I absolutely hated how Ulti and Page One were resolved. WW and Sasaki were solid, decent fights (I don’t like the Shogun, but it’s like the RS, I can deal with it now it’s here). And I would personally have preferred for WW to be stronger and him and Jinbei to really have a proper fight, but I can take this as well, Jinbei comes out looking great either way.
As far as second tier subordinates go, they’ve done the job reasonably well. They aren’t the cream of the crop, that‘s the Calamities, so my expectations for them weren’t that high, Even Ulti and Page One, who had a terrible, terrible ending but were pretty good before that. I think they’ve been better villains than the non-Seats in Dressrosa, for comparisons sake, who really just had a good last-minute flashback for Senor and a great sniper moment for Usopp in their favour.
Does the Flying Six specifically getting back up really create more tension though, or does it just artificially prolong the arc?
The problem with this idea is that Oda has really failed to establish the Flying Six as this great force that can turn the tide. Because they’ve already been beaten. Them getting back up and being beaten again, I just… don’t find it interesting. If the fights had been more even-sided, more of a struggle, then maybe, but WW gets back up and I’m just thinking, damn, I don’t care, I’ve already seen Jinbei finish this dude. And neither Jinbei or Franky (by himself, no Shogun) so far are that damaged either. If the Flying Six get back up… why would we think they’ve got any chance, because they’ll still be heavily damaged from round one, while the heroes are pretty much fine.
It’s very, very hard to build excitement for a round two when the heroes won round one. Easy to do it if the heroes lost round one, I’d have been fully behind a scenario where Jinbei and Franky (and Robin and Brook, whatever happens with them) looked defeated due to the overwhelming numbers, then Tama’s order turned the tide and the heroes came back for a storming round two victory. But we didn’t get that. I don‘t think the Flying Six can deliver that moment of horror where they stand back up again, and we think “god, how can our heroes possibly overcome this force, look how much they struggled to defeat them and they keep coming back!” Because... the heroes just didn’t really struggle all that much.
I think there is certainly a twist coming where there’s a turnaround and things suddenly become desperate for the alliance. I just don’t see the Flying Six as being the ones to deliver that turnaround. Not with how they’ve been portrayed so far. They aren’t that big a threat. Kaido, Big Mom, the Calamities, CP-0, hell, even Orochi, if I was to bet on someone on the enemy side to do something to drastically turn the tide of battle, it would be one of them, not the Flying Six. The Flying Six are still “just” the best Headliners, after all, they aren’t the main threat here.