One Piece: Whitebeard + Impel Down vs Marines + Warlords *SPOILERS*

How do you think this will play out? The warlords aren't at full strength - Blackbeard is busy working on his own plans, while Jimbei has defected and a former Warlord, Crocodile, is also taking arms against the forces of the World Government, and Boa Hancock would probably switch sides if Luffy was in trouble. Nevertheless, for some reason I doubt that Whitebeard will survive this battle - if he were to succeed in defeating the World Government, there wouldn't be very much dramatic tension left for the rest of Luffy's voyage - Luffy hasn't even reached the second half of the Grand Line yet. I think Doflamingo is right on the money when he says that the world is about to change, but I think that instead of revolution, the change will take the form of a loss of one of the Four Emperors, removing the major obstacle in the way of the World Government.

What do you think? One would think that, given the unprecedented opportunity to destabilise the WG, Dragon would have weighed in by now, and yet he's nowhere to be seen. Aside from Moria, however, the Warlords haven't really lifted a finger yet, and so the battle's far from over. One can't help but think that Sengoku has a secret weapon which will prove decisive - otherwise this battle could drag on for a looooooong time.

One should also take into account that Luffy has not yet even once beaten any major enemy on his first try, so I predict that most of the WG top dogs will survive this. Moria is the only one I'm almost certain will utterly lose here.

One Piece?

Super.

Warlords
- When the chips are down, Hancock is obviously going to back Luffy, revoking the protection of her homeland without a second thought. Kuma may also do the same, seeing as how he's connected to both Iva and Dragon.
- So along with Croc and Jimbei, that's 4 out of the 7 present who (potentially) side with Luffy, leaving MiHawk, Moria and Flamingo and a defected Blackbeard. The time of the Warlords is over.

Marines
- Any plan Sengoku has probably involves unleashing an army Pacifistas. They'll be InstaWin against all but WB and his commanders. Plus, because it's a worldwide broadcast, they get their message out rather clearly: "Don't screw with the WG or you will get blasted by lasers."
- Marineford is the last of the Marine's ultimate strongholds that Luffy will raid. Based on his past visits, this will not end well, for them.

Pirate Emperors
- Luffy has the respect and backing of 2 out of 4 Yonkou. While I don't think Whitebeard will die here (mostly because of the lulz that will come when Luffy rejects him about becoming his son), I think Shanks will fall in his offscreen battle with Kaidou. Can't have too many good things going in our MC's favor.

@Sabbo: Yeah, it seems that Jimbei's abilities totally pwn Moria. Should Jimbei fall, however, Moria might surprise everyone yet: Oars' corpse is still lying out on the battlefield.

@Fenix Down: I had forgotten about Shanks being in battle with Kaidou. Kaidou once pwned Moria just for lulz, so it's not like he can be discounted. However, I sincerely doubt that a major character like Shanks would die off-screen (so to speak), so it's hard to say what will happen there.

My theories:

-Whitebeard will die and his fleet will be broken, so Ace will be left to build it from the ground up again
-Sengoku will unleash some new uber-weapon (possibly Pacifistas, maybe not)
-After the battle, Buggy will suddenly be a new player on the Grand Line, commanding an army of escaped Impel Down inmates (plus his own crew, if he ever finds them)
-Dragon, since he's not attacking here, is probably making his move elsewhere
-Shanks and Kaidou will remain a stalemate but will probably severely weaken each other, leaving only one Emperor left untouched

Originally Posted by Evilsbane

I had forgotten about Shanks being in battle with Kaidou. Kaidou once pwned Moria just for lulz, so it's not like he can be discounted. However, I sincerely doubt that a major character like Shanks would die off-screen (so to speak), so it's hard to say what will happen there.

It's mostly my gut intuition that leads me to think that Kaidou will off Shanks. The WB and the RH pirates have been shown to be noble and all around good blokes. There needs to be a dark and ruthless presence on the that side of the Grand Line, one that will be taken seriously. Kaidou killed off Moria's entire crew, so he fits the bill. But what better way to put him over the top on people's radars than to have him end the beloved Shanks?

