Future Events This Is Too Early

[Blazing Lion]

I have always advocated that the WG is the enemy of this saga, they are the ones being built up as the enemies instead of the highly anticipated battle with the BBPs we will be getting the WG as the enemies of the SHPs. And based on this I expected Elbaf to not be a big arc like DR or Wano.

Quick recap, SHPs leave Wano and get to EH where they face off against the Navy and WG. The Gorosei are revealed in their full form for the first time. SHPs escape and head to Elbaf. We get an update of events around the world like CG doing stuff, BB defeating Law and Shanks beating Kid and then setting off from Elbaf before SHPs arrive. We are introduced to the HKs during this time and in Elbaf the HKs are shown as the initial main antagonists.

But then we get a very lengthy flashback which covers more than the tellers perspective (Lokis). And then the problems are resolved too quickly which is confirmed by inverse comments from characters.

So the expectation was that this fight will be delayed or we will get another arc like Enies Lobby for defeating the WG with the HKs and the Gorosei being taken down. But here we have Imu himself coming down to Elbaf and this completely changes things. When has the main villain of an arc get involved this early and by himself. People are right in assuming we get a Kaido type introduction with Luffy suffering a defeat. But this wont be the first time either, Croc also got involved early and defeated Luffy. So going by that pattern should we assume that Luffy again will be defeated here and Imu will go back and then much later Luffy will defeat Imu in the same arc? The difference though is that Kaido and Croc were already the rulers of the countries whereas Imu is not the ruler of Elbaf and he has declared war on Elbaf.

This confirms one thing though and that is Imu being the main saga villain and being defeated at the end. The only other way I see Imu being the FV is that Imu has to retreat after a false victory or some time limitation thing. And SHPs are forced to get OP first for which they fight the BBPs and then come back to defeat the WG.

These are the possible scenarios imo:
1. Imu and WG are defeated and the scramble for OP decides who becomes the new king of the world (Luffy vs BB as final fight)
2. Imu and WG get false victory and SHPs survive and get OP (Luffy vs BB) and then come back to fight WG (Luffy vs Imu as final fight)

If its the latter case then this will be a very long saga cause Laugh Tale wont be short at all. SHPs vs BBPs will take quite a lot of chapters imo.

@Paperchampion23 @Welkin @Xione @nik87 @Fujishiro @Shimotsuki Fenaker @mly90 @Loki D. Terror etc.

 

[Orojackson Refugee]

Last possible scenario: Nothing Happened 2.0
Zoro tanking Imu attacks to save everyone else

 

[Salah WG]

There is a Major Villain before who appeared early, gave SHs an ass whooping, He wasn't supposed to leave his Room, He was present in Flashback where Genocide happened and He granted Power/Arc's Time Bomb to WG Elite Squad, which was led by Five Subordinates who are below him in Rank.

People forget that Kuzan was basically Imu of Water 7 Saga,
Imu getting a Huge W now is obvious, however his Appearance brought back Sub-Plot of Vivi (Teased right before his Arrival), and He probably gonna mention her to SHs similar to Kuzan talking about Robin,

How did this Arc Start? Arabasta Saga SHs were separated before They read Newspaper where Vivi put X Mark on Luffy's Image, so that such Realization happens after They already finish their Elbaph Adventure,

Imu won't be Defeated soon, Luffy's Main Opponent is still whoever gonna be Lucci or Kata of Mary Geoise and that seems to be Shamrock.

 

[Juanpiz]

There is a Major Villain before who appeared early, gave SHs an ass whooping, He wasn't supposed to leave his Room, He was present in Flashback where Genocide happened and He granted Power/Arc's Time Bomb to WG Elite Squad, which was led by Five Subordinates who are below him in Rank.

People forget that Kuzan was basically Imu of Water 7 Saga,
Imu getting a Huge W now is obvious, however his Appearance brought back Sub-Plot of Vivi (Teased right before his Arrival), and He probably gonna mention her to SHs similar to Kuzan talking about Robin,

How did this Arc Start? Arabasta Saga SHs were separated before They read Newspaper where Vivi put X Mark on Luffy's Image, so that such Realization happens after They already finish their Elbaph Adventure,

Imu won't be Defeated soon, Luffy's Main Opponent is still whoever gonna be Lucci or Kata of Mary Geoise and that seems to be Shamrock.

Kuzan is nice tho

 

[SkySanji]

Imu shits on Loki/Zoro and then is forced to return to Mariejois for whatever reason and the story continues on as normal.

 

[Salah WG]

Kuzan is nice tho

It's not copy paste ofc, but similar positions.
Just like for example every Kingdom have a Ruler Figure and Rebel Figure, but their Scenarios, Designs, Motives and Backstory differs, and sometimes you find both good like Cobra/Koza or King is bad like Wapol vs Dalton or Rebel is bad like Hody vs Neptune ... etc

I'm just saying that Imu will hold position of Water 7 Kuzan or WCI Big Mom in this Saga, He isn't Luffy's Main Fight but He is Highest Authority and Strongest guy around and provides Saga's Time Bomb.

