I thought this before, but after Oda almost shoehorns that WB flashback into the story in Chapter 999, it's even more possible than ever.
He also made Old WB to pass the torch to Luffy even in the pre-TS battle, right after Luffy used CoC.
Not long ago, Ace tried to persuade WB to invade Wano Country to fight Kaido, but WB rejects Ace's request since Marco says there would be major casulties on their crew if they fought Kaido, and WB says Kaido is too strong because not even Oden could defeat him.
This was after Ace become the 2nd division commander in WB's ship, meaning that it wasn't so long before the current story when Luffy started to his journey.
Essentially, the expected things that ''strongest'' Old WB had to do, or couldn't do in chronological order;
01- Not being able to fight Kaido at Wano and not being able to force Kaido out of Wano, despite Ace tries to persuade them to do it.
02- Not being able to defeat Shanks, even when Shanks challenged WB in WB's own ship and before when Shanks KOed some of the WB pirates with CoC Haki.
03- Not being able to defeat the Marines and couldn't save his crew member due to getting too old and sick.
04- Not being able to defeat Blackbeard and BB pirates.
05- Mentions about finding One Piece and the big war against the World Government.
Right now, Luffy is following the same first step;
- Luffy is going to accomplish what Old WB couldn't, and defeat Kaido and force him out of Wano, saves Wano.
If the route will be the same, then;
- Then it's possible that Luffy will defeat Shanks next, since Oda indirectly said Shanks will be the next target, said the next year will be Shanks's year. And Shanks was the only living person in Kaido's vision for Luffy after getting hit by Red Roc, probably Oda wants to highlight Shanks as the next opponent, rather than Blackbeard or Big Mom.
- Then Luffy will defeat the Marines as whole and save the person he wanted to save? Perhaps Sabo? The Marines might use Sabo to draw Revolutionaries into battle, similar to how they used Ace, or it could be another person.
- At that point in the story, both BB pirates and SH pirates will defeat the Marines, and perhaps BB pirates will defeat the Revolutionaries ( I mentioned this in this thread ) as an extra after defeating the Marines, and then they fight each other and SH pirates wins by also saving Revolutionaries from BB pirates,
- And then SH Pirates find One Piece, thus they finally reveal the truth about Void Century and they learn why they must fight World Government and they gain enough allies to fight the whole World Government and Imu.
- Then they defeat the World Government and Imu alongside with Luffy's allies, and with the Remnants of the Revolutionaries. I believe the Revolutionaries must be weakened like WB pirates was weakened after the war with the Marines and BB pirates, since it would be hard to highlight SH Pirates over Revolutionary army in the final war against World Government and Imu, if the Revolutionary army is at full force.
If this happens, then Oda specifically uses the same chronological order for Luffy, by making Luffy to accomplish the things that Old WB couldn't do.
Even though Admiral fans always talk about how the Marines will be the final villains, I think taking out the Marines and the World Government separately would be better for Admiral fans, even though they always believe the Marines will be the Final Villain, but consider this; if the Marines only fights under World Government forces in the final war, then they would be overshadowed by the full force of the World Government, the focus would be for unknown characters like Imu, Gorosei, CP0, Vegapunk's secret weapons and Kong's forces, it won't be focused over Akainu, Kizaru, Issho or Greenbull.
Don't forget that the Marines are only the outward face, not the real face of the Government as Gorosei said.
Government is actually the power source of the Marines;
- Government provides everything, weapons, and even men power as we see how they send 2 new Admirals to the marines, when Greenbull and Issho were originally not marines, meaning that Government might have other guys like Issho or Ryokugyu in their own force under Kong's authority, or under Gorosei's authority, which means it would be very formidable, also they have Vegapunk, and CP0, and if Imu has combat power, the other Goverment forces could be even more powerful than the whole Marines, as they already provided %50 of the Admirals, by sending Issho and Ryokugyu when they needed.
To highlight Akainu, Kizaru, Issho and Greenbull better, if the Marines will be taken out separately, without the under the full force of the World Government then Oda can highlight the characters of the Admirals better. Oda can even make mini background stories for them and it would be a Marine arc entirely, not World Government arc where Marines will be sidekicks to Celestial Dragons and sidekicks to the main force, sidekicks to the real face of the Government as usual. There should stories about the Marines, Koby, X-Drake, and that SWORD faction, so we can finally see the end of the Marines with better leaders leading them during the story without seeing the EoS first.
Perhaps the new Marines under SWORD leadership will even side with Luffy's group in the final war against World Government (Koby and X-Drake gave the signals even in Wano arc), while some Marines like Akainu or Kizaru will keep working for the Government, that would be also cool to see 2 different Marine groups fighting with each other in the Final War, and Issho finally having a chance to fight with Akainu would be also great.
As for the Shanks being the next opponent after Kaido, I think it make sense for the 2 reasons that I mentioned above; 1- Oda said Shanks's year is coming, not Blackbeard's or Big Mom's etc, 2- In Kaido's vision after Luffy's Red Roc, there was no Garp, Rayleigh, Big Mom or Blackbeard, but only Shanks amongst the living people. I think this might be because of Shanks > Garp or Big Mom or Rayleigh or Blackbeard etc , but it could be also because of Oda already preparing the story for highlighting Shanks as the next opponent after Kaido.
