@HiroVoid:
I think he meant more along the lines of that it seemed like we never saw his crew again.
Well, whatever he meant, what he said was that we didn't know if they were allowed to join or they were slaughtered. Clearly they weren't slaughtered, and that text is as near as confirmation comes that they were allowed to join.
@Greg:
While GanFall and Chess etc. are plausible, it's ignoring his main characteristic, the chonmage. It'd be like replacing Hancock's snake with a ferret.
I suppose. I'm fairly certain we've seen a character with the chonmage before, so Oda scrapping a design and using certain features here and there wouldn't strike me as odd. Basically, I don't really expect to see those guys anymore, but they could very well show up at Wado or wherever.