This is a theory about X-Drake and Law actually being allies in taking down Doflamingo and Kaido.
So I was reading the SBS Volume 78 during a lecture and came across Oda talking about X-Drake, his father Barrels (the person who had the ope ope no mi but got it stolen by Rosinante), and Law’s background story. This theory is about X-Drake and Law actually allying each other to take down Doflamingo and Kaido. For those that haven’t read the sbs, here’s a brief summary.
SBS Summary
Drake’s father, Barrels, used to be a Marine Officer and Drake admired this, dreaming of becoming a great Marine just like him one day.
Detailed theory
So Oda mentions that before X-Drake entered the marines, he “fatefully crossed paths with Law”. There’s many implications with this statement alone. He could have just met Law, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think he met Law, recognised Law as one of the survivors of the Minion Island event, and learned that Law had got the Ope Ope no Mi. I don’t think there was too much planning of the current events with this meeting, but they probably said to each other that if one day their goals align they would be in contact again. So thus Drake went to the marines, the reason why he used to like his dad, while Law went to training or some sorts.
Now around 11 years later (Pre-time skip), I believe X-Drake during his time as a marine, learned about the Vinsmoke Family and them bribing the Marines / WG. He may have also learned about Doflamingo’s status as Joker in the underworld and Kaido’s affiliations with Doflamingo. It would seem that X-Drake is actually a nice person with moral standards, and thus seeing the bribes of the marines had him decide to leave the marines and see what being a pirate is like (Kizaru suggested this during their encounter in Sabaody)
Now here’s where Law comes into play. X-Drake knew of Law’s hatred towards Doflamingo due to their encounter long ago, so he fed information to Law about Doflamingo’s SMILE production and affiliations with Kaido. So they came up with a plan to take up both Doflamingo and Kaido, which helps both of them since Law wants to take down Doflamingo while X-Drake just wants to defeat and capture Kaido (I’m not too sure about this motive, but we know Kaido’s evil and X-Drake has strong moral values so it could be).
So here’s what I think happened:
- X-Drake joins Kaido’s crew / allies of Kaido to learn about the exact relationship between Kaido & Doflamingo
- Law thinks of some way to obtain Shichibukai status so that he can be more free to execute the plan based on what X-Drake manages to obtain from Kaido
- They learn about SMILE production and Punk Hazard. So they formulate a plan out of this to take out Doflamingo & Kaido.
Now here’s where things go a bit weird. The plan Law had for Luffy seems to be to destroy the SAD factory, then SMILE factory so that Kaido would be mad at Doflamingo and kill him. But I think this was the plan Law reformulated after meeting Luffy in Punk Hazard. Think of this, Law didn’t really need to stay in Punk Hazard for so long to destroy the SAD factory. We’ve seen that he had the ability to literally split the whole factory in half, so destroying it would be a piece of cake. So why did he stay? I think it’s because instead of destroying it, he wanted to change the SAD substance to make the SMILE fruits less strong or have serious side-effects, by adding poison to it or just altering it so that the fruit would not work, thus the long stay to research about the SAD. This’ll still have Kaido mad at Doflamingo, while still reduce Kaido’s army strength. They also wouldn’t need to destroy the SMILE factory, since it’s too hard for Law alone to destroy it, and they’ll still need it to produce the defected fruits to Kaido. That explains why Law’s crew were in Zou instead of Dressrosa, because the plan was never to go to Dressrosa. So ideally Kaido would defeat Doflamingo, but will be severely weakened after the fight, and their zoan army wouldn’t be as strong due to the defective fruits. Kaido still has the numbers advantage, and thats where Wano comes in. Bepo being a part of the mink tribe would mean that law knew of the mink’s relationship with the kinemon’s clan, while X-Drake probably told Law about Kaido taking over Wano, thus the motive for the minks to fight Kaido. I think their original plan is to get help from the minks to fight in a war right after Doflamingo’s predicted loss to Kaido, since Kaido would be somewhat weakened after fighting Doflamingo. Help from the minks obviously would not be enough against Kaido, but do not forget X-Drake is still in Kaido’s group, and could find a moment to pull off a “Squardo” on Kaido to severely weaken him. I also think Law thought that a move like gamma knife would probably be enough to destroy Kaido, given how confident he was with gamma knife in killing Doflamingo.
So that’s for what would have happened if Luffy did not went to Punk Hazard. But fact is Luffy did, so Law changed the plan mid-ways and accelerated the plan by just straight up destroying the SAD and SMILE factories. This wouldn’t weaken the fruits, but just cut the fruits’ supply, much more time effective as opposed to finding a way to alter the SAD components. Law making Doflamingo quit the Shichibukai was probably a way of making the marines involved, since if Doflamingo clashed with Kaido while having Shichibukai status, the marines might have helped Doflamingo in his clash with Kaido, but if he lost that status, then he wouldn’t get any protection. Law’s plan would then be the same, wait for Kaido to kill Doflamingo, then attack Kaido, but this time with more certainty with Luffy’s help. Obviously this went south with all the developments in Dressrosa, which ended up in Luffy defeating Doflamingo, but I expect X-Drake to make an appearance in the inevitable clash with Kaido, and actually help Luffy and Law at some point.
The main problem with my theory I would say is the motive for X-Drake. I’m pretty certain that he had a motive to join Kaido, and it certainly isn’t because he likes Kaido, so there’s some ulterior motive in there.
Conclusion
- Law and X-Drake knew each other long before in North Blue
- They working together to take down Doflamingo and Kaido
- X-Drake infiltrated Kaido to obtain info
*Theory by Strikekira