case.
TL;DR Is Oda setting up Cook's final villain by having CP0 appear in Wano?