*

Anyone else following the simulcast of the anime? Currently, the anime is going into depth on where the Strawhats have fallen. It's going to be hard for them to get together again. I mean, the only ones who have the slightest chance of crossing paths are Robin (currently with the revolutionaries) and Sanji (on the Okama Island, who are likely to be revos as well).

Originally Posted by Fenix Down

It's mostly my gut intuition that leads me to think that Kaidou will off Shanks. The WB and the RH pirates have been shown to be noble and all around good blokes. There needs to be a dark and ruthless presence on the that side of the Grand Line, one that will be taken seriously. Kaidou killed off Moria's entire crew, so he fits the bill. But what better way to put him over the top on people's radars than to have him end the beloved Shanks?

*

Anyone else following the simulcast of the anime? Currently, the anime is going into depth on where the Strawhats have fallen. It's going to be hard for them to get together again. I mean, the only ones who have the slightest chance of crossing paths are Robin (currently with the revolutionaries) and Sanji (on the Okama Island, who are likely to be revos as well).

My guess is that the original Strawhat crew will remain lost for quite a while, and Luffy will slowly gather new crewmates in their absence.

Potential new nakama:
Emporio Ivankov (the crazy crew member)
Jimbei (the serious crew member)
Boa Hancock (the crew member who gets jealous every time Luffy meets a girl)
Bentham/Mr 2 Bon Clay (would have to be rescued from Impel Down, but he's already proven himself as basically a nakama)
Crocodile (constant attempts to betray everyone could be played for laughs)
Daz Bones/Mr 1 (the swordsman while Zoro is missing)

Every once in a while, the crew could come across one of the original crew and re-recruit them.

Thus far the Rescue Ace arc has been my second favourite One Piece arc ever (after CP9).

Considering that Oda has said that this is the half way point for One Piece things are gonna completely change a lot from here, I think the Marines are basically gonna get curbstomped and go from being the main villains like they are now to basically just being a nonentity outside of people like Vegapunk and Smoker.

I think that Whitebeard could die, it'd be the first person to ever die outside of a flashback in One Piece but I still think it's a possibility, I don't see how this arc can end without either Ace or Whitebeard dying.

I also think that after this arc Blackbeard and Dragon are gonna emerge from the background and play much bigger parts in the story. And yeah, Buggy is gonna stick around with his new crew.

The only people that are in the story at this point that I could see joining the Strawhats are Crocodile and Smoker.

Hancock has switched sides. What a shocker.

Ah crap, screw the Live new post function (anime watcher)

Originally Posted by Quin

Ah crap, screw the Live new post function (anime watcher)

The title says *SPOILERS*... you were warned.

Live new posts lets you see what's been posted.
Meh, its not that it matters much anyway, I suspected something like that would happen anyway.

Anime =

But yeah, just read the latest chapter - loved the part where Smoker blitzed Luffy.

DoFlamingo is such a great presence. The further we roll on, the more I get the feeling that he will be the Luffy's main adversary in this battle, rather than later on. It just works out thematically in that Luffy represents Dreams and Flamingo represents Strength and Reality - so it fits that those two would clash in the decisive moments of this war.

Zoro's prolly going to gather the Strawhats. So great.

Originally Posted by Fenix Down

DoFlamingo is such a great presence. The further we roll on, the more I get the feeling that he will be the Luffy's main adversary in this battle, rather than later on. It just works out thematically in that Luffy represents Dreams and Flamingo represents Strength and Reality - so it fits that those two would clash in the decisive moments of this war.

True, but TBH it feels more like Kuma who is the major obstacle to be overcome. Whatever Doflamingo means about Kuma being "dead", the Kuma WE know is a major force to be reckoned with, and has clearly displayed free will. Interesting that he used to be known for his brutality, though.

Zoro's prolly going to gather the Strawhats. So great.

Yeah, that would make sense I suppose. As one of the eleven supernovas, it would be fitting that he would get put in charge of the old crew while Luffy assembles a second one. The beginnings of a Strawhat Fleet.

Originally Posted by Evilsbane

True, but TBH it feels more like Kuma who is the major obstacle to be overcome. Whatever Doflamingo means about Kuma being "dead", the Kuma WE know is a major force to be reckoned with, and has clearly displayed free will. Interesting that he used to be known for his brutality, though.



