7. Drake and the Marines
While we have learned a lot more about Drake in this arc, I feel that he and the Marines might still have some role to play. Since I don’t consider him to be one of THE most important member of the Worst Generation I’m not suggesting he needs some sort of super detailed backstory like others, but he could act in sort of role the way that Bege did in Whole Cake Island. He ends up being a major player but not anywhere close to the focus. At least at this point we have yet to see him make any major moves in this arc other than inform the Marines of what is happening. If I had to make a guess of where he might have importance, it could be that the Marines show up near the end of the arc to try and capture a lot of pirates after the battle ends. I can’t imagine the Marines hear about all the craziness happening in Wano and they just choose to do nothing. Sure they have their hands full with the former Shichibukai, but they could send an admiral to try and keep things from getting too out of control.
8. Carrot
Carrot’s role in the story right now is baffling to me. A lot of people were convinced she might even join the crew after what she did Whole Cake Island, but she really hasn’t done anything this arc at all. She’s just been a background character. I don’t necessarily think she needs to have a major role or anything. I’m mostly just wondering that if her only major role was to help the Straw Hats escape, then why hasn’t she rejoined with the Mink forces? She instead seems to be spending a lot of time with the straw hats, and was even joining the Straw Hats in Jinbe reuniting with the crew (which would be a little weird if she wasn’t a Straw Hat).
Now, I am in no way suggesting that she HAS to join the crew or anything. Far from it. I think if Oda wanted her to join at this point she would NEED screen time and maybe a battle of some kind. The one that might make the most sense would be for her to go after Perospero for what he did to Pedro, but even then I don’t think she’s strong enough to take him down. She would need assistance from somebody else that’s really strong.
Conclusion:
A lot of plot threads have been more or less resolved in this arc so far, and it’s anyone’s guess how long the Raid on Onigashima will last, but I don’t think it’s necessarily true that everything has been resolved yet. Some of these could be resolved over the course of the Raid, but I think trying to address too many things in one giant battle might make the battle feel bloated and lose focus. It makes more sense to me to address all of these plot threads over the course of a bunch of chapters. I am in no way saying that all of these HAVE to be resolved, but needless to say that whatever happens I have very high expectations for Wano. I think that out of all of the arcs so far Wano is Oda’s most ambitious arc since it’s sort of the conclusion to everything that has happened in the New World so far. Even his editors have hyped up Wano saying that it would “make Marineford look like a joke”. I can’t help but have high expectations and expect for a lot more stuff to happen since this arc is almost in a sense too big to fail.
The last thing I wanna mention before I end this post is that everybody keeps saying “the Raid on Onigashima can’t fail because it’s the alliance’s only shot to beat Kaido”. Weirdly enough, this logic is exactly what leads me to believe that the Raid WILL fail, because it would make for awesome storytelling. Think about it. The plan that every character has said can’t fail, ultimately fails, and it leaves our heroes at one of the lowest points we’ve seen them yet. This will make it all the more exciting and satisfying when they desperately pick up the pieces from their failure, and find a way to overcome the impossible odds and beat Kaido. In many ways this arc acts as a test for Luffy to prove that he can come out successful against a Yonko, and not just run away. I think before that can happen, a major defeat (losing the raid that can’t fail) would make for some really exciting story telling. The failure would help give the story more time to flesh out the potential plot threads I mentioned, and make for an epic comeback to one of the most ambitious arcs in One Piece yet.
*Theory by thefirefridge
