Very good point.
Thinking about it, the parallel between Ace & Yamato were clear since their flashbacks. Even symbolically, Yamato is the Ace of his father's card-themed crew, like Ace has the same role in Newgate's crew (and is literally named like that).
So your guess is that there's someone above Dragon in the RA Army and the same goes for Buggy in Cross Guild?
If that was the case, they must be unrevealed characters... but this far into the story? We still have to meet the Man Marked by Flames (who is hinted to be allied with the World Govt) and all the characters from the Ancient Kingdom.
Seem strange to me that such important roles will be filled this late in the story tbh.
I agree that Wano contained a lot of hints on that regard but can't quite precisely point my fingers on them. My only guess for now (simple gut feeling) is something related to the Island Dragger skull...
Thinking about it, the parallel between Ace & Yamato were clear since their flashbacks. Even symbolically, Yamato is the Ace of his father's card-themed crew, like Ace has the same role in Newgate's crew (and is literally named like that).
So your guess is that there's someone above Dragon in the RA Army and the same goes for Buggy in Cross Guild?
If that was the case, they must be unrevealed characters... but this far into the story? We still have to meet the Man Marked by Flames (who is hinted to be allied with the World Govt) and all the characters from the Ancient Kingdom.
Seem strange to me that such important roles will be filled this late in the story tbh.
I agree that Wano contained a lot of hints on that regard but can't quite precisely point my fingers on them. My only guess for now (simple gut feeling) is something related to the Island Dragger skull...
As for Cross Guild, Oda waited +1000 Chapters to finally create it, so He is clearly in no rush to Introduce their Future True Leader, and imo people ignore Mihawk's Design too much, Oda wouldn't give him a cross & really highlight it for no reason, Mihawk is a religious person, meaning He believes in Higher Power (Just like Kuma's Bible wasn't for show, the guy was really a Priest & worshipped Nika), the way He talked about Fate in Marineford also strongly support this, so Cross Guild imo will be led by whoever Mihawk worships once that person returns,
As for Wano, let me give you a detail that many people missed,
The Goal was to Defeat Kaidou & by extension his Commanders, right?
But that Objective ended up much more complicated than that, let's see everything that was revealed:
1. Kaidou was boosting his Crew with Smile Fruits
2. There is a Traitor among Samurai
3. Beasts Pirates have Access to Chemical Weapons
4. Kaidou is allied with Orochi
5. Kaidou allied with Big Mom
6. CP-0 are Invited to Onigashima
7. Perospero joins the War
8. Orochi starts a Conflagration on Onigashima
9. Kaidou is flying Onigashima towards Wano Capital
These might seem like Sub-Problems that I picked, but They always caught my interest, because They created Problems that can cost Alliance the War, even if They were able to Fight Kaidou & his Commanders, now go check Act 3, what do you find?
It starts with Kid being revealed to have joined Luffy/Law Alliance against Kaidou,
Then right away, We see Denjiro join, and then shortly after, Jinbe arrives,
Each time I see one, I feel like the Narrator is saying "New Player Joined", so I wondered for how long Oda gonna keep this up?
Shortly after, we see Marco join, followed by Izou & Nekomamushi,
Then we get Introduced to Yamato who also joins the War, and shortly after, it's revealed that O-Tama secretly came to help too,
And some time later, we see Adult Momo decided to fight & help as well,
The Goal was to Defeat Kaidou & by extension his Commanders, right?
But that Objective ended up much more complicated than that, let's see everything that was revealed:
1. Kaidou was boosting his Crew with Smile Fruits
2. There is a Traitor among Samurai
3. Beasts Pirates have Access to Chemical Weapons
4. Kaidou is allied with Orochi
5. Kaidou allied with Big Mom
6. CP-0 are Invited to Onigashima
7. Perospero joins the War
8. Orochi starts a Conflagration on Onigashima
9. Kaidou is flying Onigashima towards Wano Capital
These might seem like Sub-Problems that I picked, but They always caught my interest, because They created Problems that can cost Alliance the War, even if They were able to Fight Kaidou & his Commanders, now go check Act 3, what do you find?