 

[shadowdancer]

Both scenarios are weak because they depend on the One Piece being the decisive tool to overthrow Imu/WG, but canon shows Roger found Laugh Tale and didn’t use it to overthrow the world order, and Whitebeard never chased it.

One Piece as a ticket to king of the world needs a lot of setup from Oda to make sense because the World Government’s power won’t automatically transfer to a usurper.

And about Blackbeard: making him the lasting final villain would shift the story from systemic tyranny to personal opportunism, which also needs a ton of extra setup from Oda

 

[Konstantis]

Yes, from the begining of Final Saga it was just build up for Imu:
1. Lulusia;
2. Gorosei introduction
3. ImU himself

Next will be probably this:
4. Imu defeats Luffy
5. Final War Battle Luffy vs Imu round 2(3?)

 

[Paperchampion23]

Both scenarios are weak because they depend on the One Piece being the decisive tool to overthrow Imu/WG, but canon shows Roger found Laugh Tale and didn’t use it to overthrow the world order, and Whitebeard never chased it.

One Piece as a ticket to king of the world needs a lot of setup from Oda to make sense because the World Government’s power won’t automatically transfer to a usurper.

And about Blackbeard: making him the lasting final villain would shift the story from systemic tyranny to personal opportunism, which also needs a ton of extra setup from Oda

One Piece is needed for this. The problem is so are the 3 ancient weapons. And probably Nika and Nidhogg.

Roger gave up becase he was too early. He says it in Oden's flashback because Shirahoshi wasnt born yet.

Regardless your point still stands about Blackbeard

 

[Blazing Lion]

Both scenarios are weak because they depend on the One Piece being the decisive tool to overthrow Imu/WG, but canon shows Roger found Laugh Tale and didn’t use it to overthrow the world order, and Whitebeard never chased it.

One Piece as a ticket to king of the world needs a lot of setup from Oda to make sense because the World Government’s power won’t automatically transfer to a usurper.

And about Blackbeard: making him the lasting final villain would shift the story from systemic tyranny to personal opportunism, which also needs a ton of extra setup from Oda

One Piece is needed for this. The problem is so are the 3 ancient weapons. And probably Nika and Nidhogg.

Roger gave up becase he was too early. He says it in Oden's flashback because Shirahoshi wasnt born yet.

Regardless your point still stands about Blackbeard

Good points but isnt the OP being built as the one which will decide who becomes the king. The race for OP and the 'relevance' panel with all factions being shown is exactly for this imo.
And Roger was early, Roger is the extraordinary factor in the supposed prophecy. His actions lead to the boom of piracy and Luffy becoming a pirate but the promised time for the OP was not his.
OP is something that the WG cant use it seems and thats why they want to stop someone getting to it. With their resources the WG should have no problem with finding OP in the last 800 years or ever since Rogers declaration.

 

[Blazing Lion]

Both scenarios are weak because they depend on the One Piece being the decisive tool to overthrow Imu/WG, but canon shows Roger found Laugh Tale and didn’t use it to overthrow the world order, and Whitebeard never chased it.

One Piece as a ticket to king of the world needs a lot of setup from Oda to make sense because the World Government’s power won’t automatically transfer to a usurper.

And about Blackbeard: making him the lasting final villain would shift the story from systemic tyranny to personal opportunism, which also needs a ton of extra setup from Oda

You are right but then how do you expect the story to unfold assuming that there will be a BBPs vs SHPs fight.

 

[Paperchampion23]

Good points but isnt the OP being built as the one which will decide who becomes the king. The race for OP and the 'relevance' panel with all factions being shown is exactly for this imo.
And Roger was early, Roger is the extraordinary factor in the supposed prophecy. His actions lead to the boom of piracy and Luffy becoming a pirate but the promised time for the OP was not his.
OP is something that the WG cant use it seems and thats why they want to stop someone getting to it. With their resources the WG should have no problem with finding OP in the last 800 years or ever since Rogers declaration.

The world government also needs RPs to go to Laugh Tale lol, which they dont have.
They also cannot read those Poneglyphs even if they found them

 

[Fujishiro]

I have always advocated that the WG is the enemy of this saga, they are the ones being built up as the enemies instead of the highly anticipated battle with the BBPs we will be getting the WG as the enemies of the SHPs. And based on this I expected Elbaf to not be a big arc like DR or Wano.

Quick recap, SHPs leave Wano and get to EH where they face off against the Navy and WG. The Gorosei are revealed in their full form for the first time. SHPs escape and head to Elbaf. We get an update of events around the world like CG doing stuff, BB defeating Law and Shanks beating Kid and then setting off from Elbaf before SHPs arrive. We are introduced to the HKs during this time and in Elbaf the HKs are shown as the initial main antagonists.

But then we get a very lengthy flashback which covers more than the tellers perspective (Lokis). And then the problems are resolved too quickly which is confirmed by inverse comments from characters.

