Honestly, I agree.
At the very least, I think someone is probably waiting for them on Lodestar. It doesn't necessarily have to be Gaban. But, someone's probably on the island. Because, supposedly, this is the island where most pirate crews find out about the Poneglyphs in the first place. It is a common "funnel" point like the other two islands where we've met other Roger Pirates. The only reason I hesitate to say it's Gaban is because he doesn't really strike me as the "academic" of the Roger Pirates? I don't know if he'd find Lodestar interesting or not.
Truth be told, I feel like Lodestar is probably one of the biggest wild cards left in the manga. It could either be incredibly important or completely skippable for the Strawhats. Because they already know about the Poneglyphs. They already have a head start on most pirate crews who manage to make it this far. Most pirate crews probably have to start their journeys all over again, in order to look for the Poneglyphs they need. But, the Strawhats already have most of them. And the final Road Poneglphy probably isn't on Lodestar itself, since Oda's been teasing The Man Marked By Flames having it. So, I don't really know what the Strawhats have to DO on Lodestar. What would even be the point of going to Lodestar for the Strawhats, at this point in the story?
Personally, I'm imagining Lodestar being full of ruins from the Ancient Kingdom. Basically a lost city. I honestly wouldn't even be surprised if Lodestar was actually revealed to be the "capital" or biggest city of the Ancient Kingdom. Because, I've seen it be pointed out that "Lodestar" can also be read as "Road Start". As in, the "beginning" of a larger journey.
We know that Continent Pullers like Oars from Thriller Bark used to exist. In order to get a nickname like that, they must have done SOMETHING. I wouldn't be surprised if ALL the island of the Grand Line used to be parts of a much larger island of Lodestar. Lodestar might be the "Pangaea" that all the other island of the Grand Line were broken off from and spread all across the world. Lodestar might just be the center of the original island and all that's left. This might explain how the Log Poses work. They're actually leading you to other pieces of the same larger island. And it might also explain why so many important people came from the East Blue. All the strongest people back in the day, who were part of creating the Grand Line and moving all these continents, all finished their work and settled in the East Blue. The East Blue was the "finish line" of another story, long ago.
And that's the other thing about Lodestar. The Log Poses and the magnetic fields. I think we can probably say they're pretty important? There seems to be a "map" of the Grand Line's Log Pose routes on Imu's Empty Throne. These magnetic fields leading you to different islands are probably pretty important, somehow. I'm not sure how.
I WOULD say that travelling the entirety of the Grand Line while following the Log Poses itself might be part of the key to getting to Laugh Tale. Maybe, going from island to island, and exposing a Log Pose to ALL the magnetic fields of the Grand Line tempers or transforms a normal Log Pose into a special Log Pose that can lead you to Laugh Tale? The problem with that is....I'm pretty sure the Strawhats haven't kept the same Log Pose with them throughout their entire journey. So, there's no way that can be true.
Although, maybe the Strawhats will have to stay on Lodestar for, say, 3 days, while their Log Pose adjusts itself so that it can lead them to Laugh Tale? All the while defending themselves from other pirates and marines, in a sort of tower defense arc. That might actually be a little nostalgic, at this point. They haven't had to do something like that in YEARS, at this point.
It's also possible that Lodestar is where we'll find out that Laugh Tale isn't actually the end of the journey. Because, I could see Oda having a twist that Laugh Tale is actually a "false ending" to the Grand Line. And the true route to the end of the journey is actually beneath Laugh Tale, or something. Anyone who skips Lodestar, and rushes to reach the end of the journey, actually never gets to find out that there's a different route you're supposed to take. It's called "Laugh Tale" because the joke's on you. But, that's pure speculation on my twist-loving part. I don't know if Oda would do that or not.
So, I don't know what's going to happen on Lodestar. I think we're going to get SOMETHING important on the island, when we eventually get there. At the very least, a little bit of backstory. Maybe Gaban is here and he tells the Strawhats about God Valley, and we finally get a full flashback. But, I just don't know for sure if it'll actually be a big arc or not. We might only be there for 2 chapters, or we might stay for over 30 with the final battles taking place among the ruins of the Ancient Kingdom. It's hard to say.