Yeah, that would make sense I suppose. As one of the eleven supernovas, it would be fitting that he would get put in charge of the old crew while Luffy assembles a second one. The beginnings of a Strawhat Fleet.

"Eleven supernovas"?

I don't recognize this term. Is it something from the anime? :/

The Eleven Supernovas

Basically the eleven high-profile rookies who met up at the Shabaody(/Shabondy) Archipelago. Most of them are captains of their respective crews, but two of them (Zoro and Killer) are crew members (to Luffy and Kidd, respectively). With this in mind, it wouldn't be surprising if Zoro became, effectively, a captain in his own right, commanding a ship in what will become Luffy's fleet (if Luffy wants to be Pirate King, he'll need a fleet, right? It would be cool to see, at any rate).

Originally Posted by Hazzle

Thus far the Rescue Ace arc has been my second favourite One Piece arc ever (after CP9).

When I finished CP9/Water 7/Enies Lobby, I thought that there would be no possible way that it could be topped. The amount of heavy emotional scenes and crowning moments of awesome was simply mind blowing.

However, as far as endings to arcs went, I also thought the Going Merry's last hurrah would be untouchable. Then I was proven wrong when we had the end of of Thriller Bark with Zoro's sacrifice and Bink's Sake.

So yeah, point is: if Sabondy Archipelago all the way up to the Marineford Battle (plus the eventual heartwarming return to Sabondy) can be counted as one giant superarc like CP9-W7-EL, and it keeps escalating (and all signs say that it will), I think I'll be proven wrong again. Cause damn: Luffy punching a Celestial Dragon, the Strawhats getting blown apart, the courting of Boa Hancock, teaming with Buggy and the top 4 of Baroque Works, Mr. 2's last gambit, Ace's Father, Luffy's entrance into the war, etc . . .
Really, how the hell's this all going to get topped in the New World?

Originally Posted by Evilsbane

True, but TBH it feels more like Kuma who is the major obstacle to be overcome. Whatever Doflamingo means about Kuma being "dead", the Kuma WE know is a major force to be reckoned with, and has clearly displayed free will. Interesting that he used to be known for his brutality, though.

I don't know. If Kuma's nothing but a corpsebot now, then his prominence in this battle is a bit diminished. Yeah he's still a powerful bastard, but he probably is now just a puppet, controlled by either DoFlamingo or Vegapunk.

Originally Posted by Fenix Down

I don't know. If Kuma's nothing but a corpsebot now, then his prominence in this battle is a bit diminished. Yeah he's still a powerful bastard, but he probably is now just a puppet, controlled by either DoFlamingo or Vegapunk.

Kuma's demonstrated on several occasions that, unlike the Pacifistas, he chooses what he does, and disobeys orders on several occasions. It's probably more of a Darth Vader-ish "more machine now, than man" thing going on.

EDIT: Yeah, you were right - his consciousness was erased, but only a few days ago, so you can see why I was confused. Still though - I can't help but feel that he's still out there, somewhere. If his paw-paw fruit can remove even abstract concepts from a person and put them on someone else, does that even include "personality"?

Originally Posted by Evilsbane

EDIT: Yeah, you were right - his consciousness was erased, but only a few days ago, so you can see why I was confused. Still though - I can't help but feel that he's still out there, somewhere. If his paw-paw fruit can remove even abstract concepts from a person and put them on someone else, does that even include "personality"?

Maybe Kuma's consciousness has simply been suppressed.
I am having fun thinking about what else the Paw-paw fruit can draw from a person. He demonstrated the ability to extract pain and exhaustion, which are pretty physical things. So it's questionable if he could do something as cerebral as a personality or soul. Still, imagine the lulz if he put Luffy's soul in an expressionless Pacifista. Another possibility: a person's devil fruit abilities.

Latest chapter thoughts: Flamingo met Luffy face to face, but he simply laughed him off and went off to own the iceburg throwing diamondman Jozu, who also tanked a powerful slash from MiHawk. He's after Whitebeard now, but I'm pretty sure that Luffy will face him again after he rescues a certain someone.