What are your thoughts?
He also made Old WB to pass the torch to Luffy even in the pre-TS battle, right after Luffy used CoC.
Not long ago, Ace tried to persuade WB to invade Wano Country to fight Kaido, but WB rejects Ace's request since Marco says there would be major casulties on their crew if they fought Kaido, and WB says Kaido is too strong because not even Oden could defeat him.
This was after Ace become the 2nd division commander in WB's ship, meaning that it wasn't so long before the current story when Luffy started to his journey.
Essentially, the expected things that ''strongest'' Old WB had to do, or couldn't do in chronological order;
01- Not being able to fight Kaido at Wano and not being able to force Kaido out of Wano, despite Ace tries to persuade them to do it.
02- Not being able to defeat Shanks, even when Shanks challenged WB in WB's own ship and before when Shanks KOed some of the WB pirates with CoC Haki.
03- Not being able to defeat the Marines and couldn't save his crew member due to getting too old and sick.
04- Not being able to defeat Blackbeard and BB pirates.
05- Mentions about finding One Piece and the big war against the World Government.
Right now, Luffy is following the same first step;
- Luffy is going to accomplish what Old WB couldn't, and defeat Kaido and force him out of Wano, saves Wano.
If the route will be the same, then;
- Then it's possible that Luffy will defeat Shanks next, since Oda indirectly said Shanks will be the next target, said the next year will be Shanks's year. And Shanks was the only living person in Kaido's vision for Luffy after getting hit by Red Roc, probably Oda wants to highlight Shanks as the next opponent, rather than Blackbeard or Big Mom.
- Then Luffy will defeat the Marines as whole and save the person he wanted to save? Perhaps Sabo? The Marines might use Sabo to draw Revolutionaries into battle, similar to how they used Ace, or it could be another person.
- At that point in the story, both BB pirates and SH pirates will defeat the Marines, and perhaps BB pirates will defeat the Revolutionaries ( I mentioned this in this thread ) as an extra after defeating the Marines, and then they fight each other and SH pirates wins by also saving Revolutionaries from BB pirates,
- And then SH Pirates find One Piece, thus they finally reveal the truth about Void Century and they learn why they must fight World Government and they gain enough allies to fight the whole World Government and Imu.
- Then they defeat the World Government and Imu alongside with Luffy's allies, and with the Remnants of the Revolutionaries. I believe the Revolutionaries must be weakened like WB pirates was weakened after the war with the Marines and BB pirates, since it would be hard to highlight SH Pirates over Revolutionary army in the final war against World Government and Imu, if the Revolutionary army is at full force.
If this happens, then Oda specifically uses the same chronological order for Luffy, by making Luffy to accomplish the things that Old WB couldn't do.
Even though Admiral fans always talk about how the Marines will be the final villains, I think taking out the Marines and the World Government separately would be better for Admiral fans, even though they always believe the Marines will be the Final Villain, but consider this; if the Marines only fights under World Government forces in the final war, then they would be overshadowed by the full force of the World Government, the focus would be for unknown characters like Imu, Gorosei, CP0, Vegapunk's secret weapons and Kong's forces, it won't be focused over Akainu, Kizaru, Issho or Greenbull.
Don't forget that the Marines are only the outward face, not the real face of the Government as Gorosei said.
Government is actually the power source of the Marines;
- Government provides everything, weapons, and even men power as we see how they send 2 new Admirals to the marines, when Greenbull and Issho were originally not marines, meaning that Government might have other guys like Issho or Ryokugyu in their own force under Kong's authority, or under Gorosei's authority, which means it would be very formidable, also they have Vegapunk, and CP0, and if Imu has combat power, the other Goverment forces could be even more powerful than the whole Marines, as they already provided %50 of the Admirals, by sending Issho and Ryokugyu when they needed.
To highlight Akainu, Kizaru, Issho and Greenbull better, if the Marines will be taken out separately, without the under the full force of the World Government then Oda can highlight the characters of the Admirals better. Oda can even make mini background stories for them and it would be a Marine arc entirely, not World Government arc where Marines will be sidekicks to Celestial Dragons and sidekicks to the main force, sidekicks to the real face of the Government as usual. There should stories about the Marines, Koby, X-Drake, and that SWORD faction, so we can finally see the end of the Marines with better leaders leading them during the story without seeing the EoS first.
Perhaps the new Marines under SWORD leadership will even side with Luffy's group in the final war against World Government (Koby and X-Drake gave the signals even in Wano arc), while some Marines like Akainu or Kizaru will keep working for the Government, that would be also cool to see 2 different Marine groups fighting with each other in the Final War, and Issho finally having a chance to fight with Akainu would be also great.
As for the Shanks being the next opponent after Kaido, I think it make sense for the 2 reasons that I mentioned above; 1- Oda said Shanks's year is coming, not Blackbeard's or Big Mom's etc, 2- In Kaido's vision after Luffy's Red Roc, there was no Garp, Rayleigh, Big Mom or Blackbeard, but only Shanks amongst the living people. I think this might be because of Shanks > Garp or Big Mom or Rayleigh or Blackbeard etc , but it could be also because of Oda already preparing the story for highlighting Shanks as the next opponent after Kaido.
What are your thoughts?
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