By people's own logic here:
- Page 1 and Ulti had announced defeats by Bao Huang
- Black Maria's subordinates acknowledged the same. Marys witnessed it.
If we can believe these 3 are in fact defeated, why is it so hard to even remotely agree with those who do not believe Sasaki and WsW are down? They didn't have the same acknowledgements. They didn't get the announcements. They didn't get virtually any aftermath to their fights.
All I'm saying is it's really fucking weird. Why wouldn't Oda dedicate the 1-2 pages needed to justify their defeats, like the other 3 have officially gotten? I can understand disagreeing with the notion, but to entirely insult people for suggesting the possibility that WsW and Sasaki have more up their sleeve because of this fact seems petty as fuck
I think it would be really cool if, now with the 3rd floor ceiling destroyed, WsW (who, after realizing how strong Jinbe is, presumably was playing dead until Jinbe left?) came down to the 3rd floor to capture Nico Robin, leading to Brook, a SH, needing to protect Nico Robin from a (former) CP9 agent (sound familiar)? And then maybe, with Brook now occupied, Black Maria, who was tricking Brook and Robin into thinking she was down in order to catch them off guard, uses the opportunity to go hybrid and attack Robin.
I’d be perfectly fine with Maria’s defeat in this chapter IF she had transformed into her hybrid, but she presumably didn’t, so her character just feels incomplete. Also, Robin didn’t even get a power up since she secretly knew these techniques ever since the TS. So is Oda trying to tell us Franky and Robin were actually Vet level ever since FMI? If so, what about Brook? Why did he lose so easily to Perospero? And why did Sanji struggle so much against Vergo if he, Zoro, and Luffy are supposed to be “monsters” compared to the rest of the crew?