It starts with Kid being revealed to have joined Luffy/Law Alliance against Kaidou,
Then right away, We see Denjiro join, and then shortly after, Jinbe arrives,
Each time I see one, I feel like the Narrator is saying "New Player Joined", so I wondered for how long Oda gonna keep this up?
Shortly after, we see Marco join, followed by Izou & Nekomamushi,
Then we get Introduced to Yamato who also joins the War, and shortly after, it's revealed that O-Tama secretly came to help too,
And some time later, we see Adult Momo decided to fight & help as well,
It's not like these Nine weren't obviously gonna participate, but there must be a reason Oda decided to let them join in such way, so I compared them to those Nine "Problems" I listed before & see the results for yourself:
O-Tama ended up Key Figure who countered Smile Army,
Yamato ended up the one who saved Onigashima from Kanjuro's Suicidal Attempt to Blow it up,
Marco ended up the one who slowed down Queen's Virus & helped win time for Doctors to finally cure it,
Denjiro ended up killing Orochi & saving Hiyori,
Kid ended up the one who landed final blow against Big Mom which sent her outside Onigashima to her Doom,
Izou ended up sacrificing himself to stop CP-0 from catching up to Robin,
Nekomamushi was the one who Defeated (Possibly Killed) Perospero,
Jinbe saved everyone from those Flames that consumed the Island,
Momo ended up the only one capable of stopping Flying Onigashima & He saved the Capital,
Now ofc, all of them received a lot of help & wouldn't have done it alone, but there is no way that any of this is a coincidence, the fact that those Nine "Extra" Problems ended up countered by those Nine "Extra" Act 3 Additions shows that Oda is trying to convey certain Ideas with all of these Sub-Plots,
O-Tama ended up Key Figure who countered Smile Army,
Yamato ended up the one who saved Onigashima from Kanjuro's Suicidal Attempt to Blow it up,
Marco ended up the one who slowed down Queen's Virus & helped win time for Doctors to finally cure it,
Denjiro ended up killing Orochi & saving Hiyori,
Kid ended up the one who landed final blow against Big Mom which sent her outside Onigashima to her Doom,
Izou ended up sacrificing himself to stop CP-0 from catching up to Robin,
Nekomamushi was the one who Defeated (Possibly Killed) Perospero,
Jinbe saved everyone from those Flames that consumed the Island,
Momo ended up the only one capable of stopping Flying Onigashima & He saved the Capital,
Now ofc, all of them received a lot of help & wouldn't have done it alone, but there is no way that any of this is a coincidence, the fact that those Nine "Extra" Problems ended up countered by those Nine "Extra" Act 3 Additions shows that Oda is trying to convey certain Ideas with all of these Sub-Plots,
Let me ask you, out of these Nine, who would Kaidou have a grudge against?
Denjiro for killing Orochi? Ofc not,
Jinbe or Yamato for saving Onigashima? Ofc not,
Key Trio who countered Kaidou's Plan were Tama, Kid & Momo,
Am I supposed to think it's a coincidence that one of them is a Female who can Control a Special Army? and the other One ended up creating a Powerful Cannon that sent Big Mom down a massive Hole? and the last one is a Flying Dragon who saved everyone with his Sky Powers?
Tama is how Poseidon was Created,
Kid is how Pluton was Created,
Momo is how Uranus was Created,
In other words, Ancient Villain had Sea Kings as his Army, had an Ally/Monster as Powerful as him and had World Ending Powers.
Then came a Mermaid who countered his Army, so She was labeled as Poseidon,
And came an Inventor who countered his Monster, so his Weapon was labeled as Pluton,
And came a Rightful Ruler who had same Powers as him & used it to stop his Ability, so He was labeled as Uranus,
I can actually use this entire Onigashima Raid & by Extension entire Wano Saga (From Punk Hazard) to discover much much more about Lore Piece & everything related to Ancient War.