So the expectation was that this fight will be delayed or we will get another arc like Enies Lobby for defeating the WG with the HKs and the Gorosei being taken down. But here we have Imu himself coming down to Elbaf and this completely changes things. When has the main villain of an arc get involved this early and by himself. People are right in assuming we get a Kaido type introduction with Luffy suffering a defeat. But this wont be the first time either, Croc also got involved early and defeated Luffy. So going by that pattern should we assume that Luffy again will be defeated here and Imu will go back and then much later Luffy will defeat Imu in the same arc? The difference though is that Kaido and Croc were already the rulers of the countries whereas Imu is not the ruler of Elbaf and he has declared war on Elbaf.

This confirms one thing though and that is Imu being the main saga villain and being defeated at the end. The only other way I see Imu being the FV is that Imu has to retreat after a false victory or some time limitation thing. And SHPs are forced to get OP first for which they fight the BBPs and then come back to defeat the WG.

These are the possible scenarios imo:
1. Imu and WG are defeated and the scramble for OP decides who becomes the new king of the world (Luffy vs BB as final fight)
2. Imu and WG get false victory and SHPs survive and get OP (Luffy vs BB) and then come back to fight WG (Luffy vs Imu as final fight)

If its the latter case then this will be a very long saga cause Laugh Tale wont be short at all. SHPs vs BBPs will take quite a lot of chapters imo.

@Paperchampion23 @Welkin @Xione @nik87 @Fujishiro @Shimotsuki Fenaker @mly90 @Loki D. Terror etc.

The limitation is already put in place he ain’t going down here.

 

[shadowdancer]

One Piece is needed for this. The problem is so are the 3 ancient weapons. And probably Nika and Nidhogg.

Roger gave up becase he was too early. He says it in Oden's flashback because Shirahoshi wasnt born yet.

Regardless your point still stands about Blackbeard

I get the race for OP angle, but that still doesn’t address legitimacy. Even if OP decides who becomes king, someone grabbing it doesn’t automatically buy Gorosei/Marine loyalty or global compliance... those institutions won’t just hand over power. Roger being early explains timing, not why Roger/Whitebeard didn’t seize control; that gap still needs an in-story explanation from Oda.

Could OP be a MacGuffin that forces everyone to bow? Possible, but narratively weak unless Oda explicitly shows a believable mechanism (ritual, supernatural binding, or cultural/legal legitimacy) that makes institutional submission automatic

 

[Blazing Lion]

The world government also needs RPs to go to Laugh Tale lol, which they dont have.
They also cannot read those Poneglyphs even if they found them

They had 800 years man
The Yonkos became Yonkos after GV, before that it was the era of Rocks, Roger and Garp. BM and Zou were easily accessible ones and the FI one too. Only Wano was submerged and they had Ryuma PTSD.
Not sure about the non reading part. Those guys are pretty ancient themselves and if BM can have a three eyed tribe daughter for this purpose so could the WG get one too.

 

[shadowdancer]

You are right but then how do you expect the story to unfold assuming that there will be a BBPs vs SHPs fight.

IHMO, BBP vs SHP makes the most sense as a mid‑to‑late game conflict that happens before the final Imu/WG resolution. That lets Blackbeard become a credible rival through chaos, recruitment, territory grabs, and resource gains without needing to instantly seize control of the World Government...

What doesn't make sense is making BB the definitive final boss immediately after Imu/WG fall, unless Oda shows exactly how Teach gains institutional legitimacy and control

 

[Blazing Lion]

The limitation is already put in place he ain’t going down here.

Yeah probably
Oda wont have his final villain be defeated when the villain is not at their strongest.

 

[Fujishiro]

IHMO, BBP vs SHP makes the most sense as a mid‑to‑late game conflict that happens before the final Imu/WG resolution. That lets Blackbeard become a credible rival through chaos, recruitment, territory grabs, and resource gains without needing to instantly seize control of the World Government...

What doesn't make sense is making BB the definitive final boss immediately after Imu/WG fall, unless Oda shows exactly how Teach gains institutional legitimacy and control

Basically Kaguya (Imu) then Naruto(Luffy) vs Sasuke (BB) after.

 

[Blazing Lion]

IHMO, BBP vs SHP makes the most sense as a mid‑to‑late game conflict that happens before the final Imu/WG resolution. That lets Blackbeard become a credible rival through chaos, recruitment, territory grabs, and resource gains without needing to instantly seize control of the World Government...

What doesn't make sense is making BBP the definitive final boss immediately after Imu/WG fall, unless Oda shows exactly how Teach gains institutional legitimacy and control

But how does this lineup with Imu being called the false king in the flashback. The Davy Jones claim and storyline and his will being inherited by BB?

 

[Fujishiro]

But how does this lineup with Imu being called the false king in the flashback. The Davy Jones claim and storyline and his will being inherited by BB?

BB will fight Imu in the final battle alongside Luffy is my prediction. His Yami fruit will be crucial in giving Luffy and him the opportunity to end Imu for good. And then BB will try to get the throne but Luffy will fight him for it.