All men love ninja.

 

^ IIRC the latest kerfuffle was Sanji and crew against Capone, and prior to that Jack vs All Minks, but if you mean an actual multi-chapter throwdown, than yeah I'd say it was Luffy v. Doflamingo.

 

Jirai-ahem- Raizou had a pretty awesome introduction.

 

All the Naruto nods must have hurt Oda's neck, but I'd say it was worth it.

 

I mean all the techniques are traditional ninja techniques, used well before Naruto came around, but the introduction was a jiraiya-esque badass boast.

 

And the path to the endgame was made clear.

It was made clear well in advance, ensuring no one could ever mistake it for an asspull.

Yay Oda, this actually makes sense!

 

^ Has Oda ever been accused of asspull? Kubo is no surprise, same of Kishimoto, but Oda seems to really plan matters out ahead of time and I've not come across such an accusation.

So who wants to guess at where the last Red Stone is nestled away? Think Blackbeard may have found it by now?

 

You guys talking about the red poneglyphs?

If so, I don't see how they merit particular discussion. What's much more interesting is that we learned of one more member of Roger's pirate crew, none other than the leader of Wano Kingdom and the Kouzuki clan.

 

Nobody ever has accused of him of such, which is what I was celebrating.

Yeah, the Red Poneglyphs become the real "goal" to begin the final arc- once Robin gets a hold of the directions, the Strawhats can begin their dash for victory. The fact that they are in the hands of Yonko give Luffy the excuse he wanted to go fight them (even though everyone is trying to talk him out of it and be sneaky!), much better then "I want to punch them because they are there".

As for the last Poneglyph, I don't think Blackbeard will have it- Racing Blackbeard to Raftel will probably be the last arc. What other storylines do we need closed though?

My guess is itll be with the Revolutionary Army.

 

What I'm slightly wary about is that if Poneglyphs are the only way to find Raftel, then someone in BlackBeard's crow should be able to read them. In the other case, Robin is basically the only one able to find it, so that removes quite a lot of tension.

I trust Oda enough to believe he will find something, but it will be tricky.

Also, parallels between Luffy and Roger would say that a member of Wano will definitely join the StrawHats, probably after they kick Kaizou's ass. I'm hesitating between Raizou (because I don't see the other three separating and because ninja hype from half the crew) and Momo so that he follows in his father's steps.

Plus, Momo could learn to read Poneglyphs with Robin and restart the tradition of passing it along in his family.

As to the last red one's location, my guess is Mariejois. It would give Luffy a good reason to kick the WG out of power on his way to Raftel.

 

I mean, Luffy crashing the Reverie party has been hinted at multiple times, so that could be a good way to make it happen.

 

The fact that Teach will be going after one single member of Luffy's crew isn't tension enough for you?

I wouldn't be surprised if more people know how to read those things, but imagine for a moment the knowledge spreading that Luffy is the only captain in existence who has someone capable of reading those and eventually going to Raftel if allowed to do so.

No, it doesn't remove a lot of tension. It won't end very well for Robin, either.

 

So what about the last Yonkou; i.e. Shanks? Tbh I'm still not sure exactly what's stopping him from finding Raftel, seeing as how he's been there already and should have a pretty good idea on how to return.
What's also interesting is that Oda's set up potential showdowns with every other one of the four- aside from Shanks. I don't think that bodes well for him, honestly. I can see him getting offed in a suitably dramatic fashion before Luffy's able to return the hat to him- maybe via Blackbeard or one of the Supernovas?
Probably near the end game, for that extra drama.

 

I think Shanks just doesn't care about Raftel. He was already there and seems like he just wants to have a good time.

 

I fully expect Shanks to smack down this little Supernova alliance.

When his end comes (and it will come) I don't see it coming to these guys.

 

Yeah that's what I referred to, all the Supernovas are making their own plays for the top spots- I think doffy even pointed it out as the 'throne wars' or something. but as rep said it'll be really disappointing if, after all the badassery that shanks has shown, he'd lose to them.
oh but we also have the blackbeard vs dragon showdown hinted a few chapters back. hoping for another beatdown courtesy of dragon there.

 

Blackbeard fight is not going to be beatdown. So far he's being setup final-boss style. I wouldn't be too surprised if things eventually changed, but so far he's been having the time of his life riding the Oda train to success, being presented as final antagonist. I don't see him being taken out anytime soon.

 

yeah probably not a beatdown, but i expect dragon to at least see him off comfortably, seeing as how he's the head of a rebellion capable of messing with the world govt.- sabo's skill levels speak highly of what we can expect from the elite of his particular faction.
honestly, i think it's probably either gonna be a way to reintroduce blackbeard into the main storyline in a big way, or a way for us to finally see more of the revolutionaries and dragon as a character-- maybe a bit of both.

 

One of my biggest gripes with One Piece is Dragon.

He's basically given zero shits for Luffy his entire life because reasons, but he had no problem adopting Sabo and even playing host to Robin for years.

Whatever excuse Oda comes up with eventually, bullshit is bullshit and will still be bullshit.