Denjiro for killing Orochi? Ofc not,
Jinbe or Yamato for saving Onigashima? Ofc not,
Key Trio who countered Kaidou's Plan were Tama, Kid & Momo,
Am I supposed to think it's a coincidence that one of them is a Female who can Control a Special Army? and the other One ended up creating a Powerful Cannon that sent Big Mom down a massive Hole? and the last one is a Flying Dragon who saved everyone with his Sky Powers?
Tama is how Poseidon was Created,
Kid is how Pluton was Created,
Momo is how Uranus was Created,
In other words, Ancient Villain had Sea Kings as his Army, had an Ally/Monster as Powerful as him and had World Ending Powers.
Then came a Mermaid who countered his Army, so She was labeled as Poseidon,
And came an Inventor who countered his Monster, so his Weapon was labeled as Pluton,
And came a Rightful Ruler who had same Powers as him & used it to stop his Ability, so He was labeled as Uranus,
I can actually use this entire Onigashima Raid & by Extension entire Wano Saga (From Punk Hazard) to discover much much more about Lore Piece & everything related to Ancient War.
Also, as I mentioned before, these Three Ancient Weapons are actually just 3 out of 9 Major Keys, They were labeled as so because They are directly related to Villain's Plan of World Domination, but it doesn't change the fact that there are 6 other World Changing Events that are as Important,
You can actually trace these Ideas back to before One Piece even started,
For example, a Swordsman beheading a Monster to save a Girl? I've seen that in Ryuma One-Shot, (Both Ryuma & Denjiro were Samurai)
Stopping an incoming Catastrophe? I've seen that in God's Gift For The Future One-Shot, (Both Bran & Yamato carried Prophetic Book)
A Personal Revenge Story? (Neko vs Pero) I've seen that in Ikki Yako One-Shot,
Stopping an Assassin in a Gun Duel? (Izou vs CP-0) I've seen that in Wanted! One-Shot,
Ofc, they don't perfectly match, but it's all about Ideas that Oda really wanted to draw, and these Onigashima Versions are just Teasers, the actual events that are truly represent ultimate version of what Oda wants to actually draw will happen in Final Arc, and don't forget that Luffy recruited Nine SHs, so these Nine EOS Events are Inevitable.
You can actually trace these Ideas back to before One Piece even started,
For example, a Swordsman beheading a Monster to save a Girl? I've seen that in Ryuma One-Shot, (Both Ryuma & Denjiro were Samurai)
Stopping an incoming Catastrophe? I've seen that in God's Gift For The Future One-Shot, (Both Bran & Yamato carried Prophetic Book)
A Personal Revenge Story? (Neko vs Pero) I've seen that in Ikki Yako One-Shot,
Stopping an Assassin in a Gun Duel? (Izou vs CP-0) I've seen that in Wanted! One-Shot,
Ofc, they don't perfectly match, but it's all about Ideas that Oda really wanted to draw, and these Onigashima Versions are just Teasers, the actual events that are truly represent ultimate version of what Oda wants to actually draw will happen in Final Arc, and don't forget that Luffy recruited Nine SHs, so these Nine EOS Events are Inevitable.
Sorry for long post, but I just wanted to convey the full scope of this idea, I actually had very long time to think about all this and tbh I found it to run so so deep, it covers Haki System, Kingdoms, SHs Backstories, National Treasures & much more, Oda is basing his entire Story on this "Pattern of Nine", I don't claim to have Answers, I simply know the math of how to get them, but it's so tiring & too complicated (Oda probably has all his ideas written in his Notebooks that took years to write), I rather make theories based on what little info we have, and keep the full showcase of that pattern once One Piece reaches it's final 50 Chapters,