I will once again remind everyone of Kizaru's inevitable joining. On top of possessing the secret 7 character sauces, he also slots nicely as a answer to Blackbeards Admiral. Oda is a genius, but he is whimsical and imposes strange restrictions on himself. One of which is undoubtedly "I cannot allow my main villain to have a more impressive (lore and capability wise) crew than the SHs EOS".
Kizaru's role? Combatant, specifically a crowd control / body guard role. He can be wherever is needed on the battlefield at any time which will guarantee the weaker Straw Hats don't get separated and caught out by an Admiral+ (like Ussop was this arc). Considering we'll have dozens running around in the final war, the threat remains real to all but the monster trio (who will likely be given 1v1s). Only one yellow monkey after all.
Not to mention it makes for a neat comparison to Aokiji. They'd both break away from the Navy, but the one we expect to join up with the SHs joins blackbeard, and the last Admiral (not counting FA smokes-a-lot) we would expect to join, does. Aokiji has a warm heart and operates in the cold shadows, while Kizaru has a cold heart and operates in the warm sunlight.
Maybe they could even both betray, and the teams rebalance to match initial expectations.
Kizaru's role? Combatant, specifically a crowd control / body guard role. He can be wherever is needed on the battlefield at any time which will guarantee the weaker Straw Hats don't get separated and caught out by an Admiral+ (like Ussop was this arc). Considering we'll have dozens running around in the final war, the threat remains real to all but the monster trio (who will likely be given 1v1s). Only one yellow monkey after all.
Not to mention it makes for a neat comparison to Aokiji. They'd both break away from the Navy, but the one we expect to join up with the SHs joins blackbeard, and the last Admiral (not counting FA smokes-a-lot) we would expect to join, does. Aokiji has a warm heart and operates in the cold shadows, while Kizaru has a cold heart and operates in the warm sunlight.
Maybe they could even both betray, and the teams rebalance to match initial